Daryl

I know this may not be blacksmithing, though this is still safety-related. I encourage anyone who does woodworking, or knows someone who does, to check out SawStop and watch the demo video. A product such as this is a godsend.

After looking at the photograph you posted, I have some questions:
1. Are there any plugs or parts on the underside sticking out?
2. Is this the same side that is bolted down?
3. Do you know if the relief valve was closed off?

Ensure when bolting down any valve that there is no uneven pressure on the valve block. Such strain may cause weakening and/or enough pressure to not allow a valve to relieve pressure.
Hydraulics is not the place to 'think it's okay', it must be perfect or don't even start.

Does the fitting itself have the leak? Is the fitting ORB (o-ring base seal), JIC, NPT, flange seal or ORFS (o-ring face seal)? If it was indeed an o-ring, check to ensure that doesn't display damage from installation. What is the normal operating and maximum allowable pressure of the system? There is an extremely large difference between some thing that operates at 2800 and 3500 psi. If the failure is from over-pressure, verify the other components are functioning correctly. Let me know as hydraulics are something that HAS to be perfect. Make sure that if you only need to replace the o-ring(s), don't cheap out... the difference between a one dollar o-ring and a three dollar o-ring is about fourty gallons of oil.

You still aren't clear as to the layout of the staircase. Whatever the case, do the math, make certain the math is correct, take into account everything, make the jigs for the treads perfect as to the math (this is critical), do not deviate from the the math because while something might look awry while it is going together - it will be right when it is done (it will look screwy if you 'make adjustments' to it while it is half done. Anything else?

What make and kind of blower is it? Champion 400? Cannedy-Otto? Buffalo?

First, you will have to get into your math and pretty much do the same as a machinist making any other type of gear.
Second, start by making a couple of larger gears (as in larger than what you would ever want to put in a clock), this will help you sort out in your mind how you will approach the project as it is scaled down. You have to deal with inner and outer diameters of the gear teeth. The shape (obviously) goes hand in hand with the escapement design. The ratios of the gears, in order to make the clock accurate, really simplify how many teeth will be on it. A simple start is to make the first set of gears with the intention of only using a minute hand.
These are your first two steps.

Try Diederot's Encyclopedia of Trades (I think I spelled the name correctly), it is available from Dover publications. It has a couple old woodcut examples of forges, etc. from the era just preceeding the Industrial Revolution.

As far as safety glasses go, here are two things you should consider: 1. I'd recommend trying as many different styles as required to find a pair that feel right for you. 2. Treat your safety glasses well, yet do not be afraid to realise that the glasses are throw away items and should be replaced regularly, however your eyes can't be thought of as the same.

(Old German Blacksmith saying): If you want to think, go be a priest! Now hit the iron before it get's cold!
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(Another one): Stand up and take your face away from the iron, no matter how close you look, you won't find more heat.
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Now don't forget...........I should have wrote that down.

Please do not make the same mistake I did. Plan for how big is your largest project going to be... you need space to properly assemble it (with a flat floor) and a means of getting it out the door (don't ask).
The building I am moving in to will have both of these problems remedied.

Welcome aboard. There are more prairie people hammering away than you could ever imagine! I did a rough count of people who smith on a regular basis in your neck of the woods and came up with about thirty. My suggestion is to join the local Guild. Contact the guys in Swift Current (good bunch!) and watch them for a bit. As for a permit to sell knives - I don't know, though the local RCMP could give you some insight.
P.S.
Now that you are smithing, doesn't the math, geometry and physics make more sense?

When laying out a right-angle square 3 + 4 = 5
or
9" on one side, 12" on the other with 15" on the long side will make a perfect right angle
Thanks to Pyhtorgas' theorem of right-angle triangles (AxA) + (BxB) = (CxC)
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When calculating flat iron to go around in a circle: Length of iron = Circumference plus one and one-half times the thickness of the flat iron.

Never, ever use motor oil! If oil was so good as a cutting fluid, it would never have been used to inhibit friction in engines. I use water or the non-flammable brake-cleen as a coolant. Also makes the iron ready for paint, or if it has to back in the fire, there isn't a foul smell or smoke.

xxxx !!!!! spiral staircase....... I'll send pics when its done. Don't do one if your customer changes his mind on anything, particularly the height/thickness of the main foor.


Edit: words edited

..... yes honey, the Buick CAN double as a quasi-half-ton in a pinch.

I wholly agree with Ffrogvalley. Remember, if we start out selling too low, it becomes almost impossible to charge more later. All too often I have heard comment that someone else can or has sold a similar product for less. My reply always is "well, perhaps you should buy from him/her, because that is (often) less than the cost of the steel alone." The people that whine and snivel the most about the price normally have more money than twenty or more of us smiths - those people can get stuffed.
The reality is, yes, there are a FEW smiths out there who do sell their products for less than the cost of the raw materials. Do not worry about them, those people never had any intention of making a dollar in this manner, most likely, they are simply enjoying the satisfaction of blacksmithing (like us all).
Charge an honest price, no one will ever fault you.
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Other items to try:
-apprentice nail (with the wide, peaked head) one about every fourty seconds is about right
-common nail
-miniature horseshoes
-hoseshoe puzzle (if time permits)
-demonstrate the larger hoseshoes - complete with heel and toe caulks
-oxen shoes (how many of us older beggars know this?)
-simple gate hooks
-simple horse bits (remember, steel isn't good for a horse's mouth, if you have the material - and the skill, you can forge a simple bit form silicon bronze with elementary rings of bronze... your fire will pee poo-poo'd for forge welding until you clean it out properly after)
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by mentioning some of these, others will also remember other simpler projects.

Railroad spikes into knives will keep the interest going. :idea: Once you have the technique down, you can turn out three per hour with a moderately fancy handle and a blade that will cut bread (no file or grindstone required). 8) My record for a simple blade, without fancy handle and it did cut bread was a little under five minutes from the first strike 'till dousing in water - however, that day everything went perfect (made $50.00 on a bet). :wink:

Murphy paid you a visit because I haven't been in my shop for three days. He will leave you as soon as I turn the lights on in my shop. :|

Have you considered contacting people closer to yourself? I am not sure about now, though the Rural Development Commission in England used to promote programs in all manner of fields: roof thatching, stone masonry, brick laying, cobbler, wheel wright, BLACKSMITHING and other trades that were threatened with extinction. Ten years ago, I spoke with a couple of fellows who were quite familiar with the program, had my life not been on a particular course (read as not much money in pocket), I would have gone myself.
You could also try to contact a business chamber of commerce in cities such as Stockholm, Heidleberg, Copenhagen, etc., and see if they still have a blacksmith shop registered there. If so, contact them and see if they could point you in a clearer direction.

Being a mechanic myself and from my experience working in a large shop - some of these people are SAVAGES! It might worry about the mechanic you are repairing it for, what of the 'person' who borrows it from your mechanic friend? Be on the safe side and leave it to normalise.

Though I haven't used it for probably eight months (I really like my coke forge with the bellows), I made mine from a piece of 14" diameter 14ga tube (liberated from a combine feeder house front drum). I had used a 10" diameter cardboard shipping tube to serve as a center mold for when I poured the Satanite (a brand of high temperature refractory cement). After burning the cardboard out with a torch, I then used 1" Kaowool for the final liner.
This gets hot very quickly, and after the ceramic warms up, gets VERY hot after 15 minutes. However, it weighs in at over 50#, so portability is not for the faint of heart. Also, if you use a high temperature ceramic, DO NOT ALLOW IT TO GET WET!
I have not included the different welding and fabrication I performed.

There are many farmers out here who have purchased welders from places such as China, Taiwan, India, etc.. As far as quality and problems go, those that have purchased such things have done so with the prior knowledge that it may be a one- or two-use item. About half of them were right... the fourth or fifth time they needed welding done, the welding was accomplished with my portable Miller (about a 1975 model). The others can be divided in half as those who still have yet to use the welder again, and those who can't believe the poor thing still turns on, let alone work.
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I say it is a roll of the dice.

Electric welding, plasma cutters, etc., etc., etc.......
To me, the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths, make the most sense of how we smiths may best look at the different skills.
Go to: www.blacksmithscompany.org.uk/Pages/2Craft/StandardsHome.html
Personally, because I never have a helper in my shop, I tack weld together scrolls and such that are to be collared. Even universally-acknowledged Masters such as Otto Schmirler stated that use of modern tooling is fine as long as it does not detract from the piece.

Your whirlwind firepot was available from the Sears & Roebuck Catalog in 1897 for about $7.00. They were also sold through T. Eatons in Canada and through other supply companies of the time. The last one I saw in a catalog for sale was in one dated 1931.

If you describe looking like a blacksmith as someone with hands that can crush walnuts between their pinkie and thumb; one arm significantly larger than the other; inability to tell if we have dark hair or just a head of coal; ability to withstand skin temperatures over 350F; and forearms larger than our thigh.... I guess I have a ways to go before I look like one. :lol: