jayco

Capp, welcome to Iforgeiron.
There's lots of metalworking information here, and friendly folks too.
Enjoy!

Another title; Shrapnel, where does it go?
A few nights ago, I was using a small punch to make holes in some leaf hooks, when suddenly the little 3/8 in. round by 7 in. long punch broke in half.

So there I was, holding half a punch........and wondering where the rest of it went. I spent a half hour looking in all the usual places, but found nothing.
( I am stubborn or compulsive........when I lose something , I must look for it!)

So now, I'm wondering when or if the business end of the punch will be found.

I might find it....6 months from now.....it might be 50 ft. from the forge.
Who knows........

Here's a question for everybody........How far have you had something fly from the anvil?.........And How long did it take you to find it?

James Flannery

Dan, that's a great quote.........is that your's?

I reuse everything, but I had a fairly unique experience recently.
I had a pile of old barn and fence boards that I set afire and made charcoal from.
The next day I was shoveling up the charcoal when I started noticing some crudely made square nails in the charcoal.
It took me a minute, then I realized that I had made the nails 30 years ago!
So what did I do? I picked up the nails and took them back to the forge....thought I might straighten 'em , reforge them a little........and USE THEM AGAIN!
Iron lasts a long time...........
James

Otter Bob, welcome to Iforgeiron.
Knowing which end 'not to touch', is a lesson I myself have to re-learn from time to time.
Enjoy your stay!

Swagedsoul, I was thinking of putting the clay around the outside of the rotor to fill in that trench, but I would not think it's necessary for the performance of the forge.

Yeah, a piece of expanded metal should work to cover the 2 in. hole.The idea is to not constrict the airflow any more than necessary.

The pics Glenn posted are good variations on the wheel forge as well.

You'll probably need to weld some kind of grate over the 2in. hole in the rotor, to keep your fire from falling down the air tube. One of the easiest ways I know is to weld one or two 1/4 in. bolts across the opening,.......creating slots that let plenty of air in and are easily cleaned out when they get clogged.

Also, if you decide you don't like that deep slot around the edge of the rotor,(hooking rakes and pokers on it , etc) Mix up some 'mud pie' consistency clay and water and fill in the deep section.

The clay will usually stay in place for quite some time, although at some point I always hook it with the poker and have to re-fix it.

Hope this helps, James

This is my main blower set-up I use most often.
A little handcrank champion with a 4 in. cooling fan hanging on the air intake.
The electric fan is handy when first building a fire, since i don't have to stand there and crank it.

The handcrank blower is the real workhorse, the electric keeps the fire going for small work.If I need more blast, I just crank a few times.

Ken, welcome to Iforgeiron!
Glad to have you aboard.
Please share some of what you have learned about metalworking with us........and we love pictures!
Enjoy!

By all means, do post some pics of your work.........and maybe some "how to" tips if you want.

We all learn from each other!

James

jkerwin, welcome to Iforgeiron.

You've probably already noticed: there's lots of information, and lots of friendly folks...............and lots of reading to do!

Enjoy!

Welcome hicks!

Making do with what you have is, in my opinion, the very spirit of blacksmithing.
The ancient smiths, and today's smiths in some of the more isolated locations do a lot with very little.

With a little money, you can buy a set of tongs, but once you've made a good set yourself,...........YOU KNOW TONGS!
There's a difference.

Enjoy the site!

James

racer3j, there's no reason I can think of why your idea wouldn't work..........It reminds me of the 'Arkansas' blower I saw pictures of somewhere.
It had a handcrank and a series of smaller and larger pulleys( conected with belts) to get the fan up to speed.

Aaron, I had an idea similar to yours.........using a smooth walled barrel and a big dash, but I haven't tried it yet.

One idea I tried, and could not make work.............was to make a bellows using a 33 gal. trash bag and 2 pieces of heavy cardboard as the top and bottom.....connecting it all together with duct tape! ( Sort of the 'Red Green' design strategy)
But so far.........no trash bag bellows!

James

Welcome to Iforgeiron, Richard.

I bet you have a lot of stories and smithing information.
Please share your experiences with us.

James

Pepper, welcome to Iforgeiron!
I'm too far from you to be of any help with locating blacksmithing supplies, but there are IFI members down your way who should be able to help.

Welcome to the community!

James

Sabre, you're correct about placing the green coal around the firepot and pulling into the fire gradually.
I try to keep the top of the fire open a little.....a little flame coming through.........to eat up the smoke.
One mistake I used to make was that I would simply rake more coal up towards the top and center of the fire. I would forget to push in the sides of the fire.....and all the coke would burn out just above the firepot,often allowing air to blow directly on the iron I was attempting to heat.

So, sometimes I push the sides in with a rake,sometimes I can simply strike the pile of green coal with the back of the shovel or poker.

I don't know if you can have a smokeless fire, but you can reduce the amount of smoke you make if you rake in the coal gradually.

Once the center of a coal fire is burning hot, and you rake in a goodly amount of green coal.......there may be considerable smoke start up from the green coal.
I sometimes use a small sprinkling can and drizzle some water right where the thick smoke is coming from. Not enough to dowse the fire by any means, just enough to slow the ignition of the green coal.
I don't sprinkle any water on the center of the fire at all.
With some kinds of coal, this dampening also aids in the coking process.

James

David, welcome to Iforgeiron!
Since you are just starting out, you might want to look at the 'getting started' and 'lessons in metalworking' sections on the front or opening page.

There is lots of information here and lots of friendly folks too.

There is much reading to do here........if you have questions, just ask.

Enjoy the site!

James

Larry, that seems to average out to about $6 per hour of forging.
I have no idea what coal costs out where you live, but I'm thinking coal (even if you have to buy by the sack) would be cheaper than that.

There was a thread a while back about coal consumption........I think everyone pretty much settled on the idea that it took about a 5 gal. bucket for a typical day of forging........of course, that can vary a lot........depending on how large a fire you need and what you're forging.

If you can build a fire in your back yard,(some folks can't), you might think about making your own charcoal.It's a good clean burning fuel, and really cheap,....if you make it yourself.

James Flannery

Jeff, welcome to Iforgeiron.
You will find that there is much information on knives and metalworking in general on this site.
If you have questions, just ask.......
Enjoy!

Electronics repair shops regularly discard large loudspeakers that can't be re-coned.

They have large dough-nut shaped ceramic type magnets that are quite powerful.
You can remove the magnets with a screw or nut driver usually.

A year ago, I would have said my favorite hammer was an old 1& 3/4 lb. ball pein.
Since that time, I've changed a lot of my hammers to a longer, tapered handle. ( I make my own handles.......and some hammers ,too.)

I couldn't honestly say I have a 'favorite' anymore!

Making sure the anvil is tightly secured to the stump or anvil stand will help quiet some anvils. Taking a piece of chain and wrapping it 3 or 4 times around the waist or narrow part of the anvil really quiets mine down.

Some guys attach magnets to the sides or undersides of their anvil to absorb some of the vibration, making the anvil quieter.

My Peter Wright anvil is fairly quiet when I'm using the face.......a little louder on the heel........and much louder when I use the horn.

You might do some experiments and see what happens.........
Also, some anvils are just louder than others.

Frank, welcome to Iforgeiron.
We love to see pictures.
Maybe you can share information with us about armour!
enjoy!

I have a few pieces scattered here and there in the barn that i did very early, but I don't have pics yet.

But here's a pic of some stuff I found in an old bucket in the back of the shop some months ago. I've been debating with myself about posting the picture. They're not very good. These are some practice things I did the first year or so after building the shop.

Stuff that didn't come out quite right ended up tossed to the rear of the shop. I don't know how they came to be in one bucket, either.
It was 35 years ago.

I call it my "What was I thinking?" collection..............

oh, by the way,........the little piece in the upper left that sorta looks like a file?

That was an attempt at 'can damascus'.........
I had heard of it somewhere and decided to give it a try,
so.....I brought a soup can to welding heat, sprinkles some borax on it, hammered some, folded it over, hammered some more..........

You get the picture........
How was I to know you were supposed to put something in the can!!:)

Yeah, m brothers, in the creek! Since the creek was at the edge on the lawn, it seemed like a handy place to dispose of the mower at the time.

Had there been a cliff, canyon, or ocean nearby.........it probably would have went in one of those places!

There is nothing as infuriating as a lawnmower that won't start after you've cranked yourself to nearly a coronary........and it's near 100 degrees!

I was 16.
Dad always kept a little anvil and blower on the farm, but we didn't use it much.
When I was 16, I decided to build a shed for a proper shop. That shed has been the forging station ever since.

The book that really inspired me was an old copy on "Farm Mechanics-1946 edition"
One chapter on blacksmithing....but very clear and concise information.