ramsies11

yeah, i was looking for easy projects to do and learn on. as well as basic tools.

like i said, i honestly have no clue. does anyone have any clue on some easy beginners projects?

can i use tubing for copper work? i have a lack of craft stores in the area, but i have alot of hardware stores.

um. any easy-er beginners project. like i said, i have no clue what im doing. and i have no clue what to even start doing.

hello, i am new to copper working and frankly, i have no clue what im doing. i was wondering if any of you experienced copper smiths could help me out. to be perfectly frank, i have no idea where to start on where to get materials for copper working, and i dont know what tools to use, or even where to get them. hoping you all can help out, -ram

now, you want to learn how to play with the molten stuff, huh? well, i wanted to do that a while ago too, and then i realised how much work id be putting into it just so id be semi safe when doing it. you dont need just concrete and block, those will crack and break, and they might go kaplooie if you do it too soon. you need firebrick, and i beleive they are the "commercial" firebrick... maybe industrial, youll have to do the reaserch n that yourself, i know different firebrick have different grades, you also need to figure out if typical type N mortar will stand up the the temperatures you are looking at (id expect it to be around 3000ish degrees ferinheit, that way if you want to melt iron, you can), and before i forget on mortar, typical type N mortar takes 4weeks to be fully "cured" which means no more moisture content in it. so be careful on that. you also need a GRAPHITE crucible. these are expensive and a pain to get ahold of, but they are better than cast iron ones. you also need a set of FITTED tongs. as well as a good heavy pear of boots, heavy bluejeans, welders leathers (including apron), face sheild, respirator, HEAVY gloves. you also need a smaller torch, and you need to learn all the how-to's such as preheating the crucible before use. and so on and so forth, am i forgetting much guys?

welp, in hindsight, not my most intelligent idea. this is why i tell people about my ideas :D, so i can tell if theyre going to go well or fail horribly. really glad i didnt do this project. thank you all for your help.

hello all, im just talking to make sure ive got this down right, i have a job coming up where the lady has somehow found a big ol' 300 lb gear thats approx. 3' in diamiter. she wants a coffee table made out of the thing. now, if i have this right in my head, make the legs up, weld it with a nickel road and then peen it untill it cools? basically, im welding this cast iron gear to 3 3/4" legs ime making from rd. stock. if i figure this out and can find them, this large gear has 3 holes in it... a little bigger than that of a soda can. she wants me to find more gears (probobaly also gonna be cast iron) and weld them to hold her sodas up, using chains to let em hang. if i do it right, itll look nice, just be expensive. im using a 220V stick welder if that helps any.

have you seen any of the posts and bps for a brake drum forge? you can make the legs and blower detatch-able so it doesnt take much space. you kind of lost me on the whole side air system. lol. and a small detatchable chiminy and hood will do wonders.

i was walking around my local farm supply store and i think i found somthing that just might work. they are steel caps that are made to go ontop of steel fence posts. its pretty deep so i heated it up and i gave it a couple taps so itd be a bit more shallow. and i think it worked, now i just need to weld it to a hardy shank and im good!

ONR- i made one out of a wood round, i cut the main portion with a butterfly bit i welded up, and then i made it into the spoon shape with some dremel work. heres my question, why only oxygen bottles? what if an acetelyne bottle has the same valve breakage? or a tall propane/argon bottle? If you would take a little time to read in the forum, you would see many posts about not cutting into fuel tanks, and why.

i thought about lining the inside with fireclay also. and its good that i have atleast 1 good idea. lol

hi guys i have a question, as always, but the bottom of my forge has gotten pretty rusted out for just sitting in the barn for 100 years. my idea was to cut out a disk from some 1/4" plate and bolt that onto the bottom of my forge. my question is: will it hold up very well or am i just in the market for a new forge?

The person who had the dumpster was my masronry teacher and he okd it.

i didnt know it was illegal to go diving, but glenn, i could see the bottom (this is a 20x5 foot dumpster) and we open the side and just roll the wheelborrow in on a ramp. so, i could see what was there and i wore leather gloves and boots. safety first!

hoods and drafts are VERY important, espically if you work outside, i dont know how many times ive had to completely drop what i was doing with hot steel because i have had smoke in my eyes.

NICE! you have done some beautiful work!

yesterday i was dumpster diving in masonry because the football team threw out about 30 of their old face shields and about 10 old helmets in our dumpster, i proptly took a hammer to the helmets to break off the plastic holding the shields and i strung the 40ish shields together and carried them back to my car. theyre made out of 3/8" round steel stock... atleast i hope its steel, if not, ill get a couple bucks from them in scrap aluminum. but anyway, i planned on burning off this laytex type paint on them and then ill take a grinder to them to cut them up, the smaller pieces that i cant use will go into my scrap bin, the larger pieces ill probably use for roses, S hooks, and coat hangers. i estimated there was probably 5 feet of steel in each one. i did some calculations, and i'm ending up saving about 80 bucks from getting these things, i'm quite happy about that! :D Mod note: We have stated before, this can be a life threatening endevour, you do not know what is in a dumpster. There can be haz-mat and bio hazards. Do not take this post as advise to do it. Ramsies11 the only things in the dumpster were pàds, helmets,old uniforms, some offcuts from the block and some old cement. Thats how i knew it was safe. Otherwise i wouldn't of jumped in like i did..

broom- the fact that it bends easily doesnt help, its when your cutting it that it gets difficult, id sugest finding a set of calipers (soelling?) and then comparing that to the thicknesess on this page http://www.whimsie.com/gauge%20wire.html i say this because i made chainmail with 10-11 gauge wire, and i broke 3 sets of cutters after about 30 rings on each. i ended up switching to wirecutters and doing that, which was not fun.

now, i dont know if this is in the right section, if so, could a mod please move it? but heres my idea, get a 3"x3"x3" block of steel, drill a hole down the center so the little nub on the end of my router bit will fit, and take a metal router and bring it down like a drill bit to cut it down into a bowl shape. then ill weld a 3/4"piece of sqare stock to the bottom (size of my hardy) and use it as a bowl tool for making spoons and ladels and such, any ideas on wether or not this is a good or bad idea? i really dont want to mess up my router bit. lol

broomhead- what gauge is that wire? anything over 14gauge is EXTREMELY difficult to work. and i also suggest making a jig to spin it if youve got the spools. also see about getting some heavy cutters.

i might be the odd one out, but i DO wear leather welders gloves when i forge. and, on occasion, i put on a jersey glove before i put on the leather. i still keep a GREAT grip on the hammer and the work. after about 8hours of countinuous forging, i end up burning out the stitching on my left glove.....anyone wanna buy some right handed gloves? lol

cheap beginner anvils are usually railroad rails, or you can go by your local feed supply store and get a 55lber for 75usd. most people prefer coal, i cant get it for any good prices around here, so i buy LUMP charcoal. you can also use wood from old boards and such. just ask your parents permission on using tools and what to cut up. (i got in trouble for that the other day when i turned a pallet into forging material.) a campfire will work, it just wont work well. if you do use a camp fire, have a LONG tube going in it and have your hair dryer on the end. there isnt really cheap and good forging steel, depending on what your doing, i get scrap iron for my projects, and i use old rebar cutoffs from masonry class still in alot of my projects. another option for fuel is wood chunks, if you have a woodshop teacher, they probably have a couple scrap bins full of cutoffs and such. ask to buy that, its all really good for forging in my opinion. also, what sizes your fuel is, is very important. i prefer somthing a little larger than buck-wheat for my fuel, its packs easy, and retains heat.

round: fire? most of these are cold worked steel.

i didnt realise there was a bp for a 55forge. haha. well steve, i was thinking on basic physics. it takes more heat to heat up a larger area thus you burn more coal (or other fuel) than you would for a smaller forge. ill make sure to check it out. thanks for the advice steve.