Feukair

Wow, that's nice! Is that damascus bit forge welded inside the wrought iron... Lt

Appman I truly envy all the work you output... And the fact that you have time to do it... Lt

Hey Alwin... I'm not sure what you mean by a water jacket, is this basically a large tub of water that the firepot sits in to keep it cool on the outside while the forge is burning on the inside? Thanks, Lt

Hey Appman... when u r hammering in bevels on the edge of a blade what technique do you use? Do you put the metal right to the edge of the anvil or do you work in the middle of the anvil? I have to take my time and go very very slowly with precise controled hits, which means i don't get many hits before the metal cools so i have to reheat alot. Of course the blade wants to fly away from the hammer when you strike it because it basically pinches the metal out of the way. Also, are you wetting the anvil to help with scale? I think you mentioned in some other posts that you were... I'm still working on my technique so I'm interested in how you do it. Lt

Googling I found more details at this site which says this is a 1/2 HP. I haven't used a wire wheel as we have a wire wheel permanently mounted to an old grinder so we just use the stones on this one. I really like the variable speed though... Delta GR450 8" 1/2-Hp Shopmaster Variable Speed Bench Top Grinder Lt

Sorry, it was a Delta and it was from Lowes. Here is a link to the one I got 8" VS Grinder with Tool-less Quick Change Lt

Lowes or Home Depot, i forget which, has a Ryobi variable speed 8" bench grinder with a light and it comes with a dressing tool and a buffer wheel and a course and fine stone grinding wheels. I picked one up for around $100 i think it was. Lt

I made a set of tongs like these ones. Just make sure you make the shanks big enough to clear the head of the spike. Tong Article Lt

Most auto parts stores sell sheets of plain gasket material. I would use that, trace the pieces you need on the blower and cut them out. Lt

I used 1/4" plate steel. I haven't done any forge welding in it yet. I did get time this weekend to play with the forge some more and I will definitely be making it shorter. I think I'm just going to cut a couple inches off the top of the fire pot all the way around so it will be shallower. It's just to hard to keep the fire going big enough to have the sweet spot of the fire up high enough to lay long pieces across. Once I get it modified and tested again I'll be posting a picture of the dimensions of the fire pot. Lt

Nice tapers on those candle holders. I hope i can make the same that smooth someday...

Thats a great idea... My clinker breaker would be too far below the bottom of the clay i think but i could try it a least to experiment as you say... How about a refactory cement like satanite or something? There's no where around here sells satanite that i know of, i may have to order some. Lt

BTW, i did get some good pics of the firepot and clinker breaker i made. I'll post them soon. I have to modify my clinker breaker design too. Turns out my design doesn't lock the clinker breaker on the rod tightly enough to prevent if from slipping when you turn the rod. I've thought of a better design but it'll take an hour or two of work... Lt

Well i got to run the forge for just a couple hours last saturday. It works good. Seems to draw good but only once the chimney is nice and warmed up. It wasn't very windy outside. On days when it's windy it draws constantly even when cold. Here's some pics of the first burning of coal in the new forge. I'm a little worried that i made my fire pot a little too deep. When working on long pieces i'll have to build up a pretty big pile of coal to get the sweet spot of the fire up to the top of the firepot. I'm still pretty in-experienced with that. I think i may have to modify my firepot, cut a couple inches off around the top making it less deep, which will also make it smaller in size unfortunately. I'm still playing with it though. I hurt my foot a couple weeks ago and wasn't able to stand for too long to expiriment. Couple more weeks healing before i can stand at the forge for a whole day... Lt

i checked it out, very cool, thanks for the link. Lt

yeah, i'm new at it, so that could be a problem... Maybe i'll weld up some and just grind and polis a small section or one side to see if cracks become apparent. thx

Man i missed that statement in the other thread. I just read it again. Sorry guys... Lt

I wanted to ask a question about spring steel, i have a few good sized chunks of it that were give to me and i was planning to make some knives. I've heard about hairline cracks that can be present in leaf spring and don't show up until the final stages of polishing, thats a poor time to realize the steel is flawed. I"ve heard this from my blacksmith instructor and recently on this forum. I'd like to make some knives folding the steel and welding it a few times, i'm not really looking for a damascus look, just that fine grain look that japanese swords have if you look real close so i don't want different types of steel, just layers from folding and welding. Question is, if i fold and weld the leaf spring 4-6 times shouldn't that work also help to weld together any cracks that might be in the piece? Thanks. Lt

I'll offer some of my experience... If you do decide to go into the military get a guaranteed contract. A guaranteed contract means that the military will guarantee you a position in some certain field. They will only guarantee fields at a broad level, meaning they can/will guarantee that you will be a "aviation electrician" (what i did) but they wont guarantee which you would be working on of say... planes or jets or helicopters, just that you will be an electrician working on something or a part of something that goes in the air. If you're interested in metal working ask what type of guaranteed contracts they can offer in that field or related fields. Check every branch of the service, not just the one your friends are looking into. If you DONT get a guaranteed contract then NO MATTER WHAT a recruiter tells you about how high your test scores are or how well you do on physical fitness tests there is NO guarantee that you won't get placed in some field you don't want to be in. Keeping that in mind however the military is not stupid, they do not waste talent if they can help it, if you've demonstrated in testing that you have skills they will want to use them of course... But... military job classification assignment works something like this... they have a fixed number of slots for positions they want to put people in, aviation electricians for the year 2008 for example, people with guaranteed contracts who will be out of basic training during that year get those slots first (they have to, they guaranteed it, if they can fit you in yet then you wait, that is called the delayed entry program, when i expressed interest i was told i would have to wait 11 months from the time i signed to the time i went in so that when i got out of basic training a slot would be open for me in the field i was guaranteed) after the guaranteed people the people who tested with higher aptitudes for that work are chosen and put in to those slots. If you are on an open contract when you come out of basic training and the slots you wished for are full then they are full, no matter how well you did on the tests, no matter how smart you are, if the slots are full then they are full, the military will not wait to use you at a later date just because you are smart. If they don't have to wait to use you, based on a guaranteed contract, they will put you in whatever other slots they have open so they can use you now. I think the military can be a great experience, i'm not telling you to do it, decide for yourself. But if you do, why not try to guarantee the field you'll be working in. Getting a guaranteed contract usually means you have to sign up for more years than an open contract person, but 3 or 4 years spent in a field of your choice, in a type of work you'd like to continue when your military career is done, is much more valuable and worthwhile than 2 years as a rifleman or cook or security guard if you want to be a welder. Of course make your own decision, just don't let a recruiter talk you into an open contract, they will try very hard, they get more "points" for bringing in open contracts than they do for guaranteed ones. But there's no draft right now, sign up on your terms not theirs. Just sharing my experiences... There was a guy in basic training with my company, he bragged all the time about how high his test scores were and indeed they were the highest that had been through in a while, he was open contract and couldnt wait to see what interesting tech field the military would chose to use him in. We were all sitting in some bleachers the day they announced everyones name and military occupational speciality. I already knew the basic category of field that would be announced with my name. His name was announced and then the code for basic rifleman, he cried in front of everyone, and he cried all night that night. Not that being a basic rifleman is something bad, but it was the farthest thing from what he wanted to be. Ask the recruiters about guaranteed contracts, thats all you have to do. You struggle to make the right decision what to do with your life, if the military is that decision, why let the military chose what to do with you when there are so many cool things to do in the military, pick something you'll like, not something they like. Wow that took a long time to type... my 17 year old son got this same lecture from me about 6 months ago..... i'm a dad... when did that happen??? Lt

The look fine to me. And you have the same lenolium floor that i have in my kitchen LOL...

As i understand it a forge draws much better if the chimney goes straight up (through the roof) instead of out a side wall but my dad didn't want to put a hole through the roof. I was nervous about that but it turns out that it draws pretty good anyways in this setup, not near as good as the forges where i took a blacksmith class but good enough to keep me from choking on smoke... I don't advocate putting a chimney through a window as we did, even though it does go through a piece of sheet metal and is probably separated from the wall farther than it would be if we had used one of those proper spacer sleeves to put the chimney through. Just make sure it's safe. Definitely gotta use 10" pipe. Lt

Here's some pics of the hood without the sheetmetal covering, the whole forge, and the chimney outside. Sorry they're a little blurry, these were from a cell phone camera...

Yeah i made the fire pot also. I will post some specifics of how its made. I took a couple paper templates to a steel place and asked for 1/4" plate steel cut to the sizes i need, and some 4" square steel tube. I don't know how well my design will work yet, also i've seen the some others have done 3/8" steel plate instead of 1/4". My pot is about 6" deep, i also don't know if that's the right size or not, we'll see once i get to using it. Hopefully this weekend. Lt