Problem Solving

I'm not sure how to fasten the frame of an iron fireplace frame to the stone of the fireplace. What type of fastener would work best in this application? I want to bolt the frame to the stone?

I have been forging pretty regularly for more than a year and although I feel I have always had good coordination in other tasks I have never been satisfied with my hammer control. Thanks to all the opinion and experience on this forum and especially Mr. Hofi and Mr. Brazeal. The discussions about gripping the handle with basically the thumb and index finger finally sank in in the last week. I practiced the grip and very quickly realized I was GUIDING the hammer instead of SWINGING and my hammer control is very much improved. ( And if it reduces stress as it obvious does its a win/win deal.) Thanks again to all whom meet and freely share their knowledge here …

Hey Damascus Mike you do not need to melt steel to make cable damacus. the way I learned is: Step one - weld or tie the ends of the cable so the strands will not unravel, weld to a rod for a handle. Step two - heat to red hot and add flux (I use borax) return to forge and when it is at a welding heat twist the cable tighter. Step three - return to forge and when at welding heat weld the cable into a bar by hitting firm but not overly hard. You want to weld the strands togeather not flatten it. When the cable is solid you have a billet to forge into your knife blade, you might need more than one welding heat to do this. Any comments for the other cable welders?

My stepfather works for the city. He brought this key home and asked me if I could make it. They are just used for opening garbage bins for pick-up. The current ones they use are made from cheap cast white metal and break all the time. They want a quote for 12 of them. I have an idea of how to make them, but I want your guys opinions and how much you would charge. Thanks Adam

Hello All, My father and I just picked up a very heavy Champion drill press. It is in great shape but needs to be cleaned and greased. We have a bunch of questions: 1. The body of the press is fairly evenly covered with grime. We are planning on cleaning all gears and regreasing them but we are worried about cleaning the frame too much and then having rust problems. Any thoughts? 2. When we were hoisting the press into the truck (the electric hoist is awesome), we unfortunately snapped half of one of the handles off. Is there any way to weld this back together (we have not learned how to weld yet and were told that you cannot weld forged steel)? 3. It look…

Unsure as to whether this goes here or in blacksmithing so please correct me if it is in the wrong hooch! Here goes... I got my hands on a wonderful set of heavy duty tongs that appear to have been slightly abused. One of the handles has a side to side crack in it located almost dead center of the tong arm. I can't do pics at the moment so I will do my best to 'splain it. The arm is about as thick as my pinky (half inch or so) where the crack is located. The crack only goes about halfway through the arm. I applied every ounce of pressure I can physically generate to see if I could get it to break and I couldn't just using bare hands. Should I fix it? (Yes) How? F…

Made it back from Oklahoma with the coal , It came from Craig County. I think the Kelley Mine , man was that place busy. I forgot to take my camera , mountains of coal, one after another trucks haulin coal, I had a hard time getting on the scales to weigh. I dont know much about coal,this is what I picked out. I had a good load on my pickup 1580 pounds. I burned a shovel full - cokes good but havent forged with it yet Hows it look Ron

Hi All, First post since joining and a question. I am running a double burner forge on propane. It has the Ron Reil type burners. I built this forge three or so years ago and don't recall orafice size, maybe .035"; Any how I want to change from propane to natural gas and have heard I will need to change the jets. Does any one here know if they need to be smaller or larger and maybe by how much? Also, how does natural gas work? Is it as good as propane, better or worse? Thanks for your time,Jay

I'm in the process of building me a little building-{ 8X16 } to work out of and I was wondering what size stove pipe should I get I was thinking ten inch.Or could I get by with less,, Your opinune please. And thanks in advance.

Has anyone found a good place to get it? I did a search and if you live in china or pakistan its no problem, but here is seems to be bulk only. thanks.

Looking to reduce the inside area of my forge in an effort to increase heat and heating time. What material would be the most efficiant? I was think about using crumbled pieces of the greenlite-45, which is what the forge itself is made from. Any other ideas?

I bought a pint of ITC-100 about 4 months ago, about 2 months ao I used it to coat the inside of my forge. Two questions, how do I know if I applied it properly because I have found no descriptions of the finished surface or pictures of a good coating. Second, if I didn't coat it properly and a re-coat is needed, what is the shelf life of the pint I bought? I have plenty left, hopefully it's still good. Thanks in advance if you know your ITC-100!!

I'm getting to where I am back working in the forge a couple days a week- And starting to feel it in my arm. I already have some minor wrist issues- As an artist, I spend hours with a pencil or paintbrush in hand, and while I do what I can to keep CTS at bay, I often find myself in pain after a few marathon days at the drawing board. I guess it's a hazard of the profession. So- I got to thinking about how forging is going to affect me long term, and the ergonomic issues that I am dealing with. It seems to me that swinging a hammer is probably impacing me far more than my pencil work is- And I want to make sure I am going about it RIGHT. I have read a lot about the …

Hi i'm trying to make a ferrule.. its basically a thimble ... I'm using thin flat iron sheet stock and a very rounded punch .... and pressing the sheet into an enlarged hole.. - i keep getting the sheet in aways...maybe 1/2 inch... then all of a sudden it starts to shear.... even though there is plenty of room on the sides of the form.........tried with heat, cold, going slow, small taps.. larger hole... still same outcome.. is there a blueprint on how to do this for a similar shape.. ... i know if i had some pitch and tried raising it that way it would work.. but i don't have any on hand and its a one of type job... ( so i'd rather not waste money ) apprecia…

I was just given a box of high speed steel cutting points for a lathe, most of them are ground for various cutting purposes Not having a lathe, I am looking for some other ideas.

Okay, I`ve been building me a new gas forge and have 1" inch of inswol , then 1" of castable refactory on it. And I freind of mine was talking about getting ITC 100 to lightly coat the castable refactory , is there any big advatanges of doing this besides making it smooth? Chris PS should have pics of this new gasser soon.

As I told the forum a while ago, my grandfather, who died in 1950, build a forge. As I was born in 1949, I did not get a chance to learn how the forge worked. In fact no one used it after his death, until this year when I decided to see if it is usable. I have had only 4 fires and read some about black smithing. So net net I know almost nothing. My current problem is that I can get good heats on the ends of a piece of metal but when I try to heat the middle of a 3 foot piece I never seem to get much heat. My theory is that the forge's fire pot is to deep. The diameter of my fire pot at grade is approx 24 inches and the depth is approx 5 inches to the bottom, where t…

I am having a lot of trouble trying to make a cast-ablemold-able refractory. I am on a tight budget and don't have much for natural resources here in central Florida. If someone can give me some ideas for formulas I can use with either cheaply bought, savaged, found or harvested component.

I posted earlier with the Buffalo Forge blower problem. It's now turning free. My question now is what size of table would be needed. I'll probably just be doing small stuff but would like to have enough room. The blower is mounted on the original frame and I have the cast iron grate. The original table is missing. Do I need a fire pot? A drop-in type fire pot from what I've seen wont fit the forge. Would some 1/4" diamond plate sheet steel with the grate bolted to the top work. There are 3 mounting holes on the base just outside the air outlet that the table and grate mounts to. I think this is the only support for the table. I've tried looking at other pictures and can'…

okay, so I don't know if anyone here really has any experience with this... I am wanting to be able to do some small scale casting, and I have a few questions: (1) First off, I have several pounds of spent bullet casings, which I would presume to be cartridge brass...am I right in this? (2) I am having trouble getting these to melt!...If they ARE cartridge brass, then, they should be melting around 900-1000+ degrees....at least according to the metals chart I have. (3)What is the best material from which to make a crucible? (4) lastly...what are some good mediums for which to cast into/into?(as in molds...) I know there is the sand mixture, and soapstone, but does anyt…

I am just thinking and tinkering around about building a hand crank forge blower. I was wondering if any one out there has a good image of the gearing layout and perhaps the size of the gears / ratio. Thanks Lee

On Saturday I purchased a #50 little giant hammer. I drove my truck to pick it up and after a half hour of blocking and strapping so as it was secure and on its face with no weight on the flywheel or other moving parts I drove on home. Upon reaching home the fact dawned on me that I do not own nor do I know anyone who does own a forklift or similar piece of machinery(that

Hi All I am new to this forum and new to forging in general, so sorry if this has been answered before, searched but could not find specific answer. Have just rebuild my home built gas forge after reading various posts on this forum. I am going from 1 to 2 burners, they are 1" Reil type burners with 0.6mm mig tips. My first single burner I used 1/4" copper tube with brass compression tee's and elbow fittings, with my new double burners I used simple solder type fittings. I did this without thinking if solder type fittings are suitable for this. :confused: In my very short experience the bell reducer which houses the jets does not get all that hot, at least not h…

Hi fellas, I have this idea for a new, cheaper, gas forge. Instead of propane or natural gas, Methane ! I know, this is going to STINK ! But not if the gas burns with a hundred percent effeciency. The oriface size of the burners will have to be changed from propane to nat. gas, because propane uses to much pressure, and this will be a low pressure forge to be safer. The only drawback is that it needs two people to run it. But because of the low cost of fuel it will be most effecient. Of course the fuel lines can still be soft copper, with brass Flare fittings as they are the safest to date. A pezzo lighter for the main burners is a must though. And from my research it sho…

Hello All, I'm in the process of building a large brick-pile forge and I'm running into some problems. The forge is big enough to put a 24" x 24" piece of sheet metal into it. It has 2" of fiberboard and 1" of fiber blanket in the top. It seems that the 4 large jets are putting too much heat into the forge because the top sheet metal on the forge is bowing up quite a bit. I am considering putting a 2" layer of 3000 degree refractory cement in the very top of the forge and then the 2" fiber board under that. I hoping that the heat that seeps through the fiberboard will get soaked up and dissipated in the refractory. Any thoughts?