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I Forge Iron

It followed me home


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Walking the dogs past a neighbor's house, a lot of metal scrap in the recycling bin. He was happy to get rid of it.  3/8 by 1 inch flat bar, some long carriage bolts, section of what looks like axle that might make hammers or top tools. Not sure what the rectangular block with the threaded holes is for, but any heavy piece of steel is worth having. It think all the thin round stock might be braces for concrete forms?  And all for free!!

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3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

If you prefer you can just find me in regular clothes on Thursday, Saturday or Sunday.  I'm middle aged, bearded, over my optimum weight  and will be wearing bluejeans---no problem finding me in the crowd!  

For the smaller spike antlers I like to make threading hooks for spinning wheels from them, I twist up a doubled over piece of nickle silver wire, bend the looped end over  and insert the other end in the cut off fat end of the spike in a drilled hole with a bit of epox, cross drill the horn nearer the tip for a thong and I've never had any come back from a spinning conference.

Oh I hope we meet up at an event one of these days, I'll ask around for the guy selling "orifice hooks" and we can compare. I'll wear a distinctive hat.

Frosty The Lucky.

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On 3/5/2016 at 8:17 PM, Alan Evans said:

 

Not a good photo, but I salvaged about 12 feet of 2-1/2" OD black pipe and about 10 feet of 2" OD galvanized from the same demolition site whence came the I-beam I'm using to build my new anvil stand.IMG_20160316_190917824.jpg

(And don't worry: I know better than to weld or forge the galvy!)

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On 15 March 2016 at 7:07 PM, Frosty said:

Oh I hope we meet up at an event one of these days, I'll ask around for the guy selling "orifice hooks" and we can compare. I'll wear a distinctive hat.

Frosty The Lucky.

Surely given your history you should be bare headed...or at least making like a bear with a sore head?

Alan

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On 3/15/2016 at 9:42 PM, Michael Cochran said:

 Last I heard we don't have any mythical creatures here in Alabama but I wouldn't be surprised to find out I was wrong.

You don't get out much do you ?

The last time I was in Alabama, ( Decatur ) there were strange critters everywhere you looked.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A few years ago, when a buddy who is a life-long Allis Chalmers fancier, brought home a "big green thing", I was forced to mount a set of fork-horns on a bright yellow "nothing runs like a Deere" hat, ... and send it to him. His GrandKids insist that he wear it regularly.  :P

 

.

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42 minutes ago, SmoothBore said:

You don't get out much do you ?

The last time I was in Alabama, ( Decatur ) there were strange critters everywhere you looked.

I don't hang out near Decatur and I've never been to Pennsylvania so I couldn't imagine what kind of weird critters you're talkin about. But from my limited time in that area I'd hazard a guess you might be referring to some of the people up there. :) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Guess I've been stir crazy not getting to pick at a scrap yard but made it out to the fleamarket this morning and found some good priced goodies. Only problem is the trips back to the truck. Helps to have a minion to help carry stuff. Included in the score are 10 stainless steel rail spikes that I'll have to find something special to do with. 

 

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50 minutes ago, SpankySmith said:

Minions?  I need a minion!  Where can I buy them!  :huh: :D

Haha I let one move in since running a household on top over everything else I do is pretty tough and she needed a place to live. Good to have a friend near by. :) 

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15 minutes ago, EJRailRoadTrack said:

Minion for hire here! Must be paid in blacksmithing tools, food, and knowledge

MUST be paid?    :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

I usually have a coffee pot going and if it's a big project I might throw a burger to you. Beyond that you get to learn to follow directions, a work ethic, and maybe a little smithing.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I have a minion, I just never see it but I know it's there cause my tools are in the wrong place, garage is way more messy than when I left it and I find myself saying "I know I had one of those the other day" way too often! 

I have minions at work but it seems the more I get the less I get done.

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That's quite a haul there, Das! You get to go to good flea markets. All you get from flea markets around here are potted plants, baby clothes and bric-a-brac. You would be pretty lucky to find a hammer, let alone all those great tools you found. My best source of such things are when people call up and say they are cleaning out the shed and there might be some stuff of value to me.

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A lot of times I need to dig under tables or in suitcases or old rusty tool boxes. Some value the stuff at antique high or higher end prices without even cleaning it up and I pass. Others just brought a pile of stuff to make a buck and not pitch it. there are usually rusty goodies at fleamarkets around here, just depends how sensible the seller is. Should see the puzzled look on most of their faces when I say I want the rusty wrenches and not the nice coated ones :) two guys today kept piling stuff in the deal so they wouldn't have to haul it home lol  

unfortunately I forgot to go back and buy two fire extinguishers I meant to buy. I'll find him next week probably.

 

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Had a good haul yesterday.  My brother calls me up out of the blue and says, "Hey, a customer found all this big steel in the weeds beside there house.  Check your email for pics and let me know if you want it."

Like there was a question that I'd actually want it!

The crushed end of the light pole shows that it's not cast iron, which makes me really happy.  The thing has a very gentle taper, so I'm going to use the base portion for a pedestal mount to use with my little 6" grinder.

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The plan is to marry three 6x6 timber chunks to create a wide/heavy base, then bolt the light pole to it.  Haven't figured out what I'll do about mounting the little grinder to the pole, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

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The other stuff is a seriously thick tube that's also tapered over it's length (soon to become a pick up arm for my dad's tractor), and some thick flat bar that was once welded to the tube.  That flat stuff is about 3/8" thick and 2" wide, and I'm sure it will come in real handy when I build my power hammer!

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Oh, and there just happen to be a really thick chunk of steel that says it wants to become a pair of striking anvils.  Not sure when I'll get around to that, so it will sit on the floor as an upsetting block for the next little while....

IMG_3968.thumb.JPG.08be49ee5314043a87c85

 

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One of my tricks is that a lot of the "good" smithing stuff is a pain to haul to  a fleamarket  so when I see evidence of possible blacksmithing stuff I ask if they have any of the heavier stuff back in the barn---if so I arrange to go look at it with cash in hand and am not bidding against other folks...Once I saw a cute little hardy in a bunch of plumbing stuff; so I buy it and ask about the anvil it goes to---100# Vulcan in mint condition still has a paper label on it!  not my favorite brand but at the price quoted there was a student whe needed one to get started...

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