ThomasPowers Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 The one we cooked lunch in today is an Erie with a 5 line star, #9. and so around 115 years old. Picked it up at a flea market in El Paso for US$5, didn't even haggle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 Cleaning it must've been going too easy eh John? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 The only thing that concerns me with old cast iron pots & pans is a lot of them have been used to melt lead in. I don't know if a good cleaning will get the lead out so it's safe for food again. I've tried vinegar soak and stronger acids but still worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Pretty sure I've heard of test strips available that could test for that. The ones I've cleaned, seasoned and used were obviously used for food with their last owners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Cocker Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 I met a young man who is starting in our addiction who has a post vise that he has restored and wanted to sell. I talked him into trading for a hammer. He decided the “hammer” he wanted was a flatter. I didn’t take the time to tell him that they aren’t in the same category and made him a flatter. I just picked up the vise today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Very fortunate trade for you CC. Flatter looks nice but to me that vise looks nice too. And I couldn't make a vise like that but could make a flatter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Cocker Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Yep it worked out pretty well. He got the vise cheap and fixed it up. When you figure the time and money we both had invested it was pretty fair. Plus I’ve got a lot of HC steel and rail road spikes that I’m sending his way as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryOnion Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Picked up about 20 pairs of tongs from an auction. The ice tongs and drill bits were with them as well, but I don't know what to do with those yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 That's a great collection of tongs. As for the other stuff, brush off the rust and dirt, give everything a coat of paste wax, and sell them to an interior decorator for more money than you paid for the whole lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Or hang the ice tools on your shop wall. Shop ambience, don't you know..... Can't have too much rusty stuff hanging around... The tongs I am envious of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryOnion Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Got a good deal, paid about $120 for the lot. I'll check into what the other stuff is going for as decor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoGoodWithUsernames Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 I was up at a work colleague/friend's welding and fab shop, working on a skid that was too large for us to handle in house, and I asked him how he would go about getting from off the shelf stock to 1-1/8" square so as to be able to make hardy tools for my Hay Budden. His answer? "You've not been looking in the right spots." and pulled a 7' piece of 1-1/8" cold rolled square bar out of his drop pile and told me to cut a couple feet off. A lot easier than forging down 1-1/4" and, I would think more durable than welding up a hollow tube out of angle, at least for some applications. Very excited to be able to get some proper hardy tooling. I have not been able to find anything locally so far what-so-ever in that realm. Tongs and hammers and anvils and forges etc, but only one bottom tool so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Both my anvils have 7/8" hardy holes; I've found that it's really easy to square up a piece of 1" schedule 40 pipe to the perfect size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 The closer a piece of scrap is to the desired finished size the cheaper it is! Scrap that is way oversized costs in work, wear and tear on the smith and energy costs to heat it up multiple times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 10, 2022 Share Posted August 10, 2022 Brian brazeal an Ed Brazeal stopped by the shop today, we had a good visit today an talked all things blacksmithing, an they gave me some pointers, tips an tricks to try out! Brian hasn’t been on ifi in awhile but said he may pop in soon an say hello sometime, Ed I don’t think has been on here before but said he may swing in an say howdy to everyone too! While they were here they gave me a bottle of flux They’d been using an told me to try it out, its iron mountain flux, it’s new to me I haven’t tried it, but they said it works pretty good, I’ve been using Peterson’s number 2 blue flux with success that Jerry suggested to me a year ago! so this will gimme something new to try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 Iron Mountain is good flux, you'll like it. Did Brian mention Lyle? I haven't heard much about them at all recently. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 Jerry, We talked about a bunch of people in and around the blacksmithing community and what all they all have goin on! but I don’t recall the name Lyle coming up In conversation, is that someone up your way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Masterson Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 I have used Iron mountain and plain old 20 mule team - they definitely react differently and I think each has its own situations where one will work better than the other. Found this beast in the middle of an intersection last week. I wasnt sure what it was so after I got about a half mile away my curiosity got the best of me and I turned back. Don’t know anyone that can use is it is so it will be canabalized for the steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 16 hours ago, Frosty said: Did Brian mention Lyle? Lyle has been working at a plant in Texas the last couple of years, but this summer he was off and has been doing some classes in our area and making some tools and was one of the demonstrators at the Crossroads conference earlier this year. I talked with him a couple weeks ago and he was getting ready to go to Florida the next morning to do a class then back to Texas to work. Twisted, I bet you had a good time with Brian and Ed Pat, that can be used as a pintle hitch or as a regular 2” ball by leaving the top section open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 Pat, That is what is called a Pintle Hook trailer Hitch. They run upwards of $100 U.S. Might be able to sell it and get some good stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stash Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 Ditto iron dragon. I had one of those hitches once. Went to Home Despot, came home, noticed the pin was missing and the hitch was halfway out of the receiver, but a tight fit and rust prevented it from going any further, I eventually got it out with a heavy manual swing impactor. Someone tried to steal it unsuccessfully. I got a locking hitch pin after that. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 12, 2022 Share Posted August 12, 2022 18 hours ago, Les L said: Twisted, I bet you had a good time with Brian and Ed I did, they are always fun to visit with, imma try and run over to their smithy a couple times this fall an winter when my busy season slows down here at the shop, they offered to help me with some projects I been wanting to do, x3 in the pintle hitch those thing can be pricey, I’d keep it for that one rainy day or sell it an buy other steel, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J. Posted August 13, 2022 Share Posted August 13, 2022 Grabbed a box smoker from the curb the other day. The heating element doesn't work but I'm trying to figure out how to modify that into a bigger tempering oven when I get the urge to make the longer blades. Thinking i may gut a toaster oven and line the whole thing with kao wool with a small cut in the top to slide the blades in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 Not blacksmith related by a long shot. But couldn't pass this up. A long time friend of mine flew west back in Jan. I didn't know it until I decided to cajole him into selling me one of his projects. The number that I called put me in touch with the person handling his estate. Well here's what I got home with yesterday, at a more than fair price. It's not one, but two Taylorcraft BC12-D airplanes. One, complet, but damaged. The other missing a bunch of parts, but in good shape. (take 2 make 1) This will be a long term project, but will be fun when completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 You got a long term project is an understatement, but very satisfying when finished . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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