jayco

Thanks, new guy. I'm over the surgery. They installed a little unit to 'jump start' my heart back into rythym, if I need it. Worst of all, I lost months of time and work while I healed up from the minor surgery. But, I'm OK now!

While I was recuperating from my defibrillator surgery.....some months ago........some of the members sugested I try doing something with copper, since for a time I could not do any heavy lifting/hammering. Here's a couple of pics of something I worked on. I couldn't resist making the pieces look 'rustic'.......after all.......IT's MY STYLE! These were easy and fun to do. Just some 1/2 in. copper tubing (split and flattened) And some copper ground wire.

I'm with Frosty. I like my side draft. Mine is a 10in. x 10in. x 30 in. pressure washer casing for the horizontal part The vertical part is just some 10in. round stove pipe. Works great. There are more pics in my gallery. The only construction I had to do was to use some sheet metal screws to attach the horizontal section to the vertical section.

There's a product called 'RoachProof' which is 99% boric acid. It does kill roaches. I've never heard of using 20 Mule Team Borax to kill roaches. I'm betting there's a considerable chemical difference between the two.

In spite of all the studies that indicate that virtually everything is hazardous, I feel that using ash/cinders for gravel or 'fill' is probably safe. When I went to elementary school, we had a coal furnace for heat. There was always a big pile of cinders out back of the school. No one thought about them being 'hazardous'.........of course that was the '60's.......and pre EPA days..... One thing I have noticed over the years is that walnut trees and raspberries seem to thrive around old piles of coal and ash dumps........( perhaps that's caused by sulpher or phosphates in the coal/ash.....acting as fertlizer.)

RcRacer, welcome to Iforgeiron! This is a great place to find metalworking information of all kinds. There are lots of friendly folks here too........If you have questions, just ask. Enjoy!

Thanks for the tip, Steve.........going to jot that one down........:)

I have a wire wheel on an old bench grinder. I have a healthy 'fear' of it. It seems that the wire wheel likes to grab onto.......and throw! small objects that I try to clean up on it. The speed is 1750 rpm.......none adjustable. I thought at first it was my 'technique', but I've tried every angle, pressure,.......with and without tongs or pliers to hold the objects. The wire wheel continues to turn small objects into projectiles. My solution is to reserve the wire wheel for larger,heavier objects and do my small 'cleanups' with the workpiece in my post vice and using a 3/8 electric drill with a small wire wheel attached..........much safer!.........and I'm all for SAFER! My latest 'run-in' with flying stuff was actually yesterday; I cut a 2 in. long piece of stock off on the hardy.......and didn't pay any attention to exactly where it went. ( After all, it was glowing orange at the time) The stock I'd just shortened needed a little squaring up on the end, so I forgot about the 'drop'. A short minute later I remembered the hot 'drop' and began to look for it. I've stepped on hot stuff before........not good for shoes or feet. The little piece of quite hot metal had cooled to gray by now.......exactly the same color as all that scale around the anvil stump.......UH-OH! I couldn't see it anywhere! I carefully backed away from the anvil.......found my 'magnet on a stick'........and did a magnetic search of the area around the anvil. Nothing! I didn't find the 'drop' until today.........lying on the stump....on the backside of the anvil. I didn't think to look there. Funny things happen.......and a lot of them seem to happen to me:)

Tom, good job on the tong/pliers. The great thing about making your own is that you can 'tweak' them any time you want to (if they need it). And yes.....I have tongs that I've made that have been 'tweaked' many times over the years. I wind up using mine for pickup tongs more often than for actual scrolling. they're handy for chasing small rivets and other small pieces down through the fire. James

Coil and leaf spring........good for making punches, chisels, other tools Brake drums or rotors.......good for making homemade firepots. Axles.......good for hammers, hardy tools Hood support rods.........good source of 1/4in. to 1/2 in. round stock for projects. There's probably more, but that's a start :)

Welcome to Iforgeiron, mjollnir! Looking at your anvil, it doesn't look that bad to me. I kinda go with the 'wear it smooth' philosophy. I'd pick one area that is the least abused......sand a little if necessary........and use that small area for finish work. You can use the 'rough areas for heavier forging and smooth your work up on your 'smooth' area. As you use it, the pits will wear smooth after a time.

Prayers sent your way, Finnr.....

I cut some sections of lawnmower blade(from 2 seperate blades) to make small flat pry bars for some carpenter buddies. They use them to pry baseboard and trim loose. Any way, one piece heated, hammered, and sparked like mild steel. The other heated,hammered and sparked like medium carbon steel. I know that's not much help, except to say that they seem to vary a lot in carbon content.

Years ago, I found a champion cut-off hardy in a flea market junk box. It had hardly been used. It's only 2 in. tall, but is quite a good size, actually. When I first started smithing, I followed the "bigger is better" philosophy and made myself one from leaf spring.......5 in. tall. I seldom use that one.....it's kinda wobbly when I hammer down on it, though it fits the hardy hole.......it's just too tall. Because of the extra height, I consider it to be more dangerous as well.

Belt height is a little too high for me. I prefer, as Finnr said, at about anvil height. For me, that's my arm hanging straight down,knuckles touching anvil or forge. I view the forge as a big work table with a fire in the middle of it. I'm constantly laying down and picking up.......stock...tools.....moving solid fuel around....etc. The thing is, I don't want to have to lean over to manipulate stock or tools, nor do I want to have to raise things up and off the forge either. One way to test different heights would be to walk up to any likely table, counter, etc, and lay some objects on it........pick 'em up........lay 'em back down.......and see if the height seems comfortable to you. ( Bear in mind that you'll likely repeat these moves thousands of times in front of your forge.) Hope this helps.....

billp, I have had 2 problems with homemade charcoal..........too wet to burn properly, due to being dowsed with water, or too many fines and ash in the charcoal clogging the air into the forge. Either of these will cause me problems.

I use gloves when using welders and A/O torch. I keep a pair of gloves in the blacksmith shop, but use them only as a last resort. For general forging I work bare handed. Rarely , I heat something in the forge that is too oddly shaped or heavy to be gripped with tongs.....after it has become too warm to handle barehanded, I will reluctantly use the gloves. Sometimes I wear a glove on the holding hand when punching a hole in a large piece I have noticed that when punching a hole, barehanded, it is not quite so uncomfortable to face the palm of the hand toward the hot work instead of the back of the hand. My palm is less sensitive to the heat. When I have a piece in the fire for a while and the 'holding ' end is beginning to be to hot to handle, I sprinkle water on the 'holding' end of the work. This will often cool the metal enough you can grab it comfortably..........BUT!, if the piece is larger than, say, 1/2 in. round.........the water may only cool it on the outside, allowing the heat in the middle of the iron to soak back to the outside (where your hand is)very quickly. So that is definatly something to be careful about. Worst of all, in my opinion, is to be wearing a wet glove, due to quenching or where you have been cooling metal with water........and be lulled into a false sense of security.........then you grab a piece of too hot metal with your wet glove and discover how quickly the wet glove will conduct the heat to your hand. This is both quick and painful! I've been burnt a few times.........thought I'd share...

Cross Pein, welcome to Iforgeiron. Since there is so much information on this site, I suggest you look at the "lessons in metalworking" section on the front or opening page of this site. If you follow the links, there's all kinds of information on building forges, gathering tools, basic steps in forging, etc. There are 3 search engines on the site........opening page,forums page, and gallery. They will help you find things even faster.... And, if you have questions, just ask..... Enjoy!

Pault17, one reason I get haphazard results from charcoal making is that I'm fresh out of good, air tight barrels. I have half a dozen, and they all leak a little air......sometimes allowing the charcoal to burn up. There's a guy at the local flea market selling good barrels with lids and rings for $15 each.......might have to check him out soon. The only trouble with buying the barrels is that they rust out rather quickly........at least after a few burns, anyway.

We had one day last week it was 80 deg. F...........50 today.....but that's not bad..........sunny and cool, but you can get outside and do stuff! Come on.........SPRING!