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I Forge Iron

Dave M

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  • Posts

    165
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  • Gender
    Male

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  • Location
    Southern Maine, USA.
  • Biography
    I have been blcksmithing for the last ten years mostly as an art form and hobby and need.
  • Interests
    Any of the metal arts or trades, camping,hunting,fishing,archery
  • Occupation
    archery tech, blacksmith/ fabricator,heavy equipment operator

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  1. I have not built a propane forge in a long time and just wanted to know is ITC 100 still the standard or are the better or easier to use ridgediziers out there? If so what are my other choices. One more qeustion, I have many round forge bodies to build off of but do box style forges work better? Thanks
  2. I just got an awsome deal on CL. 1 roll of durablanket in an unused box for $15.00 plus a 4'x8' sheet of 16 gauge $15.00 also, but enough bragging. The box only says dura blanket there is no weight marked on it or heat rating. it is 1 inch thick. Is there any way to tell or find out what it is. I was going to double it up to line a new forge I am building. Any help would be awsome.
  3. Here are some of the places I get steel from by me: I awlays tell them that I am a blacksmith and I always ask. 1st our local dump or transfer station has a separate area for metal. 2nd small mom & pop auto or equipment repair shops. 3rd farms, they always seem to have piles of scrape metal all over. 4th I ask around some one always knows some body else who has some metal kicking around. 5th I run adds on Craigs list, make it clear that you are not a junk hauler Lastly I would find out who the local blacksmiths in your area are I bet some of them would let you grab a few pieces here or there. Heck I had a kid by me that wanted to get into blacksmithing and well I had parts to make both propane and coal forges in my scrap pile. He helped me organize my scrap pile and we built a nice coal forge and cut and welded the body for a propane forge,win win.
  4. Thank you, that never even crossed my mind. I have gunstock oil that I use when I sand my gunstocks to a flat finish.
  5. I am trying to figure out a taditional way of finishing tomahawk handles. I want the handle to be protected and sealed but not to slippery. I was thinking butchers wax or maybe linseed oil but I am just not sure. The handles I am working on right now 1 is made of red oak and the other is iron wood. I have used draw knives, spoke shaves and files to get the shape, then I used a piece of broken glass as a scraper to give them a smooth finish. I also used a torch to darken the wood and add detail to the grain. After all this work don't want to screw them up with a bad finish on the handle. Any advice would be awsome. I think my next handles I will try staining with chewing tobacco.
  6. There use to be 2 or 3 in the worcester area that would let you pick. There are a few in southern NH. portsmouth area.
  7. I built a wooden box lined with that foil covered foam insulation that fits over the anvil with about 4 inches of air space all of the way around. I also cut out two pieces of plywood that fit around the base of the anvil and covered them with the same foam insulation. I have a 60 watt ceramic reptile heat emitter that I mounted through a hole in the top of the box to point down on the face of the anvil. Check them out here Heat Emitters. it draws only a little more power then a 60 watt light bulb. It keeps my anvil warm not hot and last year in my shop (unheated) I had temps at -15 degrees My shop is in the woods in a low spot and in the winter it does not get sun until around 1:00 pm. Lets put it this way this time of year I hang deer and game in my shop and they keep as if in a meat locker.
  8. I have been using their coal off and on for about 6 years I like the way it cokes up and that it is in easy to handle bags that work great for storing and they don't make you buy it by the ton. forgot to add that I was talking about their blacksmithing coal and not their home heating stuff.
  9. Just looked at the torches you linked to and they don't look to bad. Did these torches work fine before? Or are these torches new to you. It sounds like your mixture pressures are off or not being mixed right, that is if the torches are new to you. If they were working fine and are now doing this then it sounds like you may have a bad O ring or regulator diaphragm, either of these would allow air to pre-mix with your gases or give you unstable pressure at the tip.
  10. How many others have this problem, that your shop has to have several purposes. I built My new shop my self over a period of 5 years, it is 16"X 26" with a full second floor ( you can see the process in the member gallery under Dave M ). At the time it seemed huge but once you have the space your stuff just seems to multiply:rolleyes:. I finely got it set up so it had great working flow and then I went out and bought a old farm tractor for use around the shop and house and it needs more work then I thought:mad:. You know what that means I had to move every thing in the shop around to make room for it. I hope this is a short term thing but it just seems like every time things start going smooth in the shop there is some set back. Well I am off to find some cheese for my whine. oh and to find a muffler for a 1977 Romanian built tractor.
  11. I have 2 leather aprons I use all of the time, forging, welding, plasma or O/A cutting, grinding, buffing and polishing. 1 full length with center top pocket ( great for soap stone, scribe and ruler ). In the summer I will wear the full length one with shorts or a kilt. I like to use the split leg apron for detail or finish work that allows you to sit down. I know from the cuts and burns on my aprons that they have saved me from injury a whole bunch of times. As for the yellow goldish virgin apron color, it goes away pretty fast with use.
  12. Dave M

    Coal

    There is a list of blacksmith coal suppliers in the blacksmithing section it is at the top of the page as a sticky.
  13. Hammerkid did you use castable refractory as the liner? I am building a new gasser and wanted to try lining it with something different then ceramic blanket. What ever you are using it looks great.
  14. I picked up at the dump saturday 3 throw away helium party tanks ( great propane forge bodies, great for buckets ) a bucket full of old spicket knobs and 2 broken 30 gal broken compressors that I will pressure test the tanks if good , spare air tanks if bad large propane forge body or cut up steel ring forms or water storage tanks for shop use.
  15. it is good to see skills being passed on. It will be some thing he will always remember and look back on.
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