JerryCarroll

Dan, I know the feeling well. Helplessness is not hopelessness--have faith as we all Pray. Prayer works!

The simplest thing I have found that works well for inside stuff is future floor acrylic finish. It's thin enough to get down in the small places--dries quick and is easy to apply again if you want and you don't lose the forged look. Like all stuff used to finish or coat things you need to clean/degrease/de-scale before applying. Even over a light scaleing it holds up pretty good.

My shop forge air supply is electric. My farm forge has a pump handle on the left and the portable I'm working on has a canady otto hand crank that can be positioned either side. I like the pump handle better than the crank--probably cause that's what I grew up with.
One shop I worked (played) in had a bellows over head with a hanging rope that could be used either way.

I used Potassium Permanganate to get the figured maple long rifle stocks I have built to look so nice. A picture of one is in the gallery. Isn't Potassium Permanganate what was called blue ointment long ago?? Used to treat some serious skin ailment?

Looking East or West I see farmland (corn-beans-wheat) with tree borders on the far side for several hundred yards. North & South I have neighbors within hollering distance. The beautiful Kankakee river is a couple hundred yards to the North. Deer and other critters stop by often to harass my chickens and grab an apple. Anybody need some squirrels?? Oak and hickory nuts keep them fed well here.

Born in 1941--got "involved" in smithing/fabricating bout 9 years later-- started metal working (full time employment) 1963. Set up my own smithy bout 25 years ago. I call it a hobby now :)

I forgot to mention that I used to get my wire from Dixie gun works in Tenn.

I don't think this one has been posted: Ignorance (not knowing) can be cured--stupid is permanent!

I have silver wire inlay in the stock of the flintlock I posted in the gallery with a tomahawk I made. Gotta look close I guess. I've been doing this in wood and some metal for many years. I have seen some really intricate work with wire on stocks-knife handles & even powder horns, especially at the Friendship, IN. muzzle loading shoots. Your post looks like you have a good start--Nice!!

RR spikes need to be upset an inch or more on the pointy end to have enough metal for a decent blade. Take a look at mine in the gallery.

I found using the o/a torch makes welding the rounds together easier--then forging to size/shape.

Reading past posts on welding rod my understanding is the flux is what makes the rods different. The rods are basically the same mild steel. So if you mix scrap ends or just pound off the flux from different graded rod what kind of flux would you end up with--even if you could get it to stick to the pieces to be welded?

Jayco, have him check for the 3 legged easels that wreaths are displayed on. Here they are 3-4-5 feet tall with the biggest being made from 1/4" round. I get and use a bunch from the cemeteries for candle holders and such. Also used for bean stakes as they are.

I got hooked visiting a shop in Va. near relatives back in the 50's as a kid--been practicing ever since.

4 to 6 hours of actual forge use uses at least half of the 5 gal. bucket I use for coal by the forge. Like James there is always coke and some coal from the last session. I make a concentrated effort to watch the blower. I have a lever at the front of the forge for adjusting the air flow so as the piece in the fire comes out I just bump the lever down to cut the air.

I got a load of coal that's supposed to be poco #3 W.V. from a coal yard in Brazil, Ind. Cokes good--burns hot--easy to weld in. I don't think I should be getting clinkers like these pictured with this coal. I usta bring home coal from E. Ky. when visiting relatives, mined locally in Smith, Ky. that didn't have half the clinkers the last load does.

Jayco, yeah! That was a huge maple about 20 feet from the kitchen window that got the blight that killed a lot of trees here. It was heart breaking to lose. The stump is about 3' across.

My Son came by to make the video and we didn't have time to build a fire in the forge so I used a piece of hickory left over from making some handles to pound on--it didn't last long!

My hawks start at $40 with the hickory handle--plain. Polishing--piercing--engraving can run them up to over a hundred. I built the rifle several years ago when I was a partner in a buckskinning shop. It's a .50 cal green mountain barrel--Siler lock--homemade single set trigger and all the trimmings, carved and engraved with silver wire inlay in the maple stock. I estimated the building time of the parts and carving/finishing the stock at about 500 hours.

I'm still amazed at the interest in things made from RR spikes. I am pleased with the tool funds they bring in . Here's one I did Saturday with a hickory handle. Not fancy--just functional.

Like Marc, most of the stuff I do is small--not little--but small compared to big blades and such. Lots of RR spikes lately. It took me over a year to finally get my 30 lb. hammer setup running well enough to say "I got it"!! The tire and drive pulley arrangement and several adjustments for travel--distance between dies and now finally some tooling make it nice to have. And the fact I have invested only about $100 by being a good scrounger makes it nice too! It's based on the rusty hammer except for the drive.

Even with being pretty good at forge welding I always enjoy reading a good article on it--this is one great metal working site!!

James--you wanna trade for some of our blood thirsty skeeters and black flies?? We got some healthy black gnats that like to drink outta the corner of eyes too just when you got a hot piece lined up for punching on the anvil! These ain't no-see-ums like around the chicken house "down home in Harlan".

I use my name because I've been nicknamed "Birdlegs" too long My Martial arts nickname, "Assassin" don't sound friendly enough. My smithy is "Border Towne Forge".

KYBOY--Another welcome to IFI. Where in the eastern part of Ky.? My hometown is Harlan. I live in Il. now--heading home for a reunion first week in June. Usta bring all my coal from there.