Bill in Oregon

Avadon: I had a local metal fabricator build me a stand for little old 120-pound Trenton based on your design. I am LOVING IT! Thanks for sharing your photos and philosophy.

Luke: For gosh sakes, man, you were meant to own this blower. Congratulations on your patience, persistence and skill in restoring this fine old machine. Makes me ashamed of my rusty, leaky old No. 40 Champion ...

I have a No. 40 Champion too, but have never opened her up. Thanks for the views of the innards, and good luck making her sing again. I sure do like mine.

Awe, gee, folks, this is a heartbreaking thread. My Brittany is 10, and my Aussie and her little blind mutt brother are four. I can't imagine having just one dog at a time, and losing that dog. I feel so sorry for people who have never had a dog in their lives. The love and companionship they bring more than pays for the pain we must endure when it is time for them to go. Thank God they do live for the moment, and care not a fig about tomorrow's worries. Dogs, not beer, are proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.

It's so easy to give a few dollars. The donate button leads you to Paypal. Takes about a minute.

GAAAAA! My wife spots my wrought iron rim, declares the thing incomparably beautiful and says she wants to decorate with it!

Well I picked up my wrought iron "tyre," and while I haven't spark tested it yet I am confident I got some good stuff at probably a little less than $1 a pound. The wheel is pretty thick -- close to 5/8 inch I would say. Enough material to keep me mashing it for years.

Thomas: That irrigation pipe is a pious idea. Just remember to plug the open end with a small wad of fine-mesh hardware cloth to keep the wasps out. Don't ask me how I know ...

Well, live and learn. I've kind of had my eye out for a while and haven't seen much. A bird in the hand ...

I spotted one on the local Craiglist for $40 and will pick it up today. If it is wrought as the poster says it is, I will be a happy guy. Been looking for some wrought for a long time. Size is 44 by 1 7/8.

Jim: I'm all for a comfortable floor, too. I'm not sure I would choose pea gravel though, as I don't think it would want to stay compacted. I would choose decomposed granite or even 3/4-minus crushed.

Wow, lots more to think about. Cross pein: Nice smithy. Thingmaker: Sorry you are locked in mortal combat with the county planning department. Down here in Jackson County, the planning staff is so short-handed that they take up to five business days just to return a phone call ... Caleb, that cordwood construction method looks almost too pretty for a smithy.

Thanks for the thoughts folks. There is no frost line in southern Oregon (about 15 miles as the crow flies from Kaliforny), so heave is not an issue. It can be damp, though, so I may just have to consider a poured slab and do the thing right. There is an existing 8 X 12 shed on the place with 2X12 plank floors on six-foot railroad tie centers (can you say springy?). I may just tear off the old roof once things dry out and see if the walls and floor are shot from rain leaks. If sound, I will probably throw on a new roof, reside, refloor after adding joists, insulate and cover the walls with corrugated. Might take me a few days to get her in shape, but it's either fix it or tear it down, and I want to get forging. May have to consider pouring a concrete foot for the anvil area by cutting through the floor and building a form right into the soil.

We'll be moving in May to a more rural property and one of my first priorities after deer-fencing the garden will be to build a small, simply smithy. As I mostly run a charcoal forge (and occasionally the propane) I am thinking of using natural light, augmented with a kerosene lamp. This way I can skip wiring and all the other stuff that would require a building permit. I'd like the structure to have an old-time look, so I'm thinking vertical board and batten on the outside, corrugated steel roof, but insulated walls and either drywall or corrugated steel for the walls inside to further reduce fire risk. The floor could be dirt or crushed granite, but I was quite intrigued by the end-grain wood floor over crushed rock and compacted sand in another thread here. Anyone here build a small smithy like this? Say about 8 by 12 feet? Did you do a gabled roof? Shed roof? All thoughts most welcome!

Thanks for the guidance folks. Frank, your smithing classes look very interesting.

I did a spring search and didn't see what I was looking for after scrolling through about four pages. I need to make a small spring to use in a hand-forged matchlock mechanism. Any advice on steel and procedure for making one, or link to a tutorial? Many thanks.

Thanks John. Say, do you happen to know if you can overanneal? In playing with copper in the past, I have often put a work-hardened chunk in my charcoal forge and heated it to a dull glow, then quenched in water. Seemed to work, but then I had no idea what I was doing.

Just curious what happens if you skip the pickle after annealing a copper piece and proceed to work it. I'll make up some pickle eventually, but am just getting feet wet, so to speak.

Bigfoot: PM sent on the book, and thanks! Kevin: I appreciate your offer. Let me read a little bit to know what basic tools I need. Being the impatient sort, I went out to the shop last night, found a section of tree trunk, gouged out a small circular depression, snipped a small disk out of some 22-gauge copper sheet, grabbed a ball pein and sank a small dish. I'll fiddle around the forge and see if I can't come up with a make-do raising stake ...

"Unfortunately I have already picked up 5 more sledge heads to do this again, sigh... " Thomas, you certainly have a knack!

Stumbled onto some YouTubes on sinking and raising copper cups and bowls and would really like to assemble a half-dozen basic tools. But in poking around, I see pretty high prices on hammers and stakes, etc. Anyone have a favorite source for these basic tools? Favorite book on copper or silver work?

Very nice pieces! I'd love to see what tools you use and how you work your copper.

Beth, you are so kind to offer to send one, but I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble. Do you have any UK dealers you like who make and sell these? Very best, Bill in Oregon, USA Grant: Yeah, kinda like that one. Dang, you have some lovely stuff in your shop!

The guy in the middle of this Victorian smithy is wearing what used to be called a college beanie, kind of what I had in mind: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.victorianweb.org/photos/blacksmith.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/work/blacksmith.html&usg=__M9r9Qi2xxarfisRnCdMVzDZmqy4=&h=493&w=720&sz=99&hl=en&start=0&sig2=1vwlC0erFpV3lg-FjqXyzA&zoom=1&tbnid=-VydWwBaz1mqBM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=209&ei=Y7CoTOXJG4m4sQOK0piYDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblacksmiths%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D827%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=396&vpy=129&dur=2941&hovh=186&hovw=271&tx=159&ty=101&oei=Y7CoTOXJG4m4sQOK0piYDA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0 Here's another from the UK: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.haleco.co.uk/images/blacksmiths.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.haleco.co.uk/history.htm&usg=__dzNwDTaGz28P1LOaKxWyRixTckI=&h=281&w=375&sz=72&hl=en&start=226&sig2=4aEjPY4-BVlpWavsiEHz3w&zoom=1&tbnid=OhMkMgQQM38oTM:&tbnh=166&tbnw=224&ei=S7OoTMzjKYS6sQO2uryDDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblacksmiths%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1264%26bih%3D827%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C7351&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=151&vpy=229&dur=1384&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=92&ty=213&oei=Y7CoTOXJG4m4sQOK0piYDA&esq=11&page=11&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:226&biw=1264&bih=827 I just googled blacksmith images. Lots of "newsboy" caps and bowlers, too.

I've done some Google searches on this topic and I get hideous synthetic baseball caps, weird gamer caps and other stuff, but nothing like the short-billed or no-bill cotton or wool caps worn by blacksmiths in the last 150 years. Anyoen have a source?