meco3hp

Add 1 teaspoon of copper sulphate per pint of water, after degreasing the article to be patina'd, paint on and heat with a soft flame, you should have a result in a few minutes. Remember to take the proper precautions when working with chemicals. *

Add 1 teaspoon of copper nitrate per pint of water, after degreasing the article to be patina'd, paint on and heat with a soft flame, you should have a result in a few minutes. Remember to take the proper precautions when working with chemicals. *

Lard was used for many years as a cutting oil for lathes, drillpresses, taps and dies. Bacon grease will also work. Peanut oil will work for cutting fluid. Kerosene will work as a coolant.(be aware of fire hazard) Milk will give a nice finish on copper when used as a cutting fluid. Old solvent (that has been strained through a paint filter) works good on alum.& mild steel as a coolant.(be aware of fire hazard) Crisco works well in about all tapping situations. *

8 oz of brick dust 1 oz of resin 1 tbl of linseedoil Heated and mixed together. *

4 gal. part fireclay 4 gal. grog 4 gal. silica sand 3 quarts of borax powder Fireclay can be gotten at most fireplace stores, and lumber yards. Grog is crushed fire bricks. This is a key ingrediant, to eleminate shrinking, and cracking. Mix thoroughly while dry. Water should be sprinkled over the dry mixed ingredients while stirring, until mixed completely to a consistency that can be made into a ball in your fist that can be broken cleanly in two. When it is to that point, you should cover with plastic over night. It will keep indefinatly in a sealed bucket. z

Hello, I'm posting this for James Joyce. It's his "Slack-Tub Pub" Swap knife. Quote from James, "A fit fuzzy pic, but here's the knife i made for the pub swap. Hope I didn't embarass myself. Best i could do wit it. I left the temper colors on the blade to show the differentail heat treat. Blue above and bronze at edge, but doesn't show real well in this pic." a

Hello, Looks good, this'll give you a idea of what it takes to make a blade, I have do doubt, if you stay with it, they turn out better and better each time. Good Job, MM!

Hello, Nice job! You'd pay a pretty penny for the same quality cabinet from a supplier, if you could find one. You have a high quality, well built cabinet that looks great, and will last a number of life times, all from scrap! "Blacksmiths, the original recyclers"! :mrgreen: Good job!

Hello, I've had one a long time, but I have mixed feelings about them. One time they work great another time they don't. I've heard that you can mess the hand chucks up, (the things that hold the bit), by tightening them too tight on the bit. After that they won't rotate in the sharpening orfice. The guys that have them and have them figured out, swear by them. There have been many long discussions about them over at the Practical Machinist forum. Just do a search for "Drill Doctor". http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=1

Hello, I'm looking to make some small garden tools and was wondering if you should draw temper on a small shovel or hoe? I'm going to use some left over scraps of plow disc from my herb knife and cleaver projects!

January's project of turning a perfectly good 20' chunk of round 1/4" stock into a perfectly good something else like a,,,,,,,

Hello, Don't forget tonights live chat/blueprint session. http://iforgeiron.com/bp_location.shtml At 8:00pm EST. Be there or be square! :D

8. if the railroad ain't picked it up after 10 years, they must not want it! 9. never pass up a tool, even if you have 2 of them already!

Hello, Don't forget tonights chat/Blueprint! You never know whats going to happen there!

One-Rod, That looks like a good Blueprint for the site! Get to it! :mrgreen: I'm going to keep my eyes open for a old wrench now!

Hello, just a reminder of Tuesday nights chat/demo, and what you missed out on last Tuesday night if you didn't make it! see you there! Thanks! Richard

Hello, yes good stuff, I've used it on chickens before. No flea problem now, too cold! :mrgreen: Thanks Richard

Hello, Some more thoughts. You also have to remember that most of these tools are made in a way that a small amount of maintanice is all thats needed to keep them running good. It also goes to say that fixing them should also be as easy! As long as the shaft of the fan blower is not pitted, pouring babbit bearings is fairly easy. If it's a newer blower it'll have brass sleeve bearings. Very easy to replace them also. If it's a problem with a gearbox driven blower, it gets a little harder but no where near impossible. Broken castings can be complicated, but also no where near impossible to fix. Just remember, your not the first one to run into these problems. We've all had these problems at one time or another. Just keep asking questions. If you have a part that just has to be replaced or is beyond your skills or shop capabilities, maybe somebody here could help you! Thanks Richard

Hello, Freebird, Glad you made it over. Did you check out the Old Wood Working site? They have some cataloges from Champion. Any pics of the blower? Post some pics and discriptions of the problems and we should be able you. Thanks Richard

Hello, If you missed or couldn't stay the whole time for the Tuesday night chat/demo, we had a grand total of 58 people in and out of the live chat. A new all-time record for attendance. The old record being 45. I also believe we set a new record for latest/earliest closing time for the chat. We who stayed up until the cows where headed home closed it out at 4:30ish AM EST. We had quite a few new guest in, and later on some of the regulars from the "PUB" across the street dropped in. We had two very nice demos Tuesday night, a really nice Gas forge from Irn and a demo on pouring lead hammers from yours truly. We also had a lot of interesting pictures and discussions on various topics about blacksmithing, knives, and hammers, among other items. Glenn also discussed improvements to the forum and IForgeIron site. We hope to see everybody here next Tuesday night at 8:00pm EST for social hour and the demos start at 10:00pm EST sharp! See you Tuesday night! Richard Jensen

Hello, I was going to make some cleavers and herb knives for christmas presents. I was wondering what kind of wood to use for the handles. It doesn't need to be exotic or fancy, just something easy to come up with, that'll hold up to the ocasional washing and such. I was thinking of useing some old hammer handles and a old sledge handle that didn't get installed correctly and came off shortly after being installed. They should be hickory, but will these work? I was thinking of using some kind of rivets to hold the slabs on. Any ideas as to what to use and where to get them would be useful info. I got the idea for the cleavers from "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Alexander G. Weygers. If you don't have a copy, I'd highly recommend it. This guy uses nothing but scrap iron for his projects. Lots of heat treating and tool/machine making.

Hello, Just how much of the bar do you temper? What scrap do you use to make a pry bar with? Axel, sway bar, or,,,,? Thanks Richard

Hello, Go check out this link. It is on the first page of IForgeIron.com. http://www.frappr.com/blacksmiths

RDC, Be sure that the pop rivets you use are SS and not aluminum!

Hello, I'm not sure where everybody is. It's been slow around here this week so far. Working on a hot cut hardie, from a truck axel.