01 August 2010
Written by
custer (
)
Published on August 1st, 2010 @ 03:28:36 pm, using 162 words, 9 views
I am trying to sell my portable blacksmith trailer so that I can refit my demonstration set up to fit my current needs. I am posting it on ebay and referring the viewers here to see pictures of the trailer.
The 4″ vice!
The vice threads! EXCELLANT!
The Champion blower!
The blower gears! MORE THAN EXCELLANT!
(VIEWERS: THE ANVIL DOES NOT COME WITH THE FORGE!)
Coal bin!
New retractable tongue with 2 inch ball hitch, in the towing position!
Double pin system holds the tongue in place! Those are 3/4 inch tow pins. Strength wise, a tank could run into my trailer before those pins will fail while towing.
Retractable tonue in parked position.
For my regular readers:
I will not be able to blog very much over the next few weeks. I am going to be spending the majority of my computer time trying to create a NEW Custer Family Farm website. Wish me luck and pray hard……I’ll need both and more!
Dave
18 July 2010
Written by
custer (
)
Published on July 18th, 2010 @ 04:44:56 pm, using 1658 words, 22 views
Here is the promised blog about the battle of Gettysburg.
We left our place later than planned on Thursday and started the long treck north……ok well really it was a ride not a treck. I can’t help but think we had it much better than the 70,000 ill shod Confederate soldiers who had to walk the hole trip.
We stayed at a hotel Thursday night and then proceded on our trip Friday morning. A battle was schedualled for Friday evening so we needed to be ready and set up in time for that. We arrived just in the nick of time, and after regestration and a short search for our friends we were going to meet up with, we pitched camp.
To preface the photo run on all this, let me remind my readers that this was my last reenactment. So, though I enjoyed the event ever so much, I ever had the thought in the back of my mind that I would never more pitch camp, don uniforms, shoulder arms, fix bayonets, or dress to the colors again.
Pitching camp in not-so-authentic garb.
Unfortuneately, as with all larger events, the battlefield is of such size it is difficult to get good pictures of the battle scenarios.
This is the battlefield of the weekend. As you can see in the far distance, we are actually in battle in this picture. As you can tell, we are “over the hills and far away.”
Preparing repast around a traditional campfire in authentic garb!
After a somewhat cool night’s rest, breakfast of oatmeal was served. I am a bit uhhhhh disaranged from battle and a night on the grass. This is just before we had to form for battalion drill……and I don’t mean history questions.
Battalion drill!
Battalion drill is where we review different movements and formations that we must do on the battlefield. Specifically, we were practicing a very difficult one……we had to go from a battle line, into columns by companies, and then march through obsticles (artillery or cannons,) and then get back into a battle line all without halting or switching places with anyone.
So a battle line is formed…….a battle line is a long line of men two deep; short guys in front (me,) and tall guys in the rear (everyone else.)
The CO (commanding officer,) usually a colonel when we are in battalions, gives the command “By the right of companies to the front, break files to the left, FORWARD, MARCH!”
At this command, each company (a company is a small group of men within the battalion, with it’s own officers,) does a right face forming a column, two wide and as many long as the company has men. The “head” or front of each company’s column then turns off to the left (called a “by files left,) and procedes forward, in a column formation, through whatever obstical is in front of them.
When these individual columns get through the obsticals, the order is given from the battalion colonel, “To the left by companies into line, MARCH!”
At this command, each company goes from a column of men marching towards the enemy to a battle line of men facing the enemy. To do this, the entire company comes to the “right shoulder shift arms,” and “double quicks” it into line, being sure to remember who was to your right, left, and rear. ("Right shoulder shift arms” is where we hold our gun high up on our shoulder with the barrel sticking nearly straight up. It is easier to run with the firearm in this position.)
So you can see this can be quite difficult. To illistrate this move, I have included some pictures of army men set up in the different steps.
Battle line!
“By the right of companies to the front, break files to the left, forward march!”
“To the left by companies into line, march!”
Resumed battle line clear of the obsticle and marching towards the enemy.
Battalion dismissed!
Battalion drill took place on Saturday morning in preparation for the battle we knew was coming that afternoon. That afternoon we marched out some 1500 strong to reenact the battle of the wheatfield.
I will not bore you with the details of the blunders that led up to this horrible battle. Suffice to say that Union General Sedgwick, had took the liberty of advancing his corp into a very exposed position. The southern troops attacked. Over 10,000 men fought in a 17 acre wheatfield. Some 6,000 men died in that same wheatfield where the fighting was hand-to-hand, and the survivors said that where the fighting was most fierce, you could walk over the field and never touch the ground for the dead bodies. It baffles my mind to know what the great significance of 17 acres of wheat is, for 6,000 men to die to hold it. This wheatfield became, in military terms, “The Wheatfield,” and during the next three days of battle was no-man’s-land, and the dead and wounded were left there for that time without burial or medical treatment.
“Yankees”
The sunset over the fields Saturday evening was beautiful with the tents and the haze from the fires.
Philip slepped well on Saturday night!
I did not sleep as well due to the dew and chill. In fact from Friday morning to Saturday evening, (36 hours) I left my boots on. It was too cool at night to take them off and I was walking most the day. By the end of Saturday evening I had blisters on my feet.
This next run of photos is from the Sunday battle reenactment of Pickett’s Charge. Pickett’s Charge took place on the last day, July third, during the battle of Gettysburg. The battlefield was one of the most beatifull battlefields ever fought on. A one mile long stretch of open fields, sloping upwards, over a mile wide. some 12,000-15,000 Confederate troops were formed behind a line of trees on a ridge. 150 cannons, rifled and smoothbore, the strength of the Confederate army, bombarded the union position a mile away for one hour. 200 union cannons poured out a hot reply. The union position across that field was a low stone wall on another ridge apposite that of the Confederate’s.
After the artillery bombardment, the Confederate force leapt to their feet and with great cheers running throughout the lines, formed ranks and fixed bayonets. Then came the long order, “Forward march.” Like a parade drill the battle lines many deep and a mile long swept along. Fresh union artillery batteries were brought into position and opened up with long range solid shot, on those grey lines came; then explosive shell, shrapnel tearing throught the Confederate ranks with deadly affect, still they came; then as they crossed a small wagon road and fence, double canister, a hundred small balls encased in the cannon barrel turning the cannon into a giant shot gun, sweeping away 20, 30, 40, 50 men with each shot. The musket fire opened up. Six thousand blue coated footmen shooting thousands of lead balls into those grey lines. STILL on they came! Up to the stone wall! Over the stone wall. Hand-to-hand. Brigade commander, General Lowe Armistead is mortally wounded and lays against a union cannon wheel, General Garnett is killed, General Kemper is mortally wounded, and nearly half of the grey clad men who charged across that field of death were killed, wounded, or captured.
Pickett’s Charge still remains one of the greatest of greatest military achievments ever gained by men under such circumstances. That 13,500 men (aprox.) could march a mile under fire and actually drive the enemy away from their stone wall, is a goal gained that few if any battlefield’s have ever equalled. Only due to a lack of reenforcements at the crucial moment, did the attack fail.
Our reenactment of this battle consisted of about 3,000-4,000 men, Union and Confederate, and about 30 cannon.
The battle consisted of a 15 minute artillery bombardment of the Union position, and then an all out infantry assault. Our battalions (1,500-2,000 strong) advanced over 200 yards of open ground, literally pushed over the wooden fence in our path and gained a position within 20 yards of the Union stone wall. About 200 men were left standing and these retreated. I was “wounded” shortly after we crossed the fence, and was assisted from the field by a retreating soldier. Of the 22 men that made up our company, they fell to the last man! Indeed of our 75 man battalion, I question whether 10 actually “lived.” I fired a total of 5 rounds and the entire infantry assault took 15 minutes. A man was dropping every second!
Like I said it is difficult to get good photos and the best vantage point was in the bleachers that you had to pay a ridiculous $10.00 a head to sit in.
Titus brought his drum and although he did not wish to play for our battalion during battle, we did practice around camp. I saw chance at a neat lighting shot and took it! “But of all the world’s great heros, there’s not one can compare, with a row-tow-row-tow-row-tow, of a British grenadier.” ("British Grenadier’s,” British marching song from the 1700’s that was commonly played during the Civil War.)
Packing up! DAD-GUM! Don’t seem like I can trust ANYONE with the camera!
I don’t know how many of you, if any, wanted to see that photo (I should hope NONE of you wanted to,) and I suppose it was a bad way to end the Gettysburg trip part one but it’ll have to do!
Next time I’ll have all the photo’s of the battlefield and descriptions of it all. However, I have something like 150 pictures to sort through and I think I have enough photos for this time.
So no more a soldier I a be…..at least in earthly armies.
“Encamped along the hills of light ye Christian soldiers rise, and press the battle ere the night shall vail the glowing skys!” ("Faith is the Victory” Christian militant marching tune.)
11 July 2010
Written by
custer (
)
Published on July 11th, 2010 @ 05:17:38 pm, using 1873 words, 29 views
Ok!
Well, again it’s been quite a while since I blogged. Of course we have been very busy, but our internet got fried two weeks ago and so we got it shut off. Therefore we no longer have 24-7 access to the web. We are checking our email and posting blogs once or twice a week now at McDonal’s or a coffee shop.
Since last time I blogged. we did another craft fair in Indiana. The show itself wasn’t a smashing success. The show was right on the banks of the Ohio river; I’m talking like if I fell backwards out of our booth I would have rolled down a bank and landed in the river. Anyway, across the river on the southern bank was Louisville Kentucky and in Louisville there is a ball stadium. Apparently they had a ball game there one night and so at the end they shot off a bunch of fireworks which we saw from the “yankee” shore.
Here is also a new item that I have added. “Roses of Love” as I cal them. I met a fellow artist that has a computer programmed laser torch, so I got him to cut out the pedal planks. I forge, texture, and finish these little roses out, but it is a whole lot easier and better to let the other gentleman cut them out.
Over the last three months or so, I have been looking for a larger anvil. You see I have two anvils, one 86 pound Trenton and one 50 pound cast anvil. The 86 pound Trenton anvil is an excellent anvil. It is perfect for my demonstrations because it has a nice ring that attracts the crouds and it is light enough for me to carry without killing myself. However, since I have to carry it, I cannot attach the anvil to my anvil stump permanently because the stump weighs an addition 75-80 pounds. This is no problem at demos, but at the house when I forge larger items, my anvil has a tendancy to try to tip over. Now, when an 86 pound chunk of metal, tips off a stump and falls 18 inches onto your foot, your foot will loose……every time!
The cast anvil cannot be used as a regular forging anvil since it is not of good make. Cast anvils have a tendancy to chip easy, they have little rebound (rebound is a MUST in a forging anvil,) and they just generaly aren’t any good. We call them “ASO’s;” “Anvil Shaped Objects.”
Therefore, I came to the obvious conclusion, “I need a bigger anvil.” I decided to look in the 200 pound range, not taking anything less than 175 pounds and getting one as big as possible without leaving my arm and leg as payment. I have looked on Craigslist, Ebay, and many other sources. I seriously considered a nice 175 pound Trenton which was a good price and in good shape, but ended up being too far away. I placed a bid on a VERY nice 260 pound anvil on Ebay but lost, (I mean lost BIG TIME,) considered a 190 pound anvil in Nashville that was in very good condition but would have cost a LOT of VERY pretty pennies, and tried to get a local 200 pounder but the owner backed out. (I looked at probably 20 more, but those were the only ones that were really options.) I finally posted a “wanted” add on Craigslist for a 175 pound or larger anvil. After two days I got an email from a woman that said she had purchased a larger anvil and was going to give her 200 pounder away. From the looks of the email I was somwhat suspicious. Few people just give a 200 pound anvil away when they could get 2 or 3 dollars per pound for it, she never said the word “anvil” in the message, always referring to her anvil as “it,” and it just generaly didn’t seem right. Using an old email address to avoid giving her our regular email, I replied and she disappeared when I asked her for the location of her anvil and a phone number so I could discuss the deal over the phone.
Another month passed and I didn’t find anything within driving, or within my price allowance.
Then one night, I got two calls from my Craigs add for two different anvils over 200 pounds. The one wanted $3 per pound and didn’t call back. The other sent me pictures on the cell phone and I was very pleased with the way the anvil looked. He was within driving and within my price range so we arranged a day to go look at it.
Long story short (actually this story is already long so maybe I should say short story long,) we drove home with it in the back of the car. From the deminsions that the guy told me, I presumed the anvil to be around 240 pounds. It is a total of 31.5 inches long and 14 inches high. The actuall flat working face is a whomping 19.5 inches long and 5.5 inches wide. The hardy hole (the sqaure hole) is 1.25 inches square. After getting it home and out of the car (no easy task,) we put it on the bathroom scale and the chunk of steel topped out at 280 pounds. It is in, what I would consider, excellant condition. Rebound is at about 91% (I.E. drop a hammer from 12 inches and it will bounce off the anvil 11 inches,) the ring is not such that will drive you insane, and the edges are mostly good and straight. There are a few chunks out of the edges and one small nitch in the face but these are not serious defects as the thing is so big, there is still plenty of good work area. The biggest detriment to me, is that someone cut the tip of the horn off. This was done for shop safety so no one bumps into the tip of the horn, but I would have preferred to have a more fine tip and just been carefull. However, I can get someone with a large welder to build the tip back up.
I do not know what brand of anvil this is. The only marking I see is a “30″ on one of the feet. Just from the profile or general shape I would guess it is a Hay Budden or Mousehole. However, those are uneducated guesses and I will have to refer to the pro’s to identify and date this one.
So enough jabber and now for pictures!
Part of what enabled me to get this anvil, was the owner’s willingness to trade for a significant portion of the anvil’s worth. I made him a railroad spike knife in partial exchange for the anvil. This spike knife is based off of one that I made back in February and that I just recently posted pictures of. However, this one was not quite as ornate. I left out the “eye” punch decorations this time, along with leaving off some of the chisel marks I did on the last one. This one has a bit different profile to the blade. The finish is antique which is why I left the handle a bit more simplistic in design, to let it blend with the yesteryear look. I also made a case to go with it! I LOVE this case design. The last one I made has a dagger style case with a “frog” that attaches to the belt and the case slides into. I prefer the dagger style cases in look, but they are very difficult to make and I don’t feel that I did a very good job on the one I made. This case here though has a nice smooth look to it and overall looks even and well finished. It also holds the RR spike knife better than the dagger style case.
A friend of mine lives on the route we had to take to get the anvil. My friend is my age and is also a blacksmith. So, we arranged to stop by when we picked up the anvil. Both my friend and I are COMPLETELY crazy so we get along quite well. We actually met on Craigslist. I called about a large blacksmith collection that was advertised for sale on Craigs. The seller said that he had already sold it, but that the buyer might want to resell some of the tools. So I called the buyer! Like I said, he is 17 too, we have very much in common, and we have been fast friends ever since. His name is Chase!
Chase and his family came over here first, and that’s when we met in person for the first time. I gave him a whole bunch of coal in exchange for a small blacksmith’s vice that will probably go in my shop. While he was here, I showed him some of my swords and fencing swords. He said that he had always wanted to learn how to fence. So when we went to visit, I took my fencing swords (called “foils,") so that him and I could “go the rounds” and test our skills.
Despite being larger than I, my friend Chase, is active, fast, and has GREAT reaction time. At one point when I delivered a thrust past his sword, his left hand came into play and knocked my sword blade aside. Unless you have fenced before it is hard to get an idea of how fast that reaction is. We are talking half seconds here, so it is VERY FAST!
However, despite his speed, despite his reaction, and despite his activity, we concluded the day with 3 wins in my favour and only 2 in his. (I tried to get him to make it an even 4 to 2, but he wouldn’t fall for that! Well I mean four CAN be divided evenly by two!)
Anyway, here is the photo run on that!
Ready!
GO!
Chase was quick!
Gaurd with caution!
CHase ended up giving me his sword….quite unwilling I must add, as I disarmed him. To give him credit though, he did disarm me as well!
Overall it was a lot of fun and I don’t think there are any hard feelings over the friendly competition!
(Most certainly not from me to him.)
Chase and his family just got done moving, so his blacksmith shop is a mess right now. When they visited us I didn’t have my forge trailer, set up, so both him and I are looking forward to setting up “real” blacksmith shops, under roofs, and setting to, to forge in earnest and begin to make our way in life. It is nice to finally have a friend who is on exactly the same plane as I! 
Gettysburg reenactment has passed. I have tons of pictures to sort out, and stories to relate. I’ll try to get that blog written and posted sometime this week or Sunday next!
Until then, I remain the blacksmith and never more the “aspiring private,”
Dave Custer
P.S. For my newer readers: that sign off is derived from an old sign off I used to use; “the blacksmith and aspiring private.” Gettysburg marked the end of my “soldiering carreer,” so I am “never more the aspiring private.”
17 June 2010
Written by
custer (
)
Published on June 17th, 2010 @ 07:24:16 pm, using 802 words, 34 views
is the command given after a volley of musket fire pours into the oncoming ranks of advancing blue clad soldiers, or grey, depending upon your perspective.
^^^^^^^^now if you didn’t get the meaning of that sentence simply go back and read the title FIRST this time, and that should clear things up!
Moving on!
A good friend just asked me today how I make cartridges. I have been making cartridges in preparation for the Gettysburg reenactment we plan to attend in PA. and had actually planned to rewrite a blog on cartridge making, that I wrote a year or so ago.
This time I took more pictures and so I’m going to run you all through it right quick.
Civil War soldiers, and indeed all soldiers in wars in which the musket was carried, wore a pouch called a cartridge box. This box was rested on the right hip and was hung by a strap over the left shoulder. The box was of leather or tarred canvas and carried the soldier’s supply of ammunition.
This box containted enough ammunition for about an hour or maybe two hours of sustained combat. My box holds about 60 rounds of ammunition, but that is with blank or “bullet-less” cartridges.
It holds maybe 50 “live” cartridges.
Enough of all the boring technical stuff.
During the time of the Civil War, cartridges could not be made of brass cases as they are today. They were made from paper tubes into which was poured the powder, and then the bullet was laid on top of that.
With reenactor cartridges we leave out the bullet and just live with the powder!
So step one! Take a piece of packing paper (like news paper,) and measure out a three inch wide by four inch tall piece. I do about thirty at a time and then cut them out.
Next, this small piece of paper is folded at an angle from the top to about a half inch short of the bottom.
This piece of paper is then roled around a half inch piece of dowel that is hollow on one end. The bottom of the paper is allowed to hang past this hollow end about a half inch.
The bottom that is hanging past the hollow end of the dowel is then folded down in into the hollow part.
A marble is then used to smash the paper firmly into the hollow part and seal off the bottom of the cartridge tube.
After this you end up with a little hollow tube. Reenactor safety rules general keep the powder loads down to about 60 grains of powder. This is the powder measure!
The powder is poured from the measure into the cartridge tube. The top of the tube is pinched off.
Then it is folded at an angle.
The top (or tail) is then folded down!
The tail is tucked into the pocket formed by the angle fold made after the piece of paper is cut out.
This is a tin that fits into the cartridge box. Each compartment holds twelve cartridges upright and six more lying on top.
Tin foil is placed in this container and extra cartridges are packed inside for safe keeping.
So that’s cartridge making for ya!
Here is a good shot from winter that I forgot to post!
I’m not sure, maybe I need to brush up on my fairy tale knowledge, but I think that when the “handsome prince” tries to rescue the “beautifull princess” and has to haul uhhh, I mean escort her over the “raging torrent” that she is supposed to be as “light as a feather.” Such was not my experience.
But then again; maybe I’m not the handsome prince!
Kayla was trying to get some “before and after” pictures for an experiment she was doing on my face, so I had fun scaring the camera.
It gets worse! “Dave, put the glasses on, an, an, and the hat too…..ughhh and study the ground, or ummmm turn around, or uhhh SOMETHING ELSE!” Definately not the handsome prince!
Now if I used the word “cool,” (which I don’t) but if I did, then this little tool is COOL!
We had a large number of metal fence posts to pull out of the ground. Usually we use the tractor and chain but this is time consuming and takes probably five minutes for every post. So I made this tool to pull up posts.
This “cool” tool, was pulling posts up as fast as we could position the tractor near the post.
It works off of a binding concept, allowing this small piece to pull up metal posts that have been in the ground for years, with ease.
Well that’s all for now! I’ve got an event I’m heading tomorrow so I’ll be gone a bit!
16 June 2010
Written by
custer (
)
Published on June 16th, 2010 @ 09:19:47 pm, using 568 words, 24 views
One of my favorite past times is fencing, or in less proper terms, sword fighting.
When Dad pastored, my friends and I would have regular pitched battles using wooden swords and shields sometime our numbers swelling to 12 lads. There were doorways and hallways that could be defended to advantage, and fortified with the aid of metal chairs. When one team was worsted in the open field, the remaining lads could retreat to a door or hallway which was easier to defend. That is, if they could cut their way through the “enemy” and gain the refuge of such positions without themselves being thinned further.
During these mock battles, a good friend of mine, Master Andrew Henry, and myself usually took the roles as leaders for the bands. Him and I were each the most skillfull blades, and often singled each other out to challenge ourselves to improve our skills or suffer the humility of defeat.
Those days are gone now, but I still have retained my love for sword fighting.
During my reenacting days, I would always sword fight with a friend reenactor and his two twin sisters. Occasionally I sword fight with my two younger brothers, Titus and Philip.
We did so this evening. It was quite fun and I got plenty of pictures for the viewing pleasure of my readers.
Philip and I went the rounds first! Shield and sword!
Guard!
Going for the side!
Philip switched gears on me; dropped his shield and took to sword and dagger. I did not have a dagger but I, in honor, relinquished my shield and defended with sword only.
Ready!
Sword ever ready, but I have to keep my left hand ready to guard against that ever watchful dagger.
And at last, that dagger got too close, so I had to give up my sword and take off for the other one leaning against the porch steps. Honorable foes would return the enemy their sword but….
Grabbed it, but just in time to swing ’round and guard again.
Taking the offensive with a determined face.
After I stole the dagger Philip went back to shields. Following the example of my foe I took mine and the combat was decided.
The victor, battle weary!
The “victor” was not so fortunate in round two! Oh if it wasn’t for that dagger!
KILL THE CAMERA MAN!
After I came back to life, I had yet another foe to contend with. The “red headed irishman!”
He attacks with fury!
But guards with caution!
Study the foe, ’tis the key to success!
The combat is heated!
He is disarmed and retreats in haste! (A very smart move under the circumstances. Standing your ground, disarmed, is not a good idea. I speak from painful experience.)
Taunting the armed man is not a good idea!
But despite his ungentlemanly jests, he uses his shield to good affect at guarding.
But I was relentless!
Tiring of the shield the “red headed irish man” took to double swords. I could have, with honor, retained my shield against two swords, but enjoying the challenge I dropped it and took on the double swords with my single, depending upon my proven skill and experience as a veteran to bring me through.
And I was not mistaken. It wasn’t long before my foe’s guard fell, offering me the oportunity of victory.
Now perhaps you see the attraction! 
Or not!
Permanent Link