Problem Solving

I joined I forge iron today. This is the same day I lite my first fire in a forge, my Grandfather build. He died in 1950, 1 year after I was born. My father never thought forge worked but I decided to see if I could get it to work. I got the hand powered blower re connected to provide ait to the bottom of the forge. I am using coal left from 1950 (i think). When I lit the fire I could turn the handle on the blower and see the change in the fire as air moved through it. 1 1/2 hours later I finely thought I had the fire so it would heat metal. I actually got a steel rod, the size of a pencil, red hot twice. And really enjoyed trying to form the 4 inch length I go…

I'm really new at this. Is there an easy way to determine the carbon content of a piece of scrap material so I don't waste my time on a project. Ted

Hey guys and gals- I'm visiting my father for the Christmas and New Year's break, I work at a college as a cook, and he has ask that when I get home maybe I could make him some gouges and chisels. Material wise I am good, I was simply wondering if anyone might have a reference point for the different shapes I should provide for a basic set of chisels and gouges Perfreable in illustration or pictoral form. So if anyone does, please post it for me. thanks always, Joshua Langfitt

Hi everybody. I am making some butcher dies for my home made guillotine fuller. I know that a tool steel would be better, but all I have at the moment is some mild steel to do the job. It is 3/4 inch thick so I thought maybe if I heated to a dull red or until de-magnetized then dunked it that maybe it would harded somewhat. What are your thoughts about this? Thank you for your responses. Mike.:rolleyes:

I want to make some swages. I have never done this before. I had got the blank for the bottom set made and just needed to make the half a hexagon shape in it. Got it to a good yellow heat, hammered a piece of hex stock on it, as it says in the book, but nothing seems to have happened. Was I just not applying enough force? Should I put the swage in the hardie hole and the hex on top or put the hex flat on the anvil and hammer down onto it? The blank for the swage is about 1" x 4" x4". As always any tips would be welcome.

Hello again, I was wondering if anyone has or knows of any simple plans for making bellows or a blower.

How would one go about finding some large steel sheet/plate??? I am looking for one that is 6x4 and one that is 5x5. I am also looking for one that is 5' x 2' 6". I want them to be 1/4". So any suggestions on where or how to find them. My location is already known, and yes, I have called around and searched, but to no avail.

Hey, had a question and knew if anybody knew, you probably would. I have picked up a very rare 1988 turbo diesel Isuzu Trooper. Why are they rare? well first, you know about the failure of the diesels in the 80's because of smell and noise factor but most importantly, these came out of production because they had very weak rods. They would only last up to 100,000 miles, and a lot of times they wouldnt last 10,000 miles because the motor has a turbo and no rev limiter, blowing these little dudes apart because people revved them like gas engines. All of these were still under warranty when about 5,000 of these 50,000 sold started breaking rods. So, they did an upgrade, …

I just wanted to throw a question into the wind as it were. I just bought myself an old hand crank blower that's in very good condition. I believe that it's stamped "buffalo forge co." This thing puts out an unbelievable amount of air with only very little cranking (I've just made the change from and old hairdryer and the difference is incredible!). Here's the question......The blower has a lubrication port at the top. I'm just wondering what the best lubricant (in our wonderful Canadian climate) would be. Unfortunately my shop area is not heated, so until I get the forge fired up it's quite cold this time of year. I remember tripping across a post at some point …

:confused:Hi all, im haveing problems with the final finish of what i make and have figured out whats not working thanks to everyones help. The reason why the things i make dont look good is because i dont brush enough and my stand is about and inch to low. well i easily fixed the first one and the stuff i make dosnet look pockety but it has all these ridges and odd dents from my hammer not hitting square. my problem is i cant readily get a stump for a stand and dont want to fab one becaus im switching anvils as soon as i can. so what should i do to make it so its level enough and i dont have a modle of mount everist on my finishe piece. :confused:

Hi, the box at the top of the screen has been urging me to post for the first time for so long that I thought I would so it will go away. That, and I have questions that I haven't seen asked. Here goes: I have a buffalo forge and champion blower. I am setting it up in a 16x32 shop with cathedral ceiling. I have had a woodstove (wood/coal) set up in there with a 7" stovepipe that goes about 12' up and then horizontally out, then one more 90 up above the eave. To test out this side draft thing, which seemed impossible to me, I ran the pipe down next to the forge fire. It sucked it up a little bit, but not nearly enough, and only intermittently. I realize that a 7" …

does anyone know of a homemade compaounds like itc 100 for lining gas forge also was wonder how potters clay would work or if it would just crumble thanks

I just had a problem, I was working with some wrought iron, and tried to put 2 twists in it, when it just popped apart? I was amazed. I have a bunch of this stuff, but I'm not sure if it was something I did wrong, or is it the nature of the material to come apart easily?

I just bought a Dyna - Glo portable keroseen heater and wondering about the flame color Ive run my first full tank of keroseen through it and dry buring the wick now. I think I should need a blue flame the best I could adjust it was about 1/2 of flame blue with yellow tips . If I lowered it any lower it would turn orange. The manual says to keep it at 1/2 in flame hight at top of of burner. If I crank it down to the 1/2 in. its a dirty orange - to get into the blue flame I would say the flame is closer to 1 inch hight. Im using new, clean, no water - K1 keroseen Any Ideas? Thanks Ron

I know this has probably been asked/ answered before but I cannot find anything on it here. I lit my first fire in my coal forge this morning and it burned great with heat escape thru the flue but it got extensively smokey in the shop. Bad enough to have to walk outside. The dimensions of my forge are: depth-27" front to back width-24" hieght-32" depth from center of firepot to rr wall- 12" flue diameter- 6" The 6" flue pipe rises up 8" and then immediately turns 90 degrees to exit through the wall penetration, 90 degrees up to the stack cap. I can see that the start smoke and heat are escaping fine but once the fire really starts to c…

Hello everyone & Merry Chistmas; My question for everyone is, does anyone carry any insurance to cover themselves for having people working in their shops, or for going to fairs and other outside the shop activities? I have done these things, but with the way things are these days I'm thinking that I need to cover my backside. Thanks for your input. Roger

I am making some fire irons to use with my stove. Sean and I have already made the poker which is of conventional design made out of hexagonal stock with a ring on the end to hang it. When I make my rake, which is next in the series, I shall put a similar ring in the end but should this be parallel with the rake part or at 90 degrees to it? My thoughts are to put it at 90 so that the whole thing hangs flat but will that then look odd?

I hate asking this because i feel like it is such a newb question but how do you get your metal to look good after you get done forgeing it. On mine i still have scale stuck on there and scale markes. also its molted colors of grey, silver, and black. i also have a ton of unnecasary hammer dents, i try take them out with a light hammer but it dosent do as good as i would like to. if i could get some help it would be great.

You have 20 feet of 1095 steel, 3/16" x 1.5". You want to split it into 3/4" widths (minus any loss from cutting). Considering efficiency, practicality, and availability, how would you do this? Don

A friend bought this measuring tool on an auction because the Auctioneer said he would tell whoever bought it what it was for. LOL and he didn't know. So I was asked if I knew what it was. I am stumped. Has a nice dial indicator that is attached to the center fork with a small chain going over a pulley. Has anyone ever seen one similar or by chance knows what it is for. bic lighter for size comparison. Its purpose seems to be to measure a gap in something.

For top sets of anvil tools- swages, fullers etc. which is better rodded or handled? What are anydody's thoughts please? I have always made rodded ones but mainly because I don't really understand wood very well.

Good Morning All What do you use/make to match your mounting screws, lags, nuts and bolts to your forgings. Even my basic J-Hooks deserves something better; better than to be mounted with a dry wall screw. -tks grant

After tempering pieces I would like to protect and maintain the colors. I want to keep the bright blues and the violets. Clear coat does NOT work. I have tried several brands. At best it is hit or miss, and tends to wash out the blues and makes them brown. I saw some work at the local Saturday market, asked the guy about it, he just smiled and said it was a secret. So I know it can be done. :confused: Thanks for your help.

hello. i have got a pice of ( what he says is "faststeel" ) frome my teacher. he says that it

Could someone please help me solve a problem I am struggling with? I'm self-taught at soldering silver (jump rings, handmade findings, etc., for jewelry) and purchased, about a year ago, the Meco Midget torch kit with regulators and hoses, from OttoFrei.com (product #114.080). It seems too crude for my current level of use--the adjustments too crude, the regulators too wide-ranging in pressures, that sort of thing--but even that's not my main problem. Lately, when I fire up my torch, it seems to be normal when I turn on the propane. When I add the oxygen to the mix, no matter how the flame is adjusted (and no matter what the amount of propane, either), I'm getting a…