Picked up a couple of things at the flea market last weekend. Found a fireplace poker and shovel for $3.00 each (I was going to make a set anyway), some type of scissor tong for a fireplace also (I think) and wooden baseball bat. The tongs I have already started modifying to use until I make a proper set. These are kind of thin. The bat is going to become a tucking mallet for shaping sheet metal on my big oak stump.

Wood baseball bats are good, I grab them at yard sales any time I can get them for under a buck, they make excellent mallets. People keep giving me those scissor action fireplace tongs thinking they're blacksmith's tongs, I have a few sets laying around I haven't found a use for the steel yet.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

went to an auction today. came home with a canedy-ott hand blower, royal western chief. $35.00 with original stand

From the local scrapyard, a very incomplete 3" and an almost complete 5".

 

 

From my local scrapyard. 5" medium duty castors, 75 in total,  28 usable as is, and I know where to get wheels for the rest

 

All for the price of 2 new ones.

 

 

Castors, heaps in scrapyards.....wow on the vices though, never seen one in a Sa yard , "en ek boer in hulle" (I spend a lot of time in the ) great find.

You folks have come across some great finds!!
I'll get some pics together later of some of my latest finds.


An old Columbian vise...given to me a while back..



restoring the old vise



One of my neighbors called me one day a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted a work table that they were going scrap at his factory..so I said... Sure! He said he would be at my house in about 20-30 minutes. This is what he showed up with...

A 4' x 10' table with 1/8" top and 3" x 3" x 1/4" legs and bracing.....(i know they did not build it right...but it was free)



It was 43" tall so I cut it down to 36" this morning. that's my youngest son cleaning up the cut with the grinder.




and its ready to work on...I like freebies!!

Make some tooling for those freebee gazintas!

My wife went to the fleamarket today. Told a guy her husband was a blacksmith and the guy went out to his truck and came back with a bucket of about 20 railroad spikes for free! I was thrilled since I recently turned my last spike into an oyster knife. n_n

Saw a 4" postvise with a broken mount and with the back jaw broken off an a replacement hacked out and poorly attached.

 

I asked the dealer how much he wanted for it $95; when I stopped laughing I explained that I was buying ones in good working order for much less than that and I was just pricing it as repair parts, (screw and screwbox looked good).  He asked how much I'd pay and I said $20 and he countered $25 and I walked as I had said how much I would pay....

yesterday I had the privileged of going through a basement, and two shops of a coworker's aunt's who'd recently passed at 101 yrs young. Her husband had been a jack of all trades type of guy and had actually had his own smithy (one of the shops). Alas, the smithing supplies were long gone from years of family members coming in and taking what they needed for what ever reason. sadly my coworker thinks that the Anvil is now being used as a lawn ornament... but I also got to go in before the scrapper so I did come away with quite a bit of useful metal. much of which had already been hammered on. a 3 1/2" vice with an anvil horn on the back. a pipe vice, and many tools. There were a good 10 planer blade from an electric planer. some leaf spring stock, a couple of RR spikes. some very useful hunks of metal (2" x 3" x 8",2.5"-3 round x 5", 6" Round x2") many old tools. but there were a couple of tools that I have NO idea what they would be used for. I will get some pictures of them when I get a chance and see what you guys think. I honestly don't even know how to describe them. So I'll be starting my own "now what is this" thread soon.

This weekend I drove up to Traverse City, and visited a nice guy at Dancing Frog Forge, RThibeau, we did some horse trading and I came home with a 3 burner mankel gasser.

 

A few weeks ago I found the 300 lb Fisher on Craigslist,and also got the short cone from Matchless antiques.

 

can't wait for my propane tank to be installed!

Recently acquired some new tools and was wondering if anyone might know any info on them. 

 

Sawge table? maybe? 

 

http://imgur.com/pENHrYf

 

http://imgur.com/ph7Tqnm

 

Anyone ever hear of a company called BARTH? 

 

http://imgur.com/eUBzedB

 

A couple tongs too

 

http://imgur.com/OQBEs2r

 

http://imgur.com/CZzYtMz

 

http://imgur.com/d9DR0hd

 

http://imgur.com/wiBhKxM

 

http://imgur.com/h1q2xKq

 

 

And this is a Stake anvil I have had for a little while and was wondering if anyone might happen to know anything about it.

 

http://imgur.com/toioOk3

 

http://imgur.com/OLZsFP0

 

http://imgur.com/wiYrqDj

The first item is a stake plate designed to hold sheetmetal stakes---won't stand up to heavy forging on them and they are quite pricey new.  Pexto is a more common manufacturer and hold onto your had if you look at "new" prices on them!

 

The Stake looks to me to be missing the bottom they generally have a taper to fit in a stake plate or a bulge to allow it to fit on/in a stump.

 

I use my stake plates for armouring and my stake like that for making bracelets as the one I have has a nice size to fit them on.

Thanks Thomas! I didn't even know what to call it. Good to hear that they are useful.

 

I plan on mounting the stake into a stump at some point.

 

So If i stick to light forging on the stake plate I should be fine? what about using it as a bending jig? I guess I need to start finding and making stakes for the plate.

I wouldn't do any forging on the stake plate.  Cold working thin sheet metal is fine, but that cast iron isn't going to last long if you're working thicker stock on it..... even if the stock is hot.  The stakes for it have a tapered shaft that acts like a wedge in the socket.  Too hard a hammer blow and that cast iron will crack.

 

They are handy for light work because you can switch out the stakes quick and easy, but you might also consider selling it.  As Thomas pointed out, they fetch a dollar or two especially in the condition yours is!

Thanks, I don't really work with sheet metal so I might have to come up with some other use for it. This was a gift from my father, he came across it and knew it had something to do with blacksmithing/metalworking, I think he paid under 300 for it including the table it sits in. I guess for now I'll use it for a table and a tong and hammer rack until I come up with a use for it

Use it for a coffee table in the living room. Be sure and tell the wife your going to clean it up and paint it first.

posting for Tom Allyn

Castors, heaps in scrapyards.....wow on the vices though, never seen one in a Sa yard , "en ek boer in hulle" (I spend a lot of time in the ) great find.

I found my vice in a scrapyard in Hartebeesport.

Had a pretty good fall got a nice miller 300 amp tig with a copper core for 500, got a large pile of 1/4 round hot rolled at the scrap yard for .20 a pound it was bent and twisted but very usable. And just scored a whole bunch of 1/4 square hot rolled. It is almost impossible to find anymore around her only cold rolled.

150 pound beautiful PW on stump with punches and 3 headers
29 inch solid cone mandrel
31 handled tools flatters, punches, fullers, hot cuts, and hammers
21 pairs of tongs

$550 for all

The wife was not sure if it was a good deal or not.

Tell her that a tightwad with tartan genes said it was a SMOKIN' deal. Color me green (Stuart) plaid with envy!

Tell her it was a decent deal just for that anvil in that good of condition, the several hundred dollars of other stuff was just gravy!

Tell her that in australia that haul would cost 5 times more, congrats deal of a life time.