Problem Solving

I am thinking for insurance and liability reasons of becoming an LLC. In these times every one wants to sue somebody:(. I don't want to lose my house because some dirt bag drops a hot steak on his foot while using one of my BBQ forks or flippers:o. What have others done? I have to do something because I am at the point were this is changing from a money making hobby into a full time job. I do blacksmithing, fabrication, small scale welding, knife sharpening and repair. So I think it is time.

Howdy all, I am thinking about putting together a 10' long pvc tube to strap to the top of my vehicle. I plan to use this to carry stock in from trips to the scrap yard. What I'm unsure about however, is how to attach the caps to the PVC tube. One will obviously need to be removable. If I'm driving around, the metal would slid around a bit (to a degree I'm sure). This would likely create the occasional force against one of the end caps. I would hate to have a cap come off while driving, resulting in long pieces of metal flying everywhere. Has anyone else done this? What did you use? How did it work? I do have an 8' trailer, but to be honest I don't really li…

Might have a problem here- The wife and I have just moved from a very rural setting where making noise and coalsmoke was never a problem at any hour day or night. The gables of the nearest house were just visible over the trees more than a quarter mile down the road. Now that has all changed. The new house is smack in the middle of a villiage and I am surrounded by neighbors, very close on all sides. The plus of this is that I now have a shop building, a one car garage with a dirt floor. It measures 12 ft by 18 ft and is certainly roomy enough to set up shop in, (this begs the question- "is any shop ever big enough? but that's a different can of worms altogether). Obvio…

This is just a tip I am not sure if this is the right section but it was sure a problem. I have a hypertherm powermax 1000 and last night I needed to cut out some parts for the blower connector and hole for my fire pot for my new coal forge and blower. The cuts looked like garbage very jagged and slagy.:mad: I make much cleaner oxy cuts so I was miffed. I checked my air pressure my filters and grounds nothing helped.:confused: Then I checked my tip and cup they were wasted. I remembered the last job I used this on was a bridge job in which I had to use bottled nitrogen. Nitrogen burns up you consumables much faster and make real ugly cuts. After replacing consumables it …

I have fooled around with making "chisel like" cutting tools out of grade 60 1/2" rebar. I just heated a 6" long piece up at the end about 1" up to yellow. I hamered a chisel point [Very tough material to draw out] used a 3lb. hammer and had it very hot. Then reheated it back up to RED and quenched in soap/salt water quench. I was impresed how indestructable the worked end was. I did not draw or temper it at all. Held a ground edge despite chiseling against a 10# sledge that have hardfaced with 55-60 RC hard rod! The rebar did not crack, fracture or spall at all, and it's shank stayed about the same but rather toughend up good" made a great welding chipping hamme…

I have never really had any problems forge welding in my coal forge, but I am determined for different reasons to forge weld in my newly built gas forge. I really like the idea of an even heat of a gas forge. This is something not easily obtainable in a coal forge. Also I want the ability to heat up larger billets with an even heat and be able to let it soak without having to worry about the ends getting too hot and burning off. I built a 7" x 12" round venturi gas forge with two sidearm burners just so I could forge damascus. I really didn't want to go with a blown style burner because I like the idea of not having to use electricity and it just seems safer to me. Ok, le…

I have 8" stove pipe and want to know how to make a forced draft chimney for my forge.? i can't figure how to introduce forced air without burning up blowers.

Has anyone got a simple way to fix a mirror in an iron frame? Have been racking my brain but can't come up with a solution that doesn't involve drilling holes and tapping threads.

How thick should this be applied? I want to use it in the area the burner blast hits on a new forge. How would I transition it into kaowool? Anyone ever use it(RR)?

I was making an attempt at doing a faggot weld on a piece of shqre 1/2 inch last night and noticed a really "pretty" green coloured flame above and below the piece after it had been initially fluxed with borax. is this normal or should I run screaming to the woods?

ok i did a search, all i can come up with is that the only bandsaw blade that is 15n20 is 4 - 6 inches wide i have some, 1", 1.25", and 1.5" wide blade, about 1-1/2 TPI all i know about it is, is was all from a wood cutting bandsaw i havent had time to do any spark testing, but i think ill grind/cut all the teeth off before trying to forge weld together if it appears to be a bi-metal blade anyone have any idea what type material these blades are? thank you very much Ron Smith heres a picture of the blade

I need to make 4 - 10" diameter rings by 2" by 1/4" . I don't know if it would be easier to plasma cut them out of schd 40 pipe or form them out of flat stock? If I form them out of flat stock I don't have a ring roller, what would be the best way to form a perfect ring? I think I have been at the rest of this project to long and I am over thinking this part.

Iv got an oprotunity to make some strap henges for one of the historic houses i have started demoing at. They have built a new building and they have receved some complants becuase the door and window shutter hardware was just normal hardware store items. So one of the board members aproched me last weekend and was asking about strap henges and door hardware. I have not made any strap henges but i understand the process and how to make them. my problem is figuring stock size for handeling the job is there a good rule of thumb for determinging how long and wide i would want to make the henges to one work properly and bare the weight of the door or shutter and be proportion…

How many folks have their fuel tanks outside and run the lines inside?Are you using rubber lines, flexible, or hardlines? Guages outside or inside? I'd like to make my setup a bit more permanent/stable and looking for ideas. I'm running 2 forges, one for forging and a larger one for welding. Thanks bruce/birdog

I have just recieved an ellectric rotary impact drill, but the plug end has 2 round pins, not flat. My question is what would happen if I replaced the end with a regular plug. There are next to no markings to give any clues, is it ac, or dc, 220, or 120 volts. If its 220 like I suspect would it just run slower on 120 or would something get harmed. My only clue is if someone recognizes the two pins on the plug.

Hello, I've got an assortment of black pipe up to 3-inch and I've been practicing making bells from it. The biggest so far is from the 3-inch schedule 10 pipe. I've made a large swing arm guillotine tool and acquired a large V-block, and I think I'm beginning to get a feel for the process, but I would like to find out what I might be missing. Are there any books that discuss the subject of "pipe forging" that anyone can refer me to? I've heard somewhere that my V-block should be at a 117 degree angle. (What I've got is 90 degrees.) Is there any basis for this, or is it just a rumor?

Ow do all Theres an anvil for sale at a local auction, its a double bicked type, the measurements are 39" long by 5" wide. The base is 17" wide. There's no height except including the stand at 28 1/2". The Auction list it as aprox 200lb in weight. Thing is that seems low given those measurements. Can anybody give me a better guestimate than that? You can see some damage to the top so this thing has to be heavy enough to warrent my attention, budget has to stretch :)

As a completely hypothetical question, as I myself am no blacksmith (yet). What would be the process one goes through to create a metal handle for, cutlery and possibly other tools? In my head it seems as though it would usually be cast in a mold, but then again, I am in no way experienced.

Today I went out to my porta-shelter where I store stuff that I don't use as often, only to find a tree limb had come down through the roof. The hole can be fixed but the limb hit and broke the pan of my portable candy rivet forge, this is the forge I use for demo's. So I have to weld the cast iron pan and I hate welding cast because even when you do every thing right there is the chance that either the cast iron cracks or the weld:mad: . Well now I will use this time to clean, repaint and rebuild this forge:rolleyes:, so down to my questions. 1st what do people like to use for oil in the crank blower gear box? ( it was packed with heavy grease ) 2nd question what do peop…

I remember reading a piece on making an acorn swage some time back. not really sure where I read it. I didn't find anything in the bp's. Can anybody give me some pointers. I am going to try to make one this evening. Thanks, john

This post was on one of my Woodworking forums, and I thought it might be of interest to some. Qrote " I was a foreman of 140 year old diamond tool company for a few years and diamonds are not ment to grind soft steel.. The soft steel pulls the diamonds out of the matrix that holds them to gether.. They do much better grinding very hard steel like carbide.. To dress a diamond wheel all you need to do is grind some stainless steel and it will ture the wheel just like you use a diamond to ture a A/O wheel.."

i have caught wind of a story that any traces of copper in a fire will make forge welding difficult if not impossible. is there any truth to this? Or can copper and iron be forged in the same fire without problems?

I'm new to blacksmithing and am having troubles finding any help or direction. My forge is small and very very old. I don't have access to blacksmithing coal, so I've been getting some from my neighbor. I'm not sure what type of coal it is and he just uses it in a coal burner. I've been told that it is a softer coal. Anyways I am trying to get into knife and sword making. i recently tried to heat up some spring steal from an old broken leaf spring and even with my blower going full i cant seem to get the steel near hot enough, it also burns out my coal very quickly (or so it seems to me, I'm not sure how long coal should last) and I also have a very fast and rapid g…

Hello, I'm trying to forge out some really thick mild steel 2" into a curling leaf wondering any tricks for heating it, I was trying with a coal and charcoal forge with a pretty good size pile and just couldn't get it past a dark red... Any ideas would be helpful...

I am researching motors to use for a low-speed horizontal disc grinder. I'm an electrical dummy so I'm fair lost in the weeds in this subject area. However, I do understand dimly that DC motors are best for applications requiring torque over speed and found this motor on Ebay 150231105735. It appears to be what I need but before I plunk down $49 + $12.50 shipping charges I would like to know what those of you with electrical experience think of this machine. Thanks, Ken