Archie Zietman

hello! I have no idea whether any of you chaps are Jewish too, but anyways, tommorow is Rosh Hashannah, happy new year!! :D

mine has been going for a week'n a half. I just racked it, to clear a 1/2 inch thick layer of sediment on the bottom, and watered it down slightly, to keep the carboy full. There's barely any fermentation going on right now, but the balloon/airlock is still upright and inflated, and I'm gonna wait for it to deflate before bottling. Should be in about a week or two, bread yeast being as strong as it is. mmmmm... And Strine, I'm not a drunk, I was sober when I voted and went Kerry thank you very much!!! 8)

gotmead.com but once I got the gist I improvised, and went on instinct. It's coming out great. My science teacher from last year commisioned a knife and a small bottle from me. :D

Hello. Last week my parents gave me the OK to start brewing mead. I may be 6 years too young to legally drink it, but my parents have let me have my share of manischewitz, and grappa over the years, and are fine with it, so long as I don't sell it or give it away to minors or drink it on non-special occasions. So far it tastes great, it's an improvised apple-cinnamon recipe. :D

try makingbiodeisel it works great. veggie oil + Lye+antifreeze.

might be more. They are definately hardenable to some degree, though.

You live in Wocester MA? MA? YES!!!!! another smithing enthusiast in MA! sorry, it's just that I have been keeping my eyes open for fellow Massachusetts smiths (for no apparent reason)and haven't found any. i've been using a charcoal forge in my driveway (in the very middle of salem) for a while and nobody has complained or come after me.

Thanks eversomuch Dr Hrisoulas!! it's great!

Also, about the gasses, Could you not harness them in some way to help the fire burn? You do that when making charcoal, burning the gas-filled smoke to help cook the charcoal. Works really well.

The blowers for the forges at Centaur Forge (I visited them recently, for an armour making workshop) were all below the firepit, probabably to prevent backfiring.

what is a backfire?

Hello, I have a smal motor powered grinder, with what I think is a sharpener, which grinds of material super fast, and a vicious rusty wire wheel which you can't touch without gloves on the other. I just unbolted it from a workbench right underneath the fusebox, and it is elsewhere. I have removed the wire wheel, but there is still a kind of swcrew-thing which I could put a big wheel on. Is there any way I could put a second wheel higher up supported by, say, some angle iron or something, and make it a belt sander? I am also wondering whether it would be possible to bolt the iron through the outer housing of the motor-thingy, or would this interfere with the motor? Thanks, Archie

Hello. My friend, who is very into greek civilization told me that some greek blacksmiths used olive pits or pips or whatever as a fuel, because apparently they are so oily, and their core is woody too, that they burn really hot, and for a longo time. Anybody else heard of this? I might try it sometime to see how it works, and pound some iron and bronze. Thanks, Archie

What you could do, is heat it up to a very high temp. and then stick it in a pile of wood ashes or sand, and let it cooloff completely, which will soften it, and take all the work hardness out. Then what you do, is to make sure it's soft all the way around, heat it up to red hot, and let it cool in the air three times. Then heat it up to red hot, and quench it vertically (point first) in plain vegetable oil. It works really well IMHO. I'm a beginner too by the way. Welcome to the forum(s?) and I hope your stay is as fruitfull knowledgewise, as an army of humonga cherry trees. P.S. I really like the knife! The lines are really clean and I likes dat! Have ypou sharpened it yet?

Thanks! Right now I am in need of a hot cutter, a bottom fuller, and a hot punch so I will make those I think. My art teacher told me to go to Home Depot because she knows I'm into blacksmithing, and her boyfriend is a smith, and often gets his S-1 or S-5 from the jackhammer bits. Could one make hammers from it? Like, a hammer on which the handle is also steel? or would that bounce too much? I might use some as a blade steel too, it is listed as a blade steel in JPH's "Complete Bladesmith". Thanks, Archie :D

Hello. The Home Depot chaps think I am crazy. I just walked in there, went straight to the tool rental section, and asked whether I could buy some of their used jackhammer heads, and stuff. So tommorow Steve is gonna give me a very lot of them. What will I do with them? Any ideas? Specific useful tools? knife designs? a MASSIVE cold chisel? Thanks, Archie

Hello. I am going to built a second firepot for my forge tommorow, for larger projects, but I need to know something: Can you just pile charcoal onto a plate, apply a small amount with air, and keep the fire in that area like you can with coal? If not, how can I manage a small fire to heat things like the middle sections of long iron bars etc.? Thanks, Archie

Also, I'll post pictures when it is done and I like how it works, and that I can use it without any problems.

I know, I know, but my brother has the camera, and he's in Israel right now. :cry:

I really love that design, it is a perfect exampl,e of simple elegance.

I just fired it up, and it works beautifully, but I need to put a new tuyere grate, a steel fastening for the air supply, and an ash dump door in, and maybe use the floor thing as a thickening/tuyere grate holder for the firepot. apart from that it is beautiful, I will have 2 interchangable firepots, one for small work (the street lamp) and one for larger stuff, and platework which is a big steel dish-pot thing that will be lined with cement.

Just finished the forge! It's made of cement, sand, the lamp-post, some 1.5 inch inner diameter steel pipe fittings, and a floor fitting thingy. I also chopped all the tines of a pair of old rakes, and bound them into stacks for pattern welding. they are high carbon steel :D

He chortled in his joy! Hello. Today my dad dropped me off at Home Depot, (my favorite store, where I have spent hours at a time) where I bought myse;f some new tools, and fitting-pipe things. Firstly, I bought a big cold chisel, 1 foot long by 1/2 foot wide, which works beautifully, and is high carbon steel, so when it breaks I will make something fun out of it. My art teacher told me that if I ask the tool rentists, I can buy their scrap jackhammer bits (w-1) wicked cheap, I didn't have time, but I will go down again soon. I also got some sanding disks for my drill (I use them, because I have no belt sander, and they work fine) I also bought some chunky steel fittings, which I am bolting to my streetlamp, to majorly thicken the bottom of my forge, and which will be the tuyere pipe, and ash dump, in the style of a brakedrum forge. But the best thing was that they had, in the tools section, a single "2.5 pound Blacksmith's Hammer" it is crowned, and has a fuller on the back end, and a fiberglass handle, and everything. It is heavier than my normal forming hammer, but it is a pleasure to swing, and the fuller on the back means that I can draw out steel a (words edited) lot quicker and easier than before. I will, for all this, not stop using my claw hammer, and my new forge will be mounted on my little red wagon, though at a more convenient height, though. Words edited

I pray your wife's surgery goes well.

primetechsmith, I use a large sledgehammer lain across 2 upright logs as my anvil.