Frosty

Looks like cast iron to me but malleable cast iron isn't the same as cheap Chinese ASO cast iron. This is all I found regarding the manufacturer and it looks like there were financial issues over quite a bit of it's history. http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=3485&tab=0 I didn't see anything about anvils or other blacksmithing tools or equipment but I'd say from your picture they made anvils at least. Frosty The Lucky.

You're progressing pretty well for not having hands on instruction. when you say you're judging the al temp by incandescence, incandescence of what? Certainly NOT the aluminum, it should barely show color in night time dark. Judge it's readiness to pour by how it feels when you stir it. You DO stir it in the crucible, at least when mixing the flux, yes? Molten aluminum has a distinctive feel when it's the right temp to pour, getting it hotter doesn't help and often makes things much worse. Next time melt at least 50& more than you think you'll need. Weigh the most complete one you've cast and add at least 50% more to the melt. That is why you make ingot molds after all. BECAUSE there is always extra melt and you'd be crazy to let it freeze in the crucible. Yes? Make ingot molds from angle iron in lengths about 1/2 the depth of your crucible. Weld a bunch touching sides between a couple pieces of strap stock. You don't need to weld the ends solid the al will solidify before much can leak through a tight contact fit. Once the ingots are cooled flip it over so it bangs on the ground and the ingots will fall right out. Muffin tins work but pressed steel ones don't last very long but cast iron ones don't take to being banged. Then again I've seen corn bread pan ingots in the shape of little cobs of corn. Soooo. Frosty The Lucky.

Now there's a thought. Keep a nest or 5 of domesticated packrats behind the back stop at the gun range to collect the jackets, and lead for scrap value. No, I'm not forgetting casing at the firing line but those sweep up of the pavement, it makes for easy clean up of the brass you know. Frosty The Lucky.

Bingo Scott! It doesn't show in Vintage Vises. A web search for "Halls Sudden Grip Vise" found that very catalogue page. I've read about the type if not these vises before too, if not here then maybe on one of the vintage tool fora. Thomas probably pointed us to it it'd be right up his alley. I lost track of where that thread lives, probably in the bowels of my old laptop. No matter what the computer tech says they never transfer ALL your data. <sigh> That is a great family story Nimrod, thanks for sharing. I ran it by a current inflation calculator and it looks like it cost around $408.66 in 2024 dollars. I hope you find bench space for it at 79' I'm pretty sure it'd enjoy a couple few more generations hammering away on it. I wonder how it'd far here at 4x the elevation? 380' above mean sea level whatever it is at any given second in the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Beaver CR, tinning and brazing in place sounds good to me. Tinning and clamping parts to be brazed is pretty standard when there isn't space or there is too much distance to rely on the hard solder to flow reliably. Do you use a past bronze? There are products available that are fluxed bronze or almost any alloy hard solder you can spread in the joint, clamp and heat. I've never used one but if I were in the business. . . Frosty The Lucky.

A ballista would be fun. On further thought I have made log cabin tools with leaf spring though not draw knives. Slicks flat, curved, etc. and a couple froes. The froes were kind of different and used for splitting firewood at the stove not making cedar shakes. Frosty The Lucky.

Be nice to turn up something like that digging in our land. Frosty The Lucky.

Or linking another thread because it contains something relevant to the topic being discussed. You see marketers bumping ads so they're always at the top of search results. I run adblock to keep ads and bumpers off my screen but they sneak through anyway. Worse they advertise their marketing "service" boasting of their ability to keep your ad at the top of search results. Targeted advertising is often aimed at one word or combination in a search. I think I'm getting a handle on how Bumping applies to IFI. Frosty The Lucky.

True, like everything the technique should have a "within reason" disclaimer. I don't know of anybody forge welding strap stock edge to edge. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Reindeer, thanks for serving, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a much better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. Telling us once won't stick in our memories after we open another post. Our club has quite a few vets, many are enjoying the therapeutic properties of anvil time. Getting into the zone can be very Zen. What do you want to make or do you have an ultimate goal? We love pics, work, shop, tools and equipment, pets, scenery, anything you'd show a child without having to explain adult stuff. Frosty The Lucky.

One of my stock answers is in a conversation, music came up and asked what my favorite rock group was. Was/is "Sedimentary though metal sedimentary is up there too." You don't do melts in a melter? It doesn't need to be much, just a few insulating firebricks. I don't recommend kaowool unless you rigidize and cover it with a proper refractory or you end up with vitrified ceramic fibers in your breathable air. Frosty The Lucky.

Billy: Your water smelled of sulfur because pyrite is iron sulfide and degrades into rust and sulfur compounds hence aroma. Do you remember how your lady de-stinked your water? IIRC charcoal filters work for sulfur but I'm not sure. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Nimrod, glad to have you. As suggested putting your general location in the header can make all the difference, so much of the draft is location specific. Does your vise advance a little every time you move the handle or do you slide it into contact and tighten it with the handle? I've seen pics of "cam drive" rather than screw vises before but can't find a bookmark in my tools or blacksmithing files. <sigh> I did a quick scan of my favorite vise website but just a quick skim and didn't see the type. However, they answer questions about vises like this gang answers questions about blacksmithing. I don't think Vintage Vises is a commercial site so it should be okay to post here. https://www.vintagevises.com/ Frosty The Lucky.

If you lap the join on rings so they lay flat on the anvil you don't need to weld them on a horn or mandrel. By flat visualize a coil spring cut in a ring with a little overlap. The ends will lay one on the other while the ring lays flat. Yes? Don't let what works for me stop you from using your horn as you wish. This craft is different for all of us, what works for one doesn't mean diddly for others. There are so many ways to do any one thing there is just no telling. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Paul, glad to have you. Do you blacksmith or are you flipping this anvil? Kohlswa are Swedish cast steel anvils and top shelf. As to what it weighs, put it on a bathroom scale and tell us. You don't show what is stamped in the side which is often where the actual as made stats are. Depending on who ordered it made of course. What someone somewhere wrote with a paint stick is pretty useless. The number stamped in the foot could be a company ID, a store stock/model#, etc. It looks to be in excellent condition so unless it's been through a fire and had the temper drawn down to far it should fetch good money. Do a rebound test to see if she's still hard or maybe have had torch damage. Drop a 3/8" - 1/2" ball bearing from 10" and read how far it bounces back up in inches as a %. A Kohlswa in undamaged condition will have a rebound in the 90% range, older ones say 1970 and older will rebound higher. Whatever it weighs if you decide to get into blacksmithing you couldn't ask for a better anvil. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't know what "Bumping" a topic means. Jer

The flat topped horn is sort of a farrier thing so I don't hold it against the anvil. I don't have a lot of use for horns in general, I can turn rings, scrolls, wall hooks, finials, etc. and true them up on the face well enough. After a dozen or two years I discovered about the only thing I used a horn for was a bottom fuller. Of course that's just me, I could be full of it. Frosty The Lucky.

Isn't that a head slapper. Obvious when you think about it but it needs something to get you thinking about it that way. Good search subject, thanks. Frosty The Lucky.

Not bad thoughts. Buy what coal you can because Coal companies are being smothered with regs and many are shutting down domestic sales to escape. Buy extra hardware, nuts, bolts, washers, etc. is standard practice if you've been doing any kind of mechanics. You always drop something you need. UNLESS you have another one on hand. I strongly agree with learn to take breaks BEFORE you NEED one! Working till you're tired, hungry, etc. need a break is a good way to make mistakes that take way too long to correct or hurt yourself. Another thing to add to this don't do it list is. Don't work angry. Anger distracts you from what you are doing, you know that argument that won't go away. Soo you miss something and injure yourself, someone else, ruin a piece, damage a tool or jackpot all the preceding. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't have much use for leaf springs though I have a bunch. I make springs for leg vises and I've made a couple hacks and a hammer face. I have one leaf I use for top and bottom dies for my smithin magician. There's always a piece around if something comes up but if I need to forge something I use coil spring, it's WAY easier than trying to forge anything from leaf. Frosty The Lucky.

Another fire in a major historical landmark during renovations. I hope it isn't a pattern. Frosty The Lucky.

Goodness I'm not making any demands of nor grieving you. When I said I'll pester you when you gripe about long posts, you have a few times and might again. Aren't friends allowed to toss a little crap at each other? Write now and then is like telling guys to write if you find work at the end of the day. You go stretches without posting or PMing and I wonder what you're up to. Sometimes you get pretty down so there's a little concern for a friend in there too. Should I not? I can not turn off caring about people, especially friends. My dream house is a 2 story, false thatch, Craftsman with a corner tower, breakfast nook on the ground floor and reading room study on the second. Bedroom dormers and a fireplace. Though a stone keep with an elevator would work . Treasure hunter of course! Alan Quartermain with Mel Fisher's ship and equipment! Maybe MI5's "Q" to keep everything working above and beyond expected and inventing new stuff. I'll bet Q would have Mel Fisher's treasure hunter outfitted with hover mode and rigged for space in no time. A big chunk of Colorado's Front range would be cool but I think buying all the fossil bearing regions of China and kicking the commy scum out an airlock of Mel Fisher's space,treasure ship, would be even better. I'll have to check the bathroom window, the weather seal glue strip was stuck hard when I put last winter's weather seal on and it was 2 years old then. I'd try acetone but we have vinyl windows and don't want to dissolve the frames even a little bit. Another glorious day here, might make it into the 60s. We almost hit 60 yesterday and a boy can hope for today. We're getting the RV prepped to go into Anchorage to be de-winterized. We'll be cleared for old fart traveling soon! If I get a vote on destination I'm voting for the beach with all the jasper so I can take a slash at knapping stone tools. I've been watching Knap Time pretty steadily and am ready to see if I shave a handle on what he's talking about. Give Mom a hug for me please and don't forget Gina's ear scritching. Jer

Corn meal and baking soda, I like it. I used to trap mice, voles and similar vermin in the goat barn by putting a smear of peanut butter on the inside of a plastic bucket near the top under a handy piece of plastic. The vermin would lean out off the plastic platform, it would tip and dump them into the bucket containing about 4" of soapy water. It was too deep for them to get a foot on the bottom and jump and the dish soap removed their fur's waterproofing so they drowned almost immediately. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't know what I was thinking I did a quick search and the CDC has specific instructions for small spills, 1lb and smaller, that's 2 tbsp. Forget what I said, below is the link to the CDC recommendations. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mercury/docs/Residential_Hg_Spill_Cleanup.pdf After reading that I must have killed myself in my teens! I wonder what they'd say about the Autunite crystals I had in my bedroom? Frosty The Lucky.

Well I suppose we can forgive a little pitting from a lady in the 250yro range. I'm no fan of sharp edges so I like her edges, I have bottom tools if I want a sharp edge or corner. I like the round horn on my Soderfors so yours is attractive to me as well. I'd really like to use her a little to get a feel of the 1770. This is another time I really miss Thomas Powers, he was one of our anvil gurus. If he didn't know off the top, he usually had the info in his library. Frosty The Lucky.