jayco

M-brothers........I don't know if I can help or not, but here goes......... In the winter, with rain and snow, all wood usually is wet. Wood that has been lying on the ground will be saturated...and difficult to burn. We heat our home with wood, and a couple of times ran out in February. Not a good time to have to find 'dry' firewood and cut it. A dead tree that is still standing or dead limbs which have not laid on the wet ground will offer the driest wood. The problem with using really wet wood to make charcoal is that the burn is often so slow(using the direct method), that the outside of wood chunks burn into ash while the middle of the wood is 'frying' and still spewing water. result.........little charcoal. You mention a 'plywood furnace'........sounds sort of like a drying kiln as you desribe it. I wouldn't know how to go about making something like that. Sounds like a difficult project. Hope this helps. Be careful!

My wife gets the inexpensive candles at discount stores(Dollar General, etc.) They are usually made of parrafin. She saves the 'stubs' for me. I take 'em to the shop to use for simple finishes. I can't recall having any problems with 'a deep red color' though. I sometimes touch a bit of candle to a warm punch or pair of tongs......merely as a rust preventative.

One day my dad bought a new LIncoln AC welder at the farm store. Neither of us had ever arc welded anything . I was 14 at the time. Dad tried it first, but had trouble maintaining a consistant arc. Scratch, scratch, buzz,......scratch...you get the idea. After a few minutes, he turned to me and said "Here......You try it!" I also fumbled with the 'arc thing' for a while ; I took a moment to look at that little book that came with the welder and was then able to hold an arc. Reading the instructions helped! Actually, it would have been much better for both of us to have practiced running a few beads, but dad was much less patient than I was. We had several broken items around the farm that were in need of repair, so dad picked up a pipe wrench with the handle cracked 2/3 of the way through, and said" Here.....see if you can fix this"! I did manage to strike an arc and fill the crack with metal. Surprising both of us, it was a decent weld that still holds today..The wrench is still in my toolbox and gets used regularly. By the way: My dad had went to the 'GI' school after WWII and one of the books he kept from that time was called FARM MECHANICS-YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE-1946 I learned a lot about arc-welding,smithing,soldering,building your own hog feeders, and lots of other shop type stuff from that book. I still refer to it from time to time.

A tripod for the digital camera......yeah, it's blacksmithing related!

If you've ever seen a coal seam in a steep embankment along the highway and considered 'prospecting' with your tire tool.

The straight pin with the eye in it is puzzling to me. I've used what we around here would call 'log dogs', but they are quite different in design than what is shown in your picture. The ones I've used look much like BP0392, with a sharp right angle on the point which is driven into the log. 'L' shaped, but more like 120 degrees so the point actually digs into the log. These must be made of heavy stock, 3/4 to 1 inch, to withstand being driven in and also knocked loose with a sledge over and over again. Hammering on the eyes of the 'dogs' I have used would soon destroy them. I'm only guessing at this point, but the chain may have been used to support something heavy in a barn(with pin being driven into an overhead beam). Might have been used as a linking device for a horse-drawn sled or other farm implement. Or it might just be a really old log chain. Kind of interesting....I hope some of the historical smiths here will know how it was used.

I can readily identify with the *tool collector*, (I'm one myself!) I once bought a large pair of tongs from a guy at the flea market for $5. They're 'rail road track tongs! The kind two track workers would use to carry a section of track. They won't fit anything else but sections of track. No....they're not for sale. You never know when they might come in handy! Might want to move a whole bunch of *track* anvils someday...........

Merry Christmas everyone!

Welcome Johnny.! There are links on the opening Page of IFI that will help you 'get started' with blacksmithing and IFI. Enjoy!

Rich,my grandson was with me today and saw this knife pic. He said, and I quote,"Papaw! Why don't we make a knife like that!?" (Just look what you've gotten me into!) So.....it looks like we will be attempting to make some sort of knife. By the way......that's a beautiful knife!

Over the past few years I've learned a lot about the effects of stress and about myself. But first, I must explain. Three years ago,I had a cardiac triple by-pass surgery. Serious stuff! With the year of rehab that followed the surgery,I had plenty of time to read, think, and reevaluate my place in the world. (By the way, my doctors tell me I'm good for several more years). But the point I'm trying to get to is this. In my case, the day to day stress of trying to make a living in a depressed farm economy nearly killed me. Stress brought on the high blood pressure,heart attack, and ultimately,....open heart surgery! Well after all that,my world view had to change. I know this is going to sound strange, but I believe that 'how you look at things affects how they really are.' This is not 'new age mysticism, but rather 'is the cup half empty or half full? When I was farming full time and struggling to keep my economic head above water, that was "real". But when the doctors told me I had a couple years to live if I didn't have the surgery, that was even more"REAL"! I knew this was gonna be a bear to explain! So,I learned to relax. I learned to do things you're not supposed to do in a modern capitalistic society........like taking the grandson fishing.....even when there's so-called 'important' work that needs to be done. Or driving down a street or a country road......just because you've never been there before........on a day when you're supposed to be busy. Or......hammering on a piece of hot iron....just to see what comes of it....for the FUN! of it! I know, it sounds a little crazy...........

Welcome Jerry! We chatted tuesday night after the BP's. Don't forget that your knowledge as a firefighter can prove invaluable to us all. ( We talked about that a bit) Glad to have you here!

The floor in my shop is dirt(clay), and there's an inch or so of cinders from the forge on top of that. Sorta like pea gravel. Although I like the cleanliness of a concrete floor, standing on one for any length of time makes my back hurt. So I guess I'll stay with dirt> cinder> gravel.

Welcome Smokeman! The 'home' page has great links to help you find your way around Iforgeiron. this is a big place with lots of information and friendly folks. That is nice work in your pics. Looks like you're well on your way. Enjoy!

When I'm facing my forge,the anvil is on the right.....post vice to the left with blower in between it and the forge. If it were a bit closer to the forge, I would probably use it more than I do now. My shop is small. That's why I have not rearranged things better. But a new shop is planned for spring; If all goes well,I'll be able to put everything where I want.

I've also been using a small cooling fan from an old refrigerator.......about the same size. It just hangs by a piece of coat hanger wire like the one in the picture. I wanted to try different fans to see if results were the same. This seems to work with any small cooling fan. Because of the housing design, the second fan didn't seal around the intake hole on the handcrank blower very well,........so I made a gasket from two old socks to stop the leaks. Very low tech! The air output from these little fans is low,(think hairdryer or your car heater fan on low), but it keeps the fire at 'fast idle'. I have worked on small stuff,something like leaf keyrings, for hours without ever touching the handle on the handcrank, The most noticeable improvement for me was finding how much easier it was to build a fire in the mornings. I found I could light my usual balled newspaper/woodshavings/small sticks kindling.........wait until the fire caught up a bit.....then plug in the electric fan. I'm not anchored to the handcrank anymore......I can use both hands to shovel coal around the firepot,rake coal into the fire,get my stock ready, choose hammers and tongs for the next forging......maybe even sip some coffee while the fire is getting hot. Even though the fans are small, small stock will in some cases burn if you're not watching closely enough. If you're used to handcrank, like I was for so many years,you just have to remember that the fire burns on....even when you're not looking. Of course that's what the electric blower guys have known all along.

Some kind of floor(sheet metal, plywood,etc) makes shoveling up the coal much easier and keeps the coal out of the dirt and the dirt out of your coal. Putting a tarp over the coal is good......under a roof is better. there's nothing quite like digging down through the snow to find your coal.

My shop is damp too. I don't really polish anything,but any tools that don't get used a lot start to rust and get wiped down with an oily rag.

The corner posts of my shop are locust poles......cut right from the woods......with the bark still on them. The post nearest my forge has a 1inch knot hole in it. That knot hole has been home to many a mouse. At one point it became routine for a mouse to find refuge in that knot hole as the cat gave hot pursuit. I got tired of the daily chase and plugged up the knot hole with a piece of wood. The very next morning, there was a mouse's nest in my blower! So......I just took the wooden plug out of the knot hole...............

Sam.....good job on the forge.....and thanks for posting the pics!

Here's my old Lincoln AC 225 ......not much to look at . I suspect a lot of other shops have one of these things in a corner somewhere. The original grounding clamp and electrode holder have both been worn out and replaced. The original cooling fan gave out a few years ago, and was replaced. Much of the original insulation on the wire leads has come off due to heat and age. As you can see, there is much electrical tape covering the cables. But all in all,this has been a tough old machine and is still my main welder.

I got my latest burn punching two holes through a 3/8 in. dia. ring. I had a hammer in one hand, a little punch in the other. I should have used my holdfast tool,......but I didn't. I temporarily forgot that round things seldom want to stay where you put them. I did the first hole without a problem......but when I struck the punch to start the second hole, the ring went airborne and into my left hand. Not a bad burn,.........but I'll remember to use the holdfast next time!

Welcome Woodforge..... You can go over to the 'Home' page and find all kinds of great links to help you find your way around IFI , and links for "getting started in Blacksmithing!" Enjoy!

Sam.....I made a hot-cut hardy from leaf spring years ago. I did mine pretty much as you did, except I didn't think of making it fit diagonally like you did. I hammered the post section down to 1 inch wide. As there was not enough metal in the post to fill the hardy hole,......mine was a little wobbly. I had to use the arc welder to build up the post enough to stop the wobble, but it worked. I didn't hard-quench mine, as I was afraid it might shatter. Mine has been surprisingly tough and well used. I just re-dress it a little from time to time.

Yes.....a big THANK YOU!...is in order. I started roaming the halls of IFI about a year ago. I got lost in the Archives a couple of times........put some posts in the wrong places..........and more than once, I just had to shout HELP ME! .....and someone always did! So yes......Thanks Glenn,Andrew,and all the members who've helped me learn so much this past year. You might as well brace yourselves......I have a whole new set of questions for the year ahead! MANY THANKS!