Daryl

Being an Ag-mechanic I am familiar with your problem. I have bad news... if the knotter is worn out (and yes they are supposed to eventually wear out so the next, more expensive piece doesn't) then you will have to cowb oy up and but new. An old baler will have the same worn out parts as yours. Follow your manual closely and and pay attention to the timing on the baler, particulalry the stuffer. Yours should have timing marks scribed on the critical parts to help you. Good luck

On the subject of the quenching medium one will use, the number one most important thing to remember is consistency - do not not use one kind of oil this time and something else the next, you will not be familiar with either. Number two : Do not use old motor oil as it contains high amounts of sulphur - very bad for you. Number three: understand what is going on with your quenching medium when immersing hot metal into it. There are several stages of cooling when immersing hot metal - in our case it will normally be steel or iron. First is the rapid cooling stage - this is when the hot steel is first immersed in the quench. The steel will cool rapidly until the next stage. Vapour covering stage - at this point, the qunching medium has began to boil violently and has formed a barrier of vapour between the steel and the qunching medium, there is very little cooling at this stage due to the impeded transfer of heat from the steel to the quench. Last stage (there are many different terms used here and I won't use any) is the last rapid cooling stage - here the vapour barrier has lifted and the transfer of heat from the steel is occurring rapidly. The different quenches that can be used are plenty. Everyone has a favorite. What is most important is using a quench that can minimise the vapour covering stage and cool the material rapidly enough to retain the best qualities of your steel. For any tool work, I simply use mineral oil; this is my own personal favorite though I have been very impressed with the results some of my aquaintances have had with stuff they use.

Unicorn has it right, add more coal to bring the 'ball' higher up from the tuyre. If you are worried about coal consumption, cut two sections of railway iron to help crop in the sides of the fire. Place them sideways such that the flat bottom will be just off the vertical angle, this will narrow the amount of coal on the sides, yet allow the fire to be deep.

Any cast anvil, regardless of make, that has survived any appreciable number of years of use, is a good anvil. Because the quality of castings can vary even within the same pour, I would welcome any anvil that is in good shape and is older. I actually had a new anvil crumble below my strikes while doing a demonstration at a high school, the 100+ year old Arm & Hammer that I used right after still has clean edges!

There is no greater honour to a Blacksmith than to create a tribute to someone's life in iron. The cross is beautiful.

Preparing to forge weld using O/A torch would be the same as baking a cake with a bic lighter. Maybe it can be done - but it sure would be difficult.

Check out Manufacturers' Health & Safety Association

My family and I are thinking of you.

Unless you wish to kill yourself, don't even consider going there. The precious metals used in catalytic converters are catalysts, as the name implies. The noxious chemicals and elements expelled from the combustion engine bond with those same precious elements. These elements and chemicals start off with hydrogen sulfide (mix with water and make sulfuric acid in small amounts) and get worse from there on. I work with diesel engines which are now equipped with DPF (diesel particulate filter) systems. The warnings with those alone tell you to wash your hands immediately if you touch the insdie the of the filter, the gas versions are not much different.

My anvil (having two horns) is placed such that the position of the hardy hole is closest to the hand that holds my tongs - away from my hammer hand and lessening the risk of injury when cycling from the anvil to the cut-off hardy when it is placed in the hardy hole. This also puts the upsetting block toward me and the preanvil at the far side of my manvil face.

While I have not forged brass successfully, I have however, forged silicon bronze with excellent results. To those who have not forged bronze, there is a narrow range of malleability. Note than when founding (melting) brass has a higher tendency to want to separate without sufficient flux than does bronze. A common mistake is to constantly try different materials, including exotic and expensive metals. My suggestion is to first get good at the basics: forging techniques, hammering, fire, planning, etc. before wasting time and money on metals other than basic iron. Some of the really exotic materials (tool steels, for example) have so narrow a forging (mechanical working) range, that success only comes after much, much experience, patience and attention to detail. As the other fellows have noted, some of the gases produced from working 'other' materials can be harmful if not lethal. Mistakes of that nature are not habit forming. Frankly, I would save the brass in a pail, then take it to the scrap dealer to buy good silicon bronze or lots of steel.

Ingersoll-Rand. The best at any price low or high. Low air consumption per revolution, long lasting (always keep all air tools oiled), and simply can not be beat (no apologies to any other maker). I also work at a heavy truck dealership where the I-R tools easily beat out all competitors in performance. Best of all, they also are not the most expensive. Win-win.

Where do you live? If you are near an agricultural area, consider looking for grain auger pipe. They come in sizes ranging from five inch diameter up to over fourteen. You can put one inside ther other for insulating purposes. The pipe also varies in gauge thickness - so a cautionary note on how heavy it may get for long lengths is needed as well as a suitable means of supporting it. I currently have an eighteen foot long length of eleven inch diameter three-sixteenth wall (or so) - salvage from someone else's misfortune while the auger was in transport.

I side with Rich Hale and fionnbharr, and then some. Too many times I see newcomers to this Craft, and look in wonder and amazement at the enthusiasm and creativity, and loathe the more often than not, complete lack of dedication. Anything worth learning takes time and patience, Blacksmithing is no exception. Surely, power hammers, dies and what-not will add to the ease of certain tasks; yet they do NOT, ever, EVER qualify as experience and wisdom at the anvil. I hammer very long and very hard. I do not have problems with my shoulders, arms, hands or back. I was fortunate to have passed down to me, effective techniques and the correct methods of hammering, and I readily offer help to anyone who visits my forge and is willing to learn. I do not wish to sound arrogant or whatever, though I must stress to everyone, that correct techniques are of critical importance; and if you do not wish to seek out and learn the right stuff, I have trouble justifying to myself a reason to instruct or give advice any further. Learn the basics, remember them, build on them, they are the base from which you stand. You can never go wrong.

I have two smaller swage blocks of differing design as well as a 24" tall cone. All sit idly until I do some production work, then I simply can not do without them. All are small enough they can still be carried (slowly) across the shop when I set up stations, though they are big enough they don't move around much. Made stands for them all, got them somewhere............