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I Forge Iron

ShawnW

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    San Antonio, Tx.
  • Interests
    Chainmaille, leatherworking, carpentry, play guitar, International Scout II's, and Harley's.

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    white_h2o82@yahoo.com

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  1. 4-5$ is pretty steep in my book too which is why I haven't gone out. I'm sure after a little while, with 30+ anvils to sell, prices will come down, I don't know of anyone who would pay those prices but anvils are pretty hard to come by down here so maybe he will get lucky. As far as being chipped, swayed or rusted or worn goes, I just thought someone in the area may be able to take advantage of this. Also, who knows what lies beneath all that rust. I realize that it's doubtful that there's a diamond in that whole lot but someone else like me who has more funds available right now may be better off with bargaining for one of these than purchasing the railroad track 'anvils' so readily available down here. Like I said above, I just hope someone finds this useful.
  2. I hope someone can take advantage of this because right now I can't and it irks the crap outta me! Craigs list add removed, due to advertizing regulations of our terms of service. Please read them before attempting to post again. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Good luck. ShawnW
  3. Hmmm...hmmm...hmmm...what to say, what to say? I've been using the interwebs for some time now and I've run into people who remind me of Mr. Powers but lack authenticity. There are those on many a forum, sick and psychophanted, who want nothing more than to troll a site...cull the herd if you will...in a vagrant effort to assert themselves as a better, or as a superior. At first, after my first post I thought Mr. Powers was one of these and assumed that I had merely run into another keyboard warrior whose mommy hadn't cuddled with him enough to curb this behavior but my assumption was quickly eradicated by the depth in knowledge that Mr. Powers clearly spoke from. I quickly rescinded myself from reprimanding Mr. Powers and instead began looking forward to his contrary commentary. I cannot tell you the difference between a prius and a dump truck, nor what I would use them for, in a post that was less than 100 words long, but I was chastised for it as my question lacked clarity, I was called out on it and rightly so. To not have done so Mr. Powers would have done us and me a disservice. To dissuade Mr. Powers from commenting further would also do us and me a disservice. At this point we have to recognize that without some thicker skin that allows us to accept constructive criticism, we will neither learn nor prosper from his responses. ShawnW
  4. ThomasPowers: I guess I want something with a bit of aesthetic to go along with its functionality. If you check out the link below you can see that I will probably end up wrapping the new forge I build in chainmaille just because I can. I don't know if I'm ready to settle for kaowool and bailing wire. While I'm sure it works I would like something a little more robust. And are you talking about a helium tank you would get at a hobby lobby or a michaels? Are they about 1/16" thick? That would be lighter than a propane tank of similar proportions for sure, I'll add it to the list of canisters to keep an eye out for, thank you.
  5. So a stainless pony keg should be good to go, good. I'm just looking at options for containers, trying to get an idea of what I want to use and what I can find quickly. As for the stove pipe idea, Isn't there a concern for the forge to be crushed? While it's a concern for all containers, isn't that concern relatively higher for stovepipe? Just curious about your opinion on the subject. Thanks. ShawnW
  6. A pony keg's diameter is only 11 1/8" (not full keg size), I figured two inches of Kaewool brings it down to approximately 7" diameter with room for some ITC-1000 and a ceramic floor. Cut in half w/ a welded on door of sorts to keep the heat in. I'm not intending to utilize the entire length, I am just keeping ideas open for container sizes that can be 'made to fit,'... kinda. If the length is cut down to size I think it would be ok, at least comparable to a Freon tank or a propane tank. Another aspect I was concerned with was whether or not the material would be suitable for a forge. Some kegs are made from steel and some from aluminum, I'm assuming the aluminum ones would work just as well as the steel ones, I just wanted to know if someone had used one before. I'm going to my pinning ceremony tomorrow and hopefully, afterwards I'll be searching out materials to make a forge from. Thanks everyone for your help.
  7. thingmaker3: Thank you, I passed my last test, have a pinning ceremony on Friday and will hopefully take my boards w/in the next six weeks.
  8. So I posted in the GD that I wanted to start a project that used a blown ribbon burner (which I intend to do someday). After looking at how to make one I decided to purchase one...after realizing that I was going to need a very large forge to use one effectively (0.75 cu. ft. from Pineridge Burners), and all the work that goes into making a forge that fits one, I decided to begin with something a bit less adventurous. I found zoellerforge.com and am going to start working on a coffee can forge just to have one around because they look very versatile and useful...like I could use it in the house and no one would be the wiser...more on that later. I want something a bit larger than a little coffee can forge and I don't want to do a lot of fabrication on it so I began of thinking of containers container's already made that would suit my purposes which leads us to my question: Has anyone used a pony keg or a half keg barrel to build a forge? I'm going to start looking for containers tomorrow or Friday so I'm wondering what's the best place to find them. I think this size will be better for me in the short run just to get started. As for what I said earlier about using a forge in the house, no I'm not planning on doing anything that ridiculous whether or not it could be done, but I am having trouble convincing my wife that this is a good idea...hence the coffee can forge for introduction. On another note, does anyone have problems with having created a forge collection that is taking up too much room? I mean, has anyone started with the coffee-can forge and moved on to the propane-tank forge and just making progressively larger forges until they have all the forges they need for the sizes of work they do but not enough space in their work area to actually use any of them? These last two thought processes (wife needing convincing and exponential forge growth) don't really need an answer and are just thoughts, but the first part, that is definitely important. Thank you. ShawnW
  9. Well, I'm off to take my finals, hopefully I'll be back on here a little bit tonight and a whole lot more after tomorrow's last final. Once I'm graduated I'll have to find a new job and pass my boards but other than that I should be able to focus on this project a whole lot more. Thanks Frosty for all the advice and everyone who provided their opinion. I'm thinking of running a blown ribbon burner, I'm going to keep track of everything and take pics so hopefully I'll have something completed within the next month or two. I've got a lot of honey-do's that have been waiting for me to finish my degree before I get started on them so with all this I shouldn't ever be bored. Thanks again for all the help guys! ShawnW
  10. Frosty: the only person I've pm'd on this site was Glenn. Got any recommendations for a blower manufacturer? As far as dimensions, naturally aspirated burners are good for 300 cu. in., for a 3/4 or 1 " burner i dont remember which size. What size are blown burners good for? If I use a 20 gal propane tank, are they almost 600 cu.in. with or without kaewool? How many burners will get me up to welding heat? Also are blown burners more efficient than aspirated when it comes to propane use? I should probably start another thread and continue searching for some of these answers but you wanted to know what I was planning! Thanks for all your input everyone!
  11. Sorry, I meant undergraduate degree, don't want to get ahead of myself now.
  12. I think Vaughn T and Thomas Powers have the right of it. I may be able to save some money by just buying a commercially produced burner and looking up a recipe for a gas forge here on the website. And Frosty, I cant start anything until the 17th at the earliest as that is the first Monday I will be finished with my graduate degree, so all questions are getting answered now befote I get going. So now I guess the question is, how many burners do I want?
  13. the iron dwarf: You have an excellent point, and if I can't convince my wife that buying one outright is what I should do, I may find the blueprints for one of these forges and sneak parts in the garage pieces at a time. I'll be up and running before she knows what happened. Smooth Bore: You also have an excellent point in that I don't need to be 'validated,' by making my own forge as I have a multitude of other accomplishments at this point. While I suppose that the information will be useful later on after I've developed a taste for what characteristics I need, I don't really feel the need to do it right now. I do need an introductory course, and a intermediate and advanced course as well, but not to see if I would like it. This stuff has fascinated me for years and I'm finally near a position where I may be able to start actually doing it. The closest work I've done is a lot of chainmail which is vastly different. I'll see if I can make it up to Marble Falls in March and find an introductory course nearby. Thanks for all the viewpoints everyone, you have all been very helpful.
  14. I'm planning on taking a welding class in March, which reminds me I need to sign up for it. It's mon and wed for 8 weeks at a local high school. After that I don't know. I've looked for classes in the area but many are quite a drive away. I'll keep looking though and there was a resource here that listed local blacksmiths so I'll delve into that as soon as I can. I graduate next week so I should have more time after that to spend focused on this endeavor. Just to be clear, what you guys are saying is that I may lose out on being a frugal self-sustaining smith if I buy one but having the time to learn and enjoy the craft is what is important? I think I'm going to buy one. Chile-forge has a backlog of 6-8 weeks right now so I have time to mull this decision over and discuss finances with my better half. Any ideas on how to sell the wife on this project? Any and all thoughts on this topic have been and will continue to be appreciated. Thank you
  15. Dan C: Isn't the forge another tool that I can't currently build myself? I could buy a used welder and peruse the scrap yard and hollow out an old steel container or pipe and make my own etc but I don't see how that gets me to working with hammer and anvil any faster. I appreciate the learning experience of doing something like that and maybe after I have done this for awhile I design a forge that suits my purposes better after I learn what they are. But right now I'm trying to decide if I'm losing out on something important by deciding to buy rather than build. Thoughts?
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