MarkC

well, those brackets around the box are riveted to the box, and the brackets do not slide off the scrolls, they were welded together after being put on the scrolls. and the post is in the ground 3 feet. If they can get any of it loose, THEY DESERVE IT!

Ken, well why'd you move to NC??? Got sick of shoveling snow??? just kiddin. i'm getting pretty sick of winters, myself.

man, thanks a lot guys, it means a lot! Randy, no not straight through, but just about. toward the end i worked 12 hour days for about 2 weeks.

Remember that there are as many ways to get hurt as there are to make beautiful work. Be mindful of your safety, wear eye and hearing protection, and get a good leather apron and sturdy boots. Keep a water barrel or bucket handy at all times and a filled garden hose or fire extinguisher nearby. A wise man once said somewhere in this forum, "a splash from the quench bucket now will keep the big red trucks from coming later". I do not light my forge until I turn on the water to my shop hose. First the water, then the forge. No exceptions. This is an awesome hobby, extremely rewarding. But never forget that you can be seriously injured or killed if you don't keep safety in mind at all times. The coolest hobby in the world is no use if you have a broken hand or a sliver of iron in your eyeball. Read, and then go do what you read! No substitute for going out and trying things. For tongs, go into every antique shop you can find. they always have a few pairs of blacksmithing tongs around.

Doug has a question about a book and the GOSH DARNED author comes right up and answers it. Blacksmithing is unlike any other profession in the world. Enough to give ya goosebumps.

thanks, don. I am ashamed to say the balusters are welded in. I had a few different ideas to join the balusters, one was mortise and tennon, one was to punch and drift the subrail and pass the balusters through and then terminate them in vines on the other side... ultimately the job was for a good friend and I had to resist spending more of his money on my time. my compromise between budget and form, and to still come out with something I would be proud to put my name on, I welded the balusters in, and then ground and filed and feathered each weld, so the balusters smoothly drop down from the subrails, like a funnel.

semi-original design (bracket loosely based on the design of a professional smith I found on the web)

yes, I did the whole project with ths vulcan arm & hammer. Bought it to try to keep the noise down at my new shop. I like the anvil, and I'm glad I was able to judge a cast body/steel face anvil for myself, rather than listening to all the bad hype. It is much quieter and the recoil is only slightly less. Won't be throwing away the peter wright any time soon, though. I'm kind of new to smithing (3 years). This project was my first time doing many procedures and i'm pretty thrilled at the results. Total production time was about 6 weeks. Nothing like jumping into the deep end to force yourself to learn more.

I already posted this project, but i got some better detail pics. i've gotten enough ideas from other smiths' posts over the years . . . might as well give back what i can. I repeat that the ribbon twist is not an original design, the idea was taken from the web. Don't know the name of the smith to give credit (i cant find the photo again on google search!!)

Ok this is what I ended up with. "Glisten PC" made by POR-15. It is a two-part clear coat. You have to mix a hardener with the actual clear coat. I assume it is epoxy based, or some such. The stuff is great!! It is among the "pricey" clear coats, but it is not as pricey as some of the other stuff I saw suggested on the metal art forums when i was doing my search. $58.00 for a one-quart kit, which easily handled two coats on all four of the railings for my project. You can brush the stuff on rather than spray, which is suggested (or required) on a lot of the automotive clears, catalyzed urethanes, etc. It's like painting with an epoxy, not like paint, but it flows well and it does not get brush strokes, period. easy to get runs, though. You can put this over a painted surface, or over crystal smooth chrome, and it will stick just fine. With 3 coats, this stuff is fine for salt-water marine use. (exactly what I needed, with this project being in the center of snow-and-rock-salt Boston and 1 mile from the Atlantic Ocean). The company says when the stuff cures, you can hit it with a hammer and it won't crack. I'm completely sold. I'll be using this stuff for everything (well... everything that is a job for hire. too expensive to use on small personal projects!) Works on all metals, ferrous and non ferrous. There aren't many POR-15 distributors around, but a phone call to them will find you the nearest one (instead of waiting to order online). I happened to have one 20 mins from my house. GLISTEN PC-POR-15 Inc.

HAHA, no, I wish I clenched my teeth! When I am super-concentrating at the anvil sometimes I find myself sticking the tip of my tounge out just a tiny bit, like a little kid concentrating in a cartoon. I am just waiting to burn my darned tounge. lol, like this kid:

pretty sweet. do you know what the plate was from?

john lavelle, thanks for that. john (jevaccaro), cant possibly thank you enough for all that. i'm going to print the whole thing and follow step by step. thanks again, mark

thanks guys... positive feedback always means so much more coming from folks who know how much goes into it.

well that settles it, you sure shut me up! best of luck again

I never leave something "good enough" if there is time available to fix it. It's always worth just starting over and getting it RIGHT. My work is made by MY hands, and is a direct reflection of MY craftmanship, attention to detail, and my PRIDE of workmanship. The only time I leave something "good enough" is when there is ABSOLUTELY no time to re-do it, and then I make the best of it and work the "good enough" piece until it's the best "good enough" I can possibly get. I would always eat the time and cost to get something right. When I say "no time" I mean that the final deadline is closing, and there is literally no time. attention to detail is all the difference

Hi Derek, I'm a full time fire guy and HazMat operator, degree in fire protection and safety technology. I am not a preachy kind of guy and so I am not going to preach... but you've definitely got to measure your quantity somehow, either by weighing it or by some other method, and not fill over 80% capacity. You can be sure and certain that filling over 80% is way, way more dangerous than any salty old timers would have you believe. I cannot tell you how much this is stressed in chemistry of hazardous materials courses. I won't drone on about why it's so dangerous, but believe me when I tell you, it is plenty dangerous, no matter how lucky we all may have been over the years. And don't forget the most important little gem of information when working with propane: that the vapor is heavier than air, and isn't venting off harmlessly, but rather is hugging the ground seeking an ignition point and an explosive mixture. Our fun loving friend Propane would just love to make orphans out of all our kids. Ok I said I wouldn't preach.

with a drift you need a long taper back to the final size, to make it easier to hammer through and reshape the hole. you do not even need to use tool steel for a drift, because it isn't a punching tool, just used to reshape, refine, or resize a hole. you can use mild steel if you quench often. graphite lube is nice too. for the best lesson and info, use the uri hofi blueprint. his method is fast and easy. don't have the blueprint number handy, but if you go through mr hofi's blueprints, you'll find it easily.

thanks pine tar, yeah i cooked them up, but i didn't design that ribbon twist on the front. The customer found a photo of that on the WEB and he liked it and wanted it on there, but he wanted it changed a bit from the original photo he found. I do not know who the smith was that made that original twist, but I readily give him or her the credit he or she deserves for coming up with it, because it is beautiful. and was a chore to duplicate.

woops, sorry for the technical difficulties.

well, here ends my first job for hire. and MAN AM I GLAD IT'S OVER! haha The builders liked the drawing so much, they decided to have me build them as the front entry railings instead. i was certainly fine with that.

Dear Mike, I didn't know you from a hole in the wall. But you were a smith, and so I am positive you were a good man. Goodbye and God bless your soul.

if that is correct, what a sad day. does someone know where he is from, so we might check the obituaries, get the service information, etc.

to see what you need, google "post vise" or "leg vise"... they are the same thing, and that is what's used in blacksmithing. It's a vise with a solid leg that goes all the way to the floor, and serves as a base for the jaws, so that you can pound something in the vise and have the energy directed to the solid floor, as with an anvil. it is (usualy) attached to a workbench at the rear, but that only serves to keep it from falling over. the strength comes from the leg. prices vary widely, but usually expect to spend a couple hundred bucks (maybe can pick up a decent one for 150 or less). bottom line, any vise will work as you are getting started, but if you are going to look to spend cheap money and get a standard machinists vise at a flea market, at least get the heaviest one you can find, that way it will remain useful to you down the road in other capacities. even if you have a great post vise, everyone still needs a machinists vise in the smithy. so get a heavy one. when I got started, I didn't want to spend hundreds on a post vise, so I got a machinists vice and built a triangular stand for it, like a portable pipe vise that oil yard welders use. the thing is great, I still use it for a lot of things.

the quick setting mortar was the final outcome, after lengthly conversations with the builder. thanks again everyone. mark