pkrankow

Get the pictures onto your computer first. Hit "more reply options" to find the upload dialogues. Phil

My first pair were worse. They broke. Function really is more important that form. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/15991-one-heat-tong-blank/ Practice, practice, practice. Phil

A roof sounds nice, so does heat. Kinda need walls too... Phil

The hammer face should be dressed like a watch glass, flat in the very center, and curving more towards the edges. There is good information on dressing hammers and their peins in the "knife making class 100" section. A drill press is a nice tool. I have a rather inexpensive model that I use regularly. I use a hand held electric drill, as well as hot and cold punches for making holes. The finish of the hole varies, bit so does the purpose of the hole... Scrapyards that sell to the public are wonderful places (I wish I had one near me). A large piece of steel can be an anvil. Sheet metal can become a forge table, or other work surface, or material to create out of. Bar stock can make decorative items and tools. Car parts like springs (coil or leaf) can become tools or blades since it hardens well (typically coil and leaf springs from cars and trucks are 5160, but not always) You can frequently find complete assemblies such as blowers, or even machines that just need some cleanup. There are sound arguments for buying new steel for items you will sell, but practice on scrap since you will make a bunch of scrap before you make good, nice things. When selecting steel from the scrap stream, pay attention to coatings on the metal. Rusty metal, with nice "red" rust is generally safe, but some coatings are quite dangerous. Metal fume fever is not pleasant. "If it don't rust, don't trust." Phil

Wash it first...

A pole barn with open wood joists is used by a couple blacksmith groups that I am aware of. The area around the forge is protected by a hood. You want at least 12 feet headroom (3.6 meters) for if you have a striker. Look for a lump of steel that weighs about 50kg for an anvil. High carbon is better, mild steel is OK. Cast iron is bad since it is very soft (less rebound than concrete). Railroad rail, truck axles, forklift tines die blocks, railroad car couplers and similar pieces are excellent for anvils. Large mild steel slugs or drops are pretty good. I have a 30# (14 kg) slug of mild steel as a small anvil for when I have guests. If you can score a blower from a clothing dryer, or a furnace or water heater exhaust fan you will have a much better blower than a hair dryer. Claw hammers are not a good choice. Ball pein, cross pein, drilling, and small sledge hammers are better choices. The 2-3 pound range (900g-1500g) is suitable for most people depending on your physical condition. You may want larger or smaller. The faces will need dressed with file, sandpaper, or grinder. Files are old devices that have been used prior to electric grinders. They work very well, but are slower than power tools. Welcome aboard! IFI is represented world wide, and your general location may help with getting better answers to your questions. There may also be a group of blacksmiths who you can meet with near your location. It would help if a location was put into your profile. Phil

You can bake it to draw the temper on it as a mass (per your new-found knowledge). If it is too soft after that then you can normalize, re-harden, and temper per your new found knowledge. An extra round of drawing temper at the correct temperature won't hurt anything. Phil

I have used corian for some small projects in the past and did not have a problem. One-off projects, drilling several holes, trimming to fit, and rounding the edges. Nothing complex, most were access covers for a boat, some with equipment cutouts. I did not have a chipping problem. The only power tool was a drill. Phil

I was thinking making a spring swage with that shape and a slight curve for the top die...but seeing that, and VaughnT's comment, I wonder why need a top die? I look forward to seeing a set of tongs with this profile. Phil

For limited runs common tooling will cut it fine. Block plane, chisel, drills, woodworking tools... It will dull a tool in a hurry, but not in a single cut. Carbide tools are probably desirable for "mass" production. Phil

Offset tongs are quite useful. They work well with long and short pieces of stock since the stock passes the pivot without interference, so you can hold closer to where you are working than at the very end of the bar. I have a couple pair of offset tongs that get grabbed first too. Phil

Figure out what brand names are common, reliable, and parts easily available. Hobart, Miller, Lincoln, ESAB, and a few others qualify around here, and probably there too. Look for a USED machine in a price range you can afford, assuming you have access to power for it. A MIG that can use gas shield can be switched to flux core with little effort. Flux core wire feed probably has the flattest learning curve, but the learning curve for any of these processes is quite reasonable. with wire feed you probably will be laying decent beads in a few minutes by following the manual. An AC/DC stick welder is the most versatile electric welder, since changing process for different materials or applications is as simple as changing the machine settings and picking up a different stick. Stick is a bit harder to master, but fairly easy to learn the basics on a single rod. You probably will need to make some practice welds and burn up a pound or two of rod before doing a project. (There are a wealth of comparable AC only rods for most applications, so don't rule out AC only machines if your budget demands it) Otherwise you should skip buying a machine for now and register for some classwork, use the school machines, then after becoming proficient decide what machine you will buy for yourself. Phil

My ring is stout sheet metal, about 1/16 inch (#16?) or maybe a little thinner, with decorations pierced into it. It has 1/2 x 1/8 bar stock welded to the top and bottom as rims, and the ends of these bars have joggles so the rim forms a nice circle from 4 pieces. The 4 pieces are fastened with 1/4-20 bolts welded on as studs. I bought it at the store, it is a rather inexpensive unit. The bolts are welded onto the back of the bars, and at least one stud has broke. I probably will have to make a repair to several places on it next time I need to move it, but it hasn't moved in a couple years since it is big enough to just clean with a shovel being about 3 ft across. At my mother in law's we use cinder blocks. The bottom row is on the sides so air goes through, the top row is upright to contain the fire better. 5 bricks per side with an overlap. The top row is running bond fashion to the lower row. Every few fires a brick crumbles, but it works well for burning debris and later roasting marshmallows, hot dogs, and brats. The fire dept has looked at it and gave their approval too. Phil

Yes. The hardy hole is a horrible stress concentrator. Sharp corners, reduced mass, thin area of the anvil... It looks like it should be OK, but that's not much shoulder. If it jams up where it takes a sideways tap to free it you need to improve the shoulder. Phil

Next time you could upset into your anvil or bolster a bit farther. Chilling the end you need to draw out means the upset occurs more where you want it, and have less work to draw the tool back out. The shoulder looks adequate. If you find it is jamming up then you need to do something. Laying a couple weld beads like PPP suggests is simple, if you wrap the working end in a wet rag the heat treat should survive too. Phil

That's CHEET'N! Nice fuller. Really. If you have the pre-formed material, use it! If you sharpen it you have a cutoff. I am positive more could be done. You could hinge a piece on so it becomes a joined top and bottom swage if you want. Phil

Maybe you can use a hot chisel and make a groove in the hole where the drift needs to move to one side. When you drift the relief of the groove will cause the hole to open towards the desired side. Still might end up making a smaller hammer due to removing stock that is off balance, or a throw away and start over. Phil

Keep on Craigslist, Ebay, and other exchange websites like freecycle and stuff. Have CASH IN HAND when you go get. Set a budget and stick to it. You really want about 150# or bigger, paying $3 or less, with edges dressed like the FAQ on anvilfire.com or sharp and clean like your reface is. (BTW, you do need to dress those edges on that reface) Now while you are waiting for your luck to happen, load up your luck. Talk to EVERYBODY about your desire to get an anvil. Start with family, friends, the grocery clerk...move up to other people like the preacher, and everybody else you know and meet on a regular basis, then ask EVERYBODY ELSE you talk to. Someone might just have an anvil sitting in their basement or garage that you can take from their hands for the pleasure of not tripping on it again (in other words, come and get FREE). Someone else might have an anvil that they can part with for reasonable money, but didn't know they wanted to sell since no one asked. You never know unless you ask. This is TPAAAT and it should return a thread from the search box at the top right. That is Thomas Powers Applied Anvil Acquisition Technique. Phil

Heck, post pictures of it filthy as you load it up! Phil

If I remember properly the anvil for a blaker is around 400#, so about 180 kg. The anvil is considered good quality. The only thing funky about it is the cutout that allows for half-hammer blows from the power hammer. If you need or want a "big" anvil and have 200 euro, get it. It looks like the stand is included, so bonus. The stand is not light either. You will need handling equipment such as a hoist, or you and 3 strong friends, to set this up. http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?38990-Big-Anvil According to Thomas Powers his anvil is 515# Phil

I believe that is for a Blacker hammer. It may be a Fisher anvil, I am not sure if other companies supplied the anvil. Phil

Not one piece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3UjV1BxErc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-aYj_gEbKw Phil

Lipstick on a pig...but I think you have a keeper. I think that was an ASO and now is an anvil, but just barely at 50% rebound. Did you learn a whole lot on this project? Are you satisfied with the results? If so you paid tuition, and it was worth it. The education may be worth more than the anvil though. Phil

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/21172-pinecone-door-knocker/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/15540-pine-cones-wip/ Either there isn't much or my google-fu is weak today. Phil

Has a set of replacement wear parts been priced out VS materials + labor? It is possible that wear facing done properly will last significantly longer than the original material but that won't be known till it is put in service and used for a time. According to a brochure google handed me linked from Deere.com the tines on a "RA 1084 arena rake" are "high carbon" so preheat and post heat are probably necessary. It is probably better to remove the parts from the rake to do the necessary heating. Phi.