August 17, 201015 yr I got a call on Tuesday of last week. It was a representative for an event called the Spartan race http://www.spartanrace.com/. He asked me if I could forge two spears at the event. These were to be given out to the winners of the race. I don't really do demos anymore because I'm not portable. But I said what the heck this sounds like fun. The race was on Sunday I had shop work all week so I whipped up this stuff on Saturday. I made a base for my #102 hey budden anvil after all I was in working in Brooklyn. I also made a stand for an old English leg vise that was in particularly good condition. It is a light vise with 4" jaws it looked like it had been lightly used. I found leaned up against my friends barn in up state NY. The screw was still silver inside the box when I found it. It needed a new mounting plate, spring and a wedge so I forged those. I also forged a hardie for the anvil out of W1 tool steel. I did this all in one day. it took me 12 hours and I used drops and scrap that were hanging around the shop.
August 17, 201015 yr Author cant seem to get the photos to upload I keep getting an error message. IMG_0265.jpg Upload Skipped (Error IO)
August 19, 201015 yr Author Thanks Sam. I made up that little forge A few years ago to save on fuel. I had a lot of nails to forge and I wanted to use as little fuel as possible. I can take a 100 lb propane tank I had used up on my 2 burner forge hook it up to this little forge and work for several more hours. It is a sheet metal box that is lined with ceramic fiber board. the inside is a 6" by 6" cube. I used an old NC forge burner I had laying around. I use it a lot in the shop with out the wind blowing It will get to welding heat. I had a bit of trouble getting enough heat that day because of a constant sea breeze. But I think it caused me to work slowly and really develop the forms of the spears well. It also kept me cool for those of you that don't know Long island can be very hot in the summer and yes Brooklyn is on Long Island.
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