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I Forge Iron

Jacob

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Everything posted by Jacob

  1. Jacob

    Show me your Lathe

    I have a tiny little craftsman lathe, 6x18". I found it in a metal scrap dumpster missing the chuck, motor, and needing a bit of cleaning. I am slowly collecting bits to make it run, but I'll probably sell it to raise money for a real machine tool. It's not really suited to working steel. I have a wood lathe of similar low quality. I can hardly wait until both are gone and some heavy old American iron is brought into the shop. There is lots of good info here: Griffiths Engineering
  2. The forge looks good so far. I'm making a similar one, but I purchased a cast iron firepot from Blacksmiths Depot. That thing is a beast but it's expensive. The rest of mine was free. All of the angle iron I used is from bed frames. One thing I added was adjustable feet on the legs. I used a plate with a through hole and a 1/2" nut welded on, and a 1/2" bolt for the foot. A jam nut will keep it from shifting. Your floor looks fairly level, but it's much easier to add now before it's all set up. It will give me a little flexibility in the chimney hood height as well, since I'm venting out of a fixed point in a block wall. Let me know if you get any videos of space forging. The fire would be spherical because there is no "up".
  3. Yes, be careful of your response. A blacksmith I worked for was told the same line, and after some discussion found out he was talking to Clare Yellin. That's not the same as having a few metalworking tools on the farm like my family. I bet she gets a kick out of telling other blacksmiths that line. :)
  4. Any pet deer would watch. It's probably best to minimize exposure to other animals, too. It's not instinctive for humans to look away either. We know lots of people who have burned their eyes.
  5. Frosty, I did some looking around online and haven't found much yet on hazards of combining the chinmey. I'm looking to make it safe for my intended use, and will be taking some (all?) key components with me if I move. I rarely plan on using the heater, and never if there is a coal fire. The coal fire and protective clothing in the winter will be plenty enough for warmth. If the problem comes from water vapor being brought into the mix, I'm not worried because of the difference in time. I'll have the same or greater problem from rainy days and humidity. I'll check out any resources on the subject if there are recommedations. I imagine for my criteria it will work fine, with a little extra warm-up time needed for the draft on the heater. I've already redone most of the wiring, not for code, but for safety and usability
  6. The shop I bought (with house detached) came with a propane warehouse heater hanging from the high ceiling at one end. It used to be piped to a propane tank just outside the block wall. I haven't bought a new tank, yet, but I mean to run an extra line or two so that I can bring propane to a forge and maybe a torch. The propane heater is vented with an 8" chimney duct. I put my coal forge under it and knocked a cinderblock out of the wall, and I'm replacing the old 8" chimney with a 12" one that goes all the way down to the missing block. I still have a few custom sheet metal bits to make for the forge hood and 12-8 reducer Tee. When finished, it'll have plumbed propane for heat and a forge, and a coal forge with a 12"x ~20' chimney. I'll put a gate in the heater tee to keep smoke out of the heater when not in use. I don't expect to need the heater that much in Maryland. There's a thermostat that can be set to just keep things from freezing. Often, one of the best ways to spend money towards being warm is to invest in insulation. I don't know how that applies to a shop with windows or a garage door open for ventillation. I'm guessing it's still worth checking out, particularly if there are a lot of times when the forge isn't running.
  7. I just picked up a large forge blower to use with my coal forge. Maybe I should put a T in so that I can direct some air past the propane forge (not yet built) as needed. Others with a powered forge blower might try the same thing if the forges are usually stationary. I worked in a shop with a couple of propane forges for a while. The large one was a blown forge used all the time and was easy to light. The small one, commercial but I don't recall the brand, was always dangerous to light. You almost always lost some percentage of arm hairs, unless they hadn't grown back yet. The forge worked fine in use. Some designs are probably safer than others. If you're building your own, I don't know how to spot the differences other than to light it up.
  8. Another option is to use the final stock size you want and split the basket in the middle. Then you have no welds. Figure out what works best for you and your equipment.
  9. Neat! Never try to straighten it.
  10. I'm setting up my shop by functions. There is a grinding/buffing area, a forging/hot work area, hole-making area (drill press, punch press, hand drills, bits, taps/dies, etc.), welding area, etc. The material cutting section is in the middle on wheeled stands to make room as needed. This helps me to decide where a tool should go (and where I should look for it). Now I'm building racks and shelves to hold things at each place. Misc. items that don't get used much are currently in the large shelf at the bottom of the tool chest. That currently includes a dremmel, small sander, jigsaw, etc. When I find/make/buy some better storage (I'd like some overhead kitchen cabinets or similar) those and other infrequently used tools and materials will go up and out of the way to give me more space at ground level.
  11. Do you want to forge anvils or jewelry? That looks like a forge for small work. Try breaking up your coke in smaller chunks. That's probably a good size for hooks, nails, etc.
  12. The blacksmithing parts of my shop aren't up and running yet, but I'll call out a few safety points that I want fixed before I declare it complete and running: 1) Better steel storage is needed for sheets and long lengths 2) Wiring needs to be run on one side of the shop. I finished the other side on a different circuit and now run extension cords across the middle. 3) A large fire extingisher is needed. I picked up one of those old small ones with the needle just into the red for free. When the indoor forge is finished, I'll need a real one. 4) Overhead storage is needed. I'd like to get some kitchen cabinets high on the walls to clean up much of the clutter that is just being stored for some unknown project. 5) The old geared-head drill press needs a switch and a bigger motor. Right now I have to reach behind the flat belt to the power strip switch on the wall to turn it on. Then, the motor is short on torque and needs a pull or two on the belt to get started. A new, larger start cap didn't help enough. 6) Various tools should be anchored better: the grinder, belt grinder, drill press, power hacksaw, benches... 7) I need a real welding bench. I have a ~30x30x.75" AL plate sitting on a composite wood table... 8) The water lines need to be fixed. There is a sink out there, but the pipes had burst before I moved in. That's supposed to be the first aid/clean up/fire suppression corner, but I piled up junk there because the plumbing needs work. 9) Last but not least (I couldn't think of a tenth, but I'm sure there's more) the projects, materials, and latest finds that are all over the benches and floor need to be finished and out of the way.
  13. Cool. It looks like you even have room to add some storage for extra wheels, buffing supplies, etc. I'd like to add another grinder eventually, and that's not an option I had considered. That would be a good way to keep a wire wheel set up and out of the way.
  14. What about using a large diameter chimney with an extra fan pushing fresh air through it? It could help your chimney draw better and would decrease the density of the smoke. There wouldn't be any fewer particles, just more air in between to keep the neighbors happy when you build up the fire with fresh coal. It would have to be a large enough fan to make up for all of the cool air in the chimney. I'm currently building my chimney 12" diameter and about 20' from the shop floor to the peak. I'm not sure if I'll have to make any neighborly adjustments. We'll see when I fire it up.
  15. I have one in the shop attached to the back of my leg vise stand. I cut and filed some larger square holes in the middle section, welded straight sleeves to the back of some, and welded on a pipe to use as a leg similar to the vise. This way, I have 3/4, 7/8, 1, 1 1/4, and 1 1/2" square holes available for use. I use it as a hardy plate or sheet metal stake plate for shop-built stakes (no taper). I could see them being an awsome welding/acorn table if you had enough of them and a big welder. Cleaning up or adding square holes would be a great application for a die filer. I'd love to have one.
  16. I've wondered if mine is from Old World Anvils. Chances are pretty good. I bought it off the back of a pickup truck. There are lots of nice anvils posted here, but my anvil-envy is for the hornless german anvil posted early on. These london pattern versions are everywhere. :)
  17. For small items I often use a pair of 30" bolt cutters. It's not the best cut, but it quickly disappears when forging or chamfering. They cost $15 new at a flea market. For a cheap, quality cut-off saw, I'm picking up an old power hacksaw this weekend. For a full time shop with lots of jobs, you should put up the money for a quality bandsaw. For a hobby shop like mine, the power hacksaw should be awesome for the price. Look for an old, heavy model (the seller of mine estimates ~300 lbs, we'll see on Saturday). The rigidity and simplicity will beat any new bandsaw for the price, and many have built-in coolant pumps. Mine wont clamp at angles (without a jig), but many cheap bandsaws won't cut square, so it's a tradeoff. If you don't mind old, heavy, industrial equipment in your shop, keep an eye out for quality old equipment that still runs rather than spending more money on new junk of poor quality.
  18. Nice. I have a few around that I mean to make into tools. The collar obviously makes a good hardie tool. The shafts will probably be hammers, and the working ends will either be stakes or hammers depending on the shape. At least one will probably be a creasing stake. Do the S-steels tend to have any markings? The NTBA Junkyard steels chart claims S5 as typical of jackhammer bits.
  19. I've also heard good reviews of Burr King. I bought a Grizzly and it works well enough. I may tinker with it one day to make it a 3-wheel setup or make some attachments. Otherwise I might just build a second one. Building one shouldn't be that hard IF you have a complete fabrication shop already.
  20. Here is my anvil. It is double horned, 110 lbs, with no markings. Any experts want to guess who made it? I don't usually see the top of the round horn being flush with the working face. Otherwise, I use all sorts of steel things to shape on/in/around.
  21. They're good fabrication material for things around the shop. I'm making a new coal forge using them and some plate for the table. The only thing I bought was the firepot. Mine were probably medium carbon, cut with a chop saw. I still need to weld on the legs and some nuts for adjustable feet. If I find more, it might become a stock or tool rack.
  22. Jacob

    Hammer Racks

    Here's the one I threw together with an old pallet: Now to work on filling it.
  23. For the short-term, if you use the water bath to add thermal mass, throw some drinks in there to keep them cool as you forge. :)
  24. Definately a nice anvil. I saw it at the auction, too, but I didn't have that much to spend. I was mostly checking things out, but I bought a few box lots. I got 4 pairs of tongs in a box of old soldering irons, a bunch of morse taper drill bits and adapters, and a few sets of hold down clamps. I recently bought a camelback drill press so I was looking for tooling. I agree, there were a lot of resellers there, and people with lots of money. Overall the prices were pretty good, though. Take care of that anvil. It's lasted this long.
  25. Mainly you'll want something thick, flat and stable. With a thick table you can weld jigs, braces, whatever directly to the table to support your table. If you use something thin (depending on what work you do, but anything less than 1/4 inch) it will warp with the heat and not give you much to grind smooth.
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