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I Forge Iron

joshua.M

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Posts posted by joshua.M

  1. Hi everyone,

     

    I am excited to announce that the International Young Smiths will be meeting in Brandon Mississippi this July. This year the group includes Daniel Lea from Frankfurt am Main Germany, Raleigh Desiato from California USA, Alec Steele from Norfolk UK, and myself Joshua McLaren from Ontario Canada.

     

    Please check out the facebook page created for the group

     

    https://www.facebook.com/InternationalYoungSmiths

     

    I would like to personally thank everyone who has made this opportunity possible!

     

     

    Josh

     

     

     

     

     

  2. Ok, I live in Australia, and there are a bunch of railroads in the blue mountains where I live, so I will ask around and see what I can do about that. 

    Thanks DCRAVEN for the advice, and do you have any good Ideas as to what I should forge first, as a kind of practice forge.

    And how can I tell what a metal is, eg Iron from Steel, weak from strong... Sorry about all the questions but I am a young wannabe Blacksmith and I would like to know how to distinguish that kind of stuff.

    Again Thanks!!!

    Jakob

     

    I suggest you invest hours reading through this website, lots of good info here

     

    Josh

  3. Well done! Don't let Deb see it or I'll have to make her one.

     

    Frosty The Lucky.

     

     

    Quit putting it off Frosty and just do it, it ain't all that time consuming you know. You ought to take a look at the ones Sam made, go to his Face Book page I think, they are really nice looking, you ought to be able to do as good or better. He forged them and then ground them smooth, I'd love to have one like that. I made one out of mild steel and it is all ding to pieces, I've had to refinish it several time as every ding telescopes into the silver and has to be worked out.

     

    http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/32859-bick-irons/

     

    I believe this is what you mean

     

    Josh

  4. No, no forging at my computer desk either. There's NO WAY I'd have a hammer within reach of this frustrating, contrary thinky machine! Actually it's the ITs that tick me off, they seem to think menus are the answer to any questions. Of course I'm sure it's just so they don't have to talk to real humans. Bet ITs don't allow hammers anywhere near them either. <grin>

     

    Frosty the Lucky.

    Breathe Frosty... BREATHE

  5. Welll...hopefully I will meet the Canadian sometime in the near future. And hopefully also, to see some of the work that he produces. Not trying to over-view Alec from you by any means...it is just that I have seen Alec in person. And the videos were of him doing the metal thing...so I offer kudos and accalades to him.

     

    I found the videos to be of high quality...editing color composition and all. Comparred to us down here in the South Alec still sounds funny...so I have an open invitation to give him remedial training in how to speak SOUTHERN.

     

    I am looking forward to meeting you too. Please accept my apologies for the oversight in not giving you the proper acknowledgement.

     

    Carry on

    I wasn't seeing it as an oversight! just hoping I'm not a lost cause eh?

    Josh

  6. Ok, I will contact them, but like I said, I have several of the weight forward type hammers. Bought at different times and places, and they behave the same. The only thing I can erlate it to would be mild steel. Easily deformed, easily corrected.

    I guess there is little to lose if I take a brazing tip and heat the claws, But what color should I aim for?

    read up on hardening and tempering, by heating the claws and letting them cool you will only make them softer. my bet would be that is where the problem lies

  7. 6th line, opening post,  you wrote:   I had blurred vision from the plastic visor, showing off, and lost concentration for a split second...

     

    first you said you had blurry vision from the visor, now ya say you dont? either you had good vision, or you didnt.

    yes, i had blurred vision from the plastic, it was fogged from my breath and has an anti glare coating that doesnt help. I never said i had good vision, i said it is brand new and it does not need to be replaced. do not twist my words

  8. Glad all you suffered was some pain Josh, could'a been a LOT worse. Remember the "traditional" retirement date for a blacksmith was when s/he lost the other eye.

     

    So, how much of your face would it have hit without the face shield? I've had junk bounce off my front be it my chest, forehead or whatever, then bounce off the inside of my face shield and then my safety glasses many times.

     

    there is a myth about safety gear, it doesn't actually keep you "safe" it ameliorates the damages. A few burns instead to a lost eye, for instance. Ear plugs can mean a couple ugly blisters just inside your ear canal rather than a hole in your ear drum. I've had the blisters and know of two guys with bad hearing for hot spatter.

     

    The most important lesson to take away from this LUCKY incident is this. The most effective piece of safety gear you have is your BRAIN. Wear the PPE and keep your brain on task. Visitors and spectators are always hazards making you as the party responsible for EVERYBODY'S safety multitask when you need to be on point.

     

    Glad you're okay, blisters and some pain are good memory aids.

     

    Frosty The Lucky.

     

    it would have flown into the air past my face, if it hit at all it would have been the little burn on my nose where it hit first, then bounced off the sheild

    Josh

  9. TAKE YOUR TIME! it sounds to me like you are trying to put the drift through in one heat... next time, try putting the drift in, hit it only 3 times, nock it out then let the heat wick back into the hole until it is all one color again (hold the steel off the anvil) then hit the drift through the other side 3 times... reheat and repeat until the drift goes through, then as the steel cools keep putting the drift through both sides until it just drops through.

     

    I'm gonna steal Brian Brazeal's line, Don't believe everything I say, go try it for yourself.

     

    Josh 

  10. I had a great Easter until tonight, I decided to go do some forging and the whole family (grandparents, parents, aunts/uncles and cousins and girlfreind) wanted to watch. So what happened?

     

    I was making a pair of tongs with dropped tong welded reins, when my mom heard i was doing a weld, she grabbed my face sheild from my grinder and made me wear it... "saftey first" she said.... "it's a good idea" she said

     

    I pulled the peices out at welding temp, layed them down to weld... Thats where it all went wrong

     

    I had blurred vision from the plastic visor, showing off, and lost concentration for a split second...

     

    The tongs' bit moved and I tried to check the hit so I wouldnt need to fix a crooked weld, hit the end of the bit, flipping it up inbetween the visor and my face, it hit my nose, then ricochet off my nose and hit my perscription glasses (thankful for once for bad vision) then scraped down my cheek and fell onto my hand.

     

    I'm hurting (1st and light 2nd degree burns, worst yet), but i'm OK overall

     

    SO!... in short,

     

    DO NOT WEAR VISORS

    DO NOT SHOW OFF

    FOCUS

     

     

    Painfully,

    Josh

  11. First, it has a tire for the clutch so this IS a tire hammer. He has just made  a modification such as you wish to avoid. Other than speed reduction, I see no reason for it. He has just added more moving parts to the equation. More to wear out. Speed can be dictated by the size of tire used and the size of drive hub on the motor. Clay Spencer has a good SIMPLE design. Why reinvent the wheel?? As for how the spring and linkage works, that is just gravity and compression ( I never took physics so please don't crucify my nomenclature) As the tire goes round it forces the weight of the hammer down. That causes to linkage to  elongate forcing the compression on the spring. The spring decompresses on the up-stroke forcing the linkage back out and helps the hammer back up as the tire continues around and over the top. Think about an internal combustion engine and imagine the spring is the "spark"

     

     

    Dodge when i finished reading that i was almost blinded by the light bulb that went off! thanks for explaining it, the internal combustion engine comparison made complete sense. OK i'm going with a regular tire hammer! will post pics as i gather materials.

     

    Thanks

    Josh

  12. I have been toying with building a power hammer on and off for a couple years now, I am considering a small (25-30lb ram) tire hammer, but I found this video that seems like it would be a whole lot easier to build as I need to rent/buy a welder to build it. I would obviously build a better base, guide the ram better and make dies instead of using flat plates, but the drive seems muck simpler than a tire hammer. The one thing I can't wrap my head around is how to set up the spring in the linkage on these hammers?

    Thanks
    Josh


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