What have done towards your prep?

[Straight Shooter]

Well on with the new store room, (back of a Luton body ) spent the last couple of days emptying all the old stuff out and storing the good stuff aside ( found two weighing scales ideal for potatoes and and veg ) been looking for them for ages.

The body has been in situ for fifteen years and is out of level, the floor is shot so stripped that out today...put my trolley jack in under the main bearers and started to lift up to level , done too good a job on the concreting ...so i will have to sledge that out before i can release and lift....so that's tomorrow's job but once its level i will get on and insulate and drop new floor followed by the walls (i will take the bulkhead out for more room ).

Bought a load of rice,pasta and tinned fish for stock, more first aid stuff.

[Straight Shooter]

Sledged out the concrete...took me a full day, lifted the body up to level, set in a Dpc membrane and laid the insulation , then laid the new floorboards .

The body is located next to my workshop,so i am cutting out and forming a entrance fire check doorway from the workshop into the body (new storeroom) the roller shutter door will be bolted shut permanently and a stud partition put on the inside , all to gain more room, so on with it this weekend, cutting out the bulkhead and blocking up, will be ready by Monday to start on the partition and insulate all the walls and board off..couple of points and a light and i am there.

Ordered some communications gear today.

Found an ANVIL today ...it was just sat there up against a fence going back to see if its for sale....i could have sworn it asked me to save him....and i will if the price is right...time to try out my barter skills...i have something this guy wants and have the tools and the skills to make a fair trade .

[Steve]

(4 March 2016, 22:16)Straight Shooter Wrote: Found an ANVIL today ...it was just sat there up against a fence going back to see if its for sale....i could have sworn it asked me to save him

You'll enjoy it. I've only used mine briefly, but it was fun.

My boys and I flattened some old spanners into knives. They got the best spanners, I got the one where the forge got so hot it melted the end off, so it's a bit short.

[Straight Shooter]

Its the same size as yours Steve...but not in my hands YET, the guy will be back by Wednesday ....so i will be all over him like a rash , its something i have wanted to have a go at for years, i like the spanner knife ...will try that...after i build the furnace first.

[T-oddity]

How did you go on with the hardening and tempering Steve? with the additional chromium content I know it can be a little tricky getting the tempering right, but it can give alot tougher edge like stainless if you get it right, I tend to stick with vehicle road springs and such as your basic carbon steel is not so finicky to work with.

[NorthernRaider]

Got to admit I would never have thought to use Chrome Vanadium or Moly Chrome steel for knives?? I always thought leaf springs with the best metal to play with if recycling stuff into cutlery, I learn something new every day but I dont think my beautiful Snap On spanners are at much risk

[Steve]

SS - it's a big anvil, 230Kg, I did a lot of research and general consensus was "get the biggest you can find", you can do small work on a big anvil, but not the other way around. Farm machinery needs a big anvil.

T-Oddity - the heat treatment on my DIY knife is probably totally wrong, I just treated it like silver steel. It's a bit softer than I would like, but seems tough. I'm not bothering to try to heat treat it properly, it's unknown old steel and just a learning piece. When I've mastered bashing metal into shape I'll buy some decent steel and treat it properly.

NR - leafsprings are on my womble list. Once the boot-fair season starts I'll be snapping up rusty old files too.

[NorthernRaider]

Steve, years and years ago when I did not know better I watched two ex REME guys almost beat each other up over who was going to proff some pieces of broken truck leaf spring from a skip round the back of their LAD, I had no idea what their problem was, little did I know busted leaf springs are blade makers idea of gold

[T-oddity]

If you are going to use scrap steel like leaf springs and especially old files it is well worth normalising the metal before you do any forge work, basicaly heat the metal up to cherry or yellow red and then allow to cool as slowly as possible, for smaller bits like old files I have a 20 ltr drum of perlite. just the stuff you can get from a garden centre, get the metal hot and then leave buried in the perlite over night for larger bits heat up in the forge and then rest in the side of the forge while your doing other bits. Once is enough two or three times is better.
You can get away for most things like knife blades by tempering in a domestic kitchen oven, just don't let the missus find out

[Rocks]

Bought a week's worth of supplies.