In my late teens I aquired a blacksmiths outfit cheap at auction. Sold that stuff years ago. It's hard to explain such things being used as living room furniture to girlfriends and landlords. Back in may Pelenaka and I attended a local auction in an attempt to aquire an anvil. I ended up walking out with a bunch of old woodworking planes and a phone number in my pocket. The phone number led to this late 1800's vintage Peter Wright anvil. She weighs in at a near perfect 124lbs. I promptly built a stand from a couple old treated 2x10's I had kicking around. Someday I'll replace the stand with a more stable one built fron a 6x6. I didn't have any 6x6's in the scrap pile though.
When I went shopping for a forge and blower, it was serious sticker shock time. Back in 1980 I bought an anvil, leg vise, forge and blower for under $100.00. The blower alone brings that much now. I used my money to buy the best quality anvil I could find. Any real blacksmith should be able to build the rest. I had an old all metal typewriter stand in my shop. A friend had an old GM truck brake rotor in his scrap pile. $3.00 for a hair dryer from the thrift store. $6.00 for a foot switch from Radio Shack. Had some pipe fittings in my supplies as well as the angle irons. Total with the fire cement and fire bricks came to less than $60.00
I've gotten 3/8" square stock to white heat, surely hot enough to weld at. The only real disadvantage is the steep sides of the brake rotor makes taking the fire apart difficult. Not impossible, just difficult. It will do for now. Hopefully what I have here will allow me to earn enough smithing to upgrade as I go. With luck this will eventually turn into a homestead business.
In my late teens I aquired a blacksmiths outfit cheap at auction. Sold that stuff years ago. It's hard to explain such things being used as living room furniture to girlfriends and landlords. Back in may Pelenaka and I attended a local auction in an attempt to aquire an anvil. I ended up walking out with a bunch of old woodworking planes and a phone number in my pocket. The phone number led to this late 1800's vintage Peter Wright anvil. She weighs in at a near perfect 124lbs. I promptly built a stand from a couple old treated 2x10's I had kicking around. Someday I'll replace the stand with a more stable one built fron a 6x6. I didn't have any 6x6's in the scrap pile though.
When I went shopping for a forge and blower, it was serious sticker shock time. Back in 1980 I bought an anvil, leg vise, forge and blower for under $100.00. The blower alone brings that much now. I used my money to buy the best quality anvil I could find. Any real blacksmith should be able to build the rest. I had an old all metal typewriter stand in my shop. A friend had an old GM truck brake rotor in his scrap pile. $3.00 for a hair dryer from the thrift store. $6.00 for a foot switch from Radio Shack. Had some pipe fittings in my supplies as well as the angle irons. Total with the fire cement and fire bricks came to less than $60.00
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1 comment:
Did you see popular Mechanics had an Article about this last month. I can scan and send if you want Todd
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