What did you do in the shop today?

[George N. M.]

It certainly looks cast but you can't tell from photos if it is cast iron or cast steel.  Even if it is cast iron it may have a tool steel working surface.  Generally, cast iron anvils don't have much of a ring.  If you touch it with a grinder or cut off wheel the sparks are different depending on the material.  Cast iron gives straight sparks and lines with no secondary bursts (like little fireworks).  The higher the carbon content of steel the more you get secondary and even tertiary spark bursts.  Also, spark color will vary.  Look up spark testing of steel on the internet for more details.

Does the "50" appear to be a weight, e.g. 50 kilograms?

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand." 

[Rojo Pedro]

Nice one Chad. Sweet axe Jobtiel. 
 

I made a key ring hook from a piece of 2” angle. 

I added a little decoration and it turned out pretty good

thanks for looking

[natkova]

7 hours ago, George N. M. said:

.

Does the "50" appear to be a weight, e.g. 50 kilograms? 

Yes it is 50 kilograms.

I saw it on internet and it can be bought by "blind" only see it and take it becasue anvils are faar away.

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Mod30
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[Frosty]

I'd be suspicious of it being cast iron if they won't let me touch it. The world is full of cheats, not saying this in a cheat but that's a respectable amount of money to gamble.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Bowl work (forging, chasing, and finishing). Clamped a couple of ball stakes to the base of my RR track anvil, so I could do the chasing sitting down. 

And welded up the main pieces for a commissioned plant hanger.

[natkova]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

I'd be suspicious of it being cast iron if they won't let me touch it.

They allow but Ian not able tie too far away

Edited July 4, 2022 by Mod30
Trim quote.

[George N. M.]

Nat, in that case I suggest passing on it.  There are too many unknowns to risk spending money and ending up with an unusable hunk of cast iron junk.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[JHCC]

Agreed. 

[BsnNFrnt]

Squaring off round stock with the 20# sledge. 

[ThomasPowers]

Ah an expendable striker technique!   

Anvil Question: two tests that can be done remotely---if you trust the person or can have them send you video are the ring test---steel anvils will go TING when tapped and the ball bearing test.  Drop a ball bearing from a measured height and see how far it bounces back up. I generally want at least 70% rebound.

 

[BsnNFrnt]

Thank you Mr. Powers. The wife still has plenty of lead in her pencil and I seldom fail to take advantage. The 12 year old son was holding for the first hour. He will be in the next pic 

[ThomasPowers]

I had a friend come over and we forged for a while; he was working on a knife and I was taking an old wagon fitting and forming it to be a U bolt to make a post vise mount like the Columbians used.  I went to drill a hole in a golf ball and found out that the power had been down for an hour.  Total of almost 6 hours before it came back up.  Luckily it was not dangerously hot today, only 91 degF / 33.8 degC.

[Chad J.]

Made a few scribes and set up my display for the first time today, looked at what I had for wares and decided I need to add stuff.   Knocked out a couple quick triangles with fingers and holders and took a shot at making a couple beverage holder stakes.   Took longer than I would have liked so I made a jig.  Here's a shot of the drink holder and my first ever display.  Yeah the display is pretty basic.  I ended up hanging more stuff from the frame and using deer antler and decoration. 

[Dax Hewitt]

Once again its a few pages of excellent stuff to look at. I'm planning a raised grill for my fire pit and the rivited one TP made looks great. I was going to weld it but the rivets add to the whole thing. 

Rojo, what a cracking little key holder, I like the flat top to act as a little shelf. 

Chad, love the beer holder, simple and effective. I made a few bird feeders like that last year, just coiled some round bar with a hook on the top, hang them from a tree branch and drop 3 fat balls down the center. The birds live them and a few of the neighbours asked if I can make them one so you might be able to sell a few. (assuming you get fat ball bird food in the states)

[BillyBones]

Nice work ya'll.

2nd attempt. This time the tines are backward with the longer one on the out side. Also my forge weld was a bit better than expected so no need to use the old stick welder. I kind of like the shorter tines in the middle so i plan o leaving it as is, so i went to make a collar for the handle. Needed a 1" ID so i made the calculations, 3.14 times the diameter, add a bit for the thickness of the metal, cut about 3 1/2". Rolled him up and now that i can somewhat forge braze (love doing that now) brazed it together. And... ended up with a 1" OD. Anywho on the next one i will cut it about 4" or 4 1/2", much longer than i need and just cut it to length. That was kind of the idea with the small end on this one.

[JHCC]

Not much time in the shop today, but did a bit of fettling and finishing on some bowls. Also, having discovered how helpful a pair of vise grips is to hold bowls, I ground the teeth off a spare pair, to reduce the risk of damaging the surface. 

[Mothman_c3w]

Rojo Pedro, I like that hook idea. Definitely going to borrow/adapt the concept.

Today I finished up a batch of garden hose hooks. I managed to come up with a different scroll for the top of each. I did a hot oil finish on these, but I think I'd like to get some of these powder-coated in the future to hold up to heavy, outdoor use.

I traded for a piece of heavy-wall 8" pipe to make a swage for the curved section. I cut a semicircle section of the 8" and a 6" pipe and used them in my HF hydraulic press to set the initial arch into the curved section. I then finish the shaping by hammering down into the pipe section. When I get around to it, I'll cut another section and weld a hardy hole stub onto it so I have one dedicated to the press, and one for the anvil.

[George N. M.]

Very nice.  What guage sheet metal did you use for the hose rest?

Thx.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Mothman_c3w]

George, I used 1/8" (11 ga.) sheet for these. I have also used 12 gauge in the past. Seems to hold up well. I have considered getting some thin-wall 8" pipe and just cutting out 1/3 sections, but I can get flat plate for cheaper and I like to drill the rivet holes before I start forming it.

[Rojo Pedro]

Very nice work all. Love the hose holders.

I wanted to try some architectural forging for a future furniture build so I started with a 1” x 1/2” bar and made a bend.  

I then made a 1/2” tenon from some 5/8” square bar. Plus a 1/2” drift from some coil spring.

Real happy with it considering I used no power tools and have no monkey tool. The only thing I dont like is the end of the tenon. 

Lots of fun. thanks for looking

[M.J.Lampert]

nice work every one,

did some work on a knife i started about a year ago 1095, oak handle, brass pins and guard. went to centerpunch  my pin holes and lost 1/4 in off the tang so need to search for that but hope to be done by the end of the month if i can get some oil

 

working at a cement plant this summer not a clean job, but concrete employment no matter how you look at it

[sl0J0n]

Howdy, all;  I just got a small Hay Budden stamped "82".  I got it to have something to beat on.  I want to make a few brass blanket pins/cloak pins/periannular brooches.  Or whatever you call 'em, I want to make a few.  I've got a few brass rings, 1-13/16 in to 2-1/2 in dia x 1/4 in cross section & 1/8 in & 3/16 brass rod.  I've cut 1 ring & started on the prong but it work-hardened & chipped.  So I got a bernzomatic torch, an adapter, & big barbeque-sized can of propane.  I can use it w/ a Coleman camp stove for cooking/heating when we lose power.  So long story short, anybody got any advice on this?  I think if I wrap the prong around the center of the ring & beat the open ends it'll work.  I hope.  I just wanted a few hand-made blanket pins.  Looks like it's turning into a life-long project.  Like I said, I'd really appreciate some advice on this.

Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

If you put your general location in your profile it will help with answers to your questions.  A surprising number of answers are dependant on geography.  Right now we don't know if you are in Tasmania or Lapland.

Working in brass and bronze can be tricky becuase it will work harden fairly quickly.  You need to keep annealling it to keep it soft.  Heat it to no more than a very dull red and then quench it to get it soft and malleable.  This is the opposite of how steel reacts.

Also, most brass and some bronze can't be worked hot like steel because of lead in the alloy.  Lead is put there to make it easier to cut while machining but if you heat it and hit the metal it will just crumble.  Bronze brazing rods are usually a forgable alloy.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

John, have you thought about a pair of tongs with curved ends welded on the bits   )(  ?

Rojo, would using a rivet set improve the looks of the tenon ends?  I have a number of different sided rivet sets including a couple for structural steel rivets that were over an inch in diameter!  (Those are actually set hammers.)

SloJo:  you may want to try working with heavy copper grounding wire.  Much easier to work with than brass.  You will still need to anneal it.  There are a number of ways to do the terminations.  Flattening is probably the easiest, followed by scrolling.  One of the more difficult ones is to file the ends down to pegs and rivet beads onto them---I've used "amber"---probably fake, before.     A grace note is to work the pin.  I've done a smoothed down twist for a unicorn horn look, probably the fanciest I have done was to make the pin a claymore, (sword not mine!)  My apprentice gave me one as a gift that has a pattern welded ring with a mokume gane pin with PMC terminations with a PMC hammer and anvil dangling from them. I've been making penannular brooches for the SCA for over 40 years now using my forge or a charcoal fire for annealing.  I even teach the class at events.

[JHCC]

57 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

John, have you thought about a pair of tongs with curved ends welded on the bits   )(  ?

I've used tongs like that for bowl forging, but I like the vise grips a lot more. They are a lot easier to hold at the weird angles that are inevitable in hollow work, and I find my tong hand much less tired at the end of a forging session.