lordcaradoc

I got to see the new Pappa Rhino's at the NWBA Spring conference this last weekend and they are deffinitely on my wish list. Steve brought them and did work on them all weekend, plus a spare to let us try them out. Good ring and great rebound. Now, I just gotta figure out a way to raise the funds. Maybe a kickstarter campaign. :D Regards, Tim

I think the quote that killed the show for me (I watched it again last night before deleting it) was describing Uri's hammer as weighing ten pounds. I knew at that point that it was mostly fluff and not blacksmithing for the two hours. I'm with John McPherson, Meh.

So, did anyone else see this History Channel show last weekend? I happened across it and it shows Jesse James of Custom Motorcycle fame going to to Israel to study blacksmithing with Uri Hofi then come home to Texas to build a custom bike from an old Midge Racer motor. I DVR'd it, only lost a few minutes at the beginning. I did find this video of Jesse in his smithy making a bottle opener for a news lady: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/jesse-james-blacksmith-13522615 but I can't find the any video of the show itself. Regards, Tim

Sounds nice, looking forward to pictures. :D

I have a formula a friend posted to You Tube about. Its 2 parts Beeswax, 2 parts turpentine and one part boiled linseed oil. Here's the video: Beeswax Coating for Metalsmiths I use an old crock pot myself as it is easily self contained and keep it in a tin I got from Goodwill. Regards, Tim

I don't know what I could do with the digital stuff from the control panel. All I really need is the speed control and a little time making a wooden case for it, any suggestions? :D

Today, I went to pick up a free working treadmill I found on Craigslist. Being older, I plan on eventually cannibalising it for the motor and speed control on a 2x72 knife grinder. While I was there, I found they had been cleaning out their shop getting ready to move and there was a treasure trove of other things they gave me as well. Treadmill Splitting maul Axe two splitting wedges Pick head Three Fire Extinguishers (two that work and the third that might be rechargable) A small table saw with a broken table (the motor is still good.) A campfire cooking set (toasting fork, stand and pot rest) a big heavy-duty bench vise an iron casting ladle a cast-iron griddle a cast iron casserole dish (?) I've never seen one of these before A large saw blade a small bullet level various small blocks of mild steel (I think) and a short chunck of 2”x4” tubing a cherry stair tread and another block of cherry.

Those are really nice Dave. :D

That is so cool. You are right, why didn't we think of this before? :blink:

Now now gentlemen, he just finished getting things 'organized' give it a few weeks to get back to normal. I clean my shop at least twice a year, sort of the broken clock theory, only on an annual basis. Keith, I applaud your motivation. Not to get the shop organized, any fool can avoid work with that excuse, but to make the wife happy. "happy wife..happy life" indeed and I bet this will soften her up for your next large tool purchase too. Regards, Tim Who spends less time in the shop than I'd like, but most of that is keeping my Wife and Daughter happy and its all worth it. :rolleyes:

Well, you could consider that copper and brass an investment now, My slab of Brass was $3.00/lb. and one of the guys there said it had come down. You could watch the prices and reap a windfall while cleaning out the shop some. Regards, Tim P.S. - Or you could ship some of it to me, I particularly want a thick plate of copper as a cushion when using a hot cut. :D

Ganman, Another good piece of advise that I haven't see here yet is to tell everybody you know that you are getting into Blacksmithing. Don't ask for stuff, necessarily, just let them know how enthused you are to be doing this and it will amaze you how quickly things will fall out of barns on your front step, or somebody's Grandfather was a smith and there might be some tools in the barn you could have or buy cheap. Also, and this is a help to many of us, go edit your profile to show at least the town and province you are in. It could lead to meeting other blacksmiths in your area who can help a great deal. Regards, Tim

Went to the local scrap/metal dealer this weekend. I picked up a couple 20' sticks of round stock 3/8" & 1/2", a 24" length of 1" square for hardy tools and they had a slab of surplus brass just over 1/4" thick that weighs 13 lbs. I don't think I'll be needing knife furniture metal any time soon. It should work really well for many different applications. Regards, Tim

Unforgivun, Nothing to knock, I started with less and my second anvil was very similar. Now I have a 100# Fisher and I'm happy as can be, but I did a lot of good work with the previous anvils. Keep at it and know that now, you can be patient for a traditional anvil. Regards, Tim

I won't tease you about your anvil, many people have started with worse, including me. Work with what you got is one way to put it. I will tease you about that dog looking like "What are you pointing that thing at me for?" kind of look. Regards, Tim

Oh, I haven't touched it and now that I know there isn't anything to find, I won't. At least I know more than I did. The anvil was a gift from a friend who has since lost his battle with cancer, so it will stay within our circle of friends and not be sold. Regards, Tim

Mainly is there a serial number on them, I've looked and without stripping off what looks like protective coating, the only thing is the raised '100' on the foot. Regards, Tim

Wow, thanks for the I.D. Now I gotta go see what info I can find. Any pointers for nailing it down more specifically? Regards, Tim

All I know about my anvil is that it was an "Army" anvil. No ring, but the rebound is fantastic. I know it's cast as the 100 on one foot is raised. It also has bolt hole projections on opposite corners of the base. Right now, I am using an old Civil Defense water storage can filled with sand and the avil is bolted to a chunk of plywood to keep it floating on top. I can't really find any other markings on it. Regards, Tim

Well, I'm finally getting back into the habit of swinging a hammer and boy are my skills feeling rusty. I was able to make a couple very useful things and now I need to go brush up on my hammer technique. Both for the moving of metal efficiently and for the soreness I felt. Over the last couple weeks, I finished a handle for my wire brush and a Froe from an old broken leaf spring. Any critiques and advice are welcome. Regards, Tim P.S. - if any want more pics of my finally set up shop, let me know.

Doug, You can also modify store bought hammers. And by store bought, I include all the hammers you can find in pawn shops and flee markets and even at the scrap yard as heads. I have a three pound sledge I picked up at Harbor Freight a couple years ago when I was starting out. It had two sorta round, flat faces with bad finishes. One side I used a flap-disk in my angle grinder (slower stock removal to keep the face cooler) and made a rounding hammer out of it. I also cleaned up the other face. I recently rehafted it too as the Chinese manufacturing process only has wood about 2/3 of the way through the head and then they epoxy the rest. I use that and my cross peen hammer from Sears and even that needs some work. My next goal is to find some ball peen hammers to work with and over time, I would love to make my own, but work with what you got. Heck, I just watched a very cool video by Brian Brazeal on Youtube about making tongs and his hammer (of course he made it himself) was like a very shallow straight peen, so I am thinking of making something like that too and maybe squaring the other face of one of those Chinese made sledge hammers again. Best regards, Tim

It may be. On more thought, I think it was an episode of Woodwrights shop and he showed one of the nail header anvils used. Maybe he was mixing the information? I love Jeffersonian history, but I hadn't heard about him writing up a business plan using slaves to make nails. I guess that would have helped make such a labor intensive process cost effective. Regards, Tim

That was kinda my point on how it was done in the 18th C, that everything salvageable would have been kept for the next building. Nails were expensive when you had to make them one by one. I remember hearing about (and this is decades later) Thomas Jefferson's smithy at Monticello how apprentices spent lots of time doing nothing but drawing out wire and making nails at one point. Regards, Tim

OK, I can see the need and at least they are doing the reconstruction with 18th C methods utilizing the craftsmen there. Regards, Tim

CAD stands for Computer Aided Design. Regards, Tim