wd&mlteach

Hah, guess I should have checked there as well. I can't get youtube at school becuase of "adult content" and the other site is not blocked, yet.

I know this is not metal related but...Fresh trees are always good for turning natural edge bowls. I turned a couple last out of locust, when wet it turns soooo smooth. I could do it all day, -just great. IOf you need more info on that let me know.

Relating this to blacksmithing I have seen a couple of people that keep a stump around their shop the same height as their anvil. They used it accompanied by a wooden mallet to straighten out hot steel without damaging delicate twists. I gota get me one of those.

I do not know if you have seen this or not but to me it is incredible on so many levels and I thought I would share it. I show it yearly to my students and they just laugh thinking it is comical. If only they had the same frame of reference that I have towards metal and metalworking.

Just amazing......

http://archive.org/details/SF174

I do use it for safety as well.

I have been showing that video for years and I love it! There are a couple of great videos that I absolutley love on that site! Here are the ones that I show my students every year. I have tried showing the them new ones and they have no real drive to see that stuff. But when I show these they laugh and pay attention, who knew? Anyway here are the ones I like, my favorite is the big ring forge the best!!!!!! I always use it to talk about safety and to show how things were done in the past and how nice GMAW is.

http://archive.org/details/SF174

http://archive.org/details/WeldingO1942

http://archive.org/details/Aluminum1956

http://archive.org/details/Aluminum1956_2

http://archive.org/details/forging-a-nail

http://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.12505

http://archive.org/details/Bushcraft-HowToMakeAKnifeAZOfBushcraft781-2

I agree very innovative, looks like it might make for a nice chipping hammer in a pinch as well.

Hey that makes some sense, could be used to blow dry the car too!

This one caught my eye as a cheap blower, like I need another. However, I have never seen anything this big, holly cow! 36 inch fan hooked up to my forge would blow the coal right out of it. Not a bad price at $55 but I only have one forge and I believe this thing is for running a whole shop. Oh well if interested here is the link.
http://lancaster.cra...3131586382.html

I think you should wait, and by the way do you have contact information for the sale? I would like to contact the seller to ask a few questions about something.......
:)

Oh wait I found it.....But do not worry I am in PA and I am not driving that far for an anvil.

That is what I thought, I have his snail mail address I should send him pictures.

Here is my Trenton. It looks to me like an import from what AIA says as there is no number or USA on it anywhere. Plus the bottom is just weird, it is not cast, no Trenton hourglass, it is all wavy and not flat at all. I have spent some time looking other Trentons and I cannot seem to find one with a bottom like mine. The others are all flat with the hourglass shape in them or they resemble a Peter Wright with the four handling holes. I do not know who made mine as the face matches the specs of a PW 4 x 14 ½ and the bottom is well weird. Anyway here it is. There are some markings under the horn but who know when those were made as there are two sets. Paid $125, it is big enough to do what I want to do but small enough to want another one :)

If anybody has any idea why the bottom is shaped like that I would love to know.

My theories are that it was the last one made at the end of shift on Friday and everybody wanted to go home or it was the first one made on Monday morning when they were too hungover to care. Either way they did not have enough metal to finish the base properly and it was classified as a second, then it was stamped with Trenton and sold to Boker.

50 bucks, sounds pretty good to me. Use it for a bit and then decide if you ever need more, might not

What you have is an ASO. I guarantee it. It looks exactly like the one I was given in a trade this past fall, the only difference is mine is red with dents.

The story goes like this if you care…….it is long but might be worth the read.

So a couple of years ago I was talking to one of my old college professors and he says to me something along the lines of “Hey I have all of these great 16mm movies of old industrial arts stuff and it is dated but has some real good teaching to it, but I don’t have a projector. Do you know where I can get a projector?” Of course I had no idea but that thought entered my mind and stuck. Later on while having another conversation with him I asked, “Hey, know anybody with an anvil?” He told me, “Yeah I’ve got one that I have had for years, never use the thing, just move it around,” and that is when I made the connection -thinking I need to find a projector.

A little while later the janitor at my school stopped by with a projector and informed me that they were throwing this old technology away and did I want it, you betcha! Boy could I hear that anvil ring at the sight of that old projector. I figured the school, and I are going to make out on this one, one old projector for a nice anvil I now will use for class demos. I called up the professor. It took him two years to bring that anvil for the trade. When he came to my school he gave me this long story of how he acquired the anvil from the University of Maryland when they shut down the technology education program and that it came from Donald Maley’s Program. Maley was not a blacksmith, but a big technology education leader and creator of the Maryland Plan, google it for more information. They now give awards away with his name at ITEEA, I have one on my wall.

Anyway as we are going out to his truck I am dreaming of what could be in there. I mean Maley taught at Maryland for almost 50 years, and they shut the program down years ago, whatever it was, it had to be old, right? He tells me it is really heavy and we need two people even to move the thing, and boy I am thinking all kinds of stuff at that point. So he drops the tailgate and my heart sank. There is was, in all its painted glory, a big shiny red ASO. My heart sank. I had been moving that darn projector around my room for two years until the deal went through and now this is all I got, -A red 70kg or 154.4 pound piece of junk, with a story. I did not have the heart to tell him, I just acted excited and wheeled it in my classroom.

Later the next day I thought, well maybe, just maybe, I might be wrong. So, while the kids were working I busted out the belt sander to see what was under that paint, nothing but a bunch on dents, gouges, and scratches. I could tell it was cast iron but the way the metal just dusted off by the handful. After I had it all cleaned off I grabbed a small ball pien hammer and gave a small hit. No bounce, no ring, just another dent, heck the concrete floor bounces better.

I now keep that anvil on the lab benches where the kids are. They use it for shaping dustpans and pounding pennies, cause that is what kids with hammers do. I yell at them, tell them that it’s a felony or something like that. Then I tell them next time drop the penny in a jar I have by the door grab a piece of scrap and hit on that instead. In the back of my mind I keep hoping that a kid grabs a sledge and knock the horn or tail off and depending on how snotty the kid is, I can make them buy me a new one. Well, maybe not that but at least I can throw it away and not feel guilty.

Looks to me like a shearing action with direction of impact originating where the step was. I can't imagine the force need to do such a thing in a single hit, unless the anvil fell from a signifigant height or it was used in anvil blasting. Then I believe that it could be possible if the anvil in question struck another anvil on the way down.

According to google they can blast things pretty high up to 300 feet in the air.

So guessing conservatively that once 125 pound anvil falling from 200 feet can generate (guesstimating a bit on movement after impact) 76524 pounds of force. So pretty much a 38 ton whack right on the step. I am no physics expert nor a math teacher but to me that might just do it.

Somebody who is an engineer might be able to give a better explanation and provide the math to support it. I just plugged my guesstimates into a couple of online calculators.

I looked at that ad several times in the past couple of days when taking breaks from writing my thesis and wishing of blacksmithing. O, it has been too long sing my anvils rang! It was orignally posted for 350, and had I not been stuck in the purgatory of the thesis process, that one might be sitting in my shed now. Glad it turned out to be a good find and I am even happier that it went to somebody that might actually use it.

Best of luck to you, it is out of my budget right now and trying to tell the wife that I need another vise after -will not work. She knows that I have three already and "Why on earth would you need another one?", even though this is about a 1/3 heavier than my 5 3/4". Send me pictures if you get it.

Here is a nice one and it is cheap for now...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-blacksmith-vise-/140794539423?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c8022d9f

Picture troubles....

See if this is any better....most likely too big

Wow, nice job with the forge build. I really appreciate your pictures, it shows your design abilities as well as your fabrication skills.

You forge reminds me a lot of the one I put together a couple of years ago, as I went through nearly the same processes. Last summer I redid the firepot and tried a welded one, similar to yours and it has been my best move yet. Before I had a flagpole base. I modified an old firepot that I bought with the blower originally. The top was really beat up and not worht anything so I welded a new top and kept everything under close to the same. It has really improved the forge absolutely and I love it.

I only have one comment or question for you and that relates to your tuyere. Please let me know how that works out, you know, do you like it or not? I have made a couple of forges and guided a couple of forges into life with my students since my build (see simple brake drum forge below) and I always try to keep the bottom of the firepot flat to aid in moving fuel around and cleaning out. I noticed that your design utilizes a steel end cap that has been perforated for air flow. It might be easier to do it your way and I would like to know how it goes. Right now we mostly do the brake drum forges and I have the kids cut out circles out of ¼ inch plate and drill holes. I know brake drums are not the best but it never fails somebody can find them free and well free is good. Anyway, it takes them a bit of time for fitting the tuyere and the more time they take putting it together -the less time they can use the thing at school with me guiding them. Therefore, I am always looking for new ways to build these things cheaper and faster -that end cap may be a new way to go, if it does not cause you too much trouble.

Keep me posted , good work, and good luck.

The blacksmith sings! It is horribly catchy!

"A is for anvil....."

http://ourbookofliquidgold.com/

I really hope he was paid well for this gig, more than just liquid gold.

Summerman,
I teach my metals students with the following: Oxy-A outfit, Hobart 190 w/spoolgun, Lincoln 225, and a Powermate 140 GMAW. I have them cut and prep six pieces of 1/8" x 1" hr steel band and have them weld both sides with each of the three welding processes; gas, SMAW, and GMAW. For the novice, hands down the GMAW is the one to go with. Some would argue with me, but I personally believe that it is an easier process to learn. The Hobart machine is great for small stuff under 1/4" and I mean really great. I just bought the machine in January to help my larger classes get through the projects....30 high school kids in a production lab. Anyway that machine is really easy to run and mine seems to love flux core. I do a boiler pipe test with my kids. It is where I have them weld the outside of a pipe and then I fill it with water. It used to be a good test for them to run the older Powermate. I could always tell the kids who actually practiced, developed some skill, and figured out how to set the machine. Now, with the Hobart they all are putting down some nice beads and fewer leaks. I believe that the Hobart has some nicer circuitry that helps with adjusting the optimal amperage to help your weld be its best. The older machine does not and takes a little more intellegence/training to run correctly without putting down toothpaste looking welds or burning through.

The real question here is not which process or machine, but rather it is more related on how much do you want to spend for the machine and consumables? As said earlier a used stick machine can be found cheap pretty easy. A nice MIG will set you back a bit more but may be worht it. I would stay away from Oxy-A unless you plan on cutting thick stuff quickly. A niced cutting torch is hard to beat.

Bentiron, your friend is not alone in his problems. There is a false conception in my student’s minds and their parents as well. Most of them seem to possess the belief that working with your hands is somehow demeaning. That if you work with your hands, you must be a lesser person than somebody who does intellectual type of stuff. I do not know where it comes from whether it is parents, society, or the folks in the guidance department, but it is truly there. And it is almost impossible to beat. I had a kid this year come up to me mad as hornets because he did not want to go to college and parents demanded he go. He wanted to just work construction, build things and not be tied to a desk. He said that out of all of his classes in school he enjoyed mine the most because he felt as though he actually accomplished something tangible. This year that student made a gun cabinet and should be finished by the end of the month.

If you ever need a good book to read try:

Crawford, M. B. (2010). Shop class as soulcraft: An inquiry into the value of work. New
York: Penguin Books..

Phil, I agree the spring is really close to the pivot. My guess is that the custom mount is not holding the original distance needed for tension. The rear leg being tapered causes the tension to lesson the farther down you go as a result of the increasing the distance. Another guess is that mount is allowing for the spring to rotate on the x axis (actually a) and not hold tension, but hard to say the picture is small.

Maybe your spring or spring system is not producing enough force to open the jaws. Unless I am misunderstanding you, it sounds like the threads on the screw and in the box are good since "can't pull open if screwed in" and that it can unscrew.

The two post vises that I have, with springs, have tension on them from the spring frocing the jaws open. Have you tried pushing the jaws together when the screw is in the open position? Is there tension created by the spring?

chevelle69,
My first post vise I bought off of ebay and it was just the vise -no mount, no spring, and frozen solid. But hey, it was $40 for a 75 pound vise and I was so happy to find one reasonably cheap. I spent a week or two dumping every type of rust killer on with no luck. I eventually hoisted the thing on my forge, buried it in coal and roasted it free -works great. That being said, I do not believe that is your problem. I believe you either need a spring to take up the slack when the screw opens or you need to modify your mounting angle so that gravity works for your advantage. That is what I did with mine, it works great and I did not have to find or make a spring. If you chose to make a spring, a bit of caution, look at designs out there and make sure you put spring behind the mount. An unsecured spring would be dangerous. Also make sure the front section has some dog ears on it, otherwise it might end up slipping and causing some physical pain.

Frosty,
Good news! We still exist we are just now called technology education instead of "shop" class and our primary purpose is to teach process over product in hopes to achieve technological literacy.

I am lucky enough to have both a Johnson crucibal furnace and a separate tempering furnace, I love them. My crucibal is a 16# and from what I have seen around me, that is pretty standard for a high school or even a college metals program. The folks that do art metal casting at colleges sometimes have larger capacities.

WayneCoe, I do not know how big your contact needs to cast, but if it is over 16# I would check art programs as well. If the itemitems were less than 16#, would fit in my flasks, did not invole investments, you were in PA, and you did not mind high school quality work I would have my kids do it as a small production run. Then I would charge you $4 a pound, the current price for ingots, where I get them. However, that is just me and my program, I am sure not everybody out there would do that.