BIGGUNDOCTOR

I find that pretty cool. I had a 17" long alligator lizard that could shed its entire skin, and keep it in one piece with no tears in it. It was just like you had peeled a glove off. Any idea what kind of snake it was? Ya got plenty down there,even some non natives like pythons that are getting pretty well established.

Too bad about the saguaro. You can stuff it back in the ground, and see if it will reroot. I have a bunch of cacti that I have either found dumped, or was given parts of, that I just tossed in the ground that are doing great now. Just remember to orient it back to North, so it doesn't get sunburnt. Saguaros do not really do well here in Southern NV, too dry even for them. This corner is the driest spot in the U.S. Looks like we avoided a flood here. There was enough of a gap between the fronts that the Muddy was able to handle the flow.

cleaning off sticky AcraGlass that got where it wasn't supposed to go.

Don't know if I would want a col floor in an area with flame, although that could solve the cold smithy for you snowbound guys :lol:

I like the piercing. How was it done? My only criticism may be the surface roughness may make them difficult to keep sanitized in the kitchen. Thanks for the material link earlier. I apologize for not replying earlier.

Yeah, when I lived in CA I learned that you don't buy a house on,or below,the edge of anything. Rivers are nice to view, and visit, but not meant to live next to. Those edges sooner, or later, move the top to the bottom, and rivers have a nasty habit of getting deeper at times. I moved to Southern Nevada to get away from cold, wet winters. It is nice here for so much of the year that I really can't complain about 4" of rain a year. The flooding here happens with 1" of rain, not like other places where it takes multiple inches to flood.

Hmmmm, could get interesting overnight here in the Moapa Valley. If the rain keeps up the Muddy River could flood. Last time it did, I believe it was in 05, it went 1/2 mile wide. Pretty impressive when you consider how dinky it normally is, and how far down it is. Luckily I knew about the previous floods, and scoped out higher ground when I moved here. Normally we have flash floods here in the desert washes, but an actual flood is not that common.

Not sure what your opposition to trimming it is, other than maybe showing off skills. Some knives are made completely by stock removal. Cut it ,grind it, pound it, do what ever you have to do to make it turn out the way YOU want it to. It doesn't matter which method you choose as long as you have fun doing it B)

What he means is that it is an American made anvil, as opposed to an English,Swedish, Chinese, etc made one. I have a 260# Fisher, and it is a nice anvil with some character-made in 1907. With a new made anvil the price can hit 4 digits, and it is still just as good as one made way back. The only difference is that you get to put the first ding in it :P

I have a second edition (1920) of Elementary Forge Practice by Robert Harcourt, instructor of forge practice, Stanford University. In this book one of the projects is a hunting knife. To form the tip he uses a hot eye chisel to trim it.

I am setting up outside, as I do not have a shop,garage, or even a carport. For the floor I will leave the sand, and gravel that is on my property, but around the forge I am going to use a pile of railroad tie plates I have flipped upside down. Figure that is a good use for them, and they were free. The walls are going to be 55 gallon drums stacked on their side, and welded together-I know about possible explosive results. Most of the drums are open topped, and will serve as storage bays. Since they are approximately 2'x 3' 5 wide by 4 tall should give me a decent 10'wide x 8'tall x 3'deep windbreak. Normally don't have to worry about rain, let alone snow here in the desert, so no roof is planned.

That has been the problem, just finding a supplier who carries spring steel rod. All of the sources I had do not carry spring steel, or they only carry flats, wire size,and strip. We located one shop in Oregon so far, but I find it odd that it isn't easier to locate.

In Vegas when we needed some targets to shoot with an M2HB .50--15 cents a pound for heavy plate. Good size yard, and they let us wander around. When we made our pile (900#) they grabbed it with a magnet, and set by the truck for us. I make runs to L.A. CA to drop off our scrap copper, and asked the yard if they sell to individuals, yep they do. The majority of the steel I collected was free from friends, parting cars out, etc..

I haven't had to pull mine apart yet, but I do know that some have the capabilities to power other tips such as chisels. I have tons of tools, and tons of ideas,just don't have tons of time at the moment. The 200 mile commute everyday doesn't help, at least I am getting paid well.

As to the needle scaler. I found one that is an industrial inline model that has some power to it, and made in the States. I have also used it to texture surfaces. I repaired a buggy part that had some all over pitting from 100 years of exposure to the elements. When I was done welding it I ran the needle scaler all over the ground weld. The dimples blended in so perfectly with the pitting that he customer could not tell where it was repaired. Noisy, but a good tool to have around.

You can also wire it through another 3 phase motor, and fake it into thinking it has 3 phase. With this method you only get 2/3 of the rated output. I have used this method for years to run an 18.5"x54" Monarch Lathe 5hp, and my 10x16 Clausing surface grinder 2hp. Phase converters are another option. Didn't know about the VFD I will have to look into that. We used a lot of them at the Jelly Belly Candy Co. I was a graveyard mechanic there for 7 years.

I recently purchased 2 forges. One is a Buffalo, and the other is a Champion. The Champion is in similar condition, and it was $75. The Buffalo is in great shape with a hood, and it was $100-$125. Of course I have to mention the disclaimer that I fall into some good deals, and I am a cheapskate at times. Price will be determined by your locale, as well as your own personal pain level. Look around, they are not rare, unless you have to have one right away. How free is the blower, does it rotate? Personally I would pass at that price, especially if the blower needs a rebuild.

We need a few hundred feet to make all of the collets, and the sizes are pretty small compared to truck springs. I will check though. We also need some good dimensions on the OD, so that they run true through the screw machines that we have.

2 wheels on the rear legs, and some pipe welded under the base that you can slip some pipe handles into, and no pallet jack is required.

What you are looking for is similar to a gunstock duplicator. The tool moves in and out as a stylus traces the pattern. The cutter is also rotating, and milling the wood off. It would be fairly simple to make. You could use a router, or a shaft mounted cutter. Personally I mount handles with the grain orientated in the direction of travel, as in the picture on the left. Baseball bats are orientated with the grain, to keep them from delaminating under a hard hit. I don't glue the wedges, so I can drive them in deeper if the handle loosens up. Keeping the head at a constant moisture level is what is needed, so linseed oil is a good way to go. It gets down to 1% humidity at times here, so wood has a hard time surviving without some help. Does anyone use synthetic handles like fiberglass? HD probably stopped selling handles because the handles are more than the hammers now in some cases. Same with shovels.

How much will depend on what you are intending to make. If you are doing knives you could bury the whole thing practically, if you are doing general smithing with some bending you would want more exposed. You may try this. Get a stump, or make one out of lumber that would put the face at knuckle level when your fist is hanging at your side. Then fab up a mount on top of that to hold the anvil. I am thinking a Vee shape center with some sides to contain it, with the point on the base. With this setup you have all of it exposed. Now this will be easier if you can do some welding to make the mount. It can be thinner, and will last longer. The mount would also allow you to rotate the anvil, or lay it flat if need be. So, best thing to do now is figure out what you want to make, and adapt the tools to the job at hand. I'd help out, but I am in the warm part of the country B)

Is there a florist close that you could get a real one to pick apart?

I would still say at least stand it on one of the points, and use the edge. That way you have the most mass under the hammer blows, plus you will have somewhat of a heel on the anvil to bend around. The idea isn't to just get hammer time in, it is learning to do it right from the start. It will save you a lot of time, and frustration. Search posts on making anvils, and you will see what others have said about anvil mass. and it positioning. I would not dress the large face, but would smooth any sharp edges from the cutting. It would also help if you listed your location. There may be someone near you that could assist you in getting started.

I see a lot of potential here. I would not mount it permanently to a base. I would make it more into a triangular swage block. One edge use as anvil, put a different radius on each corner, maybe some grooves,depressions, holes, etc. A mount could be made so that it could stand with a point up, point down, and laying flat. The anvil face only has to be on one of the 3.25" wide edges, not the whole flat face.

This is not blacksmithing, but a machining job. The company I work for is looking to buy some spring steel rod to make collets from. Prefer metric sized, but we can turn down. Sizes needed are 5mm,7mm,10mm,15mm,and 20mm in 10'-12'lengths. We can find strip, flats, etc all over the place but no rods. It has to be out there since coil springs are still being made Thanks