jayco

One thing I forgot to include in the above post is that if you put the charcoal out with water, it will take some time to get it dry enough to use in the forge effectively. I have spread wet charcoal on a tarp for a day or so to dry. Another thought is that you could just use small pieces of wood in your forge, if you have no solid fuels available to you. The wood well burn and turn into charcoal. It's not the easiest fuel to use.......lots of radiant heat in your face and considerable smoke........but better than nothing.

Gas was $3.95 in Grayson ky, this morning. We have a dozen convenience stores and 2 truck stops, and prices were pretty much the same all over town. One station had run out of 'regular unleaded, but there were no lines for gas anywhere.Except for a few travelers, there wasn't much gas being sold at all! I hope it doesn't get any worse. I've yet to hear how extensive the damage is from Hurricane Ike.

Buddy,you can make charcoal in a 55 gal. drum. You can use any handy piece of flat sheet metal that will cover the top of the barrel to seal out air. But first, there's much to think about before you try to make it. Can you build a fire SAFELY in your back yard? Do you have a location that's away from your home,garage, or any other buildings? What about under ground gas lines? Large propane tanks? Making charcoal in a 55 gal. drum makes for very hot fire. The green grass around the burning barrel will dry from the intense heat and may begin to burn,,,possibly starting a grass or forest fire. See what I mean? There's a lot to think about as to the safety issues involved. I would strongly reccomend that you get your dad to be 'safety adviser' on making your charcoal. If you decide to put a sheetmetal 'lid' on your barrel, be sure to put some bricks or something heavy on the lid to keep the wind from blowing it off. It may take 12 hours or more to complete that kind of burn, and I would not recomend leaving the barrel unattended. You can just build a fire in the barrel(filled with wood), and after about an hour drown it with water to put the fire out. but remember, a large charcoal fire is ridiculously hard to put out. I have dowsed a pile of burning charcoal for full 15 minutes(with a garden hose), only to have it spring back to life later........ Good luck to you on this project...hope this helps........and.........BE CAREFUL!!

We got our 30 cent increase in gasoline prices sometime today........I didn't see it myself, but a neighbor told me that gas in Grayson Ky was $3.55 this morning........$3.85 at 5 o'clock this afternoon. Glad I don't have to travel much for a few days!

At one time or another, I've been a; farmer logger truck driver electrician plumber carpenter guitarist apple butter maker and sometimes, a blacksmith.

I started out using big pliers, channellocks, and the one pair of flat jawed tongs that dad had.The first few pair of tongs I made didn't come out so good, so I started looking for tongs at fleamarkets and antique shops. Most of those weren't as good as I thought they were when I bought them. I have bought some nice BIG tongs.........but I seldom use those. At that point, I guess I had decided I wanted to have tongs to fit my hands and grip what I wanted to grip. Since it hadn't occurred to me, at the time, to just order new tongs to my liking, I kept at it until I got several pair made that grip flat, square, round, and other stock. I don't think I've ever made a really pretty pair of tongs.....but they work for me.. And I find that I like making tongs!

I guess they adopted the phrase "Rural Free Delivery" to get the call letters RFD. The channel focuses on rural/ farm related programming. Old time music shows Gardening Cattle auctions Old time tractors and machinery and lots of other 'country' stuff We get it on the satelite dish.......pretty interesting. I never realized until I saw this thread that there were only ten episodes of 'Forge & Anvil'!.........I thought I was just missing the rest of them somehow!

I had been wondering about Ted myself....... I owe Ted 'bigtime' for giving me a warm welcome when I first became part of IFI nearly 2 years ago. His encouragement made a huge difference for a guy who was new to the internet, computers, and typing. If you see this Ted.............THANK YOU!!

Norm, welcome to Iforgeiron! There are a lot of welders on this site and forums about welding. You'll fit right in. It's funny you should mention tobacco.....here in Eastern Kentucky we were a big producer of burley type tobacco..............I never knew tobacco was grown so far north as your location. Oh well,........I learn something new every day! Welcome to IFI.......Enjoy!

Frosty, that's one nice looking shop you're building there......and just outside of Hollywood too! Cool!:)

Welcome to Iforgeiron! You asked about where to start..........there are sections on the 'home' or front page of IFI called "Getting Started" and "Lessons in Metalworking" Those are good places to begin. Enjoy!........James

Welcome to Iforgeiron, Frank! Glad to have you aboard. I know you're working on your website, but you're welcome to post information in the forums and post pictures in the IFI Gallery as well. James

Tom, I can identify with your 'lack of time' at the forge. Even though I'm a semi-retired farmer , it's still difficult to get everything done that I want to do. I often find myself in that strange position of being busy all the time , yet not getting anything done! I've been helping my son with his lawncare business. ( In short, I run a weed eater) Also, I finally got my new shop under roof.........which has taken some time. As far as what I'm 'supposed to be doing'....I'm making small leaf things and little Christmas tree silhouettes to place in some local craft stores........though I'd admit I'm not making much progress on that work. Maybe I'll get them done when the weather gets a bit cooler. I've been smithing as a hobby for 35 years and I don't think you ever get done with making tools. This summer I've made a guilotine tool, several spring swages,spring fullers, a 3/8 in. ball swage ,( now I need more sizes!) Just something else to put on the 'to-do' list....... But I'ts all fun, and I enjoy it all! James Flannery

I usually dampen my coal down with a sprinkling can( a soup can on a stick) My coal is in 5 gal. buckets. If it's really dusty........I sprinkle about a can's worth right in the bucket. With some kinds of coal, dampening aids in the coking process. I don't wait for it to dry.....I place it right in the forge........around the edge of the fire. The fire will dry it. If coal is REALLY dirty....with dirt and rocks and stuff mixed in, you can shovel the coal into a bucket about half full of water.......slosh it around....and the dirt and rocks will settle to the bottom, and you can scoop out the cleaned coal with your hands. There's a Blueprint on that somewhere.........it works suprisingly well.

Thanks Frosty........soon I will post a thread explaining more about the new shop. my dad sawed the lumber I salvaged in 1950........using a sawmill that was powered by a Packard motor. For 50 years, it was a tobacco barn As far as the Stihls........we have 3.......that way we always have one that is running!

I was putting this little forge and blower together (using one of those 4 in. computer fans as the air supply) and noticed a problem. Very little air into the forge! There was so little air that I thought I'd put the fan in backward! Well, I hadn't done that. First of all, this is a tiny forge....the vertical air pipe is a grease gun tube........the horizontal pipe is only 1 in. inside diameter. These little fans work on my regular forge as 'helpers' pretty well.....of course my regular forge has 3 in. air supply pipe. These little fans don't have enough power to be constricted to a small pipe....say.......1 in.! Oh well, live and learn......... James

Here's a couple pics. my old shop........and my new shop (it's not finished)

All the folks down that way will be in our thoughts and prayers.