K. Bryan Morgan

Well it didn't end. Not yet anyway.

I used to have a 1/4 ton Dodge Ram Van. Late 80s model if I remember right. I used to fill it with 2 tons flooring tiles on a regular basis. So only over loaded by a factor of 4. I would go through a set of brakes in 3 months. When I bought it It had 136,000 miles on it. When I got rid of it finally it had 250,000 miles on it. That was the most profitable $1000 I ever spent.

PICTURES! We like them. Welcome to the madness. Get ready for a wild ride.

Mine is just a slider switch for a table lamp I bought at a big box store. Plug into the switch and plug the switch into the wall.

I've been using a dimmer switch on a cheap shop vac in sub 0 temps for over 3 years. Shop vac and dimmer switch are fine. Last winter we got down to -79F. I just want to point out that I was NOT forging at that temp. I love blacksmithing. But there are limits as to how cold I will go out to the shop. :huh:

I use a shop vac with a dimmer switch. Works great.

Break fluid is dangerous stuff. Inhaled it can cause brain and lung damage. I can only think that used as an etchant it would not be very good.

Welcome to the madness. Strap in and get ready for a wild ride!

I would deffinatly take one at least and stick it in a 5 gal bucket of concrete for a post anvil. Many people use anvils just like that with great success.

I'm with Dave on the mount them on end and use them as a small anvil. It would work very well that way.

A typical fire pit is going to be too large to forge in. In my opinion. Better to make a purpose built solid fuel forge.

John is channeling Thomas. :P

do you mean like this? or this?

Prayers for you and your family. And best wishes from ours.

Very nice corner. I gotta try that.

I always thought PHD stood for Post Hole Digger. :P

I worked construction for over 30 years then my knees gave out on me. You can work on my crew anytime. That is very good work. Well done.

I think you should build it. Taking pictures as you do of course. Fire it. Heat metal in it. Then do a post on your results and what you like about it. What you don't like about it, and what you would do differently next time.

I see what you mean Thomas, thank you.

Or move to Alaska. Outside city limits here there are no building codes. Build it strong enough to withstand the weather and your golden. Technicall;y this is not true there are national building codes, but local areas may not enforce them

http://www.abana.org...erticalVise.pdf

Thank you Metalmangler and Dancho. I have some larger bits of carbon steel I'll think on it some more and see what i can come up with.

Dancho, I really like this style of knife. I have some wrought iron and have been thinking about sandwiching some around some bandsaw blade I have. Is it difficult to weld? And at what temprature do you weld it at? The temprature for the wrought or the temprature for the bandsaw blade? Thats something I've often wondered about. Thank you for showing this, your craftsmanship is very good. I always enjoy your postings.

I say take Brian up on his generous offer and hammer to your hearts content. I'm often confronted with, "should I or should't I" thoughts. I really have to go it alone here and the only place I've learned much is on this site and some books. Don't get me wrong, I've learned plenty. With the unselfish contributions to this site by all the smiths here. This is a treasure for the blacksmiths community. I am a strong proponent of "just do it". If I don't get out there and hammer, I won't learn a thing. I learn from my mistakes and failures. There have been plenty. The closest help, I've been able to find, is close to 400 miles away. But thats what I get for living where I live. So, I try my best to do as much as my bad knees will allow. In my experience breaker bits make good tools.

Nicely done, I really like it.