Fleamarket report: Socorro NM: Revere ware frying pan to mount basket work handle on for campfire cooking: $2, 2 cold chisels, 3 ballpeen hammer heads, RR spike hammer with new handle: $10 total. Old farriers rasp---heavy no tanged type $1.

Thomas

Two small hammers (handled) 3 cold chisels, 17 spanners, 2 large files, a chipping hammer, an old roofers hammer (i think that's what they are) a door pull and a centre punch........... the price was.......(pause for effect).............£14!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
all this from the same guy at a car boot sale!!!

alec

I was browsing some local online classifieds today and a guy had 2 rivet forges listed for sale for $25 each. I thought I would pick them up for spares or pass them on to anyone else that wants to get started. I show up at his house to pick up the forges and he gives me 2 part bags of coal, an old beat up anvil, a section of track and a fire tool he made, all for free. I just gave him $60 and told him to keep the change. He was very happy with that and said he has a few more things that he will find while spring cleaning and call me when they are available.

I was browsing some local online classifieds today and a guy had 2 rivet forges listed for sale for $25 each. I thought I would pick them up for spares or pass them on to anyone else that wants to get started. I show up at his house to pick up the forges and he gives me 2 part bags of coal, an old beat up anvil, a section of track and a fire tool he made, all for free. I just gave him $60 and told him to keep the change. He was very happy with that and said he has a few more things that he will find while spring cleaning and call me when they are available.

good score,but what in the world was he working on to bust that anvil?that took some work im sure.

good score,but what in the world was he working on to bust that anvil?that took some work im sure.

You know, I've now seen probably 10 anvils by the same manufacturer (Canadian Blower and Forge), and of all those, only 1 wasn't missing it's heel. The best of the bunch could be considered as being in 'good' condition. The second best had a nice face, but was missing the heel. All the rest were beat to snot with no heels and rough edges. I'm thinking that they weren't very high quality anvils. They are cast steel (they have a ring when struck), but maybe the type of steel wasn't suitable for anvils?

Nice finds indeed.

I went to pick through the last minute items at EA Chase's shop got an assortment of heavy duty c clamps for 20 bucks. Today is the big move so I am going back to help clear out what is left in the shop who knows what may turn up

Hand me down that can of beans, I had a lucky day! The manager of the local auto parts store is in the process of cleaning out his mom's basement and here is what I got! Free! There are about 5 more truck loads of coal down there too. It is not the nicest stuff, what I call borderline anthracite, but it is free. The forge is in excellent shape and the tongs are perfect for much of my flat stock.

I sure wouldn't gripe about a few free truckloads of coal even if it weren't any good for forging. (NOT that I'm saying you're griping) Our winters can get COLD and a coffee can of coal in the barrel stove a couple times a session can make a real nice difference. On the other hand it looks like your coal is coking so it should be good for forge fuel.

Good score for sure.

Frosty the Lucky.

I sure wouldn't gripe about a few free truckloads of coal even if it weren't any good for forging. (NOT that I'm saying you're griping) Our winters can get COLD and a coffee can of coal in the barrel stove a couple times a session can make a real nice difference. On the other hand it looks like your coal is coking so it should be good for forge fuel.

Good score for sure.

Frosty the Lucky.

It barley cokes at all and burns faster than charcoal. I am gonna use about 7 gallons of it a day as opposed to the usual two gallons. But, it's free, and I can forge weld in it.

Won on ebay for the grand old price of £1.00.

I guess for about a dollar and a half that's a real good deal. I saw one at a yard sale for $15 dollars and thought that was OK too.
A couple of weeks back I bought a Dixon silversmithing stake, an Osborne stake & stake holder plus a couple of hammers for $34 dollars. The stakes were all dinged up so I draw filed out the dings and worked them over with some good quality wet and dry paper and then put them on the polishing wheel, cleaned up nice. The Osborne stake didn't say what it was made of but filed like CI but the Dixon stake has cast into it "SEMISTEEL". It filed, sanded and polished OK but not great. I forged down some 1/8" annealed square copper. Well as it work hardened the stake started to take on dents from the copper and no I wasn't missing with the hammer, I was using a small cross peen and the dents were rounded in shape. Is semisteel crap or did I file off the outer hardened surface?
The Osbourne stake took a real beating without any sign of distress. Is it CI,some other ferious metal or just better quality?

Bentiron, seems I remember reading semisteel is chilled cast iron.
Ken.

As I recall semi-steel is ductile cast iron not chilled (which is extremely hard and brittle). Ductile isn't as brittle but it's fairly soft. Silver smithing stakes need re-polishing on a regular basis and keeping the work annealed helps a lot!

The other stake may be cast steel or other "real" steel.

hello
This winter my neighbor "gunsmith" give me this fly press
after a fresh coat of paint here is a useful tool for the recovery of the small room and hot embossing


Pascal

SteveW,
Nice win with the drill. I have had one similar for 15 odd years now and it has paid itself back hundereds of times over.
You can cutt large holes with it and it is small enough to clamp the entire set up in just about any position you need - even upside down if needed..

Thomas, That Dixon stake is sure soft, I have to use real soft hammer blows or they show upon the the stake in muted form, not good. The other stake is tough stuff though, not sure what use to make of the Dixon stake though, maybe for planishing not forging. If I had to refinish it from one piece to the next it would be gone in a month

Pascalou, That looks like a nice job on the fly press. What are you going to do with it?

20' of 2" square HR followed me home today, for the big price of 50$.\

HMMM NOW what to do with it?

Sounds to me like you need to light your forge and turn on your power hammer Sam.

Good score by the way.

Frosty the Lucky.

I bought three more hammers today, two have octagonal heads on one end and round tapered peens on the other end and one little hammer is a brass octagonal. They all kind of look shop made to me. My box of hammers is getting full, now my wife can say with a straight face that "You're dumber than a box of hammers" when she gets upset with me
When I get this mess o' hammers somewhat clean I'll take some pictures. :P

found this power team hydraulic pump at the swapmeet today for $70. I brought it home wondering if the guy was being honest telling me it worked. I plugged her in and away she went. I just have to clean her up and fab up a frame for a hydraulic press. I posted a thread in the press area asking what size cylinder would be good with this pump. It puts out 55 cu inch, and is psi adjustable from 1,000 to 10,000. In the specs it stated that it loses very little power as pressure increases. I use these at work to stress post tension cables, and i can tell you they throw out some force. If you don't watch what you're doing they will snap a 5/8 cable like nobody's business.

ironstein

I suggest finding an Enerpac type cylinder (10,000 PSI rated) and using it at it's highest pressure setting. I use a similar pump (although mine is multi-staged) with a press I made. The photos show some of the types of small vessels I make with it.

Whatever you press with it, be sure you move the opposing surfaces close as close together as you can before you put the hot stuff in. This will minimize the heat loss before contact is made.... 55 CUI is slow moving on a cylinder that size.

I press pipe and square tubing cutoffs, then weld in a bottom. The press will move slow, but you can do this type of work...

I added a picture of the press also (ignore the motor sitting on top).

Good luck with that.... Some may tell you the pump is not fast enough, but don't believe them. Use will be limited, but results are assured, presses don't have to move fast for everything you might want to use it for....

Thanks for the tip. I already ordered a cylinder unfortunately. Its 4 inch bore, 8 inch stroke, 3250 psi. will it even work? The rams i use with this machine at work are dual cylinder and they move quite fast. I figured using a single cylinder would be adequate. maybe i should try to cancel that order and try to get a 10,000 psi cylinder.

Thanks for the tip. I already ordered a cylinder unfortunately. Its 4 inch bore, 8 inch stroke, 3250 psi. will it even work? The rams i use with this machine at work are dual cylinder and they move quite fast. I figured using a single cylinder would be adequate. maybe i should try to cancel that order and try to get a 10,000 psi cylinder.

The cylinder is double acting right? The unit goes forward and reverse? the 10,000 psi wold prob be a better choice, bigger is better as long as the pump can handle the volume, keep us posted with your build, I have my eye on a self contained unit right now, it is on a giant kiln used to open the doors on each end, just waiting for the guy to part out the unit, its not ever going to be used

Yeah clinton the pump will have no problem with a 10,000 psi cylinder, thats what it is made for. They make double and single acting for the pump. The cylinders are kind of pricey. Heck the pump retails for $3500 bucks. Alot of guys seem to think they are too slow for forging. I've used them before to stress cables, and i thought they were pretty decent. They are designed for heavy duty lifting, so they are super stout. Monstermetal posted on a different thread, he has quite a few 10,000 psi cylinders and i am gonna buy one from him. The good thing about this set up is that supposedly the cylinder and pump don't lose much power when they load up so you can still do serious work at higher psi ranges.

ironstien.... Sound like you have under control...

If the cylinder is large bore, it will be slow, but you can still do a lot with it. As I said before, just make the press opening barely large enough to get the hot metal in before you squish (do this before you take your project out of the forge).

Lots of luck