Problem Solving

Does anyone know what size holes to drill in a piece of pipe to make a burner using lp gas. This is not for a forge it's for a heating tank.

I have been given several forklift tines (Blades). I was wondering if anyone knows what kind of steel this is. I have googled without much luck.

trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.....any ideas?

I picked these up at an auction some time ago and cannot figure out what they are called/used for. Any suggestions?

I have poured my babbitt bearings in the blower I found. Thanks for the help!!! It turns real easy and I think it will last a long time. My next question is what speed should I try to make the blower turn to get enough air for my forge? I plan to put in a slide gate to control the flow and let the blower run at one speed. The blower shaft has a 1 3/4 flat belt drive. I have a motor from a squirrel cage blower that came out of an old heater. It turns 1725 rpm's. I appreciate any suggestions.

Which is the proper way to use a Crescent wrench or adjustable spanner? Let us say you are trying to tighten a nut. That means you are turning the nut clockwise. This would mean that you are pulling with your right hand. Is the fixed jaw away from you as you pull, or is the fixed jaw toward you as you pull? Which is proper for the BEST operation of the wrench and the stress that is put upon it? * Fixed Jaw away or * Fixed Jaw toward

This lil fella came about as a need arose when moving my wife from her apt in KC to here and she had this big heavy sofa/hidabed. I just rolled it over on its side onto the lill helper and pushed it out the door and down the walk to the parking lot where my trailer was parked. Its just some short pieces of 1/8 by 1 angle, some shorts of 1 inch square tubing and a couple of old lawn mower wheels I had laying around. Its handy for moving my big ladder around and other odd things around the place. I moved the Armoire I got her for Valentines Day up to and into the back door with it yesterday. Sure saves my back.

Ive hit it with a hammer. Ive tried bending it. Now this is the current strategy: I am starting to think the junkyard gave the leaf springs from an armoured personell carrier. I would like to turn it into a sword, the steel is amazing. However, I simply cant find a way to bend it. And something tells me that a few hundred pounds of prolonged force on something used to holding up a car isnt going to do the trick. Has anyone else ever straightnened out one of these before? It has proven more resilient than anything ive seen.

BOX SAID "BLOCK VALVE CYLINDER LAPPING " TOOK BLOCK HEATED TO CHERRY RED & ANNEALED FOR 1hr.. reheated to ORANGE , IT DISOLVED WHEN HIT W/ HAMMER?

:confused: I found a belt dreven blower cheap yesterday. It had a lot of play in the bushings. I took a scocket and knocked the one worn the wotst out. It looks like it is a babbit bushing. Do any have sugestions? Where can i find babbit to repair it?

Today I broke a BLUE ANGEL throwing knife when I threw it and it hit another of the same knives. My question is: can I forge weld this back together? It is made of A-1088 stainless, and apparently was handcrafted in China. My dad (a tool and die maker) said that it appears to have been heat-treated incorrectly (not far off from my guess of a stress point) and he also said that I wouldnt be able to weld it back. It all comes down to it not doing any good broken, and one never knows if I might get lucky. (also, if you are curious about the stupid rainbow finish, I got a set of 12 plus a knife roll for 40 bucks. beggers cant be choosers)

What is the right way to install a tight bearing on a shaft?

I was walking behind the yard after backingfilling a drain pipe and remembering the days when I was young(er) looking at the train tracks.. looked down and saw this.. A small fridge magnet will lightly attract to it so it must have some amount of iron in it - probably not enough to mess around with. Wondering what it is from though. Possibly from the coal burning locomotive days? Anyhoo. just thought I'd share. Love the forum!

I have a question. Without the benefit of an advanced education in metallurgical science I cannot provide the answer for myself. Here is my question- Can cast iron be converted into wrought iron? If so, by what process and could this be done economically by one person in a simple shop. What would be the yield from a small batch of say, 100 pounds of cast.:)Dan.

I think I remember not to long ago someone asking about a blackspot in thier NA forge and people were suggesting a blower well...One of my forges is a 10" I.D compresser tank with a 2" inlet vertical and I'm lucky enough to have an Industrial air mover for a blower.My problem is that I get a blackspot on the bottom of my forge,also I cant for the life of me get forgeing temps .I get just there but no cigar ,and if I add to much gas the flame goes carberised.I cant find a Cfm on the motor. Any suggestions TIA Jason:confused:

I've quite recently moved into a new house and there's this powered shed in the backyard that I am not putting to use at all, so I would like to set up my smithy/workshop in it. On the face of it, it would seem like an ideal solution, but it has a couple of problems. It's uphill on a fairly steep incline and it has a raised particleboard floor that needs replacing. Fortunately, the joists and bearers seem to be in reasonable condition. It's a tin shed about 10' by 12' and although the floor itself is level, the ground underneath it falls away by roughly 2' from one corner to the opposite one. My first idea is to replace the particleboard and lay down some cemen…

Ok so here I go picking every ones brains again. I have pretty much finished building my new shop and now it is time to give my forges a permanent home. I have both propane and coal forges + welders, torches and a plasma cutter. Here is my plan let me know if this will work or if it is aready working for you. So for the coal forge I am thinking standard stove pipe (8" or 10" ) coming off the top of the side draft hood, run up the out side wall to the right height to give me proper draft. Now for the propane forge and welders I am thinking a sheet metal hood with with fan ducted outside but I am not sure if I need to run a chimney all of the way up the out side. I think I …

What do you do to keep your cost affordable? How do you run your smithy in order to keep costs under control? Take your next project, what ever is next in line, and track every item that is used in making that project. 1. Time on the computer finding the idea for the project you want to build, (30 minutes), 2. Design time figuring out how you want to build it (the sketch etc), the materials needed, etc (60 minutes at least) 3. The trip to town to get the materials ($0.50 a mile) 4. The cost of the materials 5. The time on the road and the time to unload the truck and put the materials in the shop. Now comes the actual labor part. 7. The time you…

DEWALT RECALLS CORDLESS DRILLS DUE TO FIRE HAZARD Description: This recall involves DEWALT individual cordless drills listed below: Model Number Description Date Codes: DC920 Heavy-Duty XRP 1/2" (13mm) 18 Volt Cordless 200723 through 200742; Drill/Driver DC930 Heavy-Duty XRP 1/2" (13mm) 14.4 Volt Cordless 200625 through 200746 Drill/Driver DC935 Heavy-Duty XRP 1/2" (13mm) 14.4 Volt Cordless 200627 through 200746 Hammerdrill/Drill/Driver DC936 Heavy-Duty XRP 1/2" (13mm) 14.4 Volt Cordless 200635 through 200746 Hammerdrill/Drill/Driver DC940 Heavy-Duty XRP 1/2" (13mm) 12 Volt Cordless 200635 through 200746 Drill/Driver. The model number is printed on a sticker on th…

Thanks to keithh999 I have a new electric blower to replace the one that died on me last month. Thanks a ton man. I figured that while I was at it I might as well look into "refining" the blower control mechanism that came with blower when I bought the forge. The old blower had a dimmer switch between the power lead to the blower and the wall plug. It worked great, yet my only complaint was that if I wanted to turn off the blower, I lost the speed setting it was at. To get around this I had marked the "sweet spot" on the face plate with a red sharpie. My current plan involves having a standard light switch in front of an analog (dimmer) switch so that I can cut pow…

I'm trying to come up with a name for my smithy. Any names or ideas would be helpful. So far, the best ones I've got are silver creek forge gray wolf forge white wolf forge

Hi all I just picked up a Iron City 6" post vise cheap. The problem with it is the screw is stuck in the nut and it appears to be cross threaded or something. I think it maybe cross threaded as it has pulled a burr off the front of the nut. The vise it self is in great shape jaws are very clean. Any suggestions? I will try and get a picture up tomorrow.

We are ending our first year self employed. I am looking to Stream line our bookkeeping. To that end since we have old quickbooks and now have a Mac, I am looking to go with new better software. Quicken has looked easier to me, QBooks hasn't been very easy for me to understand ( still don't) and there is software out there that I am wondering if it offers anything I ought to know about. This is a Sole proprietorship, and we intend to get bigger, so being able to expand is a consideration. Opinions anyone?

I have been trying to find out how I can tell the age of various axes by the way they were made. For example, I read that the Bessimer process was invented around 1855 and by about 1870 the process had been perfected, thus making it cheap enough to make axes of all steel. So my assumption then was that if the axe has "steeled" edges then it must be pre-1870. But then I ran into some problems. Apparently manufacturers were making iron axes with steeled edges up until about 1930! Okay, so now I am really confused. Why would some of the largest axe manufacturers like Collins Axe Co. and others still use steeled forged axes when it was apparently cheaper & easier to ju…

anyone know what steel is in 1963 IH 1600 truck , front springs?