I have not seen her mentioned yet, but Pieh Tool Company Inc is a good source for blacksmith tools and other related items. The owner is Amy Pieh, and her father Bill used to own Centaur Forge and back in the 1980's was one of, if not the, largest supplier of blacksmith equipment and tools in the US, and a smith of some skill himself. Amy continues making and selling her father's original designs, such as a wide selection of "Billy Tongs". She carries anvils, hardy tools, and all sorts of necessary "stuff" for the trade/hobby.
 
I happen to have one set of Billy tongs left, and don't use them after I finally gave up finding enough room in a small shop to set for blacksmithing work. GrumpyBiker, if you will email me a shipping address I will gladly instant karma these to you. At least someone will get some use from them
 

 

Henryaz, email sent.
That's a very generous thing for you to offer.
I'll be very proud to put them to use.
I think adding Forged items to some of the furniture I make will be an interesting feature.

I'm not so sure that the forge pictured will get hot enough to weld with. By the way, a flux is necessary to weld with. We use 20 Mule Team borax.

I found this picture. It is similar to what I have. This is inexpensive to build and doesn't use much propane.



I have a valve between the blower and the gas nipple to control air flow.

CW

This message has been edited. Last edited by: C L Wilkins,

Put in a couple more hours on the RR Track Anvil.
Almost ready to start making some mounting brackets.

Great job on the anvil. I have one, too (railroad track), that I picked up at a flea market years ago. The horn isn't as long, though. Yours looks very useful. I love anvils.

Also like those rebar knives. I guess you just heat the stock and pound out the blade shape? Interesting that there is enough stock to make that much blade.

Sweet! My daughter took a class and made a spoon with a 2' handle so you can steal other people's soup.

A big thank you to Henryaz!
The tongs arrived today.
We're out in Ohio Amish Country again this weekend & I found a few tools.
We have a few more stores, farms & auctions to hit this weekend.
But a lot of fun hunting !







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This message has been edited. Last edited by: GrumpyBiker,

A little more hunting today and I feel I have a good start for my new hobby.
There's an Amish blacksmith up the road from me who serves the small Amish community of Johnsville.
Gotta pic his brain for guidance.

Grumpy, awesome thread, man. I'm a little behind you, but it looks like we're on the same track. I picked up a 3' section of rail today to cut and grind my anvil out of. I think I'm shooting for basically the same thing you've got there. If you're willing, I would love to know the overall length of the top, and the length of the flat and horn sections. I think the one I bought is longer than I need, but since you can't cut it longer, I'm trying to figure out exactly what kind of dimensions are going to be close to ideal before I start covering it with chalk.

P220 Smudge, I'll put a scale to it & post those measurements tomorrow when I get home.



Got the anvil mounted.
Need to hammer out some corner banding to finish it off but it's GTG usable.

Mine is 18.75" long & 2.5" wide.
10.5" flat working area.

Thanks, Grumpy! The finished anvil and stand look damn good together.

I won't have much time to dedicate to it this weekend, but I plan to start cleaning mine up. I think I'm going to cut off a 1' section and make one out of that piece before working on the bigger one.

Well, I found a Blacksmiths leg / post vise.
It was in need of help.
But a little ( a Lot) of work and most of the rust & pitting are gone and I'm ready to get started making the parts needed to mount it.
As well as the spring.

quote:

But a little ( a Lot) of work and most of the rust & pitting are gone and I'm ready to get started making the parts needed to mount it.

GrumpyBiker, what methods did you use to get those results - chemical, mechanical, both?

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:

quote:

But a little ( a Lot) of work and most of the rust & pitting are gone and I'm ready to get started making the parts needed to mount it.

GrumpyBiker, what methods did you use to get those results - chemical, mechanical, both?

Grinder for the big heavy stuff.
36gr & 60gr flap pad sanding disks on an angle grinder.

I've got an old 4" standard vise I'm about to start working on. I haven't tried anything coarser than 60 grit on my angle grinder. I'll have to find a 36 and give it a try. Thanks.

Hooked the mini forge up to my 20lbs tank and was checking the time it takes to get it up to operating temp & and the time it takes to get the material back to temp after working on the Anvil.
I drew out a bolt & punched a hole, tried a small scroll.
Basically played around and tried to figure out where things should be arranged to be handy & efficient.

Kindergarten stuff for anyone who is a blacksmith but I'm having a blast.

I have decided to commit to this new hobby.
Enough that I ordered a 150K degree forge burner & build two new Forges.
First being a Fire Brick forge and later when I replace my shop air compressor, a welded steel & Ceramic wool forge.
I have 12"x 48" of 8# ceramic wool insulation already but have decided to build a smaller Fire Brick forge as I want to build a twin burner setup for the larger one.
I have 3,000degree refractory ordered from Amazon but this 2,000degree mini tub will help seal my little can forge until the new one is built & sealer is cured.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GrumpyBiker,

I love this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
I love this thread.

Agreed.

I'll live vicariously through this. I'd love to learn the skill, but circumstances say "no", so I'll see what cool stuff other people come up with!