Marksnagel

Yes, most deffinately pictures and your location. It would be nice to see your progression as you restore the smithy.

Very nice. that tool will serve you well. I made two hardy tools this past weekend and like you I was my own striker. It took a little longer but gave me great satisfaction when completed.

Mark <><

Welcome to IFI.

There are other smiths in NJ whom I am sure will be glad to help you get started. Good luck and keep on reading the forums here at IFI. THe chat room is a good place to gather information. At 10pm every tuesday come to the chat room. There are BP's (blue prints). The admin staff posts links to some really neat projects and you can discuss them with those that are on chat.

Mark <><

Beautiful work. If my vote counted, it would be yours.

Sam,

 My prayers go out to you and your family.  May God bless you and your family. Your brother is at rest with the Lord and by his donation of organs, others will be given the gift of life.

Mark <><

This is great. I'm so glad to see others sharing their ideas, their retorts and their experiences. This is what this site is about.

I have packed the wood in the inner drum loose and tight. Loose seems to give me a more thorough burn but that just might be my retort. We will all have different results and so long as we share them we will all improve.

Hey Tundra, thanks for posting your retort with pictures. I may look for a smaller (20gal) drum for mine. Partly because I may want to make smaller batches at times and I think that if I had more space between the drums I would get a hotter and better burn. The 30 gal inside the 55 gal doesn't leave a lot of room for scrap. Enough room but sometimes it's just barely enough. A smaller inner drum like yours may work even better. 

My next retort will be one like Chads where the gas is piped to a burner that runs underneath and the whole setup is in an either steel or cinderblock box.

Keep the ideas coming.

Mark <><

As requested by a friend I have assembled some pictures and steps I took in making a charcoal retort. This way I am not dependent upon finding coal or buying charcoal. I haven't had to buy charcoal for the forge or the BBQ grill since I made this .

Items I used for the retort: 

1 ea  55 gallon drum

1 ea  30 gallon drum

2 ea pieces of black stove pipe. 

10 self tapping metal screws

Pressure wash or scrub the insides of both drums especially if you want charcoal for the bbq grill. 

The first thing I did was to cut around the 55 gal drum @ 2 inches down from the rim on the end with the bung holes to make a lid. Then I cut slits vertically all around the new lid making tabs to slightly bend outwards so the new lid will fit down over the main drum. I then cut a round hole slightly smaller than my stack in the top of the lid to accommodate the stove pipe. Punch or drill holes all the way around the bottom of the drum (the end you haven't cut off) approx every 3 inches. I punched holes that are @5/8ths of an inch.

A mistake that I made was, I forgot to punch holes around the top side just below the lid so my first burn didn't work too well. I punched 5/8ths in holes about every 4 inches. 

On the stove pipe, I cut slits around one end of a pipe and bent the tabs outward to 90 degrees. The tabs on the stack should be screwed to the lid so that the stack covers the hole.

On the 30 gal drum, I cut out the end with the bung holes. Not around the outside of the drum but inside the end so that you have the support of the rim. Like you would a can of beans.

That is all there is to making a retort. Now for the fun part. Making your own charcoal is fairly labor intensive but in my opinion well worth the benefit. Here's some pictures:

 This is all the parts. Note that I forgot to punch the holes around the top.

 The 30 gallon drum inverted inside the 55 gallon drum. I'll tell you how in a minute.

 All assembled and sitting on 4 cinder blocks.

 Flame shooting out of the stack  :)

 The gas burning from the 30 gal drum. I'll explain in a bit.

 The next day. And I strongly advise waiting till the next day to peek inside. If you get anxious and open it prematurely and there is just a hint of a spark in the drum that holds your new charcoal, it will begin to burn. NEVER store inside until you are 110% sure it is cold. Hence waiting for the next day to open.

 The finished product. 

Now for the work to begin.

Take your 30 gal drum and place it open end up on a block or small stump. Fill the inside with whatever wood you want to turn into charcoal. Scrap lumber from a construction site works really well. Just make sure that the wood is dry or you will not get a good burn. All your energy from the original fire will go into burning off the moisture in the wood. 

Don't pack it too tight. You will want some air space between the wood.

DO NOT use treated lumber. I really like oak pallets for the forge charcoal and natural woods like apple, hickory etc for the grill.

Once the 30 gal drum is loaded, take the 55 gal drum and place it upside down over the 30 gal drum. I run two rods through the top holes of the 55 gal drum which are now on the bottom to hold the 30 gal drum inside because you are going to flip the whole thing upside down. Clear as charcoal mud? If not you will learn because all the wood you loaded will spill out if the 30 gal drum is not secure within the 55 gal drum when you flip it.

Place the whole thing on top of some cinder blocks. 

Remove the two rods. Make sure that there is equal space between the two drum walls. You will need to load this area with all the small scrap wood that you can. Fill it up. Then pile more scrap on top of the 30 gal drum which is inverted in the 55 gal drum. Pine cones and pine straw and sticks. Make a good pile. 

It went against my fire behavior beliefs but this will burn from the top down. 

Light the pine cones and scrap on the top of the drum. Once it starts burning, place the lid with the stack on top. The lid will settle down as the scrap on the top burns. 

Here is what will happen:

 As the scrap fire burns down between the two barrels, it will heat the wood in the 30 gal drum. This is where the holes you punch in the 55 come into play. they will create a draft and air source for the fire. 

 Since the 30 gal drum is inverted and the open end is flush with the bottom of the 55 drum, no air will enter in. 

As the wood in the 30 drum heats from the fire between, the moisture will escape out of the open end against the 55 drum. You will see the white smoke escape the stack and along the top. The longer the scrap burns the hotter the wood in the drum gets, It will reach a point where gas will escape from the wood. Once the scrap burns down just about to the bottom, the gas escaping from the wood in the 30 gal drum will ignite. You can see this in the night picture of the retort with the fire at the bottom. The only thing burning at this point is the escaping gas in between the drums. As the gas burns , it cooks the wood inside which produces more gas which  yada yada yada. 

When it runs out of gas the fire will go out. Just let it cool down and come back tomorrow and open it up.

I have had burns where 100% of the wood chars and others where 75% chars. It all depends on the wood and how much moisture is in it. 

Usually you will get about a 30% loss of volume. Remember, you've burnt off all the gas. 

I probably forgot something. Actually the chances are probably pretty good that I did. Please ask questions. I will try and answer the best I can. 

This works really well for me but I know others more experienced will have advice. Please feel free to give your input. 

I am no expert. My father used to say that the definition of an expert was, "An X is an unknown and a Spurt is a drip under pressure."

Mark <><

I try to save the fruit wood for smoking meats,  Can we see the retort you made?

No! 

Yes of course. As soon as I gather my thoughts and pictures, I'll be glad to. I have been meaning to for a while but I have too many irons in the fire sometimes and things get pushed to the back of the forge. 

Better yet, I'll take some new pics the next time I light it off.

Mark <><

Thanks Ian, I'll give that a try.

I currently have a batch of red cedar charcoal that I use for the BBQ grill and am waiting on some apple wood to cure a bit more before I char it. Can't wait to turn that into charcoal for the grill.

ps. Before anybody mentions it, the iron was brought out of the fire for the pictures.

Painful wrist, elbow, shoulder all taken care of by learning which hammering techniques, grip, weights worked the best for me. 

Several years ago I missed the mark and almost hit the marksnagel in the forehead due to excessive hammer rebound. Never look too close directly over your work. Learned that one quick. 

Beautiful table. Love those legs!

Mark <><

Really nice scroll work. Well done.

Mark <><

Should your heart no longer be in it then I wish you fair winds and following seas. 

If there is a spark of hope still glowing, and it sounds like there is, then don't give up unless you have a solid reason to do so. There are many here that will help to kindle that spark into a hot forge fire again. As several others have offered, list things that you need. Somehow they will make their way to where you are. 

There will always be a warm fire for you to sit at here at IFI. No need to wander out into the cold. But if you need to go, remember you are always welcome back.

Mark <><

Welcome to IFI.

Where are you located?

Riley,

 I use RR spikes for all kinds of things. Pigtail meat turners, bottle openers, crosses, etc.

Scrap RR spikes are IMHO just that, scrap. No better, no less than other scrap. All scrap has a potential to be some great work. There are purists in all walks of life that feel superior to everyone that doesn't do things the right way. Translated to : their way.

Mark <><

The last and only time I tried to manipulate cast iron, I learned an important lesson. No. 

After I had it in the fire and brought it up to a nice yellow heat I moved it to the anvil and gave it a nice little tap. It splattered like it was made out of clay. 

Thus endith my lesson. Others may have and most undoubtedly will have better information for you. This was just my experience with cast iron.

Mark <><

Riley is correct.

Your coal will give you the best performance when it is pea sized. Wear gloves and safety goggles (always) and break up your coal into smaller usable pea sized pieces. 

As for store bought briquets, they are not good for forging. If you have a Lowes or similar store in your area, see if they have lump hardwood charcoal. There is a brand out there called "Cowboy". It works really well. 

I make my own charcoal with a home made charcoal retort. There are many ways to make charcoal. Like Riley said, or you can burn scraps in a 55 gal drum with the top cut off and when it gets burning really well, cover the top. Check out youtube, they have a zillion ways to make your own charcoal.

If you can post some pictures of your progression with the forge, people will be able to steer you in the right direction. 

Keep on asking questions.

Mark <><

Welcome to IFI!

 I started with a small piece of RR track. Then went to a train car coupler knuckle and eventually wound up with an anvil. I still use the track and the coupler for different needs.

Like others have stated, seek out other blacksmiths. There are more than you might think out there. 

As Frosty said, we like lots of pictures. 

Mark <><

Prayers offered up for the families of those that have lost loved ones and for the firefighters that are still engaged with the wildland fires.

Mark <><

Durants Neck VFD

I agree with JMC. The fish are really easy to make and can be done in about 3-4 minutes. The split crosses are a big hit because they see a piece of square stock go from square to X to a cross. But they should have all their cuts done prior to the demo. I try to have about 30 of them cut before I go. Cutting them would be boring for them to watch. 

Small hearts are great and can be done in a matter of minutes. You have to figure out what the attention span is of your crown. School kids have a short attention span. Leaves are about right for grammar school kids. Quick to make and go from a piece of scrap to a cool key chain leaf in about 5 minutes. 

If there are equestrians in the crowd then they will like anything to do with horses or from horseshoes.

Mark <><

By your description of the material jumping around a lot, I tend to think that you are not getting your material hot enough which would cause it to jump off the anvil rather than move under your hammer blows. Not enough heat will also cause you to strike harder which will make it jump even more. 

If it is hot enough, it should not be trying to rebound after each hammer blow. 

Or not.  :)

The following words were used several times in the preceeding replies:

Just

Quick

Last

Only

Hope

Distracted

Anger

I will just quickly do this last one and only hope I don't get distracted by my anger.

I am not pointing fingers because mine have many scars from lessons learned. We all take short cuts because we are in a hurry. It's in our blood. I know because every now and then I see mine.

Mark <><

Kharen,

 I am glad to see that you are interested in blacksmithing and wanting to keep the art alive. I'm also glad to see that you are 13 years old because that means that you still have a lot of time to hone your skills and it will take time, practice and a willingness to learn.

  If you post the general area that you live such as the state or country, there is most likely a group of blacksmiths/bladesmiths that could help you get on the right path.  

Look on the web for blacksmith groups in your area.

Mark <><

These are just my uneducated thoughts and are subject to be proven wrong. I imagine that if you were able to concentrate the suns rays you could just about heat or burn a hole through anything. But what you would have to do to acheive that would be rather immense and impracticle.

Plus if you have heighbors, they may object to you accidently lasering their shed.

But they said if God had meant man to fly he would have given him wings and look at us now.

A blacksmith with his own death ray. Hmmmmmm

Mark <><