What Did You Buy Today?

rabler said:
I ordered an 81pc gage block set,
And a 1.4-6” 2pt digital ID micrometer.
Both from Shars. So quality may not be best but I avoided their cheapest stuff.

Boredom is costly. Boredom while hospitalized is downright expensive.
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I have the 81 pc block set from Shars, very good for the price. It's a B grade, but I don't need better, and it's far more accurate than I'll need.
 
woodchucker said:
I have the 81 pc block set from Shars, very good for the price. It's a B grade, but I don't need better, and it's far more accurate than I'll need.
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Same here... eventually I want a gauge pin set as well...
 
G-ManBart said:
Did you buy that? :grin:

Your skates look sturdy! The casters you used look like the ones I used for my Logan on the tailstock end...surprisingly nice and not ridiculously expensive. Did you run the bolt I see through the foot pad through the skate as well?
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Well was supposed to be a post in projects forum, no glasses on so lucky that it got posted at all :D

The castors are great for the price, have used them on three different skate platforms and very happy with the performance.
And yes foot pads are through bolted to the skate. Lathe is 800 lbs, makes for a stable roll it out of the way arrangement when not working on it.
 
Scooped up this Mitutoyo mic and mic stand of unknown make. Likely German origin as the seller brought it from Germany.
$35 for both items.
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wachuko said:
Asking before pulling the trigger... What do you guys think? US$235.96, after all discounts applied, for both with free delivery.

Not paying used crazy prices for an old anvil... not for this newbie that will only use it sporadically... This one is an 88lbs anvil. Drop forged steel. US$125.99

View attachment 454890
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I'm something of an anvil snob, but I'm sure you'll be fine. A really good blacksmith would want a better anvil, but be able to do fantastic work on that anvil, no doubt. I'll even admit that I have a beater anvil for when I have to do something on the risky side and don't want to risk damage on my good anvils, so if you fall in love with forging it will be very handy to have around.

This is one of those deals where folks overseas are looking at pictures of things and combine a bunch of ideas together and don't quite get it all correct because they don't have any idea how to use the item they're building. The hollow arch between the feet isn't a great idea because you want the most mass under the area you use the most. French and Italian double-horn anvils often had split feet, but the proportions were entirely different and there was a lot of mass under the normal work areas.

The round pritchel hole through the round horn is great, but only if the round horn is level with the face of the anvil...having a step there makes for an awkward arrangement. Normally you're driving a drift through something and the drift goes through the pritchel hole. In this case, the uneven step means you can't lay something flat over the hole and drive a drift through it.

That forge will work fine and maybe at some point you'll decide to get something different, but a lot of folks just make their own after they know what works best for them.
 
G-ManBart said:
I'm something of an anvil snob, but I'm sure you'll be fine. A really good blacksmith would want a better anvil, but be able to do fantastic work on that anvil, no doubt. I'll even admit that I have a beater anvil for when I have to do something on the risky side and don't want to risk damage on my good anvils, so if you fall in love with forging it will be very handy to have around.

This is one of those deals where folks overseas are looking at pictures of things and combine a bunch of ideas together and don't quite get it all correct because they don't have any idea how to use the item they're building. The hollow arch between the feet isn't a great idea because you want the most mass under the area you use the most. French and Italian double-horn anvils often had split feet, but the proportions were entirely different and there was a lot of mass under the normal work areas.

The round pritchel hole through the round horn is great, but only if the round horn is level with the face of the anvil...having a step there makes for an awkward arrangement. Normally you're driving a drift through something and the drift goes through the pritchel hole. In this case, the uneven step means you can't lay something flat over the hole and drive a drift through it.

That forge will work fine and maybe at some point you'll decide to get something different, but a lot of folks just make their own after they know what works best for them.
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I went back and forth on it... Everything that I found used around here was ridiculous overpriced... maybe not overpriced for the ongoing rates for those, but not something I would spend US$800-1500.00 on... and some, the condition was a joke for what they were asking...

Just like everything else, this is something I just want to try. The need to fix blacksmith/post vise got me the excuse to buy one, along with the forge...

You see, I found that mapp gas torch and found myself able to heat the bar but with nothing solid here to be able to bend it into shape... the only vise that I have is not bolted to anything... I do not even have a decent hammer here... I was just going to drive to the local Harbor Freight and grab one of their anvils, but they did not have any in stock...

I did see the comment, in several of the videos, of the round pritchel hole location. It is basically useless where it is in the Vevor anvil... But in one of the videos someone mentioned making something with a plate/bracket with a round hole that would go over the squared one to have that as an option... Another option I saw was to build up around the pritchel hole with a welder to raise it to the level of the rest of the anvil. I will see what I do when the time comes when I need to use it... for now... I just want to hit the bar to make those bends...

I also ordered one of those forks for making the curved bend... I could have made this... but with all the stuff going on, I just needed to order one for now...

Fork.jpg
 
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wachuko said:
I also ordered one of those forks for making the curved bend... I could have made this... but with all the stuff going on, I just needed to order one for now...

View attachment 454970
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You probably won't need the turning fork for the spring, but it won't hurt.

I have to laugh when I see those...about half of the eBay and Amazon listings for them use at least some of my pictures. A couple of years ago I got tired of using old hardy tools that didn't fit my anvils properly, so I bought steel to make my own. I knew I was going to have a lot left over so I planned to make extras and sell them. I put together a kit of standard tools that pretty much everybody needs and my wife sold them on eBay where she's had a store for years (incorporated and pays tax on it in case the IRS is watching!). They were so popular I bought more steel and made more kits for her to sell when I had the time...once you're set up they're easy to make. People started making copies that were poorly done, but used the pictures of my tools and anvils in their listings. I guess we should have put some kind of logo in the pictures!
 
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