Frosty

Wrong. An anvil does NOT need a horn to be useful, I'd take it in a heartbeat if for no other reason than to have another anvil for students. As it is I only have two quality anvils and a third would be a welcome addition. Frosty

I'll tell you who REALLY appreciates you. Your dog. Frosty

I'm waiting Joe. What I learned the hard way is probably about 25% of what I know. Dad was a metal spinnr and if I hadn't been able to learn from listening, watching, asking, etc. I wouldn't have nearly as many fingers as I do. Sometimes the only way to verify what you've been told, read, etc. is to give it a try. Learning to experiment with dangerous things safely is another thing Dad taught me early on. A favorite Dad saying was, "DON'T DO THAT! . . . This is how it's done." Seems he thought I'd try whatever it was anyway. Frosty

You got me on that one. Psychiactric care might be in order though. Not that a smith could afford psychiactric care of course. Frosty

Hot iron isn't magnetic either. The carbon content has nothing to do with whether it'll become non-magnetic or not, it's strictly a matter of the molecular structure's reaction to heat. Also, there's lots of new theories about what's actually going on in the earth's core. That it's not liquid is pretty well accepted. (right now anyway. ) One school of thought has the iron core kept a solid by the pressure with a smaller core of fissionables, fissioning in the very center. This being what's keeping earth's innards hot. Frosty

Don't apologize! I love a good straight line, thank you very much. Frosty

Excellent John! It's very good to have a bit of family history in hand, better yet to be able to use it as it was intended. Frosty

The old fashioned feel of a ball pump? Oh yeah, I remember great grand dad telling me how he used to pump the ball pump for his father at the forge. Oh yeah, those were the good old days alright. Frosty

Yeah, ya gotta be careful what you tell the younguns; especially if momma can get at ya! Some mommas just don't have a sense of humor. I don't remember when I learned the difference in smell between my Levis and virtually anything else. I was young though, under 9-10. Dad had me holding torch for him by then and he just let me discover the importance of keeping the smells straight. Mother didn't brain him for letting me get burned either, heck, SHE thought it was a good idea. I don't know how many times she told me, "You'll know better next time won't you?" I always wondered about kids who's mothers didn't laugh at them when they did something dumb and got hurt. Another favorite Mother saying was, "If you hurt yourself I'll paddle your butt when we get back from the doctor!" Attached is a pic of Father spinning hot. Sherrie is holding the torch for him, she was Dad's business partner's wife. Anyway, I was young enough I had to stand on a bucket when I started holding torch for him. Frosty

Do make sure you don't make it too small, somewhere before you get to 2' x 2' leaves it will be too inefficient to function worth pumping the handle. Canvas makes nice bellows though you'll want to treat it with a borax solution to make it fire resistant. Putting it under the rafters is a fine old tradition to put it out of the way and help prevent fires. If you have to put the bellows at or below the level of the firepot a safety trick is to build the tuyere so it's like a "P" trap. This prevents smoke, CO and other flamable coal gasses from flowing into the bellows and exploding when you give it a pump. Frosty

Butted maille means the rings are cut so the ends meet in a butt joint and are held in position by spring action of the rings. Riveted rings are a lot more time consuming. You draw one end wide and punch a hole, the other end is drawn into a tennon, bent and threaded through the hole and peaned like a rivet. This is a very time consuming and expensive method of producing chain maille. Welded maille links are excruciatingly rare and EXENSIVE due to the huge amounts of skilled labor involved. Frosty

Which pics would you like to see Brother M? The forge burning merrily? Apprenticeman and cohorts blazing away merrily? Or something else once the smithy itself gets rolling? Frosty

Oh sure, anybody can trim the fuzz, REAL blacksmiths burn it off. Frosty

Use a magnet in a sand pile, stream bed, backyard dirt etc. A good trick is putting the magnet in a plastic bag before you dredge, that makes it easy to get the iron filings off and they'll already be in the bag. If you live near a bog you can try wading around feeling for bog iron in the mud. I've never done this myself but it used to be the main source for high grade iron ore for centuries. Frosty

Gonna christen it with a bottle of whisky as soon as it's lit? Frosty

Upsetting, isn't it? Frosty

Well. . . It actually does get better than this Ted. When you invite the guys over and they get into a brainstorming session with graph paper, pencils and shortly everybody just digs in and starts building stuff. Whew! Frosty

How about this one. You're ###^(#&%*^$@@*!! KILLIN me Finn! Frosty

Doggoneitall Glenn! See what happens when you treat people that way? Frosty

Try a blow drier or inflate all for the air blast. Nothing fundamentally wrong with the design except maybe the duct tape. You can find muffler tape for not much almost anywhere and it'll more than take the heat at the tuyere. Frosty

I have to stick up for using bar grate rather than a grid because it'll get chewed up in use and it's WAY easier to replace a few bars than a grid. I'll probably build one so the individual bars rest in slots so I can just pull ones that become too damaged. By all means you MUST use a breathable air pump. I don't know if the ones used for therapy will provide enough volume. I have an oiless, carbon vane breathable air pump for my 3M White Cap III supplied air welding helmet. (Yes, this IS a helmet. For you pro weldors out there) Passing ideas around is why most of us are here Ted. I know I get a better rush when some piddly little thing I know or think up works to make someone's life easier than I do when I learn something from someone else. If you haven't done it yet you really MUST teach someone to blacksmith, it's ALMOST better than sex. . . Almost. Frosty

Yeah. . . Wait till you try it Brother M. Frosty

THAT explains why you aren't worried about walking into the horn, it's easily visible flickering with reflected northern lights! Frosty

Okay, THAT gave me the willies! Frosty

Upsetting is driving the iron back into itself to make it thicker and it's probably the hardest smithing process to do well. Hence upsetting is upsetting. (to the smith) :mad: Frosty