Marcus Hopfinger

I love it...simple yet elegant. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice.

I think that is where the magnetic oil pan heater could be a good thing. Attach it to the body of the anvil that isn't hardened and only the conducted heat would reach the face plate...I am sure that if that heater got hot enough you could conduct enough heat to be a concern but if it is on the body you should be able to better regulate the heat--compared to a heat source directly on the face--so it doesn't get that hot. Then again a steam iron or magnetic oil pan heater may not get hot enough to be a concern.

Any thoughts on a magnetic oil pan heater stuck to the anvil? If I had a nice solid 200# chunk of steel for an anvil I am guessing it would retain its heat for some time but mine would cool off rather quickly I am afraid and I would have to spend as much time heating the anvil as I would the work. Even with an more massive anvil one of these heaters might help keep it toasty all day.

Thank you for clearing that up. As long as I pre-heat the anvil I should be good to get some work done yet this winter....as long as I can stand the cold.

I was wondring the same thing myself..."how cold is to cold to do forge work"....I have an uninsulated, unheated garage but the temp does get sub-zero in there and I was wondering if pulling a piece out of the forge into the sub-zero air would cool the piece too quickly to get anything accomplished. I am hoping that in a couple years I can section the "shop" part off and insulate and heat it but that is some years away.

Beautiful job on the roses...fantastic idea.

Maybe a "Hot Pocket" or a small snack then. B)

Very nice.

Maybe you could use it to bake up a pizza for lunch while you work? Perhaps Frosty's dessert pizza.

Prayers from South Dakota.

Here is another link that you may want to check out. It has quite a bit of info on the site on building gas forges.

Reading about your elbow makes me wince just thinking about it. Make sure you are doing any stretching that your doctor recommends and go easy. The projects look great!

Prayers from South Dakota

Hoping you have a speedy, and thorough, recovery.

Prayers for your wife and for your safety going out.

When I used to be in the MN National Guard I drilled in Morris, MN. We had a couple shooting matches I participated in. One in Fergus Falls and I think the other was in Alexandria.

I have seen a few from MN on here. I don't live in MN but just across the border, in SD, about five miles from Hendricks, MN. What part of MN are you located?

400#s isn't much different than having a couple large friends sitting in the back...sure the weight is behind the axel if it is the trunk and the leverage is different. Just don't pack much else back there and try to get the weight as far forward in the trunk as possible, make getting the anvil one of the last things you do so it isn't bouncing around for such a long time and if you are still a bit worried then drive a heavy duty truck to the wedding. ;)

There was an auction a couple weeks ago that is just a hop skip and a jump from where my house that i was interested in going to. There was a section on the sale bill with blacksmithing equipment and other shop tools. They advertised a large anvil (no weight listed so it is anyones guess what the auction company defines as large) a portable forge and other blacksmith tools. Top billing on the sale bill was antiques. I was planning on going but some pressing matters came up that prevented me from going....that was probably a good thing since my anvil fund is underfunded at the moment....I am trying to convince myself that the anvil and other tools were probably in terrible shape and the antique collectors that were there bid the prices through the roof so I didn't miss out on a great deal....that is what I am trying to convince myself anyway. Fortunately I don't know of anyone who went to the auction so they can't tell me there were great tools that sold for a song....so as far as I am convinced they were in rough shape and bought by some little old lady for an obscene price to put in her flower garden....that is my delusion and I am sticking to it. :blink:

Wow, I had the same experience this weekend. I snapped a couple photos with my cell phone. Is this similar to the one you found? It was priced $35.

You mention he trades in "mountain man" stuff...is this for rendezvous/buckskinning or more decorative/tourist type of sales? If it is for rendezvous/buckskinning I would think that the beeswax finish would be much more desireable as it would be more authentic. Even if it is just for decorative use or sales to non-reenactor types a more traditional treatment would probably be more appealing I would think.

From news.com.au English fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett says he was so excited after being knighted by the Queen that he decided to make his own sword to equip himself for his new status. It was not enough, however, simply to find some metal and get a blacksmith to bash it into shape. Pratchett, believing the sword would not truly be his own unless it was made from metal he had produced, found a field with deposits of iron ore near his home in Wiltshire, west of London. He gathered the deposits and smelted the iron ore himself. The author, 62, who has sold about 65 million copies of his books, which include the Discworld series, said: "Most of my life I've been producing stuff which is intangible and so it's amazing the achievement you feel when you have made something which is really real." With help from his friend Jake Keen — an expert on ancient metal-making techniques — the author dug up 81kg of ore and smelted it in the grounds of his house, using a makeshift kiln built from clay and hay and fuelled with damp sheep manure. Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, also said he had thrown in "several pieces of meteorites — thunderbolt iron, you see — highly magical, you’ve got to chuck that stuff in whether you believe in it or not". After days of hammering the metal into bars, he took it to a blacksmith, whom he helped to shape it into a blade, which was finished with silverwork. Pratchett has stored the sword, which he completed last year, in a secret location, apparently concerned about the authorities taking an interest in it. He said: "It annoys me that knights aren’t allowed to carry their swords. That would be knife crime." See Terry's sword....scroll most of the way down the page to see the picture.

Welcome from another IT drone/aspiring smith....some days it is hard to break away from here and attend to my IT job. :rolleyes:

When I was in the military I got in the habit of being clean-shaven but I grew a goatee for our town's 125th anniversary celebration in 2009 then shaved it off again. Last winter I regrew it but shaved it off for the summer...not sure if I will grow it back or not. The wife isn't big on me having one but doesn't mind the look when I do have it....just says it tickles too much.