welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome, you came to the right place to learn. welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! That's great that your wife supports you like that. welder19

Welcome, until you get the $ and time to get a formal training, start collecting some tools and try to learn as much as posible by other means, here being one of the best, books, other inter-net sources and local groups. If you want it bad enough, and it sounds like you do, then it will happen, maybe not as soon as you might like but you'll make it. welder19

Welcome to IFI! I thought I heard that guns were banned in New Zealand, or do you hunt with another type of weapon? or am I wrong about the guns? welder19

Welcome! welder19

You can use a standard bench/machinist vise, just don't do too much heavy hammering, if it is a good vise, say a Wilton, and it's a heavy one, it will hold up for a long time as long as you don't abuse it, but other than being easyier to find they are normally more money. I got my first post vise at a auction for $30 and my 2nd one I got for free that I found in an old shed, it just needed cleaned up. So if you keep an eye out and look around you'll find one. welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! Do you have a link to your magazine? welder19

The smaller the better when making an insulating castable from burnable material. Sawdust or foam is a preference, I prefer foam because it burns out faster and leaves no ash, ash can act as a flux depending on what type of binder you use and how much there is of it. If you found it too hard to mix or pack then you may have used too much. The smoke isn't that bad and it doesn't last that long, however it doesn't bother me that much since I'm used to it from all of the lost foam casting that I do, which creates way more smoke than the little bit from insulating refractory. Do not use acetone to try and dissolve the foam out, if you do let it sit for a long time before fireing it and at that start very slow, like with a light bulb and increase very slowly since there could be pockets of acetone left inside which if your lucky would just blow chuncks out of the walls. Acetone is used to dissolve foam out when foam is used for creating voids or pockets in fiberglass or plaster or any place where there is not going to be any issue from heat or flame. welder19

Welcome! welder19

Refractory cements are or can be pretty in depth and complicated however there are some very effective and simple recipe's that work just fine. I don't know if it matters which alumina you use but if it were me I would use epk kaolin clay and mix in fine shreaded foam or use foam from a bean bag chair, mix in as much foam as you can and still have it stick together 4:1 or so, that will make an isulative refractory, then use some clay and alumina and make a hot face which you will want to make about 1/4"-1/2" thick. Normally clay and silica sand make up the hot face but in your case use alumina since you have it and it is more refractory than sand. welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome to IFI, we love pictures so if you have a camera be sure to keep it handy when your in the shop. welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Welcome! welder19

Andy, I'll second Frosty on the compliment of your web-site and your craftmenship, both are very nice. Your swords are very nice and the quality looks very good, as good as it can with out actually holding them. Are you pursueing this as your full time career? if so you seem to be off to a great start, especially at 19 yrs old. welder19