youngdylan

With you there, having been a school teacher myself (many years ago and came to hate it with a passion) I can relate to that totally. There is nothing more true in this world than "those that can do, those that can't teach, and those that can't teach ... teach teachers". There are of course a few honourable and notable exceptions ..... as some of the guys who teach blacksmithing and post here exemplify only to well. All too many school teachers over here go straight into teaching direct from college .... not good. You just can't beat EXPERIENCE to learn from

Nice stuff John, I always loving seeing industrial archeology. I know it's a dumb question but looking at the belts made me think about line shaft machinery...... they are leather belts right? were do they get a cow large enough that they can get long enough strips. Dumb question I know but ....

worked fine on a dull old windows machine about 5 minute ago Good work there. It's quite interesting that you did all the work from the front. Before I saw the video I would have thought you'd done it like repousse, ie from both the front and behind. The speeded up bit of the video is quite effective.

I guess one litle particle on its own wouldn't be able to short anything, but as that particle became a layer of particles it would also become a CONDUCTING layers of particles ..hence the need to blow out

now Bob you've got to remember, just about the only type of turkeys we get over here are found in the chilled cabinets of supermarkets ..... what DO turkeys do in the rain. Re the goves thing, I guess they'll still be having the debate in a 100 years from now, but I do love the fact the muppets are learning those working habits in a college.

there has been a couple of recent threads on gloves, here,s one more. The two pictues are from the same brochure for a blacksmithing course at West Dean. Now what is it your Homer Simpson says ..... Doh. Mr muppet is sooner or later gonna learn how hot "hot steel" or that flame is, whilst the gloves on Ms Muppet are more of a safety hazard than safety device. Can't see her getting much of feel for the hammer and I guess it will get a few unscheduled flying lessons.

Second time today somebodies refered to furnace filters. I started the same thread over at the NWBA and Gene C mentioned them. What are they? I'll do a google but have you got anymore info, links. Thanks Bob. I'm beginning to move towards the idea of drawing the air for the fan through a plenum (big box) that that allows any dust that gets past the filter to settle awith maybe a furnace filter at the inlet. I'm asuming since these are for furnaces they can take a bit of heat and general workshop punishment and are quite high flow. Having the whole kit in a box would make it awkward getting at the controls etc. As ever, whatever I do, the limited space in my workshop will dictate the design.

Thanks for the responses people. It's actually going to sit on a plate on top of the coal forge because with the type of work I mostly do the induction heater/ reosebud torch nozzles/ gas forges should do the bulk of the hard work. I've thought about mothballing the coal forge but think I'll use it once in a blue moon .... so the induction heater will need to be moved every now and then Yeah Arftist, Plenum for dust etc to settle in sounds good. Taking the inlet to the oustside may be a problem though so maybe plenum chamber drawing air from the workshop with air filter on the inlet ???? Vehicle air filters are quite high flow and easily replaceable ... it's a question of which filter. Things like K&Ns might get burnt by the shower of sparks from a grinder. I had a quick peep inside and the circuit boards don't seem to be laquered and there are some exposed metal leads etc. If a tiny bit of metal/grit etc landed and shorted across the wrong two bits ......... Yeah regular maintenance/blowing out is good but my big worry is that the metallic particles in the grinding dust (that have been ground away by the grit) are conductive, a lot of the leads on modern chips are minute and I could blow and lodge a particle into the wrong place. I took a video of it in action, will post on you tube (when I learn how). It heated a bit of 40mm up to where is was sparking and starting to burn in a round a minute. Photo shows it doing the same to a bit of 30mm in around 30-35 seconds. IT ROCKS

Finally got my hands on an induction heater. I'm not allowed to swear anymore .... even with **sterixs so I can't do some loud whoops of joy. My workshop is microscopic and I do a LOT of grinding/ finishing etc and I haven't got space for a grinding room. I'm kinda worried about those metal particles finding their way into the heater (and other electronic stuff like my TIG and plasma cutter). A lot of this kit has a fan that draws cooling air in. Wondered how others deal with the dust whilst still allowing the kit to "breathe" and stay cool. I had a one year old Lincoln invertec TIG go down on me. It was repaired under warranty but it was still dissapointing. I'm beginning to suspect it was the dust of death. Thinking along the lines of a car or motorcycle air filter over the fan inlet. Opinions/suggestions ?

Yeah, I think 3 phase 415 Volts is much more common over here. It's kinda the "expected thing" with a lot of industrial units. Don't you have three phase? I'm sure the "non pink" Anyang of yours (in the picture on Sams 33lb thread) is an 88lb. I've got one myself and over here they come with 3 phase motor. Those Anyangs sure do rock don't they. I've taken a video showing the induction heater doing it's magic on a bit of 40mm round, it heats it from cold to where it starts to spark and burn in about 60 seconds !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I've sussed the Youtube thing I'll post a video. 40mm square or 50mm round wouldn't fit in the coils supplied. I'll make up some new ones over the weekend and see how far I can push it. Have you got any advice on coil geometry, number of turns, dimension etc etc ??? Yeah it's a game changer isn't it. Seemed to work pretty good with stainless, okay with silicon bronze, sort of worked on brass but struggled with copper. I'll tell you what Nuge, I'm gonna love being able to see the colour of the bronze/brass directly. No more puddles of molten metal on the gas forge floor.

Hey Nuge that real cool, you were "at it" on your wedding day. That video and a few others on Youtube were what convinced me I HAD to get and induction heater. Finally got it yesterday, it's the next one up (25KVA) and boy oh boy does it rock. More info here

I've an Anyang 40kg (88lb) and it's a superb machine. Five years of totally trouble free operation so far. I got it when the £ to $ was good (paid £3000 as opposed to £4500) and it's paid for it'sself MANY times over. Even at todays prices I think they'd still pay for themselves very quickly. I did semi seriously think of getting a 15kg (33lb) as well but since I've already got a Kinyon that would be 3 different types of dies so I built another Kinyon (ish) hammer. Having seen a 33 at John N's workshop I think they are great tools, especially so given the small footprint. I'd imagine they are great for bladesmiths and good for hobbyists because they're single phase. I know a lot of people are down on Chinese and I was VERY unsure at first but there's absolutely no American or European company making one this size (that I know of) , and as the 33 shows, there's a market for them

Remember to duck ..... or was that remember THE duck (for lunar eclipses)

What works for you .... but as I'm right handed I prefer the bick on my left as I look at the anvil, same side as my tong hand. Its easier to move the work over to the bick (horn) to use it as a fuller and then quickly move it back onto the face without moving yourself around too much. All swapped over for "lefties" .... oh and don't forget to slaughter a chicken under every full full moon, the anvil won't work properly other wise

Yeah, what Larry said. My first inclination is always power hammer, presses, gas forges and jigs but I've nothing but total respect for what you can do with your "bare" hands

Use your time with SouthShore to good effect. Not so much for learning metal stuff but HOOVER up every scrap of information re running a business, getting work, costing etc. I taugtht myself both metalwork and running my business. Both took a LONG time (and I've still got LOTS to learn), most things learn't were usually preceded by a mistake. If I could rewind the clock I would have spent a few years working for someone good at running a business as well as good at metals. Mistakes are great learning vehicles but not the best way of earning a living. My attitude with earning a living is putting food on your table comes first, "being a blacksmith" is much lower down the scale, as is purism. Productivity is everything, even with totally bespoke work. Powerhammers of any size ROCK.

I just did that. One the first page the videos were all either advertisemenst for his anvil or DVD or him using a powerhammer. Maybe I missed something, but I didn't see any videos explaining in detail what makes his technique special or innovative. I'm curious about it but don't want to part with money given how as many expereienced smiths seem to disregard it be as interested in it. I always respect EXPERIENCE. From the little I know, his idea of the loose grip and whip motion have been used over here for centuaries. A lot of Hofis emphasis is on proper use of the body. All good there. I have my own school of thought with regards this. And it is:........ "if you earn your living from moving metal hot, do as LITTLE hand hammering as possible, buy at LEAST one powerhammer, make plenty of tooling and jigs for them. they will increase your productivity many many many time over, repay your investment in a very short time, and allow you to work bigger stock and are much easier on your body". If you're into the Zen of hammering, well that's something else. Small Little Giants were bought by the shed load by one man band and other small outfits. They were sold in the quantities they were for a reason.

I second that. If it's got enough weight, a big lump on the floor is always very useful.

Of all the awful music they could have chose, they chose one by Queen ......F.F.S.

Is that your "personal" hammer in your garage Sam? I was under the impression you worked for (with?) South Shore. If so its shows commitment.

induction heaters

I'm pretty sure that was one of the ones I saw, the stockholder bit rings a bell. The guy I saw kept selling them one after another after another; the next after the last sold. They all went for different prices, somewher around the £200 mark IIRC. It was the same guy selling them not 5 different disgruntled sellers selling them on. Pretty cool you getting them heat treated ..... enjoy Out of curiosity was was the price?

Was it on ebay not that long ago (months maybe a year) ago and around 1 1/2 cwt. The guy kept putting one up after another as he sold them. I saw him sell about 6. I was going to bid for one myself but didn't . Sounds like he got a batch of them. Maybe through naughty back door channels, mates in the factory and all that. I once bought a brand new air reciever which I only found out a few weeks later came via a similar channel. There's a lot of stuff sold on ebay which has been thieved from building sites or come "direct" from the factory.

I won't deal with Vaughans for reasons of my own but that's pretty decent of them. A lot of large companies don't want to know about piddling little bits of work that disprupt there "flow". Another company that did something similar for me was Flamefast. I took a blown air/ gas torch over to them years ago (they're nearby in Bolton) I was just hoping for some advice but they spent about 1/2 hour changing the jet over from natural gas to to propane as I watched (more involved than it sounds), and then only charged me £20. I love it when big companies are helpful like that. Did you get any pictures of it being done, it would be great to see

I'm not sure his method is ON the table for ALL to see. Doesn't he sell his video? I did a quick search a while back to try and find out what all the hoohaa about his method was about before I came to any opinion of it. Wasn't much info for free out there then, maybe it's different now. I must admit I haven't studied his method in detail but the loose grip and "whip" aspect of it is just intuitive, if you think about what you are doing you more or less end doing this. People have done so for centurie, well, at least over here they have. An old boy once told me to move the hammer like "you're whipping your slave". I wasn't quite sure how to react, I found it a bit offensive but I couldn't help but respect his experience.