It followed me home

[JHCC]

My neighbor across the way is moving and gave me a 40 gallon trash can full of coal (probably anthracite).

[ThomasPowers]

When I lived in a 100 year old neighborhood in Columbus OH; I got a lot of low grade bituminous coal as folka cleaned out their basements. I saved it up till I had to do a trench forge to box fold some 3/8" plate each fold being several feet long.

Dug my trench and using the bad coal managed to fill the alleyway wall to wall with dense smoke for the entire block!  I did get the folding done...

[Hans Richter]

Today I give a nice workshop to two students, one of them was owner of a big transport company how is retired now. Tell him about my strong need of air, to aspirate the air hammer, furnace and forge burners. Finally he bought 3 truck air (break) tanks with him (2x 21gal and 1x 26gal).

Will refurbish them and change them against the smaller tanks (oxygen gas cylinder 13gal and old propane cylinder 8gal). After that I finally got enough air for all activities with the two in total 7hp compressors.

Will use the small recipients to build another gas forge with my first (rigidized) Superwool lining.

[Reeltree]

8 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

When I lived in a 100 year old neighborhood in Columbus OH

Marble cliff ?

[ThomasPowers]

Just South of German Village; we had a brick house with a slate roof and a brick street.  AND our house had an original lighting fixture---Gas and Electric IIRC those were only used for about a decade while they were figuring out if this electricity fad had any legs...

[Shabumi]

I was out walking fence in our summer pasture before we bring the cows in and I found this along the riverside in some diftwood.

It must have washed up during the record flooding we had 2 years ago because it was above the usual high water line. I think it's something electrical. It has ceramic insulators, the pins and cable are copper and there is a plus sign next to the bolts where the cable is attached. Any idea what it is?

[Gazz]

Had to make trip to town this morning which took me by the scrapyard and I had some cash in my pocket.   Somebody had just dropped this interesting cone thing off so right in my truck it went. Initially I thought it may have been a forging but once I got it home and found a number that was cast in.  It weighs about 100 pounds or so.   Also in the pile were the pieces of threaded rod which are 1 7/16"" in diameter.  Deeper in the pile was this can of 1/8 7018 welding rod and some wrenches.   $40 later it was mine

[Daswulf]

That cone is really cool. I could see it coming in handy in some ways and one would surely be welcome in my shop.  

[Frosty]

10 hours ago, Shabumi said:

It must have washed up during the record flooding we had 2 years ago because it was above the usual high water line. I think it's something electrical. It has ceramic insulators, the pins and cable are copper and there is a plus sign next to the bolts where the cable is attached. Any idea what it is?

Insulator off a high tension tower. Next time you're driving by one take a look, you've seen them before just not laying in the dirt in poor condition. 

13 minutes ago, Gazz said:

Somebody had just dropped this interesting cone thing off

No idea what it was made for but it'd sure find a spot in my shop as an almost unlimited selection of ring jigs. If it came to a point it could be a CRAZY big wood splitter. 

Cool score, keep us posted on what you use it for please.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shabumi]

Thanks Frosty, now that I know what I'm looking for I'm seeing them all over. I guess I never looked up. Lol. It has a 15k lb rating so I might use it as a lift for the heavier items. It would also make a great scorpion tail.

[Daswulf]

5 minutes ago, Shabumi said:

It would also make a great scorpion tail.

The bracket is a great letter A on its own and yeah the extension part would make a really cool scorpion tail. 

[Shabumi]

Its kinda funny how it's put together, the pins don't go through the next piece in the chain. Instead they sit between the links and hold the next one in a groove

Now that I have a basic idea what it is, I was able to do some Google-fu. It is an "Ohio Brass high voltage 15000 lb suspension insulator"

[Frosty]

High tension line hangers have to be flexible, they catch everything the weather throws at them, swinging in a hurricane wind is the easy part. I recall a lineman saying the typical high tension transmission line will carry tons of dew in the morning and many times that if it's raining hard enough for water to drip off. Ice and snow are CRAZY heavy sometimes will drag power lines to the ground, they usually don't break till the ice or snow breaks and falls off. It's the snap that gets them.

The connection pictured would be a cool pattern for hanging signs and such. Good pic for the idea files.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JDC]

New to the forum. Retired several years ago. Last job with DoD, working with the Marines, good fun, hard working and all around a great group to work along.

Last week was looking over a vice a guy had picked up at who knows where, and was selling on Craigslist for $50. Met up with him in another town south of Roseburg a few hours, and he had the vice on the floor board of his truck. I was going to buy the vice off him, and he asked if I was looking for anything else. I said "Yes, I'm looking for an anvil, maybe 150-200 lbs".

He said back, "Well, talk a look in back under the tarp, I have two anvils and other stuff I just got from a clean out of barn odd -n- ends."

Checking out the bed of the truck I saw a small and medium sized anvil, and beside them two stump pedestals. The small anvil, about 50 lbs, was clearly marked and it was a poor quality Chinese make. The larger one, I could not see any markings as it was too rusted up, but I did note it seemed in pretty good overall shape, no broken out pieces and no overt weld repairs that I could see formed under the rust. 

I  asked "What do you want for the two anvils and the vice, all together?"

The guy said he'd just come from getting the barn stuff, and the large anvil took two guys to get it onto his truck, and then he said "if you can lift the (large) anvil, you can take the vice and anvils for $50, if you can't it'll be $65 for all three."

Well I tell ya, for a few free things I was sure going to give it a try, so my wife and I fussed, groaned, pushed and scooted that large anvil to the edge of the tail gate, and ugh'ed some more standing it up.  I pulled my sagging jeans up around my neck, took a breath and put my arms under the horn and rear, and grunt-lifted it about two inches of the bed of the truck before I had to put it down. Darn, I could just not move it to our trailer.

I was disappointed and turned to the guy, getting ready to bargain again, but the guy looked at me and said "Fair enough, you got it lifted, it's all yours!"

The vice has a broken out corner on the lower end of the slide, poorly welded on two places fixing the stationary jaw to the very lower base, and a crack from the end of the slide top, for about 4-5 inches. It is a "The Chase Parker Co Meriden CT", Pats 1908 and 1910, #88, with a 4 1/2' wide smooth mouth, vice.

After some wire brush de-rusting, the anvil is noted as a Trenton, I believe W 178?, serial I'm not sure. To my bad eyes is seems to read A  310 ?, or A 810 ?, probably missing some ending numbers after the '0'. Maybe the A is misread, and is a 4.

Fun adventure.

 

I'm looking forward in getting things setup and putting some use to the anvil. It has a beautiful note.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

16 minutes ago, JDC said:

New to the forum.

Welcome to IFI, I always suggest reading this thread to get the best out of the forum. Looks like ya done good with the Trenton anvil for sure.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53873-read-this-first/

 

[Daswulf]

Nice old Trenton! Awesome score. Congrats! Talk about good timing. 

[Marc1]

Love the story ... without wanting to embarrass you ... how much did it actually weight? 

[ThomasPowers]

Reminds me of getting my first Peter Wright at a garage sale around 1984; it was 163 pounds IIRC, (in the northern shop so I can't go check), and cost US$100; after I got the OK from my wife to be to buy it. (We were poor back then and were already pooling our finances and her ex-husband used to go spend money on nonessentials without asking...) I handed over the money and one of the old folks selling asked me how was I going to get it loaded into the car---so I picked it up and carried it down the driveway to the car. My WTB heard him turn to the other old phart and say "He's more of a man than he looks!"

I'll still lift it from time to time but try not to carry it more than about 10' one of the reasons I started looking for reasonable sized anvils for when I load up to go teach. (91-134 pounds)  I also insist that folks helping load use 2 people for the heavier anvils. Your back never forgives nor forgets!

[JHCC]

A local guy is selling off his business, which got me this nice DeWalt 7” angle grinder (with some discs and accessories) for fifty bucks. First order of business is to PUT THE GUARD BACK ON!!

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard JDC, glad to have you.

SWEET SCORE! Trenton looks to be in fine shape though you'll need to confirm it's condition with a rebound test, it might have fire damage which draws the hardness out of the face. Great story.  I'd have happily given him the $15. and saved my back for loading it in my rig.  I"m WAY out of shape and can still lift my 202 lb. Trenton onto the stand if I can't get my engine hoist to it so I'm betting that beautiful lady is much heavier.

Bathroom scales can be had for next to nothing at yard, garage, etc. sales and are handy things in the shop. I check them against my own weight, a couple lbs. +/- is good enough. If it's more than 350 lbs. (Max on my scale's) I use 2 scales with a 2" x 6" bridge. Tare the 2x6 if you like but it isn't enough weight to exceed the margin of error  for bathroom scales. Won't hurt though.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JDC]

17 hours ago, Marc1 said:

Love the story ... without wanting to embarrass you ... how much did it actually weight? 

The stamped weight is W178. Our weight scale says 174.5. The guy was really fun to talk with. I think we spent 5 minutes moving the three things to  our trailer, and 2 hours talking about his family, his 'ex', and other interesting stories.

 

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

SWEET SCORE! Trenton looks to be in fine shape though you'll need to confirm it's condition with a rebound test, it might have fire damage which draws the hardness out of the face.

Frosty, thanks, good idea. I will put a 1/2" or 1" ball bearing on my list. I suspension scale would be a good thing as my wife wasn't really too excited to have her scale taken out of the comfort of the warm and cozy house, into the dark, unknown of the workshop. She did it never the less.

 

On 4/30/2018 at 10:40 PM, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

Welcome to IFI, I always suggest reading this thread https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53873-read-this-first/

Thank you. Done and done.

[Gazz]

First thing I do when I get a new grinder is to take the guard off!  They get in the way and the grinding discs will let you know quickly you messed up.  And you will remember to never do that again.  The paper discs however cut flesh quickly at the edge but you have already learned not to hurt yourself.

[Frosty]

J: 1/2" ball is more than enough, it's large enough to be reasonably easy to find WHEN it takes a wild bounce and you can carry one or more in your pocket all the time without noticing. Can't say that with a big honkin 1" bearing, they weigh in at about 1 lb. ea. They don't do any better for testing unless you aren't going to brush the surface rust off first. Even then it effects the rebound.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Michael]

Not sure what this is, but it's 75 lbs of steel.  22 inches long, 3x 4.5 inch cross section. I figured from the holes it's a weight from a piece of machinery.  Garage sale in the neighborhood called it a "stand" and marked it down to $10 at 5PM on Sunday.  I'm figuring to use it as a backup to my 100 lb Peter Wright. Had a smaller chunk of 12 inch long, 3x3 steel that was gifted to a newby smith friend of mine, so I needed another chunk of metal to stand on end as a makeshift anvil, if only to show another newbie you don't need a London pattern to forge on.

[Daswulf]

Nice chunk of steel! If certainly clean it up and have it on hand.