Frosty

Varied and perhaps checkered.

Our branch of the family tended to move around quite a bit while others still live in the same house built at the turn of the century or earlier.

It wasn't a big adventure or anything, my brother used to live here and the summer of 72' I packed a bag and caught a plane for a visit.

I was more than half hoping I oculd find work and stay. Dennis put me up for a couple weeks and helped me find work.

I did odd jobs and such for a couple years till I got established and known. Anchorage was still small enough in the early-mid 70's to become known around town for good or bad.

I had vague plans on getting a job on the pipeline and making a bunch but was still naive enough to think things should be fair. I wouldn't pay a union a kickback for a job so didn't get one. Stupid me it was only one paycheck but at 20 I had principles. Yes siree I did!

Found a job in a service station instead.

After a couple years of the pipeline siphoning off skilled operators, labor, etc. other places started opening up a bit and I got a job for the state. Up till then about the only way to break in on a state job was to know someone or have a necessary skill.

Well, that was 30 years ago and I retired last june 1. My first state job was taking speed surveys with radar. When that played out I went to wok in the soils lab and that got me in touch with the geology section. Within a year or so I'd developed a reputation for being able to fabricate most anything from materials in the scrap pile.

The next thing I knew I was going out with the drillers and the next fall I was asked to transfer to the Foundations Drill crew permanently. Spent 19 years all told drilling holes and the last 10 working for highways maintenance.

Lots of things happened while I was traveling on the drill crew but the job was boring in the extreme.

So, who else has a moving tale to tell?

Frosty

Never heard of tapping the anvil for luck, etc. but I live way far away.

I occasionally give the anvil a tap but it's usually an unconscious thing.

I've heard people in the audience say all kinds of things about how a "real" blacksmith does things. One of my buddies is demoing at the ongoing state fair and a couple days ago a couple youngsters, 19+/- started telling him ALL about smithing. They started off by telling him his 48kg. Kolswa was an ASO and as such not a "real" anvil and finished by telling him it "looked" lighter than the marking claimed.

Mark finally just ran them off by pointing out they'd at least look smarter if they kept their mouths shut around professionals.

Anyway, I don't hit anything but the work on purpose.

Frosty

Bob Bergman is a super guy and has quite a selection of tools and equipment for sale.

Old World Anvils, Blacksmith Forges, Fly Presses, Post Vises and Tools

Frosty

That's the kind of score that might make me hate you. If I were the kind of person to hate anyone. Congratulations big time for the score of the (month at least).

You might want to try restoring the post drill before you donate, sell, etc. it away. There's a lot to learn about how things worked in the day and if you look you'll see there is a rectangular hole in the shaft opposite the drive pully where the handle fits. (Assuming on this one but I have one very similar and I have yet to see one without hand crank capability)

Lastly what is the model # on the drill. Mine is a Champion Mod# 200 1/2.

Frosty

That is one of the nicest looking home made forges I've seen in a long time.

Check Google, the people who bring you ITC-100 make a product designed to shiled steel and other metals in high heat environments.

Another more complicated method would be to build a plenum around the firepot so incoming air from the blower cools the sides of the firepot.

Personally, I'd just rough up the sides of the firepot and clay it lightly.

Frosty

Looking very nice.

I'm sure you have a "real" forge but seeing the patio fireplace in the pics got me to wondering.

I'll bet a little modification and it'd make a decent field expedient forge.

Hmmmmmm.

Frosty

You can also replace ITC-100 by mixing up your own colloidal zirconia and porcelain binder. Zirconia is available in many grit sizes commercialy, Google will put you in touch easily.

Frosty

That's very cool.

While 15lbs would be awfully light for much smithing it'd sure work dandy for repairing harness and tack.

There are lots of swage sizes and in the heel up position might make a bowl or cup swage.

I can think of all kinds of things it'd be good for, especially if I had to pack it on my back.

Frosty

Thomas:

I grew up in So. Cal. so I've cooled a swamp or two. Feels pretty good when you first come in but gets muggy after a while. A combo of swamp cooler and AC seems to work best.

Unless of course you live somewhere human beings SUPPOSED to live. Heating your place has a long standing tradition supporting it's correctness. I mean seriously, how many old paintings show a group of old guys hanging around with their feet propped up in front of the swamp cooler?

Hmmmm?

I didn't. . . think. . . so.

Slippers?

I'm in my bear feet. What kind of whimp do you think I am? :cool:

Frosty

Gilly from the Great White North used to feed Moose Munchies to the local mooses in her area.

Some 30+ years ago I was at a friends one evening. John and I were in the living room, John playing his guitar. Sunni was in the kitchen making dinner and suddenly we heard a loud crash of breaking glass and Sunni lets out a shriek. John and I leapt to our feet to see what happened.

Sunni had the salad bowl on the counter in front of a window adding something and a moose stuck it's head through the window and was chowing down.

Another time I was driving along the Denali Hwy and there was a moose browsing at the side of the road. I stopped to get a reasonably close pic but it had it's head down and it wasn't a good pic. Well, I gave a short whistle to get it to look up.

Evidently the guys working at the mine a couple miles up the road had been feeding the moose because this one looked up then trotted across the road and stuck it's head in the open driver's window looking for a munch.

I'm sitting there with a moose streatched across me sniffing at the pasenger's side seat. I'm literally pinned against the seat hoping the moose doesn't too POed when it doesn't find anything.

Fortunately It just pulled it's head back out after a few seconds and snorted in disgust.

Lots of moose around these parts, best not to mess with them. This pic is me winter of 2,000 I'm about 20' from our front porch and the moose is about 50' farther out.

And yeah Thomas, the white stuff IS snow.

Frosty

That's a nice size for a forge table, a bit heavy but that's okay.

Till you've made a few forges you'd probably be farther ahead copying a proven design. Better yet, make the table with a drop in firepot and your friend can experiment with his ideas while you can enjoy using something that works.

My first forge was the fireplace in the living room, the anvil the brick hearth. Needless to say the folks chased me out pretty quickly.

My first working forge was a washing machine lid with a hole to drop a brake drum into. the tuyere was a plumbing "T" and nipple, air was supplied by an old hair drier. (The kind with a plastic hood, hose and blower unit) The forge stood on cinder blocks and I burned wood to charcoal in the pot. My anvil was a piece of 4" x 3" x 2' +/- HR I highgraded from Dad's shop.

Frosty

Frosty what is this "snow" you mention?---ahhh wait it's the white stuff on the mountains I can see in January as I'm drinking my tea in shorts and a short sleeve shirt---right? mnow for the important things like running water to the shop building so you can install a swamp cooler for those 100+ degree days at single digit humidities...

Yeah, it's the white stuff I can see on the mountains all year round; the blue stuff is glacier ice. Mt. McKinley is visible from our deck when the leaves are off the trees.

Important things eh. SWAMP COOLER? Is your swamp overheating? That doesn't follow the low humidity thing. I suppose your alligaters need hand lotion too?

I know this is a BS site but pUHleeeeze!

I gotta go feed the Polar Bears now or they'll eat the wolves.

Frosty

Welcome aboard Sparky.

Enjoy the journey.

Frosty

This is probably a bit late for the event but I ran across a couple Youtube videos of ground forges.

The first is a middle video in this guy's knife making series. Please do NOT build fires like this guy! At least clear the leaves away first.

YouTube - Greenpete's Knife Making pt3of4

This one is a Laotian smith and is part 1/2 it's short but shows his forge. 2/2 shows his anvil and power hammer.

YouTube - Laotian blacksmiths part 1/2

Notice his smithy seems to be a family shop, grandpa feeding the forge out front and baby sitting in the rear.

Frosty

It's getting to the point where holding out for an old anvil at a good price is a waste of time. In most areas anyway. Oh sure, you can still find good deals on old tools but it's getting to where you're farther ahead buying new.

By the time you find a decent anvil and pay antique shop prices for it, then maybe have to put many hours and additional cash into refinishing it you might've spent a year or two you could've spent learning or practicing the craft.

The last anvil I bought I spent around $3/lb for a Trenton in good shape. Then I had to get the thing to Alaska from N. Dakota. If Deb and I hadn't been trucking her stuff from the UP already it would've cost at least another $200 in shipping. At the time $1,000 would've gotten me a new 250lb shipped here.

A lot of what you're going to have to spend depends on where you live. If you live in the mid-west you have a pretty good chance of finding good smithing tools for a reasonable price. If you live on the west coast it's going to cost you a lot more. If you live in Alaska you might consider just making your own because shipping is going to add at least a $1/lb to anything old or new.

Frosty

That's probably 0-3-3 not 0-8-3.

The first number is CWT (hundredweights) = 112lbs.

The second number is quarter CWT = 28lbs.

The last number is lbs.


So, while the first number could be anything, the second won't be more than 3 and the last won't be more than 27.

A 0-3-3 anvil is 87lbs, give or take a lb.

A 0-8-3 properly written would be 2-0-3 and weigh 227lbs. Give or take a lb.

So, what's your back say when you pick it up?

Good score regardless, congratulations.

Frosty

I wasn't referring to the texture but the color. The picture looked like it was badly oxidized on my screen. Some pics come in clear as a bell others don't.

Anyway, seeing as it isn't oxidized then disregard what I said.

Frosty

Good supply run Aprenticeman:

I've always gotten on well with the local spring shops, good guys all round.

Frosty

Today I closed down my shop. I'll be leaving for grad school in less than two weeks, my wife sold her car so we've only got one between us, and I've got to finish packing up the house.

Packed up all my favorite tools, the wrought iron bars I've got, and put the old forge I'm going to restore in the shop (it was under the eave). When we come back and I've got a new shop I'll get everything in a truck.

It was certainly sad. I'm going to miss the hammer and anvil. I'll still be checking in here, though.

Nick

It's a sad but temporary thing I hope. Except for the checking here of course!

I've had to do the same thing several times though and lived through it. Heck, most of my stuff is still waiting for the new shop to get finished.

I only have a couple hours work left to finish the new section of roof on the barn and it'll be leak proofed for years to come or till I decide to finish adding on.

Lets see, Then all I have to do is build the new wood shed, get the season's wood in, cut, split and stacked for next winter; this winter's wood is ready to go. Oh yeah, I need to do some repairs on the snow plow and get things picked up before the snow flies.

All that's left then is get the last wall, garage door and roof on the shop and I'm home free!! :cool:

Ah, just another summer on the last frontier.

Frosty

Looks cool.

If you don't want to repeat the effect don't get it quite so hot next time, 1,100f is plenty.

In high school we got our best results when the pour looked bright silver and was almost chunky.

I don't recall what we used for flux but it was pink; I believe borax will work but check before you try it. Stir the flux in gently and scrape off the dross but don't get crazy you'll never get it all, Al oxidizes on contact with air.

Frosty

I have a pair I picked up about 12 years ago thinking they'd work for smithing. They're intended to filter out the light from the sodium yellow part of the spectrum. This is a very common frequency for glass blowers. I discovered they're of minimal use for smithing, VERY minimal. You get a little bit of benefit filtering glare from borax and that's about it.

Mike Porter is currently researching for his next couple books and color filtering for welding, cutting and smithing is either a chapter or a book in the works.

Didymium glasses aren't worth the expense for smithing in my experience. A good pair of tinted glasses work better. Gold lenses around #4-5 are even better, they maintain the natural color while filtering out excess glare and eliminating IR.

UV radiation from a forge is so negligible you can disregard it unless you're operating way above 3,000f.

On the other hand didymium glasses don't hurt if you have the disposable income.

Of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Frosty

I've been doing some adze research and have seen quite a few examples where the adze blade is simply lashed to a handle. Does anyone have any idea how to properly do this? Below is an example of what I'm talking about:

Pic of blades lashed to handles.

As Thomas says wet rawhide works well for lashing though sinew is maybe more often used. Alaskan natives and many others use glue as well. Hide and sinew glues have been around a LONG time. Otsie the Ice man; a bronze age man found frozen in the Alps between Italy and Switzerland had several hafted tools attached with raw hide and hide glue.

In other circumstances pitch or asphalt was used. Egg and milk glues are less common as they're not as strong and stable in high humidity conditions.

A local butcher shop will give or sell (cheap) tendons, etc. Hide, hooves, tendons, bones or other tissues containing collogen; boil down to make "hide" glue. Once it's biled to a thick broth you then evaporate it till it's a thick goop. It's extremely strong and durable but you need to melt it to use it.

And I'll bet you thought HOT glue was something new.

Okay, so I should've done the search before I sent the original message off. Anyway here's a couple links for making hide glue and attaching tool handles, shafts, etc. A quick Google search will net you more info than you need or want. I'd follow the directions on this site myself as (s)he seems to have a good idea of what's going on. Hide Glue Production

Glue

Troubled Times: Hides

Earth Connection Product 2 (If you want to take a class)

A Note on Indian Bow Making or the Secrets of Sinew Revealed (arguments for using sinew for lashings)

Urban Resources for Your Primitive Technology and Modern Projects (Interesting site and discusses using commercial gelatin "Knox" to make hide glue. I don't know how well this will work as modern gelatins are made from fruit pectin rather than animal collogen)

Glue FAQ (add salt to keep it liquid at room temp but lose some properties)

Frosty

Picked this antique garvin metal lathe offa craigslist. Its in perfect shape( have to modify the tool rest to fit properly as its probably from a newer version).

First Irnsrgn now YOU! You guys are killin me!

From the land of no old equipment,

Frosty

Sweet machine, Irnsrgn.

It almost makes me wish I were a wood worker. Then again I wouldn't find good antique wood working tools around here any more than I find smithing tools.

Frosty

Set a piece of RR tie on end long enough to be a comfortable working height and spike the fish plate to it for a dandy chisel plate.

Frosty