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I Forge Iron

Sky Campbell

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  1. I found just keeping an old incadesent style light on in the cabinet assures dry media. Here in tropical Florida it's not a choice. Anyway simple fix and has worked great for many years. Of course an extra water seperator before the cabinet is a must. Ours is just a large vertical pipe Google Franzinator for some DIY plans.
  2. From what I see. A reputable company designs a saw. They outsource it to be manufactured in China. The factory in China then produces that casting for anyone that wants to buy it. I see no difenence in a small jet bandsaw then a harborfrieght band saw. They are both being made in China by the same factory. Identical from what I see with quality control being the only suspect. When your talking about these small bandsaws I do think they are all about the same quality. I personally started cheap and over time ended up with a nice Ellis. I still use that cheapo for this and that and just keep a handful of those $12 harbor freight blades for whatever I don't want to cut on one of my good saws. I have it mounted on a pull out at the end of a bench. It can be used vertically for a quick cut or pulled out for horizontal cutting. While your at harbor freight check out the throatless shear. It is an exact clone of my Beverly b1 at a fraction of the price. For the most part I like to think the sweet taste of quality will far outlast the bitter taste of price. Shruggg it's a new world and China makes the same product for many makers. If it's not old or high end it probably doesn't matter.
  3. Yes very old tradition. Lots of history behind it.
  4. Doug pretty much said it all but I'll add a few things. When annealing use a stick of wood or a wire brush handle works well. Rub the wood across the hot metal when it leaves a black (starts slick turns brown then solid black) mark the metal is annealed. Annealing can be done with a propane burner in open air. (One of those leaf burners from harbor frieght or a roofing torch works well) I like to anneal in a oven set at a thousand degrees for uniformity. If you stick it in the forge watch out you can easily turn it into a puddle in short order. I have found it makes little diference if I quench or air cool. I understand the science and ideally it is a slower cool but for forging quenching does not do any discernible change or hardening of the metal. I would do all your forging cold on annealed metal. When forging aluminum hot it becomes very easy to over heat and very easy to strike hard enough to do damage. Annealed aluminum moves like hot steel. Working hot just isn't needed and rarely gives good results. The only exception would be large billets. Do not anneal finished work unless you want it to continue to move. Structural aluminum is hardened and the only way to harden aluminum is by working it. This can be done by bead blasting, tumbling or just forging with a hammer. It is very easy to tell when aluminum becomes to hard to work it talks to you as you forge it. Strike hard the more strikes with the hammer the harder it gets until it feels like cold steel. At that point it will crack. 6061 is an excellent marine grade aluminum and 4043 filler works well with little chance of cracking. I use a lot of aluminum in my work I've discovered some neat tricks. I mig and tig copper to aluminum for artistic applications. Blacking aluminum to look like steel. Patinas for aluminum to make them look just like aging copper. I compare forging annealed aluminum very much to hot steel. The power hammer goes a long ways in aluminum forging like I said hit it hard you only have so many hits before it hardens.
  5. If your picking it up make sure to ask about open boxes and scrap fiber. I have accumulated more free refractories by just asking then I would have imagined. One caveat castables do go bad with age. If you do have older castable it can be renewed by adding a small amount of calcium aluminate one percent up to 3 percent. Calcium aluminate is the cement that sets the refractory. Old refractories just won't set up, this is the cure. The more aluminate added the lower the performance temperature. I wanted to add some info on plastics. This is one I use and it is 85% alumina. Any patch made with this will be bullet proof. You could shape a small trough with this material that can be placed in the forge for Damascus. It will not be eaten by flux and once fired is rock hard. No insulating value but this stuff is so handy. http://refwest.com/browseproducts/PLASTECH-85P-55--(STD).HTML
  6. Welcome aboard.  I'm a reformed hot glass blower myself, as you may be able to tell from some of my posts, and agree with all you have mentioned in your recent post.  Where are you located, I was in the glass field myself back 20 years ago, so we may have crossed paths (went to the SAC school at RIT, have blown glass at Artpark, Bucks Rock, Haystack, Penland, Pittsburgh Glass and down at the Corning studio).  Miss it, but can't afford the utility bills as a hobby.

  7. Well I'll admit my background is hot glass but I have been using and abusing refractories for well over 20 years now. I can't speak highly enough about kastoltie 30 plus. The high alumina will protect it from about anything that will contact it. It has great insulating properties the price is right and nothing else compares. Do follow the instructions! It is a very dry mix and water is held chemically in suspension. To much water and it decrease its strength and cause cracking. For mold release Pam cooking spray and plastic wrap works well. Vibrate your castings either tap by hand or use a pneumatic hammer on the forms to ensure no voids. Preheat your cast pieces. We use large kilns with digital controls but the idea is dry it out then draw the chemicals bonded water from the casting without producing steam. I know you may not have that ability in your shop to preheat. At least dry out as much as possible before really cranking the heat. Not that it needs to be said here but nothing insulates like fiber so think of kastoltie like you do mizzou and back it up. The whole thermal fly wheel is great but no reason to have all that mass when it's not needed. I'll add one more thing to the mix. Plastics are great for repairs. What we refer to as plastics are actually ramable clay refractories. Some of these ramables have very high alumina content and will laugh at any flux you get on it. It comes in blocks of clay that doesn't harden until fired. I have sucsesfully repaired and patched things that wouldn't be considered salvageable. harbison walker has a refractory guide for calculating hot and cold face for most common found refractories. Get it if you can find it. Thanks for having me here. My passion for working hot metal is only second to working hot glass.
  8. I was thinking you would cast slabs for the liner in the forge. You would still want to back up the mizzou with fiber. For door bricks mizzou would be fine by itself. Durable and it's rated for 3,000f. Nice to use castable for custom shaped doors. Also works well poured in a steel frame. Here's a quick google link: http://www.hightemptools.com/castablerefractory.html Another option to consider is kastolite 3,000f. (i suspect for door bricks this will beat any ifb on the market) I have used kastolite 2800plus with great results. Certainly won't hold up to flux but for walls, ceiling and doors I think it's the best you can buy. Is itc a coloidal silica or coloidal alumina? I'm not familiar with itc. One more note on backup insulation. It is worth the time and money. The mizzou works like a thermal flywheel and that makes it easy maintaining temps even with the doors wide open. Unfortunately it doesn't insulate so to keep that heat in fiber is the easy answer this will keep the heat in and the fiber is under the castable. This has an added benefit of keeping your forge shell from disintegrating.
  9. Your going to pay 3 times as much for 3,000ifb then 2,800ifb. The high alumina content in the 3,000ifb will definitely make it less pervious to attacks from fluxes but won't outlast 2,800 brick three times. Any ifb will be attacked from flux during forge welding. When you get up to these high temp alumina refractories it's always cheaper to buy castable. I'm not sure what your trying to accomplish? If this is for walls and crown I would recommend casting from mizzou a cheap high alumina noninsulating castable. You don't need much for structural integrity. Mizzou will stand up to high temps almost impervious to any flux and is extremly abrasive resistant. Then you would back it up with a fiber insulation. For the floor I would use the same mizzou but cast it a little thicker still fiber underneath. There are comparable products from all the big refractory dealers just ask everyone knows mizzou. I'm going to guess you already looked up refractories in the yellow pages? Pottery stores will charge you a premium in my experience.
  10. I have experience here so I'll chime in. First make sure you do not flatten with the weld or the pipe will crack. I found keeping the pipe weld to a 45 of the the flattener works best. First go around I used a large vise and a jig to keep the flattened ends in line. Basicly a saw cut in a 4x4 wood post. Now I have a large arbor press that works a whole lot faster. It is a 6 ton and really couldn't recommend anything from HF. Anyway I have a self contained hammer with good control but could never get the results I wanted. Many ways to skin that cat just giving what worked for me. One day a couple thousand lengths of 3/4 and 1" emt followed me home for the cost of scrap. I felt the need to build some geodesic domes. That's my story. I'm up late tonight and soaking in the forum. My head is spinning as the new smithy is about built and I'm getting ready to move equipment in. So many ideas here what a great resource.
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