jayco

bsiler, you mention fire danger from sparks in your log shop. yes, you do have to be careful of that........especially if you have horizontal beams/logs where sparks and hot scale can fly from the forge and start smoldering without you noticing.
I have some pieces of old roofing metal nailed to the wall behind my forge as a fire proof wall covering.
I always kinda 'check around' when I finish forging for the day. Large sparks can land on cotton gloves, your jacket, a cardboard kindling box, or your open bucket of charcoal sitting beside the forge and start a fire after you have left your shop.

As far as sifting the charcoal is concerned, I use 1/4 in. rat wire made into a little square tray ( the edges bent up) it looks like a cake pan.

The smaller stuff, 1/4 in. to 1/2 in. is burnable charcoal and I use it, but is not as clean as 1/2 in. and larger. If I'm going to forge weld, I use the larger charcoal.
I will resift to a larger size )(1/2 in. is a good size) for the good stuff........or just rake the larger pieces off with my hands.

Some folks use a piece of expanded metal ( the stuff with the diamond shaped holes in it) to make sifters. You can put a handle on a piece of expanded metal and make a sifting shovel.There's a B P on that somewhere.

Really large pieces of charcoal, I break up into smaller pieces.
1/2 to 1 in. seems to be about the right size for me.
Also, it takes much less air for charcoal....that will make it last a little longer.
Hope this helps....James

Howdy rdbrnr!
Welcome to Iforgeiron!
I gather from your login name that you are an arc welder.
Along with blacksmithing, we also talk about arc welding, A/O torches, mig, etc....most anything to do with metalworking, actually.
You'll fit right in.........
Enjoy!

littlewolfsmithy, welcome to Iforgeiron!
Nice job on the twist, by the way.
And yes, we love pictures!

Tom, I've been a member of that club for almost 3 years now. I'll be 53 in March.

I knew something was up when folks who worked in stores and businesses around town started calling me "Sir"..........

I'd better leave it at that.......I feel one of those "I remember the time".........stories coming on..........

Ed ,you mention spraying old engine oil and old diesel on your forge as a way to obtain higher temperatures.
I must tell you that both of these are dangerous to use in your forge.
The fumes from old engine oil are toxic.
Also, there is danger from flash fires as well.

Be careful!

The other day, we had a minor emergency come up, so I had to shut down the forge and leave quickly. Knowing that there are no cast iron parts under this forge, I just dashed a small bucket of water right on the fire. Fire effectively drowned.

Well, the next morning, I started a fire in the 'drowned' forge. Lit some paper, added some kindling, a little coke, and then started cranking the blower.
There didn't seem to be much happening in the way of air blast. The fire was not 'picking up' as it usually does.
I check the ash dump and nothing comes out.
By now I'm scratching my head.
Something was definately restricting the air! But What?

I poked a piece of rod into the bottom of the ash dump, and discovered that the tuyere, the 'T' and the pipe to the ash dump was full of........ice!
The water I had put out the fire with the day before........had frozen........had to use the propane torch and heat the piping to get it out of there.

So....that was another funny thing..........

If that wasn't enough, today I was forging a long taper on an 18 in. rod.......rolling it back and forth on the anvil as I hammered it.........and got the end I was holding in my hand hung up in my coat sleeve. A burr on the metal had gotten entangled in the fabric.
Like to never got the thing loose........lost a heat in the process.

One more incident like these and I think I'll ask Glenn to change the name of this thread to....you guessed it.......RED FACED DUFUS EXPLOITS:)

My guilotine dies are leaf spring. I don't do anything to cool them, and they haven't deformed from heat.

You could always try water in a spray bottle.

I use both charcoal and coal, but I don't really mix the fuels.

I might start out with charcoal, since it lights easily and doesn't make much smoke at startup. Depending on what I intend to forge, I might bank the charcoal fire with coal if I'm going to be heating larger pieces. Of course, when I bring the coal into the center of the fire, it's pretty much a coal fire.
( I shake the ashes from the spent charcoal into the ash dump)

Near the end of a forging session, I might decide to forge just one more little piece, and not want to build up a large fire that i will just have to extinguish minutes later.
So, I will toss a scoop or two of charcoal onto the fire to finish the project.

I know I used the word 'might' a lot in this post. I have no hard and fast rules as to which fuel to use at any given time. I freely alternate from one fuel to another.

And yes, they do get mixed a little in the forge.

Chris, welcome to Iforgeiron!
As to your question:
Yes, you can forge with wood. The main problem with wood as a fuel is that , like a campfire, it puts out a lot of radiant heat. It's not so much a problem in winter, but in summer it can make forging an unpleasant experience.

There is another option: to burn the wood down into charcoal.......and then use the charcoal as your forge fuel. There threads and blueprints on IFI that show you how.
I prefer making the charcoal : less radiant heat, less smoke, and a more predictable fuel.

As to finding coal, there are a bunch of Ga. blacksmiths who are members of this site and might be able to help.
There is also a" list of coal suppliers " thread that might be useful.

enjoy!

I think Irnsrgn and Coalforge have pictures in the gallery of corn being used as fuel.
Also, if you use the 'search' feature at the top of the forums page and type in "corn,fuel" you will discover several threads where corn is discussed as a solid fuel.

Being that this thread is called 'cheap projects',........here's one of the cheapest I've come up with.

I've been making these little Christmas theme 'outlines'.

They're fun to make and really easy. As you can see from the pics, I'm not particularly artistic. I find it easy to go for the folk craft rustic look:)

I made these with old metal coat hangers, welding rods, or what ever is handy.

I give these away as gifts.......I sell them.......and right now I have orders for more of them that must, of course, be delivered before the holidays.

One hint: I loop the stock back upon itself and shape both sides at once. Then just open up the two sides like a folded piece of paper.
It makes left and right symetry much easier for me.

If you live in an older agricultural area, and can find them, the teeth from old horse drawn hay rakes are good steel.
The square harrow teeth that were used before disc harrows were common are medium to high carbon steel.......depending on age and who made them.
They make good punches and chisels.

Ron, welcome to Iforgeiron!
I began 'dabbling' in blacksmithing as a way to fix stuff on the farm.
I think a lot of other members have agricultural backgrounds as well.
You'll find much in common with the folks here....
Enjoy!

Thomas, I will miss seeing your interesting and informative posts.

Best of luck to you, Sir!

James Flannery

One of the things I learned not to do on an anvil was to use the horn as a way to spread chain links and rings (at least not until I improved my aim with a hammer considerably.)

When I first got my PW several years ago, the horn was already blunt, and I made it worse with poor hammer aim.

I now use bicks for that sort of work.

bsiler, I like charcoal as a fuel. It actually starts easier and burns cleaner than most coal that I have seen.
The big drawback is that it burns up quickly.
When I'm lucky enough to find charcoal in the stove, I just sift out the ashes and use it.

If I recall correctly, charcoal has about 1/5 the energy per volume as coal does.
Pound for pound I think they have about the same heating potential.
It's just that charcoal is somewhat lighter and fluffier than coal.

Nealj,there's nothing wrong with using bent nails. I think of them as 'small stock'.

I don't see too many wrought iron or square nails here, but often find larger....say...#20 or # 30 nails in old barns and houses around here........Of course, these are the more modern 'mild steel' nails.

When old barns are torn down and the scrap wood burned, there are usually bucketfuls of them to be collected. They can be used to make smaller rivets and.....square nails!

One #20 nail will make 3 square nails(roughly equivalent to #8's)

Another thing I discovered is that you can't just straighten them and use them.......especially after being in a fire..........they are far too soft for most uses.
They must be packed(work hardened) by rehammering them into shape.....then they drive fine.

I've used old #30 nails as links to repair smaller towing chains.

Good for you!

James

Joseph, thanks for that tip on 'burnishing'........Just today I used the handles of an old pair of pliers.....rubbed a new handle I had made for maybe 5 minutes........came out slick and shiny!

James

Mach2lou,there's a spray-on fire retardant for wood structures.

I don't know the name or where to get it , unfortunately.

A few years ago, an old wooden 'covered' bridge was restored near here.
The restoration cost the historical society $750,000....a large project.
As I remember, there was some concern about vandalism.........that someone might attempt to burn it down.

The restorers sprayed an almost clear coating on the entire length of the 100+ ft. structure.
The coating is all but undetectable.
Unfortunately, that's all I know about it........

I had been using an assortment of 'cheapie' angle grinders for some years now....and going through a lot of the 'cheapie' grinding discs as well.
Finally, all those 'cheapie' grinders sort of "gave up the ghost", and I bought a name brand grinder........not a real expensive one, just one with a name you would recognize.

When I opened the box, I discovered there were 3 discs in there (same brand as the grinder).....and I thought "Gee, I'd better get some more discs....quick!"

Funny thing is.....I haven't worn out the first disc yet.....even though I've done a lot of grinding with it.

I guess that old saying is true.....You do get what you pay for!

James

Chyancarrek, your advice to 'Never go and just start taking things' is excellent advice.

My son does contract work (mowing, maintanance)for these cemeteries.
Part of our work entails removing the older flower arrangements.
We have permission.

Sometimes these 'recycling' situations can get 'sticky'.......
I once spotted a nearly new 55 gal. barrel in an illegal dumpsite in my community....right beside the roadway!
I was out of the truck and halfway down the hill when I realized what it would look like if a law enforcement officer had happened along and seen me there.

It would have been mighty hard to explain that i was there to pick up stuff and not doing some illegal dumping of my own!

Oh, I held my nerve long enough to get the barrel.......but I don't do that kind of thing anymore:)

John W,I have one idea to try......don't know if it would work........to simply shovel some ashes(possibly dampened) onto the glowing bed of coals in the stove at the end of the day.
I don't know if it would work, but an easy experiment to try.

Larry M, thanks for the suggesting of using tin foil........should be effective at sealing out excess air.......and much cheaper than buying a bunch of the 'rope type' stove gasket material.
Hmmm....would even be handy for sealing the lid on a charcoal 'burning barrel'!

ray-t, Nett had mentioned 'chairloc' earlier in the this thread. I'd never heard of it before.
I haven't gotten or tried any of it yet, but it sounds like a logical solution.

Quenchcrack, Yeah, that's kinda the same way I wedged my handles...except, sometimes I left out the second metal wedge........probably part of the problem.

ONe thing I have noticed during this thread, is that no one else has chimed in and said they were having the same exact problem with loose handles........so I guess this is
unique to me only!

I've only had one hammer actually come completely off the handle while I was using it.
I picked up one ball-pein and swung it about three times. On the fourth swing, the hammer head landed on the ground below the anvil.
I felt it coming loose and aborted the swing.

The rest of the 'loose' ones, I found on examination, that I could wiggle the hammer head on the handle........yet they've been quite stubborn about being removed from the handle.
So although the handle through the 'eye' had shrunk, there was still enough flare on the wedged side to keep them from coming off.
My temporary fix, has been to drive the wooden wedges deeper on my 3 or 4 main smithing hammers.

Archiphile, good job on the tongs!

Now that you have basic tongs 'down', the real fun begins when you realize that with a simple modification here and there.......you can make bolt tongs,v-bit tongs, link tongs, goose neck tongs, scrolling tongs, as you need them

Before you know it, you will have a collection of your own tongs!