I just moved to a new city, which of course means..... new scrap yards!!
Picked up this forge for $15 and the post vice was $25. No cracks in the forge pan and all the vice really needs is a clean up as far as I can tell! I also found a nice cast iron stand for my gasser, but ran out of camera batteries. My new garage has a 8'x 15' shed attached that I get to use as a smithy Now all I need is to trip over an anvil somewhere. I was looking at chunk of big I beam (probably 1/4 to 3/8" thick and 6" or 7" across the top) - might have to pick that up next time.

This item didn't follow me home, it was waiting in the driveway when we got back from labor day in the desert. Mcraigl and Darryl Pech teamed up and got it for my birthday! It's an air compressor, 25 HP GE motor, Kellogg-American #A462TV head, and I-Rand tank, 24" diameter X 60" long.
I would estimate the overall size as 'Fairly Large' and the weight as 'Pretty Heavy'.
Thanks Guys!!

This is a picture of a 6-1/2" post vise and a bunch of tongs I recently picked up. I've been looking for a wider vise for doing heavier vise work (chiseling and such). The threads on the vise are worn although I will be able to get years of service from it. The tongs are mainly for larger stock up to 2-1/2" - some are good and some will be set aside for looks next to the forge. - JK

Jeremy
For looks--- dont do that as you may be labeled as a ( collector ) and some blacksmiths that are much more holy than you are may run around throwing clinkers at you
Please just send them to me and ill spare you any shame not to mention the little red dots all over you from being hit with pieces of clinker.
Im already a dreaded ( collector ) with no hope of recovering from this affliction.
Mike

Ok Mike - there are some of the tongs that are broken in the jaw area, they will be put aside until I repair them so they "CAN" be used. - JK

That is a nice set of tongs and the vise looks pretty nice. Glad they followed you home.:D

When I went out last week I was not looking for anything to bring home, but when I stopped at the local garage, the fellow said you still want these? Yea, sure, I will find some use for them. (Grin).

A family in the neighborhood was moving and ask if I wanted any old metal. Sure. Well come get what you want the night before the trash runs. Aluminum lawn chairs are not what I consider heavy metal but I grabbed the one that was usable. You never know when you want to sit for a spell.


Then there is this thing. It is not metal, but it followed me home anyway. :)

They didn't follow me home, they followed someone else home, I sold all my plow points and strips for repairing plow lays to the fella that is taking over my plow repair business today.

Also had a fella from Oklahoma call today wanting 2 plow lays fixed up, they wore out, local steam show is this weekend so he is flying up with the 2 plow lays and dropping them off with Dave tomorrow, then taking in the steam show. Dave is the resident smith at the museum, and someone I can trust to do them right.

turning down scrap Al is sort of like throwing money out the window. Even in our town of less than 10K---when the university is in session we have a place that buys Al---I finally talked my wife into going there instead of driving 5 miles further to dump them in a recycle bin. Once they handed her the money she caught on *fast*---and the back of my truck has any Al can she finds when out walking thrown in it.

I have been wanting a post vise for a while now, as I am trying to set a forge at my house, but didn't have the money for one. Well, I was given a decent one that needs a mounting plate a few weeks ago. Yesterday I was helping a friend and we got talking about blacksmithing, he gave me these, said he wasn't going to do anything with them.

The one in the middle is a Columbian, the one on the left needs a spring, and a bunch of TLC, and the monster on the right needs a whole bunch of TLC. I have never seen a post vise this big before, it is a beast.


Dave

Dave that big one's done got the ricketts; you had better ship it down here to me in NM so it can get the sun it needs to straighten that leg and bar back out!

Lol, Ricketts!!!! Roflmao!!

Dave, good for you!
It is nice to hit the mother load at times.
I had some wounderful friends (a marrried couple who I called the dueling anvils) give me a bunch of tools at one time also. I think I kinda know how you feel.
As a result of thier kindness, I have given the equilivent of a whole blacksmith shop away over the years, and it made me feel as good as when I was given tools.
I wish you the best, and please be safe!
Old Rusty Ted

Rickets, he he. So I should drink a glass of milk when I straighten the leg out?


Dave

One of the items that followed me home yesterday. 26 1/2 inches long by 17 1/2 inches wide and 5 1/4 inches thick. For reference those are 6 x 6 timbers it is sitting on.

Very Nice Find BT!

They through out some great junk at work. I usually find bearings from heavy equipment, 3" pins from trackhoes,plough disks, but today i scored a wilton c-1 vice in the metal scrap bin. It needs some work on the pivot ring. I'll fix it or mount it solid.

While scoping out my favorite scrap pile where people dump their metal junk for shredding, I found an old snow blower. Needs a motor, but all the rest is there and seems sound. Just needs a good cleaning and lube.

Christopher

a whole bunch of punches followed me home from work. S-1 tool steel punches. they are shock resistant! we had a meeting at work last night about someone not assembling a press correctly before starting it up. they passed around a punch that had come out while running. it was a 3/4" shank bent about 30 degrees.....but it didnt shatter.


my computer didn't want to upload all the pictures.....I had a picture of one of the 8 drums of punches that followed me home. I wish I had taken a picture of them all loaded in my truck on 2 wooden skids. My toyota pickup was on its bumpstops.....luckily it was only about a mile to my house to unload 3 drums, the rest went to my storage unit. I still had trouble driving the truck that loaded down over the WV mountains.

Rob/SLOB

The IForgeIron gallery handle take the large photos. It automatically resizes them for the gallery and for a thumbnail. Copy the properties of the image for use in the forum.

Just a black plastic 55 gallon drum to most folks. But to a blacksmith, it has possibilities.

I found a nest of them and brought 3 home. One is already in use, the wife said it WOULD replace the old rusty steel drum used to store the plastic trash bags (remove the top and the drum hold 4 bags of trash) till the garbage man runs. 33% of my working stock gone, but the wife is happy.

Stopped by the local recycling yard today. Came home with about 200 linear feet of heavy angle iron, a 3 foot section of 8 in pipe (new gas forge). Several different sizes of compression spring. 8 feet of heavy bandsaw blade (there was more but it was buried under a ton of xxxx) 12 feet of 1 inch heavy steel cable. A usable oxygen cylinder and last but not least a fully functional pallet jack. Damage to wallet $110. What a day!!!!

I stopped by the local junk yard looking for a piece of brass to make a non-marring punch. Put one end of the brass against the object and hit the other end of the brass with the hammer. The brass does not mark the object but yet transfers the impact of the hammer.

First container I looked into had a piece of brass hex stock, 1-1/2 inches across the flats, and 43 inches long. Should make a couple of nice brass punches.

Nice score. It'll make some nice non-marring hammer heads too, good for all kinds of things.

Frosty