homesteader

Hello homesteader here. I sift ash all winter for our garden and also use charcoal in my forge so the two go hand in hand. I use a sifting screen with 1/2" hardware cloth to separate the cooled charcoal from the ash. Made what my girlfriend refers to as a man bucket out of an old 40lb. propane tank and just shovel in the hot coals and ash and cover the top with a layer of the cold sifted ash. It seals off the air and the coals are dead cold by the next day. As we use wood to heat our home and my shop this process has kept me in good charcoal for the forge. I do a lot more forge work during the summer and use a lot more charcoal during that time and make retort charcoal through the spring, summer and fall. It takes a lot more charcoal over coal but man is it clean.

This is homesteader here. I`m new. Anyway can someone explain induction heating to me.

Cliff1959 I have dished or what is usually called dapped fairly large pcs. of copper as well as sterling silver on a homemade dapping block which is a container of melted lead which is then dished in to the desired shape and size. I have used large ball bearings for this purpose or the punch which I will further describe. The copper must be annealed before forming. I have done the forming using a wooden dap which is a rounded pc. of wood such as hickory or similar hardwood. the length and diameter will depend on the pc. being worked. Something of this size would take a pc. around 3' inches in diameter by around 8" to 10" long. One end needs to be rounded to the same radius as the dapping block and smoothed to use as a punch to force the copper to conform. You can narrow the other end down to handle size. You then beat the punch with a wooden or fiber mallet to force the copper to shape. As you force the copper it will become work hardened and so will need to be annealed again as many times as necessary to complete the forming in this case twice will probably do it. If it needs to be a very smooth surface I would make a tool from a block of steel again about the same diameter as the dapping punch and rounded to the same radius but shorter and weld a foot to it the same square as the hardie hole on your anvil. It will have to stand far enough above the anvil to allow you to work the pc. inverted over your now steel dapping punch. This time reverse the pc. and and gently hammer out the bumps from the outside until it is as smooth as you need it to be. I know this sounds like a long process and it will be but a lot of the time will be in building your tools. Once the tools are finished it is an assembly line operation of repetition. Hope this helps.

I have been cutting up propane tanks for a long time and have never had one go boom or even pop. I remove the valve from the tank after exhausting any left over gas , slowly outside. Once the valve has been removed I let them sit for a day. Propane precipitates IE. it boils off. Once it has boiled off there is no residual gas.

I have used battery acid to clean flux and then follow up with a water and baking soda bath. A commercial product called Sparex works pretty good also but is a little slower and more expensive. Make sure you have good ventilation for the acid fumes. Works for cleaning up flux on copper, brass and silver also. You don`t need as much time in the acid for the non ferrous metals. On the soda bath I usually mix a box of arm and hammer to two gallons of water. You can tell when the bath is wearing out as it quits fizzing from neutralizing the acid.

The flux I have used to silver solder is trade named batterns self pickling flux. It is a green color similar to green antifreeze and works great.

Hello everyone. My name is Ron and I have done a bit of smithing in the past and am now in the process of putting a new shop together. I mainly do things for our place which is a full time job as we are on 5 acres and trying to be as self sustaining as possible. This means lots of work. IE. repairing vehicles, gardening. building projects, cutting our own wood for winter heat as well as for making charcoal for the forge and so on. I have a 36x70 ft. pole barn I work out of. I just finished building a small forge and will now start making my tools and such. I have looked your site over and am impressed with the amount of knowledge by many. I am sure in the future I will be pleased to glean information from many of you and will put in my two cents when it seems appropriate. I have 35 years experience as a silver and goldsmith, now retired and much of what I have learned over the years is transferable to blacksmith work. I have made throwing hawks, fire starting kits, fire sets and other types of things for the black powder crowd. I am sure I will enjoy communicating with many of you in the future and learning much along the way. I appreciate being part of this group Thanks. Ron.