welder19

Definately post over at backyardmetalcasting.com forum there are plenty of us over there that have up and running backyard foundry's and are more than capable to help you out but you will need to post what it is your looking to have cast and of what type of metal, also do you have a pattern or do you need that as well, pattern making is where it gets costly.

welder19

I don't think using your real name is all that important but listing your location is very helpful, for others and yourself, no one is looking for a street address and zipcode but state and vicinity of the state is good, ex. Southern Ohio or Northern California. It's only to be helpful, no one is looking to come hunt you down or stalk you.
I may not use my real name but I do pretty much use the same name on all the forums I am registered to.

welder19

Looks pretty good for your first try at knives, my first try didn't even remotely look like what I had pictured in my head or even much like any kind of knife for that matter.

welder19

I don't know anything about West anvils but it looks like it's in pretty good shape and $3.33 per lb isn't too bad of a price.....providing you want/need an anvil that size and have the $$ for it.

welder19

I just use a bucket of plain old vinigar, usually takes about a day depending on how bad it is and how used the vinigar is, cheap, quick, effective.

welder19

110v welders are fine, I've welded 1/2" with mine, just have to make more than one pass, it's better to use a bigger welder but it works. I do recomend solid wire with gas versus flux core wire, solid wire makes a much cleaner weld.

welder19

I have doubles, triples and quadruples of some things and if I see more and have the $ on me I'd probably buy more of those same things, you just can never have enough or too many tools.

welder19

Very nice & very uniform!

welder19

I know of a ton or so of old wrought iron fencing that got hit by a car years ago and the old lady who lives there had it ripped out and piled up in the back of her place, approx 250 feet of it, I've tried every approach I can come up with even offering to buy it but she just wont part with it, even though it is just sitting in a heap going to waste, relly breaks my heart every time i think about it, man it is a lot of wrought iron, only about 30-40% of it was hit and the rest is even still nice fencing.

welder19

you can grind off the mushroomed part of the tool just besure not to let it get too hot. If you grind a taper to the end it helps to prolong the mushroom effect.

welder19

McMaster-Carr sells leather and synthetic flat belt and the aligators to connect it, it's not cheap but they last forever, you buy it buy the foot.

welder19

Fire brick will work good and are cheap and readily availible.

Ceramic tile are no good, liike blafen said.

welder19

You can get muriatic acid at some building supply places, the that sell primarily masonary supply, or at pool supply stores.

welder19

Sorry to hear about your misfortune and you have my prayers, I've been in my share of brawls and I know for a fact that the skull is stronger than the hand, it sounds to me like he had something in his hand (roll of quarters or something similar) or he didn't actually hit you with his hand, either case would be a deliberate intent to cause severe harm.

welder19

8" and still falling, they have predicted everything from 6" to 18" so I'll know when it stops how much we're gettin.

welder19

You don't really have to use any refractory for that type of forge, my first solid fuel forge I made was a truck wheel with the holes welded up and the air coming up through the center with a plate with holes drilled in it to keep the fuel from falling down in the tyuere. The fire pot I use now is made out of 1/2" plate and doesn't have any refractory either.

welder19

Looks good, how does it work? As well as you planned/hoped?

welder19

ebay always brings big dollar for blacksmithing tools and equipment.
You can post on here and other blacksmithing web-sites but be sure to post with pictures.

welder19

Nice, I'm really jealous of the cnc plasma cutter, do you make your living out of your shop?

welder19

The bearings can be tightend up, if you pry the cap off that covers the bearing there is a center nut that can be turned in a little and it will snug up the bearing, just DON'T over tighten it.
That is if it is a Champion 400 your talking about, I don't know about any others.

welder19

I have built quite a few splitters and can tell you that if your resourceful and do a little scrounging you can build a way better splitter than you can buy, the most I have ever spent building one is about $600 and that was approx 30 ton and had a cycle time of about 14 sec, which is very fast for a splitter for those of you who may not know, which is the other benefit to building your own is you can build them so they are fast where as the ones you buy are slow, like Frosty said for saftey.
If your mechanically inclined and can weld then by all means build your own but don't try and go and buy all new materials and expect it to be cheaper, the only things I buy new if need be is a pump and or valve other wise everything is found here and there, go and scavenge at the local scrapyard and you should be able to find just about everything you need.

welder19

Here is where I got mine, it's a 0-60psi w/gauge, you can have them make longer hoses too, I ordered mine w/a 15' hose,

The Cajun Shoppe - Hose & Regulator Combinations

welder19

If you want to do it as cheap as pos. then your gonna have to find what you can locally, cause no matter how cheap of a product you buy the shipping will get you. If you can, find a pottrey/ceramic supply, they will sell some commercial refractory's but if they are still too much for you then get a hight temp clay, I prefer to use EP Kaolin, which comes from FL so it should be even cheaper for you. Get some fine grog or if you want to stay even cheaper then you can go with silica sand which they will alos sell there, you can go about 50/50 clay/grog or sand and as little water as pos, just enough to make the clay bond nicely, which you will be able to tell as you mix, the more water you use the longer and slower it will take to dry and fire it.
You should be able to find EPK for $7-$10 a 50lb bag and it can withstand 3000F no problem.

These guy's are in FL, I don't know where in relation to you though,

Raw Materials: Ball Clays at Axner.com

welder19

I had one similar to these and one thing I recomend is making the ash dump longer so it doesn't fill up so fast, other than that they work great.

welder19

Pretty neat looking, did you just melt it with a torch, kind of dribbleing it as you went or did you melt the brass in a crucible and pour it out?
I'm sure they would sell good.

welder19