What have you been given?

[Buzzkill]

My first anvil was a HB broken waist lawn ornament with unfortunate welding repairs given to me for free.  For Christmas a few years ago my family gave me a PW anvil, a cast coal forge with hand cranked blower, several tongs, and a random assortment of small dimension steel stock.  I've gotten many coil and leaf springs, a piece of RR track, various parts from trucks and semi trailers, a 20" X 24" X 3" steel plate with another inch thick plate welded on, a discarded 5 stage hydraulic ram for a dump trailer, several 4' lengths of heavy duty H beam, several small electric motors, an old table saw, an early model Shopsmith, and a number of odds and ends all for free.  Before my father in law passed he gave me a Ford 2000 tractor with brush hog, back blade, and a couple other 3 point hitch implements as well as a chest full of quality tools, an air compressor, and a chainsaw.  

To put it mildly I have been extraordinarily blessed with friends, family members, and co-workers who have been willing to support my addiction  hobby. Almost all of them have received a custom hand-forged knife as a thank you.

[Jonnytait]

I got lucky and someone gave me a fairly big cone mandrel for free. I was grateful! I Can take better photos of it if anyone is interested

[CrazyGoatLady]

What a great gift Jonnytait! I have been given a lot in my life by many people and I'm thankful for everything. If we are speaking in blacksmithing terms, I've been given so much education and advice from the good folks here on IFI and on the internet that is priceless. I'd never be able to pay it back. I've gotten things for my birthday and Christmas. A gas forge a couple of christmases ago and I've gotten tongs and a twisting wrench. I've tried making two pairs of tongs for larger stock recently and neither of them have come out very well... my birthday is next month, so if asked, probably some tongs. My mother in law is one of my biggest supporters besides my husband and she's been the recipient of lots of my work. I've been given material to work with, but most has been horseshoes. I started out buying them and they get expensive real quick. Used ones are better for their unique character anyway. But I have forged a lot of them into things and I still have probably 80 or more in the bucket. Thanks to everyone here for contributing to my growth as a smith and as a person

[ThomasPowers]

I'd offer to trade a farrier a hand forged hoofpick for a 5 gallon bucket of used horseshoes....

[CrazyGoatLady]

It was a retired farrier that gave me my last big batch of shoes. I'm going to make him something nice for Christmas I think. There are a few draft horse shoes in the mix. I've never worked the big ones before so I was thinking maybe something nice out of those for him. I hope he'll like whatever I decide on. I offered to pay for them, but he didn't want the money. Just said to make something nice out of them

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I made a nice door knocker out of a draft horse shoe.

[CrazyGoatLady]

Ýou showed me that picture once and that is something I'm considering, irondragon. Thanks for the idea

[Mr Moose]

Everytime I see that door knocker, I think of a drop hammer for a mouse hole forge. LOL. I like it. 

[Forgingforfun]

On 3/26/2012 at 2:11 PM, ornametalsmith said:

I've been given a few things over the years........But the very FIRST... and one of the more memorable.......was a small French patterned hammer..........from Bill Gichner, when I was first starting out in my blacksmithing career.

Bill used to come to blacksmith guild of potomac annual meets, dad and I would help him unload and load his van, he was something, he gave dad some eastern shore phonebook covers that depicted blacksmithing, I think gichner iron works? Did the the White House fencing ,but I'm not 100 percent on that. He had some high dollar prices on them tools he had for sale, I bought my peter wright at one of those events, i went 13 years straight to them, won a post drill for a buck at iron in the hat, won a knife from bill moran and seen him demo there, gave it to dad years later he gave it back to me, he gave me a small post vice (dad) and a western chief blower, and I gave dad a cross pien

[Lionel h]

My dad gave me my grand paws mousehole anvil , it is my most treasured possession. I have other far more valuable anvils , it’s the one I care for, and more protective of any.

[Ben Hoover]

Friend of mine was on vacation with his wife out  of state and texted me a picture of a Vulcan anvil that had a bar welded across the top, and asked if that was what I was looking for (I was using a RR Track at the time). 

   I replied and said yes, but didn't have the  extra funds at the time.

   Three days later he came back from vacation and had it in his trunk for me.  His father in law heard I was beginning to blacksmith and said 'all it's doing is gathering rust out there, go give it to your friend'.  

   So... I now have my anvil.  Along with a lot of other stuff he's given me to help me along.  Obviously, his money is no good  with me, and I've made him a few things along the way and given them to him and his wife.  Will continue to do so.  I like my little anvil, but his friendship and support are worth far more.

[jlpservicesinc]

I've been given a number of things over the 42 years.   the largest thing that made my journey better was getting a Buffalo silent 200 blower 1984 I think it was.  No picture but used it for 20 years day in and out. My favorite blower.  STill have it in the back 40. 

This anvil was the most recent item.  Also a few pairs of tongs over the years.  and week before last a guy dropped off 3 pairs of chain making tongs. 1 pair was made from a ford brake lever.  Still had the letters on it. 

The larges thing I was given:  Was the desire to learn the craft. a way to carry it out, and parents that were absent and just let me do it. 

[Ben Hoover]

JLP, that looks to be a beast!!

[jlpservicesinc]

it's only 200lbs.  The stump probably weighs that. 

On 10/9/2019 at 1:42 PM, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

I made a nice door knocker out of a draft horse shoe.

 

That is cool.  What a neat old shoe. Was designed to fit many horses and still take a drive in calk vs weld in calk. that is really a nice piece. Love it. 

On 10/8/2019 at 6:39 PM, Jonnytait said:

I got lucky and someone gave me a fairly big cone mandrel for free. I was grateful! I Can take better photos of it if anyone is interested

 

Yes please. More photo's. Tong groove? 

[Awrksmokey]

I've been given a lot of information and experience. This summer I helped out a smith and he taught me a lot as well, and it was really an awesome experience that I really appreciate. 

[Cleave]

My father in law just got me a rusty 6 lb hammer head...

I cleaned it up and made a 20 inch handle for it out of a honey locust tree we felled last year. Finished it this morning before work.

[Old Crew]

About 6 or 8 months ago a friend gave me a vise that was broken , it wouldn't screw out. He knew I liked old things even if they aren't currently working!! It was made by Athol Machine and Forge , it is a cool vise because it has both a swivel base and a swivel jaw. A little while yesterday and today I took it apart to see what was wrong and clean it up . I had assumed that there was a problem with the screw box and that it might be a basket case. As i pulled it apart I was pleasantly surprised , both the screw and the box were perfect. It was dirty and covered with grease and build up but the screw would screw in and out but wouldn't move the jaw out only pull it in after cleaning. After further cleaning there was a spot on the shaft were there used to be a pin which had sheared off on each side of the shaft. When i drove the remains of the pin out it came out in 2 pieces length wise. Someone in the past had replaced a broken pin with part of a cotter key which is soft steel . I replaced it with a hardened roll pin and it is working like new!

4-1/2 inch jaws

pivoting jaw . The jaw is fixed in the square position with a tapered screw in pin and pivots on an 1-1/2 inch diameter pin inset into the main body.

Cool!!

The moral of the story is don't just give up on these tools from the past. Unlike most of what is produced today , they were built to work and to last while doing it. It was a simple fix and now this vise has been given another 100 years of possible life and usefulness !! 

[jlpservicesinc]

That is a fantastic vise.  Athol is 3 towns over from me Starrett is based in Athol.  Used to be a whole bunch of both Blacksmithing tool makers and machine tools along the Millers river. 


I'm envious. I've wanted one of those for a long time.  Super handy to have and use. 

[Old Crew]

Jennifer

I did some research on Athol  and  Mr Starrett was a founder of athol then left because of patent disputes  later sued Athol and won which allowed him to purchase Athol 

I used to have some Starrett tools but unfortunately someone liked them better than me.

Try not to let your building beat you up. You are doing very well   even if it hurts.  Any more info from the insulation company.

[jlpservicesinc]

The factory is kinda neat. As with anything like this the whole area has changed. 

None.  0, ziltch, nodda.   LOL..   I did find a video that I have not watched yet. I have  posted it to the Build thread. 

[anvil]

I was gifted my 184# PW once upon a mystery.

I knew a lady in my hometown, once upon a time. One day she said her mom,who I had never met, wanted some iron. I drove out and we talked. She asked me if I knew Francis Whitaker. I told her of my connection with him. It was a small job, cant even remember what it was. When I delivered and got payed, she said she had something for me and took me out into the garage. I may not remember the job, but I'll never forget her words. "You can have this anvil with one condition. You must agree to tell Francis that his anvil has a good home." Of course I agreed, after making sure she knew its value. The next time I saw Francis I relayed her message. I'll never forget his reaction. He got a twinkle in his eye, gave a little snort and with a shake of his head, He then turned and walked away. 

I will always wonder what the story is behind my 184# PW, and will remember that moment with every ring emanating from it, seeing that twinkle, hear that snort and the toss of his head.  

[Marc1]

I don't know if this counts as something i was given ... but anyway, I once bought a small 40Kg anvil from a now defunct foundry, I needed as a portable anvil.

When the anvil arrived, it had a large number of little voids visible on the surface of the body. I was disappointed and got on the phone with the foundry who told me to return it and that they would replace it. Return it I said, are you for real? You want me to ship 40 kg 1500 km to you?

So they sent me another anvil and I kept the defective one.

However ... I had a go at working on the bad one, and I have used it for cold work for a decade, and abused it in all ways possible ( within reason) with no ill effect.

The replacement one still has the factory paint on it  

 

[Old South Creations]

I'm jealous because I've been doing this for 11 years and have never been given ANYTHING. I am helping a kid get started and have given him some tools and maybe he can do the same for someone in the future.

[Marc1]

37 minutes ago, Old South Creations said:

I'm jealous because I've been doing this for 11 years and have never been given ANYTHING. I am helping a kid get started and have given him some tools and maybe he can do the same for someone in the future.

May be this thread is a good opportunity, for those who are as long in the tooth as i am ... to reflect on what and how much we are accumulating in the way of tools.

Look around for someone close to us who would be grateful to receive something. 

May be Christmas is a good excuse? 

[Les L]

What you have been given is a great thread, but I think the members here need to look at not only what they have received, but “what they have given” to the blacksmith community. I thank all that spend their precious time on here pointing everyone in the right direction to improve their skills and informing them what they need to do to correct their mistakes