Nice work John,  Love the calipers especially.  Where is your makers mark? 

I'm glad to see you putting The Pressciouss to work. I know it's early days yet, but how are you liking it?

After today, I'm much more optimistic. The first try with hot steel was a big disappointment, but realizing that I had the dies in wrong and putting them in the right way made a HUGE difference. Now I feel like I'm learning both the strengths and limitations of The Pressciouss itself, as well as learning the techniques that will bring out the most of it or any press. I'm still thinking that I might upgrade the motor and pump at some point in the future, but now I know that I've got a working (if a bit slow) tool that will make my life somewhat easier. Squaring up that hardy shank was great. It took a good while, but it's really clean and fits the hardy hole really well with minimal pounding to give it the final seating.

Oh, forgot to mention: heat treated the tomahawk I made with Latticino. Big thanks to him for teaching me the table salt trick.

(NB: not the actual handle; this is a broken hammer handle to give an idea of the final haft. Still needs to get its final grinding and sharpening.)

I finished making the hoof picks for the tack store and I made a bottle opener for my uncle who gave me my great grandfather's forge. 

Pics of the forge in "it followed me home"

I made these punches out of a coil spring. My hand forging is definitely getting better!

Indeed, they look great!

Thank you!!!

Totally stole this idea from Joey van der Steeg. He had a YouTube vid makin one with it all forge welded.  Wifey got a new kayak and I thought I would make an anchor for it for when she was fishin. I cheated on this. The mig welder helped alot :-)  Very far from perfect but had alot of fun making it!  That's why we forge, right!   Turns out it is not heavy enough. It was great fun to make. It will look good hanging in the shop! 

I've watched both of his videos on that anchor.   Pretty cool to watch a pro like that at work.  Your's looks great........even ifin' ya did cheat just a little.  It's plenty heavy.  Just add about two feet of steel chain to it to make sure when it hits the bottom it pulls horizontally.  Just make a shackle and hook up some chain.  Dat's how dey wirk!

I might try a swivel shackle like he made(ya right) and forge a couple chain links also. My forging fantasies do not match my skill level though.    Although, if I dont try,   I will not know what I can do! :-)

Helped my son make his first split cross:

If you don't want to mess with the challenge, galvanized shackles and chain are available at most any DIY store.  I would think, from my experience with anchoring a sailboat, that about 2 to 3 foot of chain ought to make that nice anchor work just right.

And, just for fun, had a go at making a small rounding hammer (almost) entirely in The Pressciouss. Here it is annealing in the forge:

Did most of the drifting by and and used the treadle hammer to set my touchmark. Otherwise, everything was with hydraulics. 

It was an interesting experience. I could have done it all a lot faster with the treadle hammer, but I still think it was worth the learning time. 

JHCC, tell your son he's on the track to taking over the old man's anvil! 

Dangit, you guys keep igniting my envy shortcoming!  I hope to make hammer and tool heads some day, but it'll have to be with borrowed equipment because a Pressciouss  isn't in my future.  Nice lookin' hammer head.  Be sure and post a pic when you get it all cleaned up, handled and ready to use.

Well, here it is, all wire-brushed and ready to be ground & heat-treated:

This is part of the same series as the last two cross peens. 

Super!  Lookin' Good!

Hardened, tempered, and handled the small rounding hammer. 

Also put a handle on the tomahawk, but didn’t like it (the fit wasn’t great) and will start again. 

Finally made the poz tongs I've been wanting to do for a long time. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out! 

look great.. Nice job. 

13 year old niece and 10 year old nephew were in the area this week.  Nephew was on a knife bent, and kept asking my father and I about them (I think in part due to excitement at being given an old swiss army knife earlier in the stay).  Decided to give him the opportunity to make one, but given his weak upper body I ended up doing all the work.  Sent them each away with a knife (I made them do filing on the handles and some 220 grit sanding of the blades prior to heat treat... y'know, to build character).  I don't do knives, and don't have a lot of interest in doing them, so this is what I could knock out in the limited time we had.

Made from coil spring, quenched in peanut oil.  First temper was done with a torch on the spine, second in the convection oven set to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Temper got drawn a little further than I was intending, well into bronze instead of straw... Oh well, probably for the best since I've *no* idea if I'd messed anything up and got excessive grain growth- less likely to fracture in use... I hope.

That spot in the middle was some bird's commentary on the product, and I'm inclined to agree.  Doesn't matter thought, the customers are happy, and I think my sister is exasperated with me (double win!).

Thanks!  I wish I would've made these a long time ago. They are a really handy design!

Is that video of Bruce Wilcock forging an full sized anchor with a team of helpers still up anywhere?

Been a few weeks with an injured thumb. Played with some 1/16 copper sheet, 1/4 copper and mild steel rod. 

did a bunch of other stuff but the heart was the only thing i finished