Glenn

You are invited to join silversmith and frustrated blacksmith Ian 'Tinker' Lowe from Yorkshire in the UK as he begins the biggest (and most insane) metal related project of his life - - to travel the globe on a shoestring budget in search of fellow Blacksmiths willing share their knowledge of the craft. Follow his progress and see if he really can pull it off and bring a whole new meaning to the term 'Journeyman'. Ian Lowe world tour begins here.

Do you know what these plyers were used for? Garey Ford

From the email: -------------- For some reason I thought of you blacksmiths when I came across this recipe. Home Brew Fire Retardent Borax 6 parts or 3 pounds Boric acid 5 parts or 2.5 pounds Water 100 parts or 6 gallons This solution is used for heavy fabric. Immerse fabric, hand wring, allow to dry between applications (2 or 3 applications total). Use caution if ironing to avoid discolorantion. Also useful for natural vegetation displays, i.e.:grain stalks, thatching etc. Thanks to the City of Philomath, Oregon, volunteer fire department for this recipe. Take care, Maria Christina de Cordoba

My condolenses Marc. It is tough when you loose a friend. He did provide you with something you will have the rest of your life - his knowledge of blacksmithing, his legacy.

My (insert relative here) was a blacksmith. We have all heard it. Well I stumbled on this and it sort of got me to thinking. Any other famous people related to a blacksmith? Tubal Cain 5th great grandfather was Adam (of Adam and Eve) Ge 4:22 And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. Elvis Presley King of Rock and Roll Jr. Strasil 3rd generation blacksmith. First hand information as I heard him tell the story himself. :wink: Give us the URL so we can look it up for reference during a conversation.

It is much like fishing, you have to show them the bait to attract their attention. :wink:

Ignatius, If your still looking for blacksmiths in your area try this link. New England Blacksmiths Connecticut Blacksmith's Guild New York State Blacksmiths Northeast Blacksmiths Assoc

Ahh, Chopper, a blacksmith from Oz (Austrailia) that can translate the English Language into English for us single lingual folks. :roll:

The "pointy finger" is the end of this vise/anvil/ horn combination. I will refer this to Jr. :wink:

From IForgeIron.com > tricks > miscelaneous It takes 450 BTU's of heat per cubic inch of volumn to heat a gas forge. A little math and you can reverse engineer to get your needed propane volumn.

It is the IForgeIron.com gallery Start at http://www.iforgeiron.com > click gallery on the left side > click last uploads.

Try this in a spare 3" hole with light first to see how it works and feels before going down hole. Take a circular plate of steel of sufficent strength to lift the weight and smaller than the 3 inch hole. Drill or cut a hole in the center of the plate just a bit larger than the 1-1/2 inch diameter bar. Weld or attach a place to tie a rope/cable on "top" of the plate. Slide the plate and rope/cable down hole and try to put the 1-1/2 inch bar into the hole. When you succeed, pull on the rope/cable and the plate will tilt, digging into the bar and lifting it. That is the theory, and I have seen it work on a water well when the wooden sucker rod broke. Took some fishing but the project ended in success. Best of luck with fishin' it out. :wink:

Take what Hollis said a step further. Wet down a area 20 feet all directions with a water hose before you start. Then fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and keep it beside the forge, along side the fire extingusher, and the fully operational garden hose. If someone complains about a fire hazard, they can see that you have addressed that issue already. As to smoke, Hollis is right again, higher the better and 1960's catch phrase "the sulution to polution is dilution" still applies. Put a whole house squirrel cage fan on the ground beside the forge, blowing straight up. It will serve as a chimney and not only push smoke 20-30 feet up into the air but also mix it with fresh air diluting the smoke. This does not replace good fire maintance to keep the smoke to a minimum, but takes a little smoke and spreads it around to make it seem like even less smoke.

The president says "don't ask and don't tell" :wink: If you run a gasser, it is not much different from a BBQ grill only your cooking steel instead of meat. If your running coal, there may be objections from the neighbors to the smoke at start-up. If you build a "good fire" from sticks then add coal, there will be very little smoke from the coal as it will be consumed in the fire. Careful attention to fire maintance is the key to this method. As Ralph said, make friends with the neighbors and a peace offering does not hurt your relationship at all. Legally? that depends on the laws in your state, county, city, and subdivision. It also depends on the neighbor, their disposition, and if they have any tolerence for your hobby, or even you personally. We can not tell you if or where you can play in fire, but there are several on this forum that will certainly help you with the how-to part. Ask about the how to's and we can help with that.

Email them to me directly, or use www.yourimg.com

OWF, thanks for feeling comfortable enough to use this forum for your ranting on this subject. It says a lot about the way you feel toward the forum and the friends you have made here. (I did tone down the language a bit, but your choice of words is understandable).

When you double-team and a croud shows up, let one talk and the other work. The talker can explain what the worker is doing, how he is doing it, etc. The worker is usually a bit less distracted, and can concentrate on the task at hand.

As a helper to the smith, it as your job to keep him watered down (read hydrated), fed (usually fruit, cheeses etc., but have a candy bar handy) and keep him working comfortably. Keep the proper length stock on hand, coal at the ready, and supplies and tools close at hand so he doesn't have to search for them. A wet hand towel to either wipe the face and arms, or to hang around the neck, both help keep the smith cool and commfortable. Watch him and have whatever he needs ready for him. The easier his job is, the better you will look at the end of the day. :wink:

Stovall is outside of Houston, Bill Epps in Misquete (sp), and others are in that area.

Hollis, I added a detail shot. Very interesting pattern on the sides of the support and the grove down the middle of the element. This is the type of things that makes a project come alive. Good job.

Let me suggest that since your starting blacksmithing, start with todays metals, and forges you can build. Gain the experience in blacksmithing as you also study the "traditional" ways of doing things. No use looking for a glob of dirt and spending the time to form it into iron, when all you want to do is hit a piece of hot iron that can be purchased at the hardware store, or found in any junk yard, back yard, or along most any road or alley. Nothing wrong with study, we all encourage you to do just that. But till you whack a piece of iron, bend a collar, or set a rivet, you can not appreciate the effort that went into the knowledge listed in the books. They did it first, and wrote about it second.

If your using coal as a fuel and working ends, pile it a little deeper and let it crust over forming a cave of sorts. You can gently blow air into the forge to get the interior up to temps but will have to add new coke into through the opening to keep enough fuel on the fire. You must have hot coals in contact with the metal in order to transfer heat. Otherwise you burn all the fuel inside the cave, get a large void, and little heat to the metal. Another way to do the same thing is not let it crust together, but to keep the fire loose and broken up. You keep the volumn of the fire constant by continually dragging in new coke to replace what fuel has been consumed. Fire maintance is easily learned. You just have to keep the fire fueled, hot, and in good working order when needed as you forge. With this type fire, lay the middle of the metal in or across the fire and being loose, rake the fire over the metal. It will act like a blanket and hold heat against the metal. Start wth a fireball the size of a grapefruit or some 4" in diameter at least, for a small fire. Larger or strange sizes may take a larger fire in order to fit the material and need. I made some tent stakes (1/2" stock) last night and had a 6" ball of fire, but I was running things a little hot, a fair volumn of electric blown air, and usually 6 pieces of metal in the coal fire at a time. But that is just my way on doing things. Your forge is different and your technique is designed around your forge. I will let others explain their methods of fire maintance and how to locate the fires "sweet spot".

How do YOU make a forge weld? Walk me through the process as if I had never done this before. Give me the details to make it work the first time in my forge. Show me what to look for and why. If you have a camera, photo will help a lot in seeing what is going on. Let's hear from several of y'all and then I can collect the notes and put them together in a blueprint.

Look at the topic "Chain saw chain Damascus ????'s" on the Blacksmithing section of this forum. If you layer the metals and arc weld them on the edge, the middle is unaffected and NOT welded. To make damascus you need to learn to forge weld. It is not that difficult but does take practice. I will start a new topic on how to make a forge weld and after several explain "their way" will collect the notes and make a blueprint.

Looks good to me :wink: