oscer

Hello, It's A Rockwell hardness tester, Louis Small is/was the owner of the company, I think. It also says Service Diamond on the tag.

Hi folks, I recently bought a Service Diamond Hardness Tester at an auction. Can't find any info on it and it doesn't seem to work. I was wondering if anyone has one of these it's a model 8blp, the problem is that the loading handle will only turn a few degrees then it comes up against very strong spring or possibly hydraulic resistance any help would be appreciated.

That's a good idea Frosty. My thoughts were to bake it in the oven for about 4 hrs. at a couple hundred degrees be fore firing it.

Hello again fellas, As always I appreciate your replies. So the perlite / mortar mix is in the fire pot and it is curing, hope to put a fire in it this weekend and see what happens. Really like the idea of packing clay into the pot but already had the mortar on hand. one thing that may be nice about the design I settled on is that every thing is bolted together so it can be taken apart and altered as needed. oscer

Thanks for responding folks, I know I'm putting more effort into this forge than I need to. I read a lot of material on here and this forum has been a great help. I guess my hang up is I want to build a forge that I'm satisfied with and I don't want to do it twice. oscer

Hi fellas, I built a forge firepot from a brake rotor, it is only about 3" deep so I added a taper bored hunk of steel to the bottom with a triangle clinker breaker which gave it a 4" depth . I was planning to mix perlite and mortar to make this taper continuous to the top of the brake rotor, thinking this would protect the bolts and nuts from the heat. the final shape of the firepot would be 2" dia. at the bottom and a taper to 9" dia. at the top. Maybe I can skip this step though and just start forging . What do you think?

OOOPS, I did post under the wrong topic, however I'm not selling anything, just asking if any one is using one. No matter, I hate to buy Chi-com stuff any way and I found an old Buffalo blower today.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Has any one tried one of these? LInk removed: First: bellows and blowers go in bellows not forges. Second: sales go in tailgating not general forum Third: ebay and other off site sales sites are not allowd. so your link has been removed.

Hi fellas, I would like to build a side draft forge and have a few questions, I found an old porcelain covered cast iron sink the other day it is one with a high back that I think would make a good heat shield that I would bring the draft box right through to the fire. It also has a 2" hole in the bottom, is 1/4" thick and measures 19 5/8 x 13 1/2 x 6 1/2 deep. figured on using fire brick and refractory to bring the dimensions into 8 x 12 x 4 but I was wondering about the porcelain, probably have to grind it off? Another question is what kind of fire brick, found a cite that sells 2300 degree soft brick at reasonable price, is that what I should use? Thanks for any advice.

great ideas fellas, thanks

Hi fellas, I did a search for 12" dia. stove pipe and the prices scared me half to death. How do you build a 12" chimney on the cheap?

Hi Littlemilligan, impressive installation. I really hope I don't have to spend that much time and money though. Thanks for posting.

Thanks much for the reply Glenn.

I saw a picture somewhere of a forge that had a square box going out through a window and the stove pipe was coming out the top of the box. There was no text acompanying the pic, so I don't know how well it worked. I like the idea because it would save cutting a hole in the roof. I was wondering if any of you folks have a set up like this.

I think I will take your advise Alan, I have drawn this out many ways and stood in measured spaces trying to determine if there was enough room to work and I'm not convinced that the center of the 12' wall is the optimal place for a hammer. I'm also not sure 12' x 23' is a large enough space but it will have to do for now.

Thanks for the replies fellas, my son has plans to build a hammer similar to the tire hammer by Clay Spencer. The shop will be 12' x 23' inside,which is one room in a 24' x 40' building, the larger room will have lathes and other machine tools so I really need the hammer isolated from the rest of the floor. I was planning on centering it on the 12' wall and leaving 2' behind it for access. It appears to be a compact installation and my son said to allow 30" x 36" opening in the floor.

Hi fellas, When I have the floor poured I want to form a hole with pressure treated 2x6. Any further segestions regarding the power hammer? (I don't have one yet.)

Thanks again for all the insight fellas, I am try to keep all the grinding dust as far from my machine tools as I can. I didn't know about a gas forge putting a lot of moisture into the air. Man, there are days when the humidity gets so high all by it"s self ,that I think I can watch the rust forming on my cast Iron tables.

Smoothbore , have you considered one of those metal carports you see every where? You can get them with sides an enclosed end and even a garage door. I'm considering one for my smithy but my wife seems to think it would blow away. I looked at one all closed up and it seems pretty sturdy to me.I think it would be cheaper to build a pole shed the same size though.

Mathis, sounds like a nice shop, I need electricity in mine though going to put the mig welder in there if I go this route.Maybe I'm being paranoid about keeping the hot shop separate but it seems like a good Idea to me. Glad to hear you like my brown dog. Pug}{maN I read your shop build post, That's kinda what I have in mind, not much to catch fire that way and all of my machine tools and the tractors and such would be in another building. Don't think I would need a really big smithy that way. You said your wife and the dog were all the help you had. I'm sure your wife is a big help but if that dog is anything like mine... The only thing he helps is himself to my tools if I lay them down where he can reach them.

My elevated deer stand legs are made from honey locust one stand is 8 or 9 years old now and the other one must be 5 or 6 the older one shows a little wear at the ground level but I expect it will be there a long time yet. They are 12' to the floor.Kinda hard to get the things started out square cause of the twisty turny tree legs. I also made a cant hook handle out of it.

Thanks for the response folks, Pug}{maN, I didn't see your post earlier, I was kinda thinking 12'x16' or maybe 16'x16' but wondered if it would be big enough. Sounds like a reasonable investment too. I know one thing, I want it close enough to the other shop so when running back and forth for tools it's not 70 yards with a steep hill in between like the current distance between the wood and metal shop.

My thoughts too Glenn,I have my woodworking tools in an attached garage with no way to go bigger. The tractor shed is also maxed out and in addition to the smithy I would like to build a building for the tractor and garden tools, which would give a lot more room in the machine shop. My main concern is to isolate the hot tools from everything else.You are right though I've never hear anyone say " I wish I would have made my building smaller".

Hi folks I've been chiming here off and on with a question or two and am still dragging my feet on buying a forge, I did get a clapped out Peter Wright 1-0-6 anvil and a pretty good leg vise and have been doing occasional bending projects and even a successful tempering (I think it was successful) job with my torch. The thing is I'm a machine operator and have a small machine shop that is sharing space in my tractor shed, I really don't like the Idea pf putting all of my eggs in one basket and then having an open coal fire or even a propane torch working in there. So I'm thinking of putting a small tin shanty smithy a short distance away with the bare minimal of tools and keep all of my other tooling in the tractor shed. I'm thinking anvil, vise forge and on opposite wall my mig welder a welding bench and the torch. Any advise or suggestions are appreciated, oscer

Thanks Frosty, I did check it with a magnet before quench,it had no effect. Wish I would have checked with a file after quench. When checked with a file after tempering it can dig in a little and it seems to be the same from point to O.D. this center will only be used as a live center in the head stock so I'd rather be a little soft than have a brittle nose.