BIGGUNDOCTOR

Morwood coal, and supply 856 N Valley View Drive, St George 435 673 6282

Hey Tim, nice to see someone else local. I haven't called them yet, but there is a supplier in StGeorge, and there are coal mines in Utah. I will get the info when I get home from work, as I am headed out the door as I type.

How true do these rotors have to run when they are spinning, and what is the application?

We use CLR (calcium, lime ,rust household cleaner) to clean some copper parts at work, takes about 15 seconds.

Dad made a hood for our forge from the outer skin of an old water heater.

A low mast forklift like I have would make this job so easy for you, too bad you are not closer to me. One of the forklifts I have is a 5K Toyota that was made for loading trailers, so the mast is only about 6' tall or so. If the lift is too tall it can be used to push it through the doorway. Getting it across the floor wouldn't be that bad. My smaller lathe is 5,200# and I have moved it several times with a pinch bar ,and rollers. To get it off of the pallet will depend on the pallet design, or if it is a skid of some sort. A skid will be easier to off load from than a standard pallet since you can jack it up, and slide the skid beams out from under it. Not knowing what your hammer looks like makes it a little difficult to offer suggestions. But to be honest 2,500# isn't that bad. Since you are doing concrete work anyway, I would drill a 2" hole where the hammer is going, and drop in a piece of pipe to anchor to. Get a come-along, and some chain. Anchor the pallet so it doesn't move, and build a ramp in front of it with whatever you have handy; wood,metal, etc.. Toss a chain around the base , and attach the come-along. As a safety measure hang a couple of small sandbags/weights on the cable, and chain just in case something lets loose. The weight will keep the chain, or cable from whipping back at you. Start pulling, and slide it off of the pallet, and over to where it is going to end up. Should slide fine on the concrete. All in all , you can do all of that, or just use a forklift which will do the job in far far less time. I am guessing 15 minutes, or so. Look around your neighborhood for someone with a forklift, backhoe, front end loader, etc..Who knows, you may end up with a new smithing buddy out of it. Look on Craigslist too. On my local CL I missed a free 6K lift that ran, a running 6K all terrain for $650, and there are others listed for $500-$1,200. It is one of those tools that you think"What would I use that for?" until you have one then it is "Wish I had bought this earlier!" If you were closer I would lend you mine.

At the screwmachine shop I work at we have had bar stock that came in with internal cracking, voids, etc.The cracking on your bar may have been caused by improper rolling at the mill-too cold / work hardening?

Welcome to IFI. Personally I would have made a much thinner stem on the rose. The rose itself is nicely done, but I feel the heavy stem distracts the viewer from the flower. The grapes are interesting to me as I grew up around vineyards back in CA. Napa was just 30 miles down the road, and I later did work for the wineries.

Check county records for birth, and death certificates. Although during the mid 1800's you had the Civil War going on, and if he got caught up in that he could have been buried in far more places. Good luck with the search. I just recently saw some pictures of my grand parents, and great grand parents. Kind of gives you a sense of where you came from.

You may want to contact Looney Tunes to see if it was one of the ACME anvils used by Wile E. Coyote during his prestigious film career which started on Sept. 16, 1949 with the release of Fast and Furry-ous. These anvils are highly sought after by collectors, yet none has ever been documented as to being in a collection. Kind of the Holy Grail for blacksmiths. The lack of anvils used by W.E.C. in collections may be due to the fact that they have never been released from the studio. Movie houses are notorious for recycling props for other movies. Then again it could be that they all went straight to scrap, as movie houses are also notorious for destroying some props. Could one have been snuck out, and now resides in a dreaded anvil collector's collection? Possibly. If it turns out that your anvil is one of W.E.C.'s, you sir have a very valuable anvil on your hands. I would suggest insuring it promptly, and keeping it secure, and protected.

I straightened out a bent conveyor side plate with heat. It was approx. 12" x 3/16" stainless, and had about a 4" side bend in it. It had fallen off of the trailer as it was being loaded. Ran the rosebud up and down the bend to get it hot, then slapped a wet rag on the side I wanted it to bend towards. That shrank that side of the plate drawing it back straight. It took several applications of heat, and wet rag to get it drawn back into shape, but went very easy. This is a method used in autobody shops to repair dented sections. It doesn't have to be red hot, sometimes just as you see the color changes happening is good enough.

58# isn't that big, so all you mainly need is something that is stable while working. Will it be portable, or stationary? A stump will work, or some 4x4's laminated up. If you do a search for anvil stands you will find that there are a lot of preferences out there, so basically whatever works best for you. Getting the height correct for you will make working easier, and less strain on the arm and back. You can update your profile to show your location by using the user CP (control panel)

You may also want to update your location, making it a little more specific. There are quite a few smiths in the UK. You may find out you have a neighbor doing some smithing.

Do a group buy. That is what myself, and others did to get better deals on parts kits - deactivated machine guns used to make legal semi autos from, magazines, ammo, and other gun stuff. By getting anywhere from 10 to 50 or more orders together we got a huge price break on a number of items. What you would need to do is find a coal supplier, and ask them how much you would need to purchase in order to get a price break. Then get the orders put together to get the deal worked out. This works best if you can go straight to the source. With coal it would probably work best if you had it all sent bulk to one location, and had the buyers pick it up themselves. Kinda hard to do drop shipping, as it jacks the cost up, and less chance of getting a great deal.

Targets. My Dad made some flowers out of the lids. You torch the ends to form sort of a 4 bladed propeller , stack 2 offset to each other. braze a stem on, and fold the petals up some. There are tons of tin can crafts, from lanterns to camp stoves.

I have the opposite problem. The items I make, are for myself, and I have yet to sell any of my crafts. I have given some away, but never sold any. That is due to the fact that they are hobbies to me, and for my own enjoyment. I could see where if any of these hobbies were a profession that it could be hard to make something for myself. I would say that you should make time for yourself. We all need to do that from time to time. It is called enjoying life.

Last time i was at my local scrap yard they had some various forklift forks laying around. Lop the end off of one of those, and it should make a decent large pry bar end. The rest of the fork will have a bunch of other uses.

You can get basic info , or manual, from any company that sells these ( Harbor Freight for one) , as most of these seem to be made from the same castings with different names slapped on them. It should have an R8 spindle in it. You do not want to use the drill chuck to hold the end mills. On top you should find a draw bar that holds the chuck into the spindle. When you loosen that the chuck should come out, if it doesn't screw the drawbar back in a few turns , and lightly hit it with a hammer to knock it loose. Collets, or end mill adapters can then be used to hold the end mills, or other cutters. A good vise, or hold down set will be needed to do any machining. If you get a vise, you make your own hold down set.

I think that may depend on the shape, and use of the object. Cast iron tubs, and sinks are only enameled on one side, and they have some heating and cooling going one. Enameled cookware is done all over, but I think that is more for rust prevention, and looks. Hopefully the coefficient of expansion of the two items will be similar enough to prevent cracking. Enamel is basically ground glass, and I know with glass you cannot mix different COE glass in a project without it cracking. I would think that a goblet would mainly be used for cold beverages, and it could be hand washed easily enough. Another one of those things that make you go HMMMMMMMM.

Yes, there can be some cultural differences there. I dated a Mexican gal for awhile, so I know how stubborn a Latina can be You certainly have your hands full. I have noticed that in a lot of other countries there are distinctly different "class" systems. Upper class, working class, etc. In India this is very prevalent. I noticed some of this with my girlfriend. She would talk about here relatives in a way that brought up their "status" IE; multiple homes. cars owned...... Also in a lot of countries tools can be an expensive pursuit, so the ones who have them are the ones doing that for a living. They do not have the disposable income like some of us enjoy here in the States.

Enameling would be a neat way to go. Tons of possibilities there.

I am sorting through a bunch of carbide at the moment. The material is solid round stock that were in house made spade form drills. Most still have a 1" or so section that is full diameter, as anything 1.5" or better was kept to reform in house. Diameters run from .125 up to .500. and can be reshaped for a variety of different projects like; new spade drills, boring bar inserts, drills for removing taps, or silver soldered onto a shank for turning tools. This material runs well over $100 a pound when we purchase it new. I can sell it two ways. Unsorted - dump it in a box, and ship for $30 a pound. Sorted for size-$40 a pound. I am looking into the best shipping costs at the moment through UPS, and the USPS flat rate boxes depending on the weight. I will also have some solid carbide slitting saws at a later date, as those will take a little longer to sort through. I also have bar ends off of the machines. 7" long or so, copper, brass, stainless,and Beryllium copper. The first batch has been sold, and I am getting those orders together. The next batch will be done once those are out. I will give updated pricing for the next batch, once I get the material home, since scrap values are not constant. All of this material has been purchased from the company I work for, and has not been back doored.

I have seen knives with Beryllium copper blades, but have yet to use one. Wonder how well they hold an edge.

I am going to have find a book I had that showed making nails. It talked about making nails with only 5 hits of a hammer.

Hmmmm it is times like this that I think that maybe it's a good thing that I am a perpetual bachelor. Funny how this works out though. Some of my married friends think I have it so great, because I can do what I want, when I want. Yet I want what they have. Yes I can do whatever I want to, but it would e nice to have someone to share my life with. But, then again I will need to find a woman that can put up with the blacksmithing, cars, car parts, machinery, machine tool accessories, welding, leatherworking, woodcarving, wood working, ceramics, lapidary/rocks, photography, reloading, gunsmithing, shooting, hide tanning, auction finds, garage sale finds, and other hobby stuff. Looks like I will be single for a loooooooooong time. COMMUNICATION is what your situation needs. Both of you will need to be open to some COMPROMISES. How old are you two, and how long have you been married? She will probably view the new house as her chance to show off her homemaking , and entertaining skills to her friends. On the other hand your guy friends probably won't care about the new towels in the bathroom, but will want to check out your man cave (shop) with all of the cool toys. Don't just roll over, and capitulate, as she may be testing you to see how far she can push you to get what she wants. A man has to have HIS space. Right now she sees a dirty, smelly, and noisy endeavor on your part. Her perception may change once she hears good comments about your grimey hobby. My Mom and Dad were married for 50 years, and had there share of disagreements, but they worked them out. Sometimes not to their satisfaction, but they worked them out. Give and take. It was a good thing that Mom hated housework, as there were always things going on at home. Model planes, woodcarving, knitting, crocheting, etc.. That is probably why I feel a bit uneasy in a spotless house, I also think how boring it might be living there. Neighbor kids used to come over to their place to build planes, because their mom's didn't want any wood chips in the house. In the end it was a good match, and through COMMUNICATION they were able to reach a COMPROMISE when things came up. Maybe you need to find a friend, who is a perpetual bachelor, living on 2 AC who will let you smith at his place. ;)