5 hours ago, JHCC said:

 Macassar ebony?

yes sorry i thought it was shortened to fit on the tag

George yes going to get my L for driving today hopefully i have another picture to post tonight

I saw this peeking out of the pile at the scrapyard, 4" Wilton Bullet.  I'm going to get it in good condition and see if anyone wants to pay for my power tool repairs/maintenance! (Of course I'd be out the 25 USCents a pound I bought it for...)

(The Bader in the background is purring sweetly on 220 VAC)

Saddens me to think of how many good quality tools that just need some tlc didn't get saved and have been melted down. 

Good save Thomas. 

I think the same thing Das. Good thing I have a friend who works as a mechanic at the scrap yard looking out for things for me!

man i wish i lived closer Thomas..   I'd take that off your hands     been looking for a 4-inch bullet to hold the heavier things i need to work on   Good catch!

You going to quad-state?

I cannot.  It will be my fathers 91st birthday and that will always beat out quad state.  May have some friends going though. 

Ive got a friend over in Fort Gibson that collects, restores, buys, sales and trades US made vises,

anyways I think he has mailed them to people before but I’m not sure what it costs, 

maybe that’s an option if you can’t meet Thomas in person!

true.  i dont mind that option, but its a lot of trouble for Thomas to pack and ship rather than take and give to someone.  I do know some that will be going

Let me get it back in good using condition and then we can talk.   I used to live in McLean and have kinfolk in Manassas.

Thanks.   I can do the cleanup if you don’t want to. 

They’re doing some bathroom renovations in my building at work, so I snagged a few bits and pieces from the dumpster. 

Should come in handy for a bending jig or two, and the thread protectors will be useful for another NARB. 

Back in October I decided I wanted to make a forge for a big firepot I found last summer,

I dug through may metal piles and come up with an idea to set the firepot flush instead of setting on top of the forge like my big Buffalo is built,

normaly I build my own forges and post step by step pictures but….

This time I got lazy lol … and hauled it all over to a friends shop who has a bigger plasma cutter and better welding equipment then me and had him cut it all out like I wanted and weld it up for me, 

The forge is 30”x40” all material is 1/4” plate an the legs are schedule 40 2-3/8” 

the big firepot is unknown brand but it kinda looks like a champion compared to others I’ve seen,

it’s missing the clinker breaker so I’m thinking about borrowing JHCC idea of cutting some triangles out of 3” flat bar and welding them together, but for now I’ll probably just make a tuyere grate,

I also took over one of my vise stands and had him cut out some 3/8” plate for some gusset’s because the 12”  ibeam had some flex when I mounted my big 140 pound Trenton post vise to it, that fixed the problem it’s pretty ridgid now,

anyways I just when an pick these up a little while ago,

Well I swept up all the leaves and sticks an rearranged to set up a second forging station, 

I moved the treadle hammer to the center between the two big forges, ive still gotta anchor it to the concrete 

I put two post vises within a quick step of each forge

im for sure gonna add a tool hanging bar on the new forge and am thinking about adding a hood, I’ve got a feed hopper from a commercial poultry farm I’ve been saving to use sometime, but I haven’t decided if I’m gonna use it on this forge or not, 

Soon I’m gonna try out a few different blowers to see which one works best with this fire pot

no forging today but I’m happy with how things are coming together in my rusty junky outdoor smithy!

 

 

 

  Your new forge looks great, Billy.  I may have to build a similar one and switch to coal....

17 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

I got lazy lol 

  You call yourself lazy?   Lol..... I could teach you a thing or two about lazy.   Your giving me a guilt complex, getting all that done..... 

Wow Twistedhollow that looks awesome man. I want to get my coal bbq forge up and running so badly but just haven’t had time. I’ve got it filled in with vermiculite and then a 2” or so layer of clayish dirt on top with a rotor as the fire pot. Considering welding up a traditional looking fire pot or buying one with my next bonus. Not sure but I really want the advantages of having both coal and propane. 
 

Got some goodies today. Iron mountain flux - from Amazon so I hope it’s not fake stuff and the three piece drift set. I don’t know if they’ve got paint on them or what but they definitely need a good dressing down - maybe a worn out flap disk to smooth everything out. And then two h13 slitting chisels and assorted 1/4” and 3/16” rivets from blacksmith depot. This thin slitting chisel is awesome and is what I picture when I think of a slitting chisel. The other doubles as kind of a drift I believe. But the the real reason for the post is I have to give a shout-out to Cathy. Somehow I double ordered the chisels so I had two of each coming. Cathy Kayne who I believe is one if the owners went way over the top to get in touch me with me to see if this was a mistake. First she called me and I saw a NC number so I figured it was one of the xxxxxxxx robot calls I get every day and sent it straight to voicemail. She emailed and it went to my spam file. Finally she tried calling again and bc I saw it was the same number I picked up and she explained why she was calling. She could’ve just let it go and had an extra 60$ worth of tools sold - because I can tell you now even though I absolutely do not need two of each of these I would’ve kept them bc I’m a tool junky but instead she made sure I only paid for what I actually wanted and refunded me for the two extra chisels. I think it is a little over priced but I’ve never been disappointed with a purchase. This honestly and effort was just the icing on the cake - great shop, great people. 

1 hour ago, Pat Masterson said:

they definitely need a good dressing down - maybe a worn out flap disk to smooth everything out.

Don't use a worn out abrasive anything; just use a finer grit. 

I’ve purchased several items from online and and always had excellent customer service, including getting calls from them to discuss the most inexpensive way to ship items In order to save me money. Definitely a customer oriented business.

My only complaint, I stayed I a cabin about 10 miles from their business while on vacation last fall and didn’t realize it until I ordered something this spring and saw the address. I feel like a big dummy every time I think about it. 

I have a set of those drifts, I smoothed mine off with a 60 grit flap disk using light pressure and they work great 

Was a stand for a table at work,  now it's sitting next to my anvil.  It makes a great tool stand and is going to be a amall welding table

By "traditional looking firepot" do you mean the cast iron ones that have been used for about 150 years or the "trench" firepots that have been in use 3000 years?

Good day at the scrapyard; didn't even get around the whole place and folks kept arriving and dumping stuff I wanted! Bandsaw blade for billets, WI buggy tyre, cast iron pully, some tools in the bucket, several old implement wheels, 8' of 1" sucker rod and a Champion hand crank blower with the remains of a rivet forge attached.  196 pounds out.

Now for some of the stuff I thought about getting:  rusty barbwire, large pipe wrench upper jaws, and a couple of plows:

I also got a fellow mad at me as I wouldn't buy the wheels from *him* at a high price after they had already come over the scales and been unloaded.  He was trying to toss them into the pile where I couldn't get them.  The scrapyard under boss, fished them out for me.  (They like that I don't try to cut them out of the profit!)

Thomas, those wheels look like hay rake wheels, the one where you set in front of the tines and raised/lowered the times with a lever beside the seat 

If you get the plows, make sure to share.

"Deere friend; thanks for reminding me"; said Thomas with a furrowed brow!

He can use the plows in his wife’s garden he’s building, I just don’t know who’s going to pull it