Retirement Projects
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Amazing because it's so beautiful and functional. She will take good care of you.1
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d_thomas02 wrote: »Just received some glamor shots of my repaired 1907 anvil. (Still trying to arrange return shipping.)
(The numbers in yellow on the side are from the worn out forklift tine repurposed as the new face.)
Here are some side-by-side (more or less) of before and after.
She started life at 125 lbs. She was down to 120.6 lbs after 111 years, losing a third of her face more than 40 years ago. And now, with a new face and upsetting block, she weighs in at 157 lbs.
(The superimposed T and E are the maker's mark of the gentleman who did the repair work.)
Guessing she'll be good to go for another couple of hundred years now.
Should we be looking for you in future episodes of Forged In Fire?0 -
LOL. Not likely. I've no where near the experience nor skill to make that happen. Also camera shy.
Just having fun with a new hobby.2 -
Picked up my anvil today.
The gentleman who did the repair has family in my area and offered to bring it to me if I'd cover his gas (roughly half of what shipping would have been). I said "Heck, yeah!" and got to shake his hand.2 -
d_thomas02 wrote: »Picked up my anvil today.
The gentleman who did the repair has family in my area and offered to bring it to me if I'd cover his gas (roughly half of what shipping would have been). I said "Heck, yeah!" and got to shake his hand.
I'm betting his hand was thick & hardened from the work.
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Another quick update.
The smithy is in my un-powered three bay machine shed just off the house. Started out in the right hand (north) bay as it was unoccupied at the time.
As I started think about a hood and flue to allow working inside the shed in any weather, rather than wheeling the forge outside, I realized that that bay faces towards the front of the house and a makeshift flue could be unsightly. So I've moved my WD-45 farm tractor from its south bay into the north bay and relocated the smithy into the south bay. Now the propose flue will face the backyard.
The hood/flue will pass through the window next to the forge. The 12" galvanized duct elbow (currently on the forge) will serve as the hood.
My son dropped by yesterday and we worked on repurposing an old propane furnace cabinet into a smokebox for the base of the flue. Hoping to get the box mounted into the window today.
I actually picked up two of these junk furnaces for free (pinholes in the heat exchangers). The one on the left still had a working blower and combustion chamber vent fan. The vent fan is now mounted on the forge and the blower will be used to move air in the smithy during the summer. I owe those HVAC guys some free forged bottle openers.
Also planning on wiring the smithy for a couple of outlets and lights so I can hammer late into the night.5 -
Getting a lot done!1
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Didn't get the smoke box mounted nor any wiring done in the smithy.
Work has been keeping me too busy.0 -
d_thomas02 wrote: »Didn't get the smoke box mounted nor any wiring done in the smithy.
Work has been keeping me too busy.
Damn work is always interfering with the better things in life...
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After a couple years of daily use, I’m re-finishing the top of the fire department ‘Liars Table’. Stripping it down to the bare wood and replacing the crest. Going to take several evenings. There’s five layers of finish.3 -
Ten hours of scraping and sanding to remove five layers of the old finish and get a good surface, one coat of stain applied. Epoxy coats next followed by spar varnish.4 -
It doesn't seem like it's that long since you built that. Hard to imagine it needs fixing already. Man, you firefighters are some kinda rough on the equipment!!1
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Base coat of epoxy on yesterday, sanded today, applied crest and second epoxy coat over top.
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Had to work Saturday, mostly PM equipment. Got home at a reasonable hour for a change.
Son was home when I got there so we fired up the forge and hit some red hot steel. Just playing around with straightening pieces of coil spring that will become punches, drifts, fullers, and chisels. Also played with the hot cut hardy tool, cutting a piece of scrap just to get a feel for it. Shut it down near dark. (Still not wired for lights.)
Good times.
(Sorry, no pics.)3 -
Finally done. Last coat of varnish on tonight after a fire call. 24 hours, three epoxy coats, four varnish coats.
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the first sign of the apocalypse. I am now a gardener.
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A fresh coat of spar varnish to cover up last year’s “rendezvous avec rocks” as the voyagers used to say.
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The new nuclear oven arrived today! I get my deliveries at the firehall since there’s always someone there most weekdays. Wrestled the box into the car, then into the house. These damn under-counter things weigh around 50 pounds. Removed the old one, which had stopped working years ago and only served as a fan and clock. Hauled that to the basement with only one set of barked up knuckles in the process. Had to adapt things to fit the new one which was 1/2 inch difference vertically. Drilled new mounts, muscled it into place, cleaned everything up then nuked a nice cup of bone broth.
I’ll say nothing when herself gets home and see how long it takes her to notice.
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After about a half hour.5
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Today’s project. This will hold an old cast iron double sink for my daughter’s garden.3 -
I'm not retired yet, but this is my latest project. I yarn bombed a tree in Eureka Springs as part of the May Festival of the Arts.
My finished tree:
Close up for detail:
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Since I'm not yet retired, I suppose my efforts don't really count... I'm not as much of a wizard of the woodwork as Farback so I bought a kit chair, spent a few hours sanding away some of the imperfections, then stained/sealed it... assembled, light sanding and final coat...
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Long holiday weekend (still worked til 5 on Saturday and going in to mow some commercial clients this Monday morning) so got some work done on the smithy.
Lights are on. Still running off a long extension cord buried in the grass, but the smithy is wired properly.
Also note the old furnace blower in the back window with old grill hood bring in cool outside air and the hood (12" galvanized duct elbow) over the forge is installed through side window.
Still have some work to do on the outside.
Like figuring out how to mount the smoke box.
And then install 10' of flue pipe and a rain cap [crosses fingers] soon. (My son holding smoke box for pic.)3 -
Another small step towards blacksmithing in all weather.
Smoke box is mounted. First section of flue pipe added temporarily just for kicks. Threw some burning paper into the hood and it started to draw properly.
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A little Father's Day present for myself (OK, my son helped too).
Now we'll have to see if she survives the first big wind.3 -
Couple of summer storms have past and flue is still standing.
Managed to get out and start a fire in the forge this morning using feed corn, a renewable "green earth" fuel (rather than fossil fuel coal) and knocked out this blacksmith knife with my son. He then did the grinding on an old Craftman belt/disk sander.
Not bad as a first attempt at a knife shaped object.4 -
Farback, you are amazing. You haven't been working on the kayak in this retirement project feed, but I certainly thought of you when I saw this shirt:
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Question for the group.
Having seen a few of the items I've forged, would you be more likely to buy one if it was forged using a renewable 'green earth fuel' like corn as apposed to fossil fuels like coal and propane, or a deforresting fuel like charcoal?
Is 'Green Earth Fuel' a selling point or not?2 -
If there were several people offering forged items for sale, the "green" aspect might make a difference. Unless there's competing producer, my criteria would be quality, uniqueness and cost... not necessarily in that order.d_thomas02 wrote: »Question for the group.
Having seen a few of the items I've forged, would you be more likely to buy one if it was forged using a renewable 'green earth fuel' like corn as apposed to fossil fuels like coal and propane, or a deforresting fuel like charcoal?
Is 'Green Earth Fuel' a selling point or not?
Corn isn't any more green than charcoal. Corn is grown in fields created by cutting down forests... plowed, fertilized and harvested using fossil fuels...2
