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Happy New Year, Glenn is correct!!! Your notebook/scrapbook/scribler/sketchbook is the most important, next to your digital McCamera. When your rememory gets a little slow, it is worth GOLD to look at your notes. How did they do that??? Which part did they do first (other than the toilet). Etc. Etc. You can't take enough NOTES!! and Sketches!! I find that by drawing out the progress, you will understand which part you missed and then can ask, while the person is there to ask!!! Neil

Happy New Year, Here everything is damp. I use water to slow down the burning of the coal so it will coke up better and keep the fire hot-spot smaller than otherwise would be. It depends on your climate, whether it is fines or not, which shoe did you lace up first. If the coal is very dry, it will burn easy and your fire-ball will consume your coal quickly. It you keep it damp around the edges/sides, it won't create a huge hot-spot. I can't remember, does coal come in a 20lbs. or a 100lbs. tank???? :) :) :) Neil

The Museum of Making, near Cochrane Alberta has a huge collection of African trinkets. It is a private Museum built in an underground, temperature controlled vault. http://www3.museumofmaking.org/dbtw-wpd/machine.htm Neil

Happy New Year, If you want a simple straight bar, buy it the size you want! If you are going to weld it and it pulls all over the place, make a 3 foot long propane forge (one brick wide, 3 bricks tall, 4-5 bricks long, aim your burner in one end and semirestrict the other end) and heat and straighten 3 feet at a time. The good part about heating and straightening, all the internal stress and strain from welding will be gone. Neil

Happy New Year, Anvils work harden. Go to work on it, Don't hit the anvil directly, hit the Hot-Spot. It's magic, it takes quite awhile, but between now and then you will learn to respect the anvil face!! Neil

Happy New Year, You can use the fire-box you have, it will take a while to come up to temperature. I have used fire-brick forges for years. The high temperature brick is refractory, it reflects the heat back into the fire-pot. High temperature bricks are soft and break easily, they need other outside support to live a long time. Please focus on another burner. There are many designs that work or you can buy. Frosty has a simple design that works. You need a larger volume burner than what you have. You could use that burner for a one or two brick forge. Neil

Happy New Year, Take a piece of bicycle or motorcycle chain. Make a pin or hook on the side away from you, to hold the end of the chain. Make a foot hold like a stirrup on the other end of the chain. Hook the chain so it is the correct distance to hold your piece, when your piece is hot tuck it under the chain, put your foot in the stirrup and press down. Job done :) :) Neil

Happy New Year, Forget the coal forge!! Make a propane forge. Easier to get fuel, cleaner, no smoke to annoy the neighbours. Easier to start, warm up and shut-down. Less expensive in the long run. Neil

Happy New Year, It is good to try things. That is how you prove what does not work. This is a subject that gets asked over & over by people who don't read what is available in the history. Cut to the chase, The burner is wrong/too small. You can not make that burner work with that size forge. Neil

Happy New Year, I've got 2 legs, 2 arms, 2 eyes and ears and me. Everything else is extra!! Get it hot when you can, turn the mind on and enjoy the journey. We all have the same destination. Making a scrap pile is not important, making beautiful things out of someone elses junk pile is beautiful. Keep up with the "BISH" (rubish). :) :) Neil

Happy New Year, Safety doesn't come with a "cheap" designation. Buy a reasonable priced regulator and hose. Propane and Acetylene SHOULD have left hand threads (so it can't get mixed up with a non fuel gas). If you can get regulator, hose and shut-off from a local supplier, support your neighbour. If you don't support your neighbour, it is awkward to ask for help and expect an answer. A shut-off ball valve is your "Get out of Jail" card. If you are working and have to shut down for an unforseen reason, Turn the Ball Valve (Fire goes out immediately). A ball valve should not be used to vary fuel flow, that is what a regulator is for. All good regulators have a port for a gauge, you can buy a gauge from many places (your neighbour welding supply). just my $.02 Neil

It is a GREAT book and it will always need updating as more information comes along. I haven't heard of an update, but I'm sure there will be one sometime. When you purchase your book, don't be shy about using a pencil to add new knowledge and send the information to Mr. Postman. Neil

That's one way to learn respect when someone else build's something. There is no short-cut. "To finish, first you must start". :) :) Neil

Ironing a wagon refers to taking the wrinkles out of it, after a wash. :) :) :) LOL Happy New Year, Neil I know what it means, as what is posted above. But just had to be the Je-k that tried to have some fun :D before someone else did!!

I think Berkley Tack lives in Rainier, Address should be available from the NWBA address list. Neil

I hope you have been a Bad Boy and you get PILES OF COAL!!!!! :) :) Merry Merry, Neil

Use a Glass Bead blaster or Sand Blaster. Hind-sight is quite a Teacher. Vision is 20-20. :) :) Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda!! Merry Merry, Neil

Make a u-shaped support piece or punch a hole in something else and provide support under your project. The Blacksmith has to "Make a Tool, to Make a Tool, to Make a Tool, to Get your Job Done". Very Simple!! :) :) Merry Merry, Neil

Merry Christmas Andy, Welcome from Victoria, B.C. Canada, On the west side of the Island called North America, On the Other Pond!! Very Enjoyable creations!! Neil

Merry Almost, Compost also gets hot from sitting outside. I don't think there is any fear of your coal deteriorating from sitting. We get 50 ton at a time and it sits under a partial cover. Rain makes the fines go to the bottom. We mix the fines with water into a hardball size mud and add the hardballs to the sides of the fire like anything else. Neil

Merry Almost, I replaced mine with a tooth belt (like a timing belt). Change the drive pully to a tooth pully and the inside of the tooth belt grips the large drive on the Hammer. Neil

Merry Almost, You need to have some idea of what she wants!! Does she want a holder, like for a book, to hold one plate?? or Does she want to hang 3 or 4 plates on a wall, one above another?? The magic about a pencil is nobody has to able to understand it other than you. it is easier to make some lines with a ruler and rub out the mark when it isn't what you wanted. If you can't convey your thought to paper, find someone who can. Maybe the person who wants the project!! It is easier to make mistakes on paper than with steel. You can't ask for help with an idea that you don't have. I'll take two!!! :) :) Neil

Merry Almost, A good way to start. If there is a crack, grind out the crack and weld it back up with stick or mig, which ever you have. The crack is from hammering when the material is too cold. The weakest part of tongs is the transition from the hinge area to the jaw and the start of the reins. You can leave a little more material there and they will be stronger. I taper the reins from the hinge area to the tip, if you work about 3" at a time you can see the transition and control it. Cut off any excess length for the reins. A very nice start. Please don't take my comments as negative criticism Neil

Good Morning, I can't see the pictures properly. I is a tool that is used to sharpen mine drill bits. I have one Neil

Good Morning, At your T-fitting, you are restricted with the input diameter. The volume of air able to go through the holes in your discharge is restricted by the volume of air restricted in the small diameter pipe. Use a different T-fitting and not the reducer. Weld the reducer part to the T and grind out the inside for more flow if this is all you have available. The only way you can make your design work, is if you use a compressor and compressed air. I have two forges with a similar concept. 18-24" long, 3" diameter pipe with a thread on one end for a clean out cap, other end of the pipe will fit dryer vent flex-hose from a hand crank blower. 3" pipe lays horizontal with 5 - 3/4" pipe nipples welded in, 3/4" high, 3/4" between them. I took VW Van ball joints and machined 4 so they can be used as a plug inside the pipe nipples. The choice is how long you want the fire. The pipe is laying in a box similar like yours with clinker, ash and broken fire-brick pieces as filler. I use the fire-brick like yours to control the cross-wind. The clinker in this style forge does not restrict the air-flow, it lays around the nipples and you can pick it out in one piece once a day. Yours is not a mistake, just a lesson. :) :) Neil