Frosty

You need a dog Darlin, they tend to soothe all the ungoodness humans are capable of automatically, just by being so enthusiastically happy you're home. I'd attribute the refusal of the "buyer" to ignorance rather than malice. Said person's entire knowledge base is probably based in World Of Warcraft and, "everybody knows," or "It's a well known fact," etc. etc. Pick your favorite red flag for imagined knowledge catch phrase. I've had people tell me quieting my anvils made them worse anvils. You can't argue with ignorance that's convinced of it's expertise. Face to face sales only for me. Period. Frosty The Lucky.

How'd you get it out of the bottle at YOUR shop's normal winter temp? I know it's "heated" but still. . . Frosty The Lucky.

My pleasure, been waiting for a question of smart Alec comment. Too many people don't think moose are dangerous but too many people text and drive too. They only look slow, gawky and clumsy They can graze faster than a person can walk, walk faster than we can run and run down your Chevy in a sprint. An 8' fence is well within their standing jump ability if they don't just plow it down. They're prey animals so they react like prey, fight or flight and they're smarter than they look. They've discovered they do better fighting that fleeing. A big bull weighs in around 1,400-1,800lbs and a cow can run from 900-1,200lbs. Unless it's the rut bulls usually ignore people or wander off. A cow keeps her calves close for about a year and you do NOT want to get near a cow with calves. Bears might take a moose calf if it gets separated from momma or momma will stomp a brown bear AKA grizzly inland, to pulp literally. They wouldn't be good prey animals if they herded up all year instead of just the rut. Yeah, they're very dangerous but you have to be pretty stupid to tangle with one. Make noise walking in the woods and they'll avoid you. Easy peasy. Frosty The Lucky.

It hurts a bitter much to read such sacrilege. I don't even think about what happened to the tooling and machinery that was in Dad's shop when he got closed down. One too many employees and literally over night he owed back taxes for every employee he had for a decade. The shop and everything in it got auctioned. End angry rant about revenuers. Frosty The Lucky.

Inhaling doughnuts is just a saying Seth, don't let Thomas fool you, just because he does. Doughnut fryer oil is the best thing for your shop. People will be wandering in from blocks away for a sample. Be sure to have a nice display of knives on hand. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh yeah. When I think about that anvil type I envision combination tools, closed dies, punches, shears, etc. that mount in two dovetails, one top one bottom tool. OR the top tool(s?) fit the small square holes in the sides. Heck, I'd drill and thread holes so I could mount tooling on the sides. It's enough to get the creative juices flowing isn't it? Frosty The Lucky.

Porcelain sounds good but it's kaolin and unless you want to keep your forge/kiln above 2,000f for a number of hours it isn't going to vitrify. I THOUGHT that's what it did but discovered otherwise, ITC company recommends regular re-coating ovens, kilns, etc. Wet the ceramic blanket before coating or the blanket will dry the wash too quickly and it won't bond well. I have a double lined forge 3/4" hard liner with 1" kaowool outer insulating liner. It's as bullet proof and a concrete dance floor but takes more time and fuel to run. It's a trade off and depends on what you do. Frosty The Lucky.

You're right Mitts, he did, it slipped my mind. <sigh> There are lists of field identifying steel types by artifact: coil spring = x,y,or z. Valve stems = m,p, or q. Torsion bars = t, w, i, or ding. etc. Modern steels change and devices are being performance specced so the specific type of steel isn't as important as it's performance. Makes ID-ing harder. Frosty The Lucky.

Don't sweat it Seth, I like commas too. I get my heat treat oil from the local Safeway, I was hoping for donut fryer oil but got the other. My shop smells like egg rolls when I harden steel. They change oil pretty often and I left a 5gl. jug with them and stopped back every couple days. They were more than happy to give me the oil especially after I told them I'm a blacksmith and use it for hardening tools. The old, "A REAL blacksmith!? They're a dieing breed aren't they?" reaction. Fryer oil from a donut shop would probably smell better but. . . Frosty The Lucky.

Those are made like that to accept an unlimited variety of tooling. Think of the difference like a London pattern anvil = box end wrench and one of these like a socket set. If I'm not mistaken the dovetailed dies are secured with a slip and wedge like power hammer dies. That is just a S-W-E-E-T score Owen, congratulations. Frosty The Lucky.

I've been repeatedly Forbidden from your first thread so this is the Forbidden one's thread. <sigh> Rockstar: I'm really happy to see you jumped in on this thread, I couldn't remember your handle earlier. Snailforge has pretty good plan and practices going already but having a pro in on the planning is a real bonus. This can also be a model for others who want to go pro. Good to see you contributing. Frosty The Lucky.

Ayup, I have a brake can vise and single shot air hammer drawings somewhere. The guys in the heavy duty shop screwed a bolt in one side to lock the spring down. Once they opened it up they could release the spring without it getting away. I never watched them do it nor have I opened one so that's all I know. Oh, there's one other thing I know, don't mess with them unless you know what you're doing, they'll kill you faster than fast. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah a yearling cow moose, right on both those counts. She was eating buds where I'd limbed some firewood. Somewhere Deb has a pic of me blocking out a birch tree and a moose eating the buds at the other end. In winter moose come to the sound of a chain saw, every downed tree makes the buds available to eat. That cow was familiar with us, living on or very near our property so we saw each other almost daily so she wasn't likely to panic at the threat and stomp me to blood pudding. More people in Alaska are killed by moose than all the other animals put together. They have a pretty simple response to threats, do a 1,000lb - 1,800lb tap dance on it till it's not a threat anymore. Frosty The Lucky.

He'll like them, they're nice clean and simple. They have a solid strong weight to them, it's a good look. They're a natural for plank shelving, very attractive. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice gates Andrew. What flower does the beaded stamen ans scroll element represent? I like them a lot. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice score Josh! Is it coated in oil too? Sweet. Frosty The Lucky.

A lot of things show up in pictures you don't notice in person. The lighting is from above so any little dip or angle will cast a clear shadow. I like to carry one of my little LED flashlights with me when garage/yard/whatever saling. My eyes need more light anyway but aiming the light beam so it lays across a surface will reveal microscopic imperfections. Really helpful dickering over price. Frosty The Lucky.

Might be, might not. Somewhere on IFI there's a list of practical tests you can run in the shop to get a handle on it's working properties. A spark test is a decent place to start. Earlier when I asked what the sparks looked like I meant a detailed description of the sparks. Search the site there are threads discussing reading sparks and heck there might even be a chart. Different steels and carbon contents will have different sparks. You can't actually identify mystery steel but you can get an idea of some of it's properties. Old timers used to be able to identify a steel pretty precisely but there were a whole lot fewer alloys and now they probably introduce a few dozen a day. Anyway, spark test it on a grinder and pay close attention to the sparks: Color, length, number, sparklers, how many how far, etc. Frosty The Lucky.

I suppose a hypothetical person who did and didn't get caught. I have no idea what the security screening on freight is like, mail can be pretty tight. IIRC, the USPS has sniffers since the Anthrax incidents, IEDs are a worry as is chem and bio. I don't do chemistry much beyond derusting with phosphoric acid and occasional acid etches. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't know, probably have to call around and find out. EPA has Alaska in a punitive strangle hold on anything environmental. Frosty The Lucky.

Right now you're out shipping and selling fees. Ebay disregarded legitimate authentication documents. Sue THEM, they have the deeper pockets anyway. I'd go for punitive damages for keeping their fee. Frosty The Lucky.

Ah, Forbidden again! Welcome aboard Otter, I'll get the to rest another time. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.

Originally I was going to suggest a raspberry vinegarette Or a home made mayo Cesar. The line under the face plate near the middle is the weld line but if the face isn't dead on those edges then it's not delaminating. It's probably the wrought or cast (I can't remember if an Acme is wrought or cast like a Fisher) eroding faster than the face. I do a lot of work over the edge striking into the body right about there but my go to anvil is cast steel and pretty invulnerable. Do a rebound test on the edges where the weld line is exaggerated like that and get back to us. Sometimes a line is just a line. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a serious bummer, sorry to hear it. Present your cites and documentation of authenticity to E-bay and have any negatives to your account retracted and or expunged. You do have the anvil back in possession yes? I really doubt they are playing a game, buyer's remorse maybe or maybe just didn't know what to expect. E-bay will almost always take the buyer's side, there are far more dishonest sellers than buyers. E-bay doesn't have experts enough to vet everything. If the "buyer" doesn't return it in promptly undamaged condition then you can take the purchase agreement, their claims of fraud, the refund judgement and demand and present it to the prosecutor as wire fraud and theft on their part. I think that's a stretch but you never know. Frosty The Lucky.

I think that's better than wanting to make bad ones. It's a good target but I'd like to recommend you learn blacksmithing before you spend the time effort and material money learning to forge knives. The blacksmith's craft is a series of basic skills, the most complex projects are built up of pieces made with these skills in the correct sequence. The forging in bladesmithing isn't much different than forging long leaves from material a little harder to move and finickier until you get to heat treatment. A guy can invest a lot of time and effort in a blade and have it fail in the last stages. If that's how a person is trying to learn forging then it becomes a long hard road. One of the good parts about learning blacksmithing first is you soon discover all the people around you who really need one gizmo for their knick knack shelf or the wife's birthday, etc. garden tools, arbors, brackets, hinges, etc. etc. You not only learn the craft but people WANT to give you money to practice! Once you have a handle on smithing making knives is just applying the craft to different material and learning one or two more things. Frosty The Lucky.