Glenn

Pops and fireworks could be the result of your torch getting too close the puddle, and knocking the flame out. The pop is the gases catching fire again and the fireworks is the puddle being blown away. This can sound like a machine gun at times.

Look in the dumpsters at a heating and cooling dealer for a whole house fan from a house furnace. Or I guess you could buy a new one. Just remember that your redirecting the dragon's breath so don't set the ceiling on fire. Your air curtain will also quick cool any metal that passes through it on the way out of the gasser.

Make a shallow depression in the end grain of a piece of wood. Place the wood over the depression and hit it with a ball pein hammer. Some armour's use large steel spheres welded to the face of a dedicated hammer for this work. The spheres may be of any size but the ones I have seen are about 2" in diameter.

Why is your head hurting?

The local welding supplier had both green and gray glasses that have IR protection and different shade levels. The gray is nice as it does not drive all the colors into the green zone.

For thin tin a depression in the end grain of a wooden log work well. Look for different shapes, both inside and outside curves. It is not what it looks like but how it works that is important.

That is Blueprint BP0343 by Bud Norris How to make a 45 degree pein hammer from a double faced sledge. It is in line to be posted as soon as we get the new server on line.

How do you store your working stock? 20 foot sections, 10 foot sections and how do you stack it so it is out of the way but still available when needed?

Get the metal hot enough to melt the brass from the brass brush, and then coat and seal with beeswax. Why go back to the fire and smoke ?

What is the advantage of a hand cranked drill over an electric powered drill?

CC Find a blacksmith and spend a day in his shop. Or build your own forge and get some metal hot and beat on it. This will get you more experience than reading a whole book on the same subject. No one can "tell" you about the heat of the fire, the heat of the metal, the feeling of the sweat when it runs down your face and into your eyes, or the dark gray shampoo when you take a bath of an evening. Oh yes, be sure to wash your hands before you eat.

How many hours do you spend blacksmithing in the winter months? The 88 entries were as follows. 0 to 5 hours per week 34 or 38.6% 5 to 10 hours per week 15 or 17% 10 to 20 hours per week 15 or 17% 20 to 30 hours per week 9 or 10.2% 30 to 40 hours per week 7 or 8% 40 to 60 hours per week 4 or 4.5% 60 + per week 4 or 4.5%

Look at BP0075 for one method.

John, Zinc Melting Point: 419.58

Can any of the EMT's or medical professionals give us advice on how to best get from the injury to the hospital without causing more damage? Covering the eye keeps you from rubbing the eye and causing further damage. I have heard that with an eye injury, it is best to cover both eyes so the injured eye does not "track" with the good eye. With both eyes covered there would seem to be less eye movement and less additional injury. Again, this is only something I have heard and it seems to make sense. Are there any medical professionals out there that address the subject of what to do to keep the injury to a minimum till we can get to the hospital?

Hammer head with 2 holes: Looks a lot like a modern day lineman hammer where the "extra" hole is used to gain leverage and screw foot-pegs (or other things) into a utility pole.

April 21-22, 2007 DREAMCATCHER Forge annual Hammerin Northeast of Filley,Ne Project will be making Sundials, Harlan plans to have materials available for purchase. Bring you forge and tools and have a good time learning about Sundials and how they are constructed. Harlan Kreuger Host, 15365 E. Hackberry Rd. Filley, Ne. 68357 Call (402) 662 3082 for Info

What is your primary fuel used for forging? The 172 votes are as follows: Coal 83 votes or 48.3% Gas 58 votes or 33.7% Coke 17 votes or 9.9% Charcoal 10 votes or 5.8% Other fuels 3 votes 1.7% Wood 1 vote or 0.6% Induction heater 0 or 0%

The local welding shops will not refill Oxygen or Acetylene or Ar/Co2 without proof of rental on those tanks, usually through their store. Then there is the structural tank testing that has to be current for them to refill the tanks. You can purchase your own tanks, which are about half size to the common "industrial" size tanks. Cost of refilling the tanks is based on the volume of gas put into the tank. Contact you local dealer and make friends. We were low on gas with a upcoming long holiday weekend. He loaned me a 2nd set of full tanks to use. Sure enough we ran out of gas and switched the tanks. First thing Tuesday morning we returned the empty tanks, a full box of donuts, and paid for the new gas.

From Lincoln Electric AC-225 AC Stick Welder List Price:396.00 (USD) K1170 AC-225 230/1/60 The AC-225 compact stick welder has a broad welding amperage range of 40-225 amps. It produces an extremely smooth AC arc for welding a wide variety of materials including carbon, low alloy, and stainless steels as well as cast iron. Metals 16 gauge and heavier can be easily arc welded with the AC-225. If buying a new unit: Lincoln has a "3 year warranty on parts and labor" warranty listed on their web site. Sears warranty and the "Craftsman" warranty may or may not apply to this product if purchased through Sears. Look at the other big box stores as they may have sales, or additional items packaged with the welders.

Victor Journeyman set • Cuts up to 3/4”/19mm (8”/200mm with optional tips) • Welds up to 1/2”/12mm (3”/75mm with optional nozzles) Victor welding lists the cutting capacity of their torches at 1/8"/3.25mm to 6"/152mm. With a #8 tip you can cut up to 12" thick material. --------------- Esab cutting torches can cut up to 12 in. steel with acetylene, 16 in. with any other fuel gases. Esba Acetylene Welding/Heating Heads (Single Flame) Steel Thickness 1/32-1 in. With a different head you can achieve an Average Heat Output of 500,000 - 1.2m Btu/hr. ---------------- Harris lists an Acetylene #136 Hand Cutting Torch that Cuts to 36" Harris Welding Tip - Acetylene for plate up to 1" thickness ------------ Linde Gas representative says gas can cut up to about 12" and weld up to 1 to 1-1/2". ---------------- Final gas welding results: Equipment is available for gas cutting up to 12", and gas welding up to 1" thickness plate. A Harris torch can cut up to 36" thickness. You should look into the BEST type of equipment for the job at hand. Gas is more versatile for cutting than an arc welder using carbon rods to cut metal. The arc welder is a better choice for welding thicker materials. There are other choices such as plasma, water jet, laser, etc for cutting. Burce Wilcock cuts metal (1-1/2" maybe) using forge heat and a chisel. He produces anchors and anvils by forge welding. So thick and heavy can be done in the forge.

Roger, do you have any photos of the finish?

Rocky Mountain Smiths May 18-20, 2007 Tom Stengel will be hosting in his shop in Moab, Utah. Details to be announced. 119 mi (about 1 hour 53 mins) from Larry.

This is a very workable design. Easy to adjust and portable. Most likely this will be duplicated, or modified, and used in many ways. Thibeau was thinking outside the box (referring to the box that is used to contain an anvil - and pun intended) with his design. It is adjustable, mobile within the shop, and breaks with the traditional thinking of what an anvil stand looks like. His use of unusual materials is refreshing. The time for the contest has expired, I will declare these two designs the winners with the nod going to Thibeau for originality. The Thibeau design will be presented as a blueprint so you can look over the details of the design. One type or size anvil stand will not fit everyone. This is a good subject for discussion. I would like to see it continue with additional postings, ideas, and designs.

A good idea, but there may be some problems here with the bolts becoming loose and wallowing out the holes, making the adjustment difficult over time. The sand in a barrel is a traditional method, easy to assemble, mobile and works well.