blacksmith tools wanted

[ellis93]

I recently watched a man form up a nice knife from a railroad spike from start to finish. I find this to be awfully alluring and would like to try my hand at it. Problem is the tooling I find around my neck of the woods are of sentimental value to people and there for make them overly priced.
The pieces I'm most interested in are tongs,anvil and belows/blower.
I'm not into the collectible nature of said tools and they would be used. If you have something please let me know.

[PJ 3]

I came across this site http://www.habairon.org/forsale.htm .....alot of stuff in the Texas area which is not to far from your area Ellis. You may find some quality stuff at decent prices. I have a couple of 5 gallon pails of railroad spikes here if ya want em ? Free.....you pay the shipping

[ellis93]

Pete thanks for the offer on the spikes but I've been walking the rail beds already. I've a large collection started. Got some iron too . The railways here are being reworked so I think I'll have a good supply. Plus its something my daughter and I can do that she'll actually pay attention to. 4yr olds

[oldestof11]

For an anvil, expect to pay around $2-$3/lbs for a nice one.

Get a nice 2lb hammer from local hardware store, shorten the handle, and you have the most essential tool you need.

Also, a tub full of Sodium Bicarbonate for welding. It acts as the oxygen barrier.

For a pit/bellows, I will tell you what I did and was taught by another blacksmith.

Take one of our nice brake drum and weld a 2-3" plumber flange to it. Add a short piece of flange, a T, another short piece, and a cap. All of you ash is going to this part. Clean out before every use. Add a flange of metal with multiple holes in it to set loosely in the bottom of the brake drum. This lets ash fall down but not the coals.

On the T part that sticks 90* out, add another section of pipe. This is where you can get creative. My dad built one with a hairdryer on a variable rheostat (? light switch dimmer) to tune the amount of air needed.

If you can find them, the centrifugal crank blowers (think supercharger style) are really nice.

The guy who taught us built his own bellows. Think of the ones for fireplaces but about 3ft across at the widest point. 3 pieces of plywood with some quality leather.The middle section is mounted and rigid. He pulls a piece of wood down, which pivots on a eye-hook. The other end has a piece of rope connected to the bottom section. Gravity pulls the bottom section downwards. To let air in, he has a couple of flaps made of leather on the inside. Goes down, flap open do to the air rushing into the sudden vacuum. Now pull the lever down, pulling bottom wood up. Flaps close and it pushes air through flaps on the rigid piece of wood fill the top bellow section. Now the air stays in the top section because the leather valves act like a 1 way check valve. A few quick pumps on the lever can fill the top bellows. Now the top bellows has the out connected to the section of pipe going to the brake drum. It fills with air and adds a nice steady flow of air to the coal. When you are busy smashing the iron, the coal isn't superheated like the hairdryer setup thus saving you coal.

Also, set the brake drum in something like a metal top table or an upside down push mower deck. This lets you mound the cole nicely.

Scroll all the way down to see the last pic. That shows his setup the best. http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/picks.html In fact, check out all of his iron work. http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/forge.html If you can get a hold of him, he is very willing to help out others. Tell him you know Jon Haas.

I remember him only having 2 tongs, a wedge, a couple of hammers, and an anvil. He found a video to watch on how to make other tongs and pliers which he said "I struggled for YEARS on how to make these. After I watched the video a couple times, I then realize, OH! Its this way then that way!" Now he has every imaginable pair of tongs he can think of. His wife also found a swedge (?) block which makes shape bowls and ladels so much easier.

Start small and work up to it. Most of the iron used are rebar and round fence post he picks up in the junkyard.

For the horse owners out there, we bought 3 of those picks from him. It is the most balanced pick I have EVER used and one of the most comfortable handles to boot.

[PToombs]

Greenleaf (scott) does blacksmithing. He hasn't made it to SOP the last 2 years because he does a class thing at the local fair where he lives and it was the same weekend.

[ellis93]

Jon thanks for the advice and links. I'll look into them

Pete do you reckon he has any books or vids out on it. Best just to ask him?

[PToombs]

Best to ask him, about books or just questions. He doesn't get on much because his computer at work thinks we're spam and locks him out. Either e-mail from here or check some of the other diesel sites. I know he's on TDR, I think CF, and some others. Maybe you can catch him there easier. Uses the same user name.