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'ello again!
Yesterday I fired up my forge for the first time after adding another inch of insulation and upgrading the blower to a shopvac.
After about an hour of practising some basics for hammer control (drawing out, tapers and curves mostly), I decided to put the regulator up to 10 PSI. I had two workpieces, one in the fire and one on the anvil. A few minutes later, I took a piece of stock out of the forge, and it was DRIPPING!
Iron melts at 2800 *F; because of the alloying elements and the speed at which it melted, I think I had my forge at about 3000 *F! Of course, the downside to this is that I used up about 2/3 tank in about 2 hours. I'll try cutting back to 3 PSI and we'll see what happens...
After realizing I had gotten my forge to welding heat (and then some!) I decided to try a forgeweld. I took a piece of flat stock that had been ground clean and warmed it up to cherry-red, put some borax on it and folded it back on itself. After adding some more borax, I got it to a pale, melty-looking yellow and hammed it closed (gently for the first pass, but forcefully on the second). Only the half of the weld further from the bend took for some reason, so I'll have to spend a session welding random scrap together.
I've got two projects on the go right now: building a portable stand for my post vise, and making some hotcut chisels.
Cheers,
Toreus
Picture: the grey splotch on the right side of the floorbrick is molten steel.
Yesterday I fired up my forge for the first time after adding another inch of insulation and upgrading the blower to a shopvac.
After about an hour of practising some basics for hammer control (drawing out, tapers and curves mostly), I decided to put the regulator up to 10 PSI. I had two workpieces, one in the fire and one on the anvil. A few minutes later, I took a piece of stock out of the forge, and it was DRIPPING!
Iron melts at 2800 *F; because of the alloying elements and the speed at which it melted, I think I had my forge at about 3000 *F! Of course, the downside to this is that I used up about 2/3 tank in about 2 hours. I'll try cutting back to 3 PSI and we'll see what happens...
After realizing I had gotten my forge to welding heat (and then some!) I decided to try a forgeweld. I took a piece of flat stock that had been ground clean and warmed it up to cherry-red, put some borax on it and folded it back on itself. After adding some more borax, I got it to a pale, melty-looking yellow and hammed it closed (gently for the first pass, but forcefully on the second). Only the half of the weld further from the bend took for some reason, so I'll have to spend a session welding random scrap together.
I've got two projects on the go right now: building a portable stand for my post vise, and making some hotcut chisels.
Cheers,
Toreus
Picture: the grey splotch on the right side of the floorbrick is molten steel.
