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I Forge Iron

It followed me home


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That’s my hope! I am trying to decide how much I want to restore the exterior. I don’t see any original paint left, I was thinking maybe just bare metal sealed with bees wax or similar

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IMG_0229.JPG.b5bbdf4ef6eb402c5665a0d9e7cfce98.JPGsnaged thers pieces of A36 from work(with permision) would they work to make drifts out of?

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also my mom got some apple wood for smoking meat so guess who got some new handle material 

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still needs to be seasond i think though

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also snaged this blade from work it cracked on the adge i am thinking some stock removal knves with it or try damascus weelds with it

M.J.Lampert

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Even carbide blades aren't low carbon and  I believe they have some nickel in the alloy to prevent work hardening. Might make for good color in a pattern weld though I don't believe there's enough carbon to harden.

You can still buy monosteel saw blades which should make knives.

Could been wrong though. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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As with any mystery steel, spark test and test harden. If it’s not good for blades, you can still use it for a decorative application. 

A36 isn’t great for drifts, especially ones like hammer eye drifts where you’re going to be using them as an internal anvil and hammering in the outside of the workpiece.  If you’re just hammering it straight through a punched or drilled hole to give it its proper shape and size, it’s probably okay. 

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I met another local blacksmith and found my little 4" vise a big brother. The stand is somewhat cobbled together, but it will do for now.

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The screwbox has what I would consider to be moderate wear, but it's still going to be stronger than my smaller one which has the acme thread forge brazed into a tube of WI. I had to baby that one a bit. 

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JHCC, speaking of drills, I managed to coax the old man into giving me one of his Milwaukee M18 drills since he recently bought another set that had one it in.

Thing has tons of power/torque and I am hoping I can rig up a home made drill press using it.

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Amze, a forge, post vise and anvil are the 3 pillars of a good shop setup. With those three things you can get by for a long time before you really need another tool... Now wanting another tool... That's a whole other story B)

Next things on my list are a swage block and a cone mandrel. I have already located/called dibs on them, I just have to squirrel away a little money first.

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That was quick! The condition of the screw box (most important and hardest part to replace) and the parallelism of the jaws are the two most important things to look for.

Negotiation is good. Sometimes people ask ridiculous prices online.. 

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53 minutes ago, SinDoc said:

I am hoping I can rig up a home made drill press using it.

Consider a setup that would move the workpiece into the drill bit rather than trying to move the entire drill. The more solidly you mount the drill, the more torque goes into the bit.

10 minutes ago, Frazer said:

the parallelism of the jaws

I recently took the twist out of the jaws on my vise by heating the front leg with my O-P torch and closing the vise. There are photos HERE.

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Yeah I’m not sure if we will deal or not. From his other listings he seems to have cleared out an old smiths shop. Sold two anvils already, and he has a step vise as well. I’m going to see if I can get his price down, or get him to throw in other tooling like tongs or hardy tools. He didn’t list any but I can see some in the background of his photos. Seems to be a guy who came up with his pricing by looking at “for auction” asking prices, but we will see. This has been a banner week for me either way after that blower find. 

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4-4.5”, asking $90. But, the mounting plate is bent pretty badly, and he said the screw box is “loose”. The plate should be an easy fix, but it makes me wonder if it was abused beyond the norm. Kind of looks like someone ripped it from a table

Edited by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.
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I'm no expert, but $90 for a 4-4.5" isn't as bad as I expected. If it's easily repairable that is. If the screw box is on its last legs or you get the feeling when you see it that it was abused, then I would pass. There are a lot of them hiding out there.

I paid $200 for the one I just got. I didn't measure them but I think it has 5" jaws. The smaller one is 4", but I'm not sure what I paid for it. It was bundled in with my anvil, another vise, and a few other misc tools. 

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2 hours ago, SinDoc said:

hoping I can rig up a home made drill press using it.

You do know you can buy one right? A quick search of the intra-net gave me a whole bunch of options, quickest to look at was the one named after that river in S. America, but they ranged from $30 low to around $80 at highest. 

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47 minutes ago, Frazer said:

I'm no expert, but $90 for a 4-4.5" isn't as bad as I expected

I paid $200 for the one I just got. I didn't measure them but I think it has 5" jaws. 

this is a question i have what is averag price for a post vice a while back i saw a   thread that said 60-90usd  sowhat is the normal payable ballpark?

M.J.Lampert

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Like most things it depends on the size, the condition, where you live and who you know. I have no idea what the market in Canada is like, but if there is a blacksmith organization near you then they can give you a fair price range in your area.

Someone might even have spare ones they would be willing to part with.. 

Someone else may be able to provide you with an actual ballpark range. I just don't know.

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My previous vise I got in trade from an antique shop, in exchange for a rivet forge I was no longer using. I used it for a while, and then sold it to a fellow IFI member for some cash and a good supply of hickory for hammer handles.

My current vise came from a fellow who lives up the road; he'd posted it on Facebook Marketplace and the price was right.

I also have a smaller post vise that I got in trade at Quad-State, in exchange for a bunch of 4140 hammer blanks.

So keep your eye open, and be flexible!

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