Frosty

YOUR muscle pain says to me you're probably gripping to tightly. Loose grip and let your joints do their thing, every one is a force multiplier. I can generate more force in a blow from my elbow than a lot of guys can with a full swing but I have a lot of practice. I crack the hammer head like a whip, very round motion and I hold the handle in a fencing type grip between my thumb and the first metacarpal on my index finger. With this grip the hammer is pretty free to pivot with my thumb and index finger as the pivot point, the outer three snap the handle into your palm a split second before impact. I adapted a fencing grip after taking a 1/2 hour lesson at a ren faire. The motion I use is adapted from a hammer fist, a martial arts blow. It's a long story and took years to develop so it works for me and the people I've taught it to though some folk can't get the feel so I show them a different grip. Anyway, I keep everything as loose and relaxed as I can while still generating as much speed as possible in the hammer. In the martial arts, at the moment of impact you engage every muscle that is inline between the target and your foot that is the blow's main anchor. After the moment of impact I relax my grip so the hammer can recoil from the work and pivot in my hand. This prevents ANY shock from being conducted through my skeleton and joints. When I'm out of shape a couple hours the first couple days is enough or I'll have finger cramps. Cramps tell me two things, first I'm out of shape or not drinking enough water. The second main thing is I'm a little rusty with the technique and gripping the hammer too hard. Learn when you're getting tired and STOP. If it's early in the day a break may do the trick but if it's getting late just knock off, pick up, clean, etc. etc. You will make more mistakes when you're tired, just the diminishing control will leave more and worse hammer marks. It can also cause damage, already you're getting so sore it takes a day or two to heal up. STOP SOONER!! Ice the muscle, 20 mins. max, once an hour for two hours is probably max. someone who KNOWS the correct answer please speak up. If you're sore for two days you might want to start using moist heat, dry rice in an IV bag works a charm followed by ice. 20 mins. max on the ice and don't get the heat pack too hot. Take care of yourself, it's the only body you have. Frosty The Lucky.

If you stood a couple fire bricks on your vise so they formed an angle around the bar that torch would've brought it to orange easily. Just a little containment is all she's lacking. Oh and I have to differ on one point. Bending is a forging process so it by sure and golly brought the work to forging heat. Yeah yeah I know, I keep my head buzzed so the split hairs don't show. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Nice traveling kit LastRonin. It's an excellent example of just how little a skilled smith needs. Big shops and heaps of cool tools and equipment are nice, sometimes necessary but for most projects what you have right there will do the job. For a bolster / pritchel hole you can simply drill a hole in the flange and flip it flange up to punch holes. Rail will drill or saw easily enough unless you harden it, say by using a cutting torch on it. You can use a high speed drill bits but turn them slow and use oil. The angles between web, flange and rail made fair swages as well. Not great but fair. Well done Bro, keep at it. Frosty The Lucky.

The video wouldn't play for me, maybe because I didn't subscribe or maybe it's just the coriolis effect this far north. I was able to see stills but not the moving picture thingy. I'm no fan of Martha but if she's promoting the craft I'll add it to positive side if her score card. I think it's a move in the right direction, certainly better than the times she's let her mouth shoot her in the foot. Heck, I count it a good day if I don't let my big mouth get me in trouble; I only came close today! <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

The sooner you relieve the pressure the better it'll feel and the less likely you'll lose the nail. If it's black figure it'll be gone in what, 6 months or so. The worst part is when the rems get to snagging stuff. Do NOT look at your thumb when you're swinging a hammer! Eye on the TARGET! Frosty The Lucky.

You're rapidly running me out of expletives! With work of that quality, how long are you back ordered on work? Frosty The Lucky.

Very nice, like it. I get funny things running through my head when I look and think of it being a scorpion. A scorpion holding a couple flowers maybe? Or. . . Then my bemused mind thought a little change and it'd make a pretty durable banana holder. So there my mind is visualizing flower child scorpions and maximum security banana holders. Besides the fine execution your project put a big happy smile on my mug. Thanks Frosty The Lucky.

I've done that with a small drill bit on a fresh black fingernail more than once. Dad used a heated pin on my thumb once. I've been asked by friends to drill a relief hole in a finger/toe nail a few times, a couple times with whatever was handy being my (really sharp) pocket knife. It's one thing to poke a hole in a fingernail to let the blood out but it's a world different killing the nerve in a tooth (whatever's going on) with a heated wire. This is going to be giving me the willies for a long time. <shudder> Frosty The Lucky.

Another part of getting started with any craft is learning enough of the craft and terminology to ask good questions and understand the answers. It's one of the main reasons we recommend a person pack a lunch, something to drink and start reading the subjects archived here on Iforgeiron. There are probably a couple tens of thousands hours of good solid experience speaking in the archives. There's a lot of chaff by youngsters who's experience is playing online games. That's another reason to do some reading, it'll really help you tell who to listen to and who to be amused by. On rare occasions we get a real trouble maker but the Admin guys usually handle those rarities well enough. You're a pretty normal new guy and seem a nice enough fellow looking for a glimmer of light in the dark. New language, big heap of new tools, looking for some help but not knowing quite how to say what you want to. Don't sweat it, nobody was born knowing this stuff, every darned, soot covered, black booger blowing, burnhole clad, one of us had to start and asked allllllllll the questions. We're actually pretty good at getting you up and rolling so just relax and listen up, we're pulling for you. Frosty The Lucky.

Aluminum is a relatively low temperature melt, a wood camp fire will bring it to to high a heat. It's a dirty way to try melting for a pour but sometimes a guy who is bored with camping finds lots of aluminum laying around and one things to another. I know that isn't a comment about coke vs coal, vs charcoal, etc. it is however a comment about what's necessary for aluminum and lower temp melts. Frosty The Lucky.

DRATS ANOTHER double post!!! Frosty The Lucky.

There are a number of tools that are excellent learning projects and not because they're easy for the beginner. Punches, chisels, etc. are decent beginner tool steel projects, they need heat treatment but are small enough safety shields are easy to make when you test them. Basically wrap them in a couple layers of cloth, denim is perfect then hit them with a hammer on a piece of steel. If they shatter they're too hard, the denim scatter shield will keep you reasonably safe, if they do what they're suppposed to, god for you. If they blunt or bend, anneal and heat treat again. Tongs are good school and if you smith long you're gong to want to have a bunch on the wall. Having tongs that fit properly makes a huge difference. One last bit for making your own tools being, nothing feels so good in your hand as a tool you made yourself, they rapidly become your favorites even when there's one right next to it that works better. Frosty The Lucky.

Me too Spanky, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to gouge my mind's eye out! Frosty The Lucky.

Nope, not a description we can use. At least answer Thomas' questions, trying to anticipate them is more harm than good. I'll repeat them one at a time, is it: A side draft? Overhead hood? Enclosure type hood? Okay, now I have to anticipate a question. What are you talking about referring to an 18" BAND? Frosty The Lucky.

Are crossbows legal to poses or use where you live? Some places you can't even hang one from the wall without a permit. There is a lot of things go into making a SAFE crossbow, just reading about them can be an eye opener. "The Practical Guide to Man-Powered Bullets," sub titled, 'Catapults, Crossbows, Blowguns, Bullet-Bows And Airguns,' By Richard Middleton. Is pretty thorough about designing and making such things. He goes into the math, materials, construction, etc. etc. in serious detail and describes experiments and failures. It's a very good book if you're going to build these things, I've been reading through it for a while now, on my 3rd. re-read and I'm not into making bows anymore. A nice trebouchet on the other hand . . . <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Selius, glad to have you, If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Iforgeiron is represented by members all over the planet and some info is regional, say you're looking for a left handed widget wiggler but they're only made in S. transistoria. This thread is a prefect example of what happens when you ask more than one blacksmith a question, you get more answers than people you asked. My opinion and operating principle is posted here under my handle so I won't repeat myself. THAT will surprise some of the guys. <grin> Just be honest and most folk won't have a problem with you, where ever you get the idea, inspiration, etc. passing your work off as that of someone in demand is a B-A-D thing. Oh DARN I'm starting to repeat myself! <sigh> Signing off for now. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Robert, glad to have you: A really handy looking pair of tongs for holding tools like punches was posted a while back but I haven't gotten around to making a pair myself. I just use garage sale pin and drift punches for small holes and hold them in a pair of vise grips. It still gets too hot on my hand but it's livewithable. Wrapping light rod or heavy wire for a handle is perfectly fine, you can even burn a hole in a stick say lathe or split a green (say willow) branch. There's nothing special about what it needs to be so long as it holds your punch, chisel, whatever, firmly and keeps your hand out of the heat. Frosty The Lucky.

Do you weld? However you want to orient it a steel stand is simple enough, 3 legs will sit stably on most any surface. If you want a wooden stand you can weld tabs(ears) to the "notional" foot and screw it down. Drilling and bolting down should have no impact on it's forging characteristics so long as you don't get silly large with the holes. Fisher's have (I believe) 5/8" holes through the lugs(tabs/ears) and just two lugs welded kitty corner on the ends. Welding a frame and feet to it will work just fine. Welding, or drilling and tapping for a spike is something I've no experience with but sounds workable. I'd put two spikes on it though to prevent it turning. Frosty The Lucky.

Sure, we shoot them with anvils, you should see the bandoliers. Frosty The Lucky.

Do NOT try to buy cold weather gear to take to Colorado, buy it there. Seriously, you'll be able to buy better cold weather gear at Salvation Army in Co. than at the top dollar outdoor store in Texas. Not taking shots at Texas, they just have no reason to carry COLD weather gear, any more than an Alaskan Sporting goods store would carrying bore hunting gear.f I'll tell you the secret of preventing frost bite to your face, nose, ears, etc. just like the Inuit use right here and now. Just don't tell anybody else, it'll be our secret. (shhhhhh) Cover your face in grease, be it: whale fat, seal oil, bacon, Crisco, Petroleum Jelly, axle, motor oil, lipstick, chaptick, etc. You can of course still freeze your face but it won't be a simple case of frost bite. Frosty The Lucky.

Looks like a sweet lady to me. What's less than perfect? . . . Hey, wait a second! What's this PERFECT thing?! I'd move her right in, give her a dusting, maybe a coat of wax and put her to work. Frosty The Lucky.

1085 +/- low alloy HC steel. Minimal preheat if at all, tack it up, weld it up, ping relieve and let air cool. If he's a professional welder he won't need the advice, if he has questions he'll have the handbook. Frosty The Lucky.

If you're invited to go shooting by the good old boys in town and you take a couple anvils. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Sheltowee, glad to have you. Thanks for your anvil review. What do you use yours for mostly? Frosty The Lucky.

You really suppose he isn't going to lock his shop when he leaves? That's pretty much what I saw in the pic, unless the bottom as shown is BAD I'd flip it end for end to use. Frosty The Lucky.