Frosty

I'm happy to help when I can Mark. It's easy to lose sight of the fact you don't have to use something just because you have it. AND I'm a firm believer in the old adage, "it's better to have IT and not need it than need IT and not have it." Don't get me wrong, knowing how to go it "primitive" is a good trick to have in your toolkit. Being able to do smithing work with nothing more than a camp fire, a couple rocks and split willow tongs means you'll never be: #1 bored on a camping trip, #2 shy tools and or weapons after an apocalypes. I'm not usually a fan of RR spikes, especially for knives but as to the "primitive" forging angle, I recently made a friend a stake tool from a RR spike for making nails by the camp fire. Frosty The Lucky.

I went back and looked at the first post and the video. It's a Watt linkage a fellow name of Bruce Freeman adapted to a treadle hammer he calls the Grasshopper hammer. Bruce sells plans but they're (in my opinion) more complicated than necessary. The basic principle is the natural arc of the hammer arm is counteracted by the pivot being mounted on an equal length counter swinging arm. It needs a stabilizing element perpendicular to the motion of the hammer or it's kind of floppy. Bruce uses a long vertical lever at the back but I've seen designs that use a wheel in a horizontal track instead. I like the wheel. If you're interested in designing your own version check out the Watt Linkage and other linkages used in early steam engines and similar, then get out the popcicle sticks and get to experimenting. There is another inline hammer called the Weta but I don't know if more than one ever got built but there may be drawings or pics online somewhere for the determined searcher. Frosty The Lucky.

Do it in a "V" block, it isn't that hard but it does take a touch and some practice so be prepared to mess it up a time or two so do a test piece or two first. You can pack it with sand but it's not necessary unless you're in a hurry. I've done some really light wall sq. tubing without much problem, just don't get carried away on any one heat or step. You can get some pretty cool effects from forging tubing, makes for nice furniture and such. Frosty The Lucky.

Get yourself hooked up with GOM (Guild Of Metalsmiths) in your general neck of the woods, there are plenty of metal casters in the gang, some good friends of mine. I don't know about the book you're referencing I'm not that into casting and have a good friend locally who is a master caster who teaches if I want to be. If you're up this way near the end of June stop by the Museum of Industry and Transportation in Wasilla for the Art On Fire event, the iron pour is always fun Fun FUN. Heck, I'll be in Elk River for the last couple weeks of June for a little annual gathering of metalhead friends, I'm sure there'll be flowing glowy metal from time to time, there usually is. I'll be checking my E-mail on a friends computer if Deb won't let me take the laptop, give me a shout, maybe we can hook up and get you introduced to some casters. Frosty The Lucky.

Sometimes you don't have a choice but to defend yourself and at those times don't hesitate. That said try making a friend of an old opponent, you've shown what a bad idea it is to be your enemy, make it worthwhile to be your friend. High school is a time of raging hormones and it's darned common to get busy on each other for no good reason so don't hold it against each other. Remember, life is too short to lose a friend, you'll never have too many. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard David, glad to have you. He must be a darned good friend if you're considering letting him have the anvil in better condition. I've done similar, friends are good to have. <grin> Yeah, I'd keep the better one and invite my buddy over any time. The odd sound to the PW might be the piece of steel welded over the hardy hole isn't as solid as it should be. Even a little unfused metal can buzz if in contact. Listening for a flat sound or buzz is a common test to detect a delaminated face plate. In either case good work can be done on them but keeping your eyes open for a nicer one is sort of a blacksmith tradition. Frosty The Lucky.

Go to your local welding supply and ask their help! Most will be more than happy to evaluate your set and show you how to use it, they're just too dangerous to mess with without knowing anything about them. So far most of the advice isn't too bad but . . . Oxy acet is an equal pressure torch system and that's NOT gauge pressure (gpsi) it refers to molar weight as I recall. The gauge equivalent being set the oxy to 2x the acet pressure, for instance 5psi acet gets 10psi oxy. You can get away with more than 2x oxy psi but it can lead to problems. For instance you're cutting some rusty/dirty or otherwise scrungy steel and to make up for it you have the oxy cranked to say 5x and a piece of grunge gets kicked up by a pop, say a little water under some scale and gets directed into the torch tip. At 5x the oxy if blocked can be driven against the acet psi into the handle and up the acet hose and if it ignites you're holding a very loud firecracker. At 2x it'll simply put the torch out and you get to clean it. I can't count how many times I've had to clean a crud plugged tip and I've never even heard of a properly set torch doing more than a little backfire. A backfire is a way too low set torch having the flame back up into the tip or even handle, hence the term "Backfire". Open the tank valves all the way but do NOT reef on them to open or close them, they're precision tools and will seal properly with only a little pressure, if they don't they need to be rebuilt or at least tuned up. Welding suppliers do this for very reasonable prices for safety's sake. Most torch valves in need of rebuilding are in that condition because too many folk believe if a little snug, is good a LOT, as tight as they can turn it, is better. Just finger TIP pressure is plenty, even your propane tank doesn't need more. Anyway, seek someone at the welding supply to check your rig and show you how it works safely. Learning to use it is a matter of practice though a class is a good idea. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Lee, glad to have you. You'll find lots of folk from your side of the pond hanging out here. If you ever make it to Alaska USA on your travels please look me up, we can play with fire and hit stuff with hammers. Frosty The Lucky.

Just make absolutely sure it's out and cold if you haul it to the dump, little bits can stay smouldering a long long time. Dunking it in water is best and doesn't hurt the useable coal/coke at all. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice pieces, well done. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Bert, glad to have you and we're looking forward to your friend as soon as you get him introduced to the lat 20th century. Sorry I'm no help with the coke, I burn propane most of the time. Frosty The Lucky.

Ian: Folks fantasy convictions usually surpass any semblance of practicality by a wide margin. Two points for now though. First, only doing as much forging on the stock as necessary is as traditional as it gets, so don't sweat drilling the eye and dressing the final shape by hammer. My other point is how a smith goes to hell. Yeah sure beating the black metal is the first route but not charging enough is the second and probably the most violated. Are you doing this for free as a favor for a friend or as a commissioned project? If it's a favor the recipient's opinion as to how it SHOULD be doesn't carry a lot of weight. If it's a commission then extreme work calls for extreme cost. I usually simply estimate the time and materials to convince folk of a more reasonable spec list. Of course if they're willing to pay shop rate I'll do it the hard way, it's their dime(s). Frosty The Lucky.

Looking good, I'm looking forward to seeing progress and "in use" pics. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't see anything wrong with those, they'll serve well for many years to come. Your field expedient anvil is perfectly serviceable as well,I've used and made worse. The cross pein on end pein up, makes a dandy fullering die. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm not a bladesmith though I do make the occasional cutlery. My preference is for blades that are smooth, the remaining rasp teeth make it a pretty nonfunctional knife in my opinion and I don't have much use for nonfunctional blades. Pardon the pun and no it wasn't intentional contrary to my well deserved rep. The pics are awfully low aspect (all dark) so it's hard to see much detail and I may be missing aspects. Not being a bladesmith I don't know how much weight my opinion deserves, that's why I rarely comment on blades but I look at almost all of them because I like blades. Whatever you do, don't let critiques get you down, everything I do is deserving of criticism and I'm my worst critic. Frosty The Lucky.

Good score, I LOVE lockers, they're soooo handy. Frosty The Lucky.

Pretty cool anvil, I'm really interested in how it holds up. ALWAYS wear PPE when using this anvil, granite will exfoliate when heated, meaning it will flake in in thin layers. (leaves) The edges will need special attention and maybe making a corner block of steel will preserve your anvil. I've used an ultramafic boulder, possibly a hornblend and it worked very well for some time and it was like glass. I didn't try cutting a flat face though I just adjusted my stock angle, position and such to produce flat surfaces. It's more hassle forging but works well. From what I've read most stone anvils were hard limestone but I'm sure whatever was available was what was used more than the "right" stone was. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Mark, glad to have ya. Do you think it may be a good idea to learn the craft before you start trying to use period techniques and tooling? It's really REALLY easy to spend way more than necessary on a new skill when you're not up to speed. A hair drier works very well for the draft and you can spend the saved money on lessons, club membership, fuel, steel, etc. Forging without modern tools like electricity can be done even if you have a modern shop, just don't flip a light switch or turn anything else on. Box bellows, single acting bellows goat skins, etc. are all "primitive" ways to draft a forge and are easy enough to make. Heck, just aim the draft into the wind and use a funnel to concentrate the breeze. Can't get much more period appropriate than the wind. Frosty The Lucky.

The thicker it is the more likely it will be to check from the thermal cycling. The Kaowool is all the insulation you're likely to need, a little more isn't worth the hassle. Even a third inch of Kaowool isn't worth the trouble. I don't know anything about Plistix so I'm not going to comment. Phil's home brew on the other hand is sound though I can't comment on the ratio in the commercial mix. It's the zirconia that makes the nearly indestructible coating, we're talking a shade below diamond hard and WAY more heat resistant. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Jose, I knew I got it wrong as soon as I saw it. Sometimes I wonder how I could've grown up with so many Mexican friends and not picked up more Spanish than it takes to order a meal or get in a fight. Oh yeah, order another cervesa. Oh yeah, I just call them like I see them and I see some high quality work on your pages. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard glad to have you. There is a pretty large contingent from your side of the pond subbed on here, I'm sure they'll be along presently. I'm trying to recall who here is from your neighborhood but I'm drawing a blank. Taking pics are always good, we LOVE pics and it's a good way to document your progress. Taking notes is good too, maybe more important because folks who's opinions aren't polluted with knowledge often come up with wonderful new things. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm sure they placed the crate right side up once they got the anvil unpacked. Frosty The Lucky.

Vise jaws are good for shearing sheet as well, you can either open them slightly for chisel relief or for longer straight cuts clamp the sheet in the vise with the cut line just above the jaws and chisel horizontally from one end at about a 45* angle, give or take. A single bevel chisel works best for this and the bevel can be quite obtuse, almost a 90* angle works well. Vises are SOOOO handy. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice job Michael, I love old tools brought back to life. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Danny, glad to have you. Have you hooked up with the NWBA? They're a pretty active group and there's nothing like having a group to ask questions, visit and get hands on help with. Oh yeah, they have classes or should I say there are members who offer classes. How are you liking cool humidity instead of HOT humidity, or are you from HOT dry country? Frosty The Lucky.