quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:
Attempted my first wooden handled opener.
Baby steps.
Gun blued, white oak & copper pins.
All just scrap laying around. Not the best combination so I have nothing but time into it .

Wow. Nicely don Grumpy. Let me know if you are willing to part with one. Perhaps we can meet at s range halfway and I’ll let you shoot my P220 Elite again.

Very cool. I'll see if I can find an unused set of 1911 grips (scales) if you want. There may be a set of black checkered Colt Officer grips in the box.

quote:

Originally posted by ugeesta:

Wow. Nicely don Grumpy. Let me know if you are willing to part with one. Perhaps we can meet at s range halfway and I’ll let you shoot my P220 Elite again.

I'm trying to get a few things together here.
I'll be doing a couple Karmas shortly.

I knocked out 3 more opener blanks to practice putting wood handles on this week.

I'll add your name to the list.
I've been giving away most of what I've made up to this point.
I keep one example of each thing but I can't have a bunch of practice stuff laying around.
And understand that's what all this is is practice, I'm a bit uncomfortable listing anything for sale at my level of proficiency.

I returned 5 of the 6 prison keys to the forge yesterday to be reshaped because I was ashamed of their lopsidedness at the opener end.
They look better now (not perfect but better) & I re-blued them today.
I owe a few folks at work for some favors but I've kept one aside for a Karma.


Before.




After

Nice work Grumpy! I think you’ve found a pretty nice hobby.

Geez, I don't know. That top 'before' key sure has a Dickensian appeal ...

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
Geez, I don't know. That top 'before' key sure has a Dickensian appeal ...

Woodman, I'm with you, I liked the look of that key so much I didn't change it.
It's actually at the bottom ofthe After pic. Just bad light in my shop.

Finally got the curtain bold backs I started last Fall finished.

Something other than another bottle opener.







Went with a hammered bronze finish.
I made the trim in our family room / dining room from wood salvaged from an old barn built in the 1890's. Hence the nail holes & mineral staining.
Not to everyone's taste but the rough metal bits seem to fit well.

I've been shopping for a larger anvil and finally got over to Yoders Blacksmith Supplies in Fredericksburg, Ohio.
It was recommended by Uncle Jesse at Sugarcreek Forge & some folks on the Blacksmith forum I'm on.

Nice place and they sell both new & used equipment.








Hammers up to $200 - yikes









I'm looking hard at this JHM Texas Basic
But the 100lbs model





They sell used & antique equipment.
I was drooling over a 70lbs Hay-Budden anvil.... but at $560 it stayed right where it was!
But I was doing the math as to how many bottle openers I'd have to sell.....

I had an anvil. Pretty old, definitely a trade item. Maybe 120#. Has a square notch at one end on the top and had one chisel attachment

It got sold to a friend's sister for their garden close to 30 years ago. I'll see what it will take to get it back.

Nice work GrumpyBiker

Isn't it funny....
I'll spend $1,400 + on a gun but flinch at $600 for an anvil .

Don't know why that is.

I would bet there is a large market of used forge materials, has to be a bunch of folks that thought it'd be fun, only to find out it was expensive and not as easy as it look on Tee Vee!

Craigslist, local forums, garage/estate sales..

I'm kind of in Blacksmith mecca here.
Ohio has the largest population of Amish in the world (not just the country).
These are the people who shun electricity and the automobile.
Ferriers and Blacksmithing is huge and still a needed trade here so quality "used" equipment still sells for a premium.
And as for shipping a 100lbs+ anvil, forget it.

I have a search setting out 200miles in any direction but there's no getting around the fact that you will have to pay for quality.

I will admit to being annoyed by the fact that the used anvils at Yoders have numbers on the vs price tags.
I've been told the price changes based upon whether a person is Amish or "English ".
I'd hope that's not the case but prices don't move that much in this market.



http://ohiowins.com/worlds-largest-amish-community/



- Woodsman
I received the Colt grip panels.
I'll see what I can do with them.
Hopefully this weekend.
Thank you again.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:
- Woodsman
I received the Colt grip panels.
I'll see what I can do with them.
Hopefully this weekend.
Thank you again.

They're all yours. In good health. I forgot mailing them but the local post office wanted the envelope to go as a package because it was wood (unbendable) so I left and tossed them into a blue box later that day. In another town.

If I get the anvil back, I'll trade it for the Dickensian bottle opener. I pass through OH every now and again.

Outside Philly, where the world once ran on horse power, an anvil used to be in every two hundredth garage ... Bet lots of them were melted in wartime scrap drives.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:
I'm kind of in Blacksmith mecca here.
Ohio has the largest population of Amish in the world (not just the country).
These are the people who shun electricity and the automobile.
Ferriers and Blacksmithing is huge and still a needed trade here so quality "used" equipment still sells for a premium.
And as for shipping a 100lbs+ anvil, forget it.

I have a search setting out 200miles in any direction but there's no getting around the fact that you will have to pay for quality.

Mark, I am positive you recognize a quality anvil. But people shopping for one a yard sales should be aware of a large number of Chinese "anvils" that are made of cast iron, rather than steel (cast or forged). The cast iron anvils are commonly called ASO's, or Anvil Shaped Objects. , good for nothing but a door stop.
 

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:
I'm kind of in Blacksmith mecca here.
Ohio has the largest population of Amish in the world (not just the country).
These are the people who shun electricity and the automobile.
Ferriers and Blacksmithing is huge and still a needed trade here so quality "used" equipment still sells for a premium.
And as for shipping a 100lbs+ anvil, forget it.

I have a search setting out 200miles in any direction but there's no getting around the fact that you will have to pay for quality.

Mark, I am positive you recognize a quality anvil. But people shopping for one a yard sales should be aware of a large number of Chinese "anvils" that are made of cast iron, rather than steel (cast or forged). The cast iron anvils are commonly called ASO's, or Anvil Shaped Objects. , good for nothing but a door stop.
 

I actually have a 10lbs one that I use for a door stop.
It dents if just look at it wrong.



Woodman , I'll set it aside for you.

Got the chance to slip out to the shop & finish up another opener I'd started last week before the allergies kicked my butt.
Cherry on the handle with brass pins and I decided to polish the steel vs gun bluing this time around.






From glue up








Sanded handle




Stained & polished

That one looks great.

Next will be fun with railroad spikes

I'd about given up hope of finding what I was looking for.
But I came across an anvil I couldn't pass up.



160lbs Arm & Hammer Anvil made in 1918 (33557 AIA)


I've been working on this for the past couple weeks.
Here it is as it was when I brought it home.
Along with a little perspective on its size as it's near my RR track anvil.

That is a real anvil.