Richard Furrer

If you take 7075-T6 and forge it..then it is not as strong as the numbers above ...just like forging a hand file...after heat is applied you have to start over for hardness. Benjamin...what do you intend to do? We made many railings in Florida out of 3003 and 6061 alloy....though we cared little for strength afterword provided it was good enough for the railings so we did no post forging heat treatment. Ric

Yes and here is two better than that...sutton hoo was an 8 bar...the bamburgh is a 12. The most complex multi bar I know of. Re-discovered in England just a few years ago. Ric

The sword will be auctioned off at some point. Ric

I have no results of the testing from the steel company. Ric

the blade was quenched in to the tang....the tang was long and hot so it looked a bit odd. The fuller was on both sides...could have been the lighting....concave surfaces play royal havoc with light....which is why I have four sources of light when I polish those. Ric

The show's premier is tonight and will air other times later this week and next. For now it is just a US release. Richard..look forward to meeting you in Maine. Ric

That was the 4x6 saw I mentioned in my posting. The Ellis is a better saw for the same work...got mine used for $500. I agree with Randy...the above is a good saw for the money. I still think a good chop saw with 3HP or larger motor is a handy tool for what the band saws can not cut. Both the modern blacksmith and modern fab shop makes a lot of pieces and a lot of holes. Ric

I used a 4x6 band saw and deep throat Milwaukee port-o-band for years with various tooth blades. worked well. For harder or hotter things I used a Milwaukee chop saw. I have burned through two of those (gear teeth shear off near the motor). I bought a used Everett chop saw..10" wheels with 3Hp motor...I liked it very much other than the cost of the 10" wheels. Now I have a 5hp Kalamazoo chop saw and it uses 14" wheels..when they get small I put them on the 10" Everett so no more issues there. I upgraded the bandsaw to a model 1600 Ellis band saw. I like it for horizontal and angle cuts, but not for vertical. If you have a lot of 2" to cut I suggest a used belt driven chop saw...like the Kalamazoo or Everett. I like the option of the abrasive should the bar I buy be harder than it should (I have sheared teeth off of the band saw blades on occasion by using mystery metal found at the local yards). A press would work as well, but leave a bad end...or not as good as a saw. Ric

Excellent..when can I come and use it? Turkish for assistant is "ASISTAN"....so its name must be "STAN" mindless in Turkish is AKILSIZ.....so maybe AKILSTAN...or maybe not as AKIL actually means Mental..."Mental Stan" Ric

When I mention that to others with powered rolls I hear the same story. The billet was feeding off center so I tried pulling it back into the center...by the time I saw what was happening it was all I could do the let go. At 33 feet per minute the billet disappears fast. I now have a guard on the thing which would strip my hands off anything I'd be holding onto, BUT it is not something I worry about after adding in and out-feed tables. As with any new tool one plays with it first thing...which is a good way to get hurt. Ric

I knew you would say that Sam. Ric

Rockstar's comments should be put into a sticky. It is all sound advice (advice which I do not follow, will not follow and will forever complain about not having followed). More of us fail from lack of business acumen than lack of metal specific skills...the less skilled at the craft who are better at the bones of business will do better financially than the "master artist". I am loosely associated with several universities and those that produce artists are continually setting the students up for failure due to zero requirements for business classes. Time and again I ask instructors if they have basic business classes in the curriculum..they say "No, but that is a good suggestion"..which means often that they do not understand business and feel put-off suggesting that art and business must hold hands. If you can not keep the doors open then you can not progress. Ric

I like the idea of forge/rolling/swages. I think everyone has a "the first time I used a rolling..."story. I fed the tongs through on mine. The folks at bulldog use one at about minute 1:10 Ric

Cover the mixture so the salt does not permeate the shop. I had 50 gallons mixed up and sitting in the shop years ago...rusted everything till I got a good lid. Rinsing the work dunked in it was easy. Ric

What you describe is a "forging roll"...used for production runs of tapers/wedges and some tooling....I have seen some which rolled blades as well as seven stage models with 20" rolls that can make rather intricate forgings in one heat. Ric

Bought by a friend of mine in Dallas Ric

a kiss with a 3B is a slam Ric

I have a set like Dave Hammer pictured with 1.25 square as the vertical tenon...The keeper is 1/2" plate around the bottom die and has two fabricated square holes welded onto the ends of that keeper so I can have two tools in place...usually a swage and a stop block...the swage being taller so it is removed to use the stop block. I have found that stop blocks are more of a suggestion than a stop. If you are not paying attention the size of the steel forge in the AM will be taller than the PM forged work due to the stop block cold forging over time. I use mild steel which may the issue...or my foot. What you can do is have a set number of "extra" blanks on hand...mine are 1.25 as the tenon...and you can have 1/8,1/4,1/2,1" stock precut and waiting to be welded on for that special in between size. I have from 1/8 to 2.5" in 1/4 sizes made up and extra stock on hand for that size I do not have. I do not like the taper idea. Forgemaster Phil...you are on a higher level of size than I...envious I am....you and Danger have me thinking about a 6B Nazel....not that I have the work for one, but.... One idea I have been meaning to try is a square tenon with a round hole...say 3/4" round and have the kiss block swing/pivot into place ..you could have two on each end and swing from front or back..for four sizes. A quick lock could be worked out I'm sure. The think with the blocks as Dave pictures them and I use is that they stay in place till you move them out...no jumping. Ric

You could heat small areas on the base of the dish...place that heated area over the hardie hole (or block of wood and be quick due to smoke)..set a ball tool (round nose hammer) and strike that tool with a hammer. It should indent and dimple the underside of the plate thus raising up the dish. Some folk do not like hitting hammers with other hammers though. Two on each end and your done...provided you can match depth OR two one end and one on the other. A better support would be sand or a proper round cavity in a steel block, but the hardie or wood will do. wire brush, heat a bit and coat with wax. the fastest way is just with some glued on cork or felt, but the above will make an interesting effect on both sides of the bowl. be well and do get to the V&A, Ric

Quite good.....both the technique and the execution. Question: Is that face someone you know or an historical figure (Neferteri etc)? She seems to be the subject of all the work on the shelf. Ric

Thomas, I have a class to teach in Maine the following week and doubt I will have the time to go. Ric

Randy, That is exactly the same chemical process as the pack carburizing method. It is the CO gas produced by the burning fuel which touches the surface of the iron and the iron bonds with the C in the CO and the O is freed to go. In the box the O gets more C and gives that to the iron, but with yours the O gets C and goes up the chimney. It is posible to do the reverse as well and use the fire to remove carbon (which happens with forge-welding). I read a study which showed a drop of 0.02 per fold and cut weld with making pattern-welded steel (damascus). It is also possible in theory to both add and remove carbon equally and end up with what you started with. You can do the same with an oxy-acetylene torch as well...run the mix a bit low in Oxy and run it across the edge of the iron till it gets near cutting temp ..now go back and forth a few times and do the spark test again....its the same Fe + CO = FeC + O reaction. The higher the temp the more energy is there to increase the speed of the reaction....it happens much faster at near liquid than at 1500F. This will all be in the DVD I'm making. Technically iron and steel are a crystal lattice, not a molecular structure. Ric

Good video Grant, It is interesting seeing all the wiggle parts in the machine. How many more inches of throw do you have if you removed the bottom block? It appears that you have a raised block under the bottom die so as not to get a full 100 ton blow. Ric

Press has a new home. Ric

Larry, Fill the pipe with dry sand and weld up the ends leaving a little weep hole...just in case it ain't real dry sand (steam=pipebomb)..should move a bit more like solid.Thick wall tube works better. Ric