Building A Woodworking Bench Step 1 - A Video Tutorial by Old Sneelock's...

Step one in building a wood working bench and another step on the path to having the blacksmith shop ready to use this winter.
http://www.youtube.com/v/1xKXSxMDY6g?version=3&autohide=1&autoplay=1&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=73NLmXa4itfsCngpsa92Ww&autohide=1&feature=share

Video Tutorial on mounting a blacksmith anvil by Old Sneelock's Workshop

I needed to mount my anvil so I created/rediscovered a secure method for mounting myTrenton Wrought Iron anvil to this massive log for use in my blacksmith shop.

I picked up the log at a farm auction near my home in Union City. I had arrived at the auction late because I was on my way home from work. The auctioneer had gone through most of the stuff and, as they usually did to clean up, was down to selling lots. By the time he got to the shed where the log was there was only the auctioneer, myself and two other guys left. With the intent of purchasing the small vise mounted on the log, I bid $10.00. I was the only bidder and bought the contents for $10.00.

I loaded the huge 4 foot tall, 33" diameter log by rolling it up a ramp made from some very heavy planks that were also in the shed. I also loaded up some glass gallon jugs, two  8" x  1" x 8' long boards that were shelves on the walls, and some boxes of miscellaneous junk.

Ryan and Lydia always liked to go through the stuff I brought home from the auctions. Ryan because he could get some cool toys or components for the latest thing he was building in his laboratory. Lydia because some of the stuff was cool and also I think a little to keep an eye on what I was dragging home.

While they were going through the boxes I unloaded the log using the ramp again.

I removed the vise that was lag screwed to the top of the log and gave it to Ryan. As I was pulling the screws I noticed the unmistakable odor of walnut. Turns out the log was black walnut, along with the shelf boards and the heavy planks. No telling how long ago the tree had been cut down but I'm guessing more than 50 years from the day I bought it.

The shelf boards became library shelves that I had the good sense to not mount permanently. When we moved they came with us.

When I brought home the Trenton anvil it wouldn't fit on the 12" diameter walnut log that I used to hold the 50 lb anvil shaped object (ASO) I had been using. To cure that problem, Lydia and I used my two man (1 man, 1 woman) crosscut saw to shorten the log and square up the end so I could mount the anvil on it.

That was over 16 years ago and the anvil and stump have supported a lot of forging over the years. With the new blacksmith shop coming together I hope to soon be forging more.

Dave N.
aka Old Sneelock

One-of-a-Kind 1980 Woodworkers Toolbox

The full extension drawer slides are fascinating. A stunning first project.

Woody Guthrie-This Land Is Your Land

Compromise is settling for what works.

Between the mallets, sledgehammers, ballpeen and claw hammers, tack hammers, body panel hammers, and HSO’s I have most of the hammers I need.
One that I don’t have is a design that my father made 30 some years ago.
Dad was a maintenance man at the Midwest Foundry in Coldwater, Michigan.
With the building covering a city block and having spaces 80 feet up and 20 feet down from ground level, walking back to the tool box was avoided if possible. All the guys, I was one of them for 3 years, carried tool pouches. A large and medium straight bit screwdriver, a Phillips, and Quick Wedge rounded out the turning an prying tools, 420 Channelocks, 3 box end ratchet wrenches, a 12” Crescent adjustable wrench and for me a 5” knife made from a 10” mill bastard file with a glued on scale handle and one sharpened edge filled out the 12 pounds of load I carried every day.
You’ll notice there isn’t a hammer in the mix. That was a function of the 12” Crescent wrench. For really big jobs there were up to 20 lb persuaders both purchased and made. But for the day in day out tapping and occasional smacking around of various items the big wrench was the compromise between weight and function.
Many years after I left Dad was offered the position of supervisor and at the urging of family and friends he accepted.

Dad hated the idea of wrecking a tool unnecessarily. One day after replacing one more wrench with the jaw mushroomed into a rivet, Dad cut the face off of a 16 oz hammer and welded it to the back of the last wrench turned in. The next guy to turn in a smashed Cresent got the modified hammer and a lecture from Dad.

By the end of the day everyone of the 12 maintenance men had made one for themselves.

 

Snip
You know you're a Galoot when:  you have a favorite hammer.

You're possibly a Galoot when:  you own more than one claw hammer.


GGs,
Unsnip

“Sometimes you just turn your boat around and row downstream. “
Bob Temples - 1985

Shipping Supervisor at United Technologies, Coldwater, MI

Coming Home to Old Sneelock's New Blacksmith Shop

Chainsaw Mill

I ran across a well detailed plan for building a Chainsaw Mill at TJ's Woodshop.
There's a link below. It is simple enough to make and uses hardware store items.
Don't know if I'll build it this summer but it's a definite start to a home saw mill project.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/HomeBuilt_Portable_Chainsaw_Mill.html#

From <a href="http://www.woodweb.com/">WOODWEB</a>'s Knowledge Base: <a href="http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/HomeBuilt_Portable_Chainsaw_Mill.html"> HomeBuilt_Portable_Chainsaw_Mill.html </a>