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I Forge Iron

Toymkr

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    atoymkr

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  • Location
    Shoreline, Wa. 98133
  • Biography
    Retired shipyard guy, ol' Kansas farmboy.
  • Interests
    Invention, fabrication, photography..on and on.
  • Occupation
    Retired...sort of.......
  1. The key to OA cutting is selection of a proper tip size for the material being cut, a clean tip and fuel & oxygen pressures set correctly. Tip cleaners are essential as well as NOT using the torch to hammer off an incomplete cut. That distorts the gas ports and xxxx near ruins the tip. The only salvation for a hammered tip is filing it back and hopefully restoring smooth bores. If that doesn't work, make a necklace charm out of the copper for your girlfriend because it is useless to try to cut with it. It sounds like you are either using too large a tip or you are cranking up the pre-heat too high and basically melting rather than cutting. The preheat flame only needs to start the metal melting and the oxygen jet from the center does the cutting once the metal starts to oxidize...a steady hand helps too. <grin> Do a search for 'cutting torch tips' and check out various torch manufacturer's websites where they'll list metal thicknesses for each size of tip. A search for 'cutting torch video' will also get some good pointers. Rusty steel is a bear to cut and I highly recommend grinding both sides to remove any scale before you try a cut. For cutting diamond floor plate, cut from the smooth side and angle the torch so that the flame leads. That preheats the diamonds ahead of the cut and you'll cut smoothly. I learned torch cutting from some highly regarded old pros in a shipyard and practice over the years has taught me a lot...and I'm a pretty fair 'burner' if I do say so. <grin>
  2. I'm an ol' Kansas farmboy who moved west mannnnnnny years ago and took root here in the Emerald Zone. Grandfathers on both sides were metalworkers: one an apprenticed blacksmith and the other an old school tool & die maker. Learned a lot from those two and wish there had been time and facilities to have learned more. It has been a great inheritance and served me very well over the years. I've been involved in many things professionally......aircraft inspector, millwright, machinist, Boilermaker, shipyard superintendent, all of which added to my reportoire in making things well. I'm not heavily into smithing but have collected a fair assortment of smithing tools along with a very fine 170# Hay-Budden anvil acquired many years ago. Now that I'm officially retired, I'm getting back into it and doing MY work on MY schedule May your grins be many......and contagious !! Toymkr
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