Bill in Oregon

Smithy1: What thickness and type of steel are you using? Is your work sitting on some sort of sandbag? Just fascinating!

Wolfe: I am down in the Rogue Valley in the hills northwest of Ashland.

Guys: I think I just need to clean out the tuyere, patch a few cracks and not be so stingy with the charcoal ... Will report once accomplished.

Tony: Here is my Tim Lively-style washtub forge set up, with an old Champion No. 40 hand-cranked blower.



Here's another shot of the forge itself. The tuyere pipe runs in one end and out the other and is capped, of course.

Boy, I had a heck of a time getting past dull orange today with my charcoal washtub forge. It's a Tim Lively-style forge with an old Champion No. 40 blower and it took forever to get up to low forging temp. I'm going to clean out the tuyere and try some different fuel. I had been using conifer charcoal from slash burns, but today used a lot of Royal Oak hardwood charcoal, which I thought would burn hotter. But no.

Celtic: Thanks for the link to the broom-making YouTube clip. Just excellent!

Wolf: I am quite impressed. They look well made and very serviceable. Nice touches, and touch mark. I would be proud to have made them.

Bob: My first clubs in the early 1960s were old hickory-shafted and leather-handled forged irons, a 5, a 9 and a putter in a canvas bag. I wonder what wood the Scots and Brits used for their shafts.

FeWood: Very lovely design, well executed with nice joinery! Thanks for the photo.

Bob: I'm interested too. Any Scottish smiths here?

Downloaded the Apple plug ins and the videos load but don't play. I can manually advance the videos, and they look like fabulous stuff.

Yance: I agree with these other fellers. Your axes are up to snuff and commercially viable right out of the gate. Nice work.

WOW!!!

Thanks guys. Piglet, your link led to that Williamsburg nail station. Awesome.
Bill

Any advice on making or having made a simple tool for heading nails? I don't weld, but have a friend who does, if need be. I am just going by what I saw on a couple of Youtube clips. Any particular steel better than another, or will virtually anything work?
On a related note, this topic came up some time ago and someone posted a link to a nail-making station at Colonial Williamsburg. I'm hunting for it, but would appreciate any help.
Thank you in advance.

Dave: Love the video. Clear and concise instruction. Makes me want to crank up the Champion blower ...

This from frontierfolk.net, an 18th-century re-enactors' board,where the news first emerged:

"Mike was hosting the annual packin this weekend. several of us showed up at his house to find it locked up. Thinking he had taken off with another friend who had come up earlier we got the key and went in. To make a long story short , we found him dead in bed.

I was fortuniate to have known mike for over 30 years and have counted him as not only my friend but my best friend. He was in my wedding, let me whine and cry on his shoulder, even slapped me upside the head to help me come back to reality. Mike was more then my friend he was closer to me then my own brother. There was never a better man to ride the river with. Mike had his own code to live by: love your family and friends and help others who want to help themselfs.

I think God took him from us now because he needed a good blacksmith to help shore up the pearly gates; and he is sure getting one of the best

Al Nielsen"

My anvil will ring indeed. My acquaintance with Mike was only through this and a couple of other boards -- muzzleloadingforum.com and historical trekking. But I feel like I have lost an old friend. And I am 56, which makes the whole thing even sadder for me.
Bill in Oregon

Heard on another forum that Mike Ameling, "Mikey that grumpy old German blacksmith," has died. Anyone have details? Very, very sorry to hear this.




Obituaries Michael Ameling (August 26, 1953 - October 23, 2009)

Michael Ameling, age 56, of Dorchester, Iowa, died on Friday, October 23, 2009, at his home, from natural causes. Private family services will be held at a later date.

Pascalou: The last grizzly in Oregon was killed in 1912 near here (southern Oregon). We have abundant black bears, many of which will go well over 200 kg/450 pounds. I hope to go bear hunting in the next couple of weeks after the heat moderates (it will be 104 degrees F today). Two coworkers have killed bears in the past two weeks.

Pascalou: You have a wonderful eye for line and texture. The base is almost as amazing as your bruin. Wish you had a YouTube clip of forming the bear.

I'm another admirer of that bench. Elegantly simple.

Man, those are some lovely hammers. I recently ordered a couple of hammers from Blacksmiths Depot (have neither the money nor the skill to justifya really nice hammer) and between the two -- their Czech/Hofi style and a Peddinghaus 1500-gram Nordic-- I much prefer the Nordic. Can't say why.

I am a long way from having the skills to do any of this, but was wondering if the more skilled folks here have smithed any gun parts -- locks, hammers, springs, triggerguards, etc., primarily for muzzleloaders. I'm looking at schuetzen-style fingerlevers for a Martini, and am trying to imagine the steps for making such a piece.

Thanks Chris. Like your Web site, especially shop dog Sparky!

Hammerkid: Where do you find an eye punch?