Problem Solving

I have been contacted by a fellow in Wyoming who shows keen interest in learning the Craft of the Blacksmith. Through my conversation with him, he shows that he does have the patience to see it through the learning process. My problem is that I live in West-Central Saskatchewan and he lives in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming. Anyone close by this fellow and willing to help?

Made from of baling wire, it will give you a length measurement for for the stock need to make a spring fuller. I use a piece of wire in the apron or press brake to get the bends right first.

Here is a photo of a Saltfork Swage Block being used to assist the installation of a new garbage disposer in our sink. According to the disposer instructions: "You may wish to place a weighted object in the sink to hold the sink flange in place." Note the use of a towel to prevent scratching of the sink and thus avoiding further instructions. The swage block worked fine for this application. It held the sink flange in place while I installed the gasket, backup ring, snap ring, etc. from below the sink. Jim C.

It is called a snap case. It's a bottle-making tool from the mid-1800s, and was used to hold onto the bottom of a wine bottle (note the cone in the center to accommodate the kick-up) while the neck was being finished with a lipping tool. It has wood-covered handles because they were used hot. The process is as follows: step 1: Blow glass into mold. Probably a three-part mold, judging by the deep kick-up. step 2: Open the mold, grab bottle with regular glass tongs, and fit snap case over the bottom. Squeeze to clamp. step 3: Reheat the neck, and use lipping tool to create the finished bottle. step 4: Release snap case, put bottle in annealing oven to cool sl…

It is used to keep iron tire bolts from spinning when taking off the nuts on wooden wagon wheels. Hook the loop on the inside of the wheel and put the sharp thing on top of the bolt and exercise pressure on the end of the handle. Irnsrgn

it was made by a blacksmith for use in the shop its about 2 1/2 ft long, made of 1/2 by 1 1/2 flat This tool is a copy of someones Grandfathers, the original handle was forged to a long taper, the original has been lost or tossed. Tool by Irnsrgn. The long taper on the original part of it's function Irns? Answer: Made it lighter and easier to handle I guess. Still needs a little modification on the working end and am going to taper the handle with power hammer some day, it really needs to be longer. It's a tire wrench, the wood block represents the fello of a wooden wagon wheel, the metal strip represents the iron tire around the wheel, after heating to expand the…

Hi there all this is my first thread so here goes. I burn 'Forge Breeze' Coke nuts on my air blown coke forge. I have the problem that after a days forging I have noted multiple tiny pitt marks on my house double glazed windows. I know this is definately caused by my forging activities. There seems to be minute red hot spits in the exhaust from the forge which are still hot buy the time they settle on a nearby house window(situated some 10 feet away) I have a relitively small back garden and so I think I increase the distanced of 10 feet to say 15 feet max. I dont at this stage want to make any large investment in a propane gas forge as I love to work over the hot coal…

I got overcome the other day with anvil lust (it happens, even to the best of folks), and bought an anvil I've been wanting for years. Unfortunately, it's about twent miles west of Dallas TX, and I'm nowhere near there. Not even close. In fact, I'm in the Virgin Islands, so you can imagine how this is a bit of a problem. I need someone in the Dallas area who might be willing to pick up that anvil and take it to a freight company for me, so it can be shipped. It will need to be strapped to a pallet and dropped at he shipping depot, the shippers will take it from there and bill me at this end. Naturally, I'll pay any costs incurred, plus something for the help. …

I notice a black outer layer that forms on the objects when I heat them to a high temperature. Is it just steel? or can it be impurities in the steel such as zinc rising to the surface? like slag? It's a black outer scale that has a bit of a waxy look to it. I ask this because I kind of like it, and it doesn't seem to rust the same way as steel? it find it gives the pieces a more natural look.

Oh well.....anyone know anything about hydraulics?? I am working on Julius Squeezer and all of a sudden I hear this horrendous BANG!! the sound of spraying water and well I have bright red hydraulic fluid spraying all over my studio at 3500 PSI... Looking like I blew a seal at the solenoid on the egress to the pump...Now..what do I do besides spread kitty litter all over the floor and wipe up the fluid???.. Are we talking new solenoid or??? I mean I know pretty much nothing about fluid dynamics and hydraulic systems so HELP!!! JPH

Hey all, Here is a dilema that will be coming up for me this spring. I have a customer that has a sunken patio that is seperated from the yard by a low retaining wall that has a gentle s-curve to it. They want to further separate the patio from the yard and create and outdoor "room" by putting up a "screen" at the top of the wall. The design they want includes one inch box tubing for the frame. How do I create an s-curve in box tubing without collapsing or crinkling or crimping the walls of the tubing. My Idea: My initial idea is to notch/slit the box tube through three sides at 1-2 inch intervals. This would leave one side wholly intact. Then I would bend the tu…

Arc welding is inexpensive, easy to use, and I'm still wondering which welding solution I'll invest in. One of my concern is the electrodes. What are they made of? Can we forge the welding? Will any residue, or the welding itself pollute the piece being forged (if for example we need to weld a chain or other pieces of metal together before forging)? Ludo

problem - broken off stud in a big ford V-8 engine this is where its located. The front wheel removed, shock removed, steering column disconnected and inner wheel well removed, prior to calling me. also negative post of battery disconnected. A close up of the broken stud (bolt) A short piece of 1/8 by 1/2 angle iron welded to the stud, strike arc on angle then move up to stud with welding rod, 3/32 7018. cool angle with air pressure add Marvel Mystery Oil for penetrant and using crescent wrench carefully break loose and screw out. The basic principle is, welding on the stud gets it hot and it wants to expand, as it can't expand in the hole it expands length…

When you work on a metal welding table with all the electric flowing through the electric arc welder (tig, mig etc) cables, can this induce a magnetic field to the metal table, work, support blocks etc ? If these metal items become magnetized, how does this affect the arc? Will the arc be attracted to a magnetized object? What can we do to de-magnetize things or should we even worry about it?

Where can I get a nice pair of round nose pliers. Looking for all metal heavy duty so they can take the heat. The only ones I can seem to find are for crafts, small, and have plastic/rubber handles. Below is what I am looking for. link removed at the request of anvilfire Thanks for the heads up. George.

Just got this from my step daughter who works for a large mutual fund place in Kansas City. Dont' know if it is true or not, but better safe than sorry. VERY IMPORTANT WARNING Please Be Extremely Careful especially if using internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning direct from both Microsoft and Norton. Please send it to everybody you know who has access to the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless email with a Power Point presentation "Life is beautiful". If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately. If you open this file, a message will appear on …

Hello, I am making some table legs and with the bottom part a ball shape. I spent a lot of time heating the ends and striking the bar onto a flat metal surface on the ground, It worked somewhat but part of the problem is I use a gas forge so when I heat the end of the bar it heats about the bottom 4-5 inches and when I try to fatten up the end, the bar bends. So I got an idea of sticking it in a vise, leaving about 2 inches out and beating the crap out of it. It worked but I'm not sure that was the best way and the results don't look as good as I had envisioned. Any advise on how to fatten the ends of the bar enough to have a good amount of material to make it into …

I messing around today trying to make my first rivet for a pair of tongs I'm working on and I suddenly noticed my fire was gone after coming back from the anvil. Turns out the inner part of the grate had rusted through. So does anybody know of a place online where I can get a replacement grate? I was also thinking that maybe a drain cover would work? Also contemplating fabricating a firebox to just set on top of the hole and build up around it with lime or refractory clay. Any suggestions? I'll try to get a picture of the grate up soon. Thanks.

Several years ago I came across a product called Macote which was a powder that you mixed with water and sprayed on Kowool as a hardener and protective agent. It was as good as ITC 100 and it was about $7 per lb and 1 lb would do the inside of the average gas forge. I tried to get some more of this stuff today and found that it is no longer available. While ITC 100 is a great product and does a teriffic job, it is a bit pricey at $36 and change for a pint. Does anybody know of any other product that is comparable to ITC 100 but lower in cost? Thanks Woody

I was trying to make a graceful curve in a piece of tapered pipe using a flat hammer and kept coming out flat. I have a bottom fuller that is round, was wondering if the problem is just changing to a round face hammer or do I need to make a different bottom tool to.

Made of copper with wood handle,Hint blue pen and keyboard isnt the answer.

I am starting to do a 5 sided light. I know all the inside angles are 72 deg. each vertical piece will we bent to this angle to form the corners then swaged out to meat the bottom frame (i want the inside of the verticals flush with the bottom frame. || || || swaged =|| =|| =|| // || (( curl (( )) == my question is how do i bend the curl at the bottom across the 72deg angle and still keep the angle (think curling angle iron along the corner)

Hi, Has anyone got anyone got a simple (cheap) bearing setup for a small weathervane? Total height is about 2 ft. Brian.

Some one posted a picture of what looks like some kinda wrench with a roller on the jaw of it, I think I know what it is, but can't find the picture or thread, can anyone help?

Hello to all: I am quoting 60' of railing with a 10' tall circular staircase. Railing quote and execution is no problem, especially since the customer wants a replication of work I have done for others in the building. But....I am trepidacious about the staircase. I have been researching kits that can be procurred online as opposed to starting from scratch. Any comments, ideas or loud guffaws will be appreciated (well maybee not the guffaws) Terry TBRForge Athens,Ga