Glenn

Steve, IForgeIron will provide blacksmithing or metal working organizations a forum on this site if it is requested by your organization. It is a great way to stay in touch with the membership, and promote the group world wide. If the Upper Midwest would like a forum, please contact me. Welcome to the site.

I curved some copper flashing over a round fuller to create an Omega shape to act as a wind screen on a colonial candle lantern. Great accent piece. Everyone wanted to "touch" it cause it looked pretty. They quickly found that copper gets REALLY HOT when heated by the exhaust port of the lantern.

Split open a copper pipe. 3" diameter pipe will give you just over 9" of width. A couple of grooves down the center of the parent stock may be enough to hold the inlay.

Copper Tube Handbook is a pdf file of 6.37 megs and 56 pages.

I have made headers from mild steel that have produced a BUNCH of nails with no apparent wear. My nails are started at yellow and by the time the header sucks out the heat, I finish the same nail at low red to black heat. Practice to get "the dance" down first. This may take several heats so don't worry about it. Form the taper. Play with the amount of material you need to form the head of the nail. Usually 1-1/2 to 2 times the diameter of the stock is a good place to start. Hot cut the stock leaving only a small portion of material left, just enough to hold it on while taking another heat before forming the head. Set the hammer on the anvil in the proper position to grab it fast. Pull the stock from the fire, put it in the header, give the stock a twist breaking the small connection from the nail to the parent stock. PLACE the parent stock somewhere where it will not get into trouble. Put the header over the hardie hole and with a forceful and direct power blow from the hammer SMASH the nail into the header. A couple of additional blows to drive it home then finish with one angled blow to the N, S, E, and W, and one to the top of the nail to make a 5 flat head. From there it goes into the slack tub to harden the nail a bit (quenched) and to also cool the nail and shrink it so it just falls out of the header. This cools the header so it never gets much more than uncomfortable warm at the working end. Nails are fun to make and great practice for blacksmithing. Make 50 nails, each better than the one before, then go back and see where you can improve your technique and timing. After that make 10 hails first thing when you fire up the forge. Those 10 nails are a GREAT warm up exercise to start things off at the forge. By the time you finish, you and the fire both are up to operating temperature and ready to go to work.

Blueprint BP0322 shows you how to make the header.

Look at Blueprint BP0189 and the attached video linked there.

This is not my anvil but I am still going to ask. The 130 pound Peter Wright that has some damage to the face. The horn, step and face have been cleaned up with an angle grinder, but there is still some damage. What do you suggest at this point?

What was the purpose of the decorative tin panels in the pie safe? Was it the lack of available glass during that period of time, or ventilation, or what?

A fellow ask me to replace the weldings leads on an old working buzz box. What is your suggestion to making the plug in lead longer and how long? Can you gain anything by making this cord longer to save the cost of the welding leads? What is your suggestions for a good working length for the ground and stinger leads?

Anyone have patterns to make a tin lanterns?

I found this article concerning Pacemakers and Welding on the AWS (American Welding Society) web site. Those with pacemakers or heart conditions may want to read the article.

It seems to a successful surgery. Rough, rough, rough trip. I hope it was worth it. I am still barely able to hold my head up. There is a marked improvement today on the pain. I have the grip and extentsion in both hands and arms. There is a little numbness in the outside two fingers on both hands. It may/may not go away. It is a lots better than it was. Thanks for all the help. It was a appreciated. Chuck

Next Meeting Info: February 17th 2007 10am-3pm Location: Otter Creek Forge. 2732 Otter Hill Rd. Bedford VA 24523 Directions: LT has provided us with many different options for getting to his place. There is always Mapquest, but we all know sometimes they can't get you to where you want to go easily! From Bedford: from route 460 take 714 (Falling Creek Road) out past Bedford County Nursing Home and go 5.5 miles across a cement bridge. At top of hill, turn right on 715 (Otter Hill RD.) Go 1.8 miles. House on left. 2732 on mailbox. From Lynchburg: Take first exit off 460 (just pass McDonalds) Turn left on 714 (falling creek rd.) and follow directions from Bedford. From Roanoke: Take 3rd exit off 460 by-pass. Turn right on 714 (Falling Creek Rd.) and follow directions from Bedford. From Altavista by-pass route 43 exit: Take route 43 north 1.8 miles Turn right on to 628 and go 8.3 to intersection with route 43 at Mentow Baptist Church. Turn right on 43 north and go 1.5 miles to intersection with route 24. Turn left on 43 north 3.9 miles to route715 (Otter Hill Rd.) just pass Pecks Baptist Church. Turn right and go 1.6 miles to 2732 on mailbox. House on right. From Yellow Branch (intersection 29 & 24) south of Lynchburg: take 24 through Evington and over Big Otter Bridge. Stay on 24. At 16.5 miles 24 & 43 merge for 2.7 miles and separate. Stay on 43 north for 1.2 miles until just pass Pecks Baptist Church. Turn right on route 715 (Otter Hill Rd.) and go 1.6 miles. 2732 on mailbox. House on right. Demonstrator: John Riddle. John is a veteran smith who focuses on hand forged and artistic items. He has a great eye for the sellability and potential in everyday items. John creates "yard art" out of many objects we take for granted and/or simply throw away! John will be demonstrating a snake made from an old rasp file, and hopefully a few other items that sell well for him. We also may get some of his "trade secrets" too. This will be a great meeting for those of us who are trying to make some money at this. Reminders: BYOL (Bring Your Own Lunch). This helps keep the cost down for the host, and ensures you like what is for lunch! IRON IN THE HAT!!! Make sure you bring something for IITH, and money for tickets. The Guild will provide coffee, pastries, and drinks at EVERY event with a donation jar, please donate if you partake! . The IITH and Donation Jar will help raise the money needed for demonstrators, future scholarships, and hopefully getting us closer to mailing out newsletters.

2007 Meeting Calendar: Feb. 17th: John Riddle Demonstrator at LT Skinnell's Otter Creek Forge. Bedford VA. March 17th: Bob Rowe & Carl Hirner(from historic Williamsburg) at Yesteryear Forge. Amelia VA. April 21st: Jack Chaffee at Brown's Forge. Lexington VA. May 19th: TBA June 16th: TBA July 28th: TBA Aug. 11th: Jamestown Celebration. Buckingham VA. Sept. 15th: Doug Merkel at Yesteryear Forge. Amelia VA. Oct. 20th: 2nd Annual Yesteyear Forge Hammer In. Amelia VA. Demonstrator: RANDY McDANIEL AUTHOR OF "A Blacksmithing Primer, A Course in Basic and Intermediate Blacksmithing"

Welcome to the Blacksmith Guild of Virginia.

Thank Doc for this one. Get a sheet of drywall to work on or work over. Cheap and replaceable.

Not a thing wrong with safety. It allows you to grow old enough to learn other things.

Do a search the site from the opening page for blueprint BP0128. It will show you how to convert a clothes dryer fan to a forge fan.

Blueprint BP0052 has some material on welding rod and settings. From Lincoln Electric E6010 DC only and designed for putting the root bead on the inside of a piece of pipe, this is the most penetrating arc of all. It is tops to dig through rust, oil, paint or dirt. It is an all-position electrode that beginning welders usually find extremely difficult, but is loved by pipeline welders world-wide. Lincoln 5P+ sets the standard in this category. E6011 This electrode is used for all-position AC welding or for welding on rusty, dirty, less-than-new metal. It has a deep, penetrating arc and is often the first choice for repair or maintenance work when DC is unavailable. The most common Lincoln product is Fleetweld® 180 for hobby and novice users. Industrial users typically prefer Fleetweld 35. E6013 This all-position, AC electrode is used for welding clean, new sheet metal. Its soft arc has minimal spatter, moderate penetration and an easy-to-clean slag. Lincoln Fleetweld® 37 is most common of this type. E7018 A low-hydrogen, usually DC, all-position electrode used when quality is an issue or for hard-to-weld metals. It has the capability of producing more uniform weld metal, which has better impact properties at temperatures below zero. The Lincoln products are typically Jetweld® LH-78 or our new Excalibur® 7018.

Additional information AWS Fumes and Gases Fact Sheet American Welding Society Safety and Health MSDS This is a link to the MSDS page on welding rods.

From Lincoln Electric Literature This is a 24 page PDF document. The fume plume contains solid particles from the consumables,base metal, and base metal coating. For common mild steel arc welding, depending on the amount and length of exposure to these fumes, most immediate or short term effects are temporary, and include symptoms of burning eyes and skin, dizziness, nausea, and fever. For example, zinc fumes can cause metal fume fever, a temporary illness that is similar to the flu. Long-term exposure to welding fumes can lead to siderosis (iron deposits in the lungs) and may affect pulmonary function. Bronchitis and some lung fibrosis have been reported. There is one easy way to reduce the risk of exposure to hazardous fumes and gases: keep your head out of the fume plume! As obvious as this sounds, the failure to follow this advice is a common cause of fume and gas overexposure because the concentration of fume and gases is greatest in the plume. Keep fumes and gases from your breathing zone and general area using natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation,fixed or moveable exhaust hoods or local exhaust at the arc. Finally, it may be necessary to wear an approved respirator if adequate ventilation cannot be provided. Ventilation There are many methods which can be selected by the user to provide adequate ventilation for the specific application. The following section provides general information which may be helpful in evaluating what type of ventilation equipment may be suitable for your application. When ventilation equipment is installed, you should confirm worker exposure is controlled within applicable OSHA PEL and/or ACGIH TLV. According to OSHA regulations, when welding and cutting (mild steels), natural ventilation is usually considered sufficient to meet requirements, provided that: 1. The room or welding area contains at least 10,000 cubic feet (about 22' x 22' x 22') for each welder. 2. The ceiling height is not less than 16 feet. 3. Cross ventilation is not blocked by partitions, equipment, or other structural barriers. 4. Welding is not done in a confined space. Spaces that do not meet these requirements should be equipped with mechanical ventilating equipment that exhausts at least 2000 cfm of air for each welder, except where local exhaust hoods or booths, or air-line respirators are used.

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 slowly. There are several illustrations of these things floating around if you look into the history of bottle making.

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.

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.