Subject: Fwd: buying a swage block

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 07:00:34 -0400

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Forwarded message:
Subj:    buying a swage block
Date:    96-08-01 06:57:49 EDT
From:    Cynthia5
To:      theforge @wugate.wustl.com

I have a question about buying a swage block.  I'm fairly new to
blacksmithing and a friend of mine has a line on a swage block I can buy.
 I'm wondering if it's worth getting at this time or if my money would be
better invested in other tools.  I have an anvil, two of them, hammers, a
crank blower for a forge (just need to put a forge together--in fact if
anyone has ideas of building a small coal fired forge I could use that too),
cold chisels, etc.  Would like to buy a small drill press also, but I'm
afraid if I don't move on the swage it'll be gone.

Any advice?

Thanks

Cynthia

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From: Dan Nibbelink <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 07:19:51 -0700

If the price is good (<50 cents/lb) buy it. Used swage blocks are much 
less common than anvils and forges. You might not see another for a 
while.
-- 
Dan Nibbelink
RedHawk Forge
Berthoud, Colorado
[email-masked]
http://www.csn.net/~dannibb

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From: Greg Shuman <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 09:32:35 +0200

> cold chisels, etc. 

Lytton Creek Blacksmiths web site has a good set of plans for building 
a coal fired forge.  There web site is: 
www.hypercon.com/lytton/lytton.htm

If the swage block is reasonably priced I'd buy it.  I don't do a lot 
of blacksmithing but sure could have used one several times.

Greg Shuman

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From: [email-masked] (Frost, Jerry)
Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996 22:44:52 -0800

Cynthia:

I think the things to ask yourself are: What's the condition of the 
swage block, what's the asking price, what's the availability and how 
long do you have to think about it.

You already seem to have a decent set of tools, you can build about 
anything you'll need with what you have now. There's not much to 
building a decent basic coal forge, of course there are nuances to a 
really good forge that aren't obvious but a basic one is easy. My first 
one was a brake drum on a washing machine lid I'd torched a hole in for 
a piece of 2" pipe and a vaccuum cleaner for a blower. I set it on 
cinder blocks, packed the top of the table with adobe clay to the level 
of the brake drum and burned charcoal. It wasn't pretty but it worked, I 
was maybe 12 at the time.

Speaking for myself, if I had the money I'd go for the swage block. Bear 
in mind though, I live in Alaska and blacksmithing tools are few and far 
between. I picked my swage block out of a scrap pile, nobody at the shop 
knew what it was so they were tossing it.

Good luck and have fun,
	Frosty