johnny99

That's Correct. Different carbon content, and alloys for different applications. Quality of the steel is a seperate issue.

Yes, Red paint! But I suspect thats not the answer you wanted to hear. The only things I can suggest are rust,a product called japanese brown,, which gives a sort of burgandy look to steel if done right. Or something along the lines of copper plating, followed by a patina. I know that some knifemakers are getting vivid reds from hot dip blueing thier knives, but I have no Idea how.

It's A-36. What you would call mild steel. Fine for forging,albeit rather expensive to buy at the hardware store. You could just about buy a twenty foot length at a steel yard for what you pay for three feet at Ace. If you were thinking you could make knives out of it, your out of luck, sorry.

Evan, It's all the same hammer. before reforging and after. He's forged an old claw hammer into a tool called an adze. Which is used kind of like a giant chisel with a hammer handle on it. to scoop out wood. Say from the inside of a barrel, or maybe a log canoe.

Well, Here are a few thought from someone else living off the end of the anvil. (nice expression by the way.) 2 of 3 partners in a shop have left and the third is probably leaving within a year. The 2 just decided it wasn't for them(one enjoyed collecting tools to much) and the third is moving back out of state. Partners = bad news! Ex partners even worse. So I can take the shop, and the name. Shop is located in old downtown, right across from a great burger joint. The name isn't worth anything, unless the client list comes with it. Old downtown sounds nice, except around here all the old historic areas have ten year renovation plans to drive out the small buisinesses and replace them with starbucks, and boutiques. Also, how will your neighbors feel about you hammering at all hours of the day and night. Because make no mistake, thats what it will take to turn a profit. The burger joint thing is irrelevant. there'a lineshaft drive currently there that i'd have to buy to keep, but would love to have anyway, so then it's just a matter of money(hammer, drill and buffer attached). The tools are worth buying from them if it's a good deal, just to save you the hastle of setting up your own. I also know I'll try to stay away from anything the other smith currently sells so I won't be in direct competition with him. Your already shooting yourself in the foot by restricting your buissiness to unpowered hand forged stuff only. Why would you also cut your own throat by not producing the things that you already know will sell in that location??? I eventually want to set up classes for demo's and it's already a great setup for this. Yes, it does sound like a great setup for teaching. Do you have the credentials to pull it off? Can you afford the insurance. My wife does not currently work, so if needed I could get her to run the sales. Ouch.!!!! I'm sorry, if this sounds harsh. But that is the nature of starting your own buissiness. And I am really not trying to insult or dissuade you from your course of action. But It sounds like your kind of highliteing the plusses and down playing the negatives in your own mind. I would hate to see you get tied up in something you can't get out of because of rampant enthusiasm. Best of luck, whatever you decide to do. And personally, I think if you listen to what I've said, you probably don't have what it takes to succesfully run a buissiness anyway, John

If your talking about just the straight about 6' black solid wightlifting bars, With the cast iron collars w/grub screws to hold the weights on. They are 7/8" mild steel. I use them all the time, as stock because they are always getting thrown away around here.

Thanks for the kind comments. Some times you get so close to something It's hard to have any kind of unbiased opinion about your own stuff. Irnsgn, I'm afraid that I feel pretty much the same way about most (found art), and a lot of the abstract fabricated stuff that's around. I think if you wan't to make an abstact statement about something. Then that's fine, but you should have a firm mastery of your choosen medium first. Before you start ignoring the rules. Or your just doing it because that's all you can do. Which is taking the easy way out, and cheating yourself and the veiwer.

Oh, ok. I was misunderstanding what you wanted to use it for. I belive you it is recomended that you don't use cement, as it can spall violently from thermal expansion. Basically the same as not using river rocks to build a fire ring. If all you need is enough for a burner, Ace hardware sells quart sized buckets of furnace cement for under ten bucks that will work for what you want, I think. BTW. I have to agree that the bentonite will degrade and crumble fairly quickly.

Just finished this for a customer today. to match some other sculpture's I did for him. I used a lot of different techniques in this one piece. The head, arms,tail, and legs are all forged to shape. the body was raised out of 14G corten, The wings were dished and then fluted on a stake. Then everything was tig welded together.

I'm pretty sure that won't work. You could use crushed firebrick instead of the perlite, but you stiil need the clay, (I think)? The cheepest unsented kitty litter you can find will be bentonite clay. you can either crush it w/a mortar and pestal, or contrive some kind of grist mill setup. Or you can be lazy like me , and just dump it in a bucket of water and let it set for about a week, stirring well a couple of times a day to turn it into slip. But the question on my mind is If you have firebricks already, why not just use them for the insulation?

The first thing I would check are the worm gears. It sounds like someone stripped off the useful bits and chucked the frame for a reason. If yyour not willing to pay what the replacement rollers cost, then your probably going to have to fabricate your own. It's not really very hard. I have made them before from roller blade bearings that I bought for a couple of bucks at the second hand store.

Thomas. Why not get one of those fishnet vests to wear over the hoses, and contain them? Shouldn't ad much weight or get to much hotter.

1. Working the metal to cold. 2. poor technique, folding wrinkles into the radius instead of stretching the metal outward. 3. bad batch of metal.