Frosty

Pretty nice score . . . AGAIN! I'm beginning to suffer serious swap meet envy. <sigh> Ball peins are good to pick up if the price is right, manufacturers not that important unless it's something rare enough to sell. Nice fuller. A striker is the guy standing on the other side of the anvil with the sledge hammer who hits what you direct him to with a blow from the hammer in your hand. Old blacksmith joke. Master smith to new apprentice, "take the sledge hammer and stand there, when I nod my head you hit it." The wrench is a Monkey wrench, the old school adjustable wrench like a Crescent. They make good twisting wrenches if you want to weld a second handle on it in line with the existing one. However, twisting wrenches aren't that hard to make and don't really need to be adjustable. That's a nice little drill or mill vise. Keep it in good shape, you'll use it a LOT on the drill press. If you don't have a drill press now you'll get one, they're just too useful not to have. You got it in one, a dead blow just stops on impact. A steel faced one would work nicely for setting welds, minimize rebound and shearing from a too hard blow. Lots of things a dead blow hammer are good for. It's hard to tell what the pein on the Bell systems hammer is so no telling what it might be good for. Probably a tin knocker's hammer but it might be pointed and a mason's hammer. We'd need a look at the pein end on to make an educated guess. Nice scores all round. Frosty The Lucky.

A chalk board is a great addition to a shop and painting one yourself is a lot more likely than finding a big one for reasonable. A trick I like and use frequently are graph lines. A sheet rock square and paint pen is the perfect way to turn a chalk board into a graph board. That way you can sit at a coffee shop with a potential customer and make scalable sketches which are easy to transfer to full scale on the chalk board with the old school coordinate method. If you need to go to the floor then it's snap line and rag tape time but graphing makes scaling so much easier. Frosty The Lucky.

The overall group would be UMBA Upper Midwest blacksmiths Association. What you're thinking of as local might be a different kettle of night crawlers, sort of depends on your definition of close but seeing as you said State, UMBA might be the ticket. Great bunch of guys and very active club. Frosty The Lucky.

Good call on the riveted joints Smoothbore that went right past me. They're a definite failure point. I'm thinking a length of angle riveted inside the main leg from the floor to butt against the bottom of the frame will stop shearing action, just like a cripple on a window or door frame in a wall. Something that really struck me but I forgot to comment about is the rivet header. It's turning out some gorgeous rivets, just plain beautiful. Frosty The Lucky.

Hey George, welcome aboard glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many IFI folk live within visiting distance. The easiest safest way to connect tanks is with off the shelf fittings, either from the RV or if you're going to be running high volume, the propane supply shops carry all the fittings you might need. By propane supply shops, the guys who deliver bulk propane, sell, install and service everything propane. Yellow pages will put you in touch easy greasy. How abut introducing yourself and showing some of the gang here pictures of your work George. We LOVE pics and I've seen your work, definitely something to show in public. Frosty The Lucky.

I suppose that would work Stewart. Heck, you could just flip the cart upside down and push the new anvil off the stand onto it. Frosty The Lucky.

No edge shapes? I have an old Lancaster pattern swage block and almost the only shapes I use are the swage dies on the edges. That's a beautiful tool, I think it'll serve you and your grandchildren well. Well done. Frosty The Lucky.

Close call Stewart! Whew! I'll be happy to put the word out in the blacksmith world, see if we can find someone to repair the cart. Hey, don't look at me Thomas started it! Frosty The Lucky.

Looking good. You're just a step away from leaf coat hooks and those are popular sale items at Demos. You'll want to punch holes though. Punch rather than drill for a couple reasons, most importantly it lets you easily counter sink for screw heads and secondly punching is faster and easier than drilling. Thirdly it's a good skill to add to your mental kit. Decorative twists are good additions too twisting is real crowd pleaser at demos. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice fire set Judson. The handles look like they are easy to grip and cool. I like the hanger it has character, can you hang gloves from it? I love a side load wood stove yours looks like a Jotul but it's a good design so lots of manufacturers build this way. Are those soap stone or ceramic inserts? Frosty The Lucky.

I WAS but if you do something else publicly notable . . . Oh say maybe the Nude bank robber? It'd be a uniquely interesting distraction. If it worked a body would be famous and have loot to spend. Fame and fortune, hmmmmm? Oh was there a pun in there? My oh my. Frosty The Lucky.

WD is good for freeing things up but not such a good lube. Plain old motor oil is better, 3 in 1 works a treat too. The gearing in the blower will want a few drops every once in a while. Don't try filling the case with oil unless you LIKE big oil stains on the floor or lawn. They only look like they're supposed to be filled to a level. Give it 4-5 drops while gently cranking at the start of a session, well okay a dozen drops won't hurt but a whole squirt is a little excessive. I have stains on the floor to prove it. Yeah, I THINK the handle MIGHT have been replaced a time or 50. Don't sweat it, the first replacement probably wasn't the same as the factory model. Heck, it may have been shipped without a handle, wood is everywhere so why spend money shipping a stick? I'll be a handy willow branch would look cool, especially if it were diamond willow. Hmmmm? Frosty The Lucky.

​Good to know. Running out of filters is never a good thing. I don't know how many times I'd want to wash one of my T shirts before using it as a coffee filter but . . . Frosty The Lucky.

Well said Charles. Mother's going to need down time, seriously need it. Just take the baby for a while so she doesn't have to do anything, she can watch TV, read, listen to the radio talk to girlfriends on the phone, anything just for herself. It won't be long before you can take the baby to the shop with you. Car seats are warm safe and easily shielded from flying debris. There's nothing wrong with exposing babies to the real world so long as it's done safely. I learned my feel for metal through the seat of my diapers, Dad baby sat me by sitting me on the ways of his metal spinning lathe so I could play race car driver with the take up wheel. I can still visualize it now and hear the sound of the different color cars. Brass, bronze, copper, SS, steel, all grades have their own feel and sound when pushed to the limit. I heard and felt all of it as a baby. We moved out of that house when I was 2 and I still feel what's happening IN the metal as I work it. Some of the most valuable stuff is learned from the womb till they get to school and start learning . . . Nevermind. <sheepish grin> Weird Uncle Frosty.

You can buy coffee in commercial Tea bag thingies. Lipton tea comes in 1gl. brewing bags and I've seen coffee at coffee shops in the same kind of bag. Pan liners aren't permeable or cake will really stick. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Knucklebuster, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Hooking up with experienced smiths will speed you up the learning curve so much faster and easier than learning the craft on your own. Nice job on the Rivet forge. Does it have "Clay before using" cast in the pan? If so just ram compactable clay into the pan with a mallet nothing special needed. There are lots of comments pro and con regarding claying forge pans. The main pro being the clay helps disperse the heat from the fire so the cast iron pan isn't subjected to large temperature differentials in a small area. Cast iron doesn't like large temp differentials and it can cracking or heat checking. My old rivet forge pan is split almost all the way across, good thing I don't burn coal eh? There are more cons: First being the dirt turns into clinker and can contaminate welds. The next con being what happens if you use a water can in the fire, first the clay can turn right into mud but worse water can collect under the clay and rust the pan out much faster than uncovered in the weather. You've been reading IFI so I hope you know how addictive blacksmithing is. Happily it's a constructive addiction. The learning curve is endless, enjoy the ride. Frosty The Lucky.

I like it Joel, I think you're on your way to fame and fortune! Jim and Thomas beat me to suggesting a "hip" element to stiffen the structure. All the 90's will flex and sag. A diagonal tension element from the bottom away from the hinges to the top hinge or near will do the trick structurally. Artistically I was think it needed a few dangly elements from the horizontal structural elements A Honey Suckle vine could serve both purposes nicely. Then again flowering peas, wild grapes, etc. etc. would all fit the theme. Excellent project Joel congrats on the commission. Frosty The Lucky.

Maybe this will help. You need air moving THROUGH the fuel to make heat. Blowing over it will burn fuel it but not make forging heat. The closer to the nozzle of the air blast the more unconsumed oxygen is present and it will happily burn your steel too. Rust or scale is ash from oxidizing or burning steel. Too far away from the air blast and the oxy is not only consumed but the heat is dissipating through the unburned fuel so the temperature is falling. Putting your steel in the spot where the oxy is completely consumed but the heat isn't being spread out all over the place is the sweet spot or heart of the fire. Tinker around and test it till you discover where it all is. It's just a matter of seeing it and you'll have it. Frosty The Lucky.

I wouldn't get in a hurry to swap that beauty in on something only around 50lbs. heavier. I have two anvils I use a 125lb. Soderfors and a 206lb. Trenton. With very few exceptions the extra 81lbs. doesn't mean much. Not even moving or loading, I have an engine hoist for the grunt work. Either one moves hot steel nicely and I've never needed a large face only a little more than the hammer's width is enough. Seriously Jon, that is a fine old lady, well able to do most anything a blacksmith needs doing. I'd be proud to have her in my shop. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Terry, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Do a search of IFI for the TPAAAT, it's a technique for finding anvils and well most any kind of stuff. Fortunately you're living in pretty rich blacksmith tool country, you ought to try finding any in Alaska. On this site's opening page near the bottom is the regional organization links. UMBA is a strong organization get connected and you'll be hooked up with folk who can and will show you the ropes, network for tools, equipment, materials fuel, hammer ins, BBQs, conventions, etc. etc. Oh, not that it really matters but I married a UPer. She lived on a 40 acre hobby farm in Ironwood and when I visited the first time she was shocked to learn there was a blacksmith shop next to the creek about 50' from the house. No tools unfortunately but it was fun to explore. Nice country, I love fall colors and yours ROCK. Frosty The Lucky.

Please post some pics of the damage before you do anything to it. It may not need anything but dressing. These things really do feel a lot worse then they usually are. Whatever you do don't get in a hurry to "fix" it. Frosty The Lucky.

​Are you talking about having a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot? If you can't have a proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot just have tea. From a fun folksy song we heard on the radio a couple years ago. Frosty The Lucky.

Glad you delurked Irst. Gonna share anvils some day? I can't hold keeping blacksmithing tools out of the scrapyard against anyone and heck maybe your grand kids will start a school. A person just never knows. Frosty The Lucky.

I was working on the steel belted cart tire but the mastadon haunches kept rolling off the log anyway. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.

How badly did you chip it? It's have to be a darned severe chunk knocked out of an edge to warrant repairs. Post a couple pics of the damage so we can get a handle on the situation. You're probably over reacting to normal wear and tear, sharp edges on an anvil are not desirable features in most cases. Still, it's like getting the first scratch in your first new car, it hurts and you just want it to go away but in the scheme of things it's no big deal. Nothing wrong with painting your anvil, heck paint it pink with hearts if you wish. It won't effect it one bit and nobody who's opinion is worth considering would make fun of someone who beats steel into submission with hammers. <wink> Frosty The Lucky.