Dave M

I have not built a propane forge in a long time and just wanted to know is ITC 100 still the standard or are the better or easier to use ridgediziers out there? If so what are my other choices. One more qeustion, I have many round forge bodies to build off of but do box style forges work better? Thanks

I just got an awsome deal on CL. 1 roll of durablanket in an unused box for $15.00 plus a 4'x8' sheet of 16 gauge $15.00 also, but enough bragging. The box only says dura blanket there is no weight marked on it or heat rating. it is 1 inch thick. Is there any way to tell or find out what it is. I was going to double it up to line a new forge I am building. Any help would be awsome.

Here are some of the places I get steel from by me: I awlays tell them that I am a blacksmith and I always ask. 1st our local dump or transfer station has a separate area for metal. 2nd small mom & pop auto or equipment repair shops. 3rd farms, they always seem to have piles of scrape metal all over. 4th I ask around some one always knows some body else who has some metal kicking around. 5th I run adds on Craigs list, make it clear that you are not a junk hauler Lastly I would find out who the local blacksmiths in your area are I bet some of them would let you grab a few pieces here or there. Heck I had a kid by me that wanted to get into blacksmithing and well I had parts to make both propane and coal forges in my scrap pile. He helped me organize my scrap pile and we built a nice coal forge and cut and welded the body for a propane forge,win win.

Thank you, that never even crossed my mind. I have gunstock oil that I use when I sand my gunstocks to a flat finish.

I am trying to figure out a taditional way of finishing tomahawk handles. I want the handle to be protected and sealed but not to slippery. I was thinking butchers wax or maybe linseed oil but I am just not sure. The handles I am working on right now 1 is made of red oak and the other is iron wood. I have used draw knives, spoke shaves and files to get the shape, then I used a piece of broken glass as a scraper to give them a smooth finish. I also used a torch to darken the wood and add detail to the grain. After all this work don't want to screw them up with a bad finish on the handle. Any advice would be awsome. I think my next handles I will try staining with chewing tobacco.

There use to be 2 or 3 in the worcester area that would let you pick. There are a few in southern NH. portsmouth area.

I built a wooden box lined with that foil covered foam insulation that fits over the anvil with about 4 inches of air space all of the way around. I also cut out two pieces of plywood that fit around the base of the anvil and covered them with the same foam insulation. I have a 60 watt ceramic reptile heat emitter that I mounted through a hole in the top of the box to point down on the face of the anvil. Check them out here Heat Emitters. it draws only a little more power then a 60 watt light bulb. It keeps my anvil warm not hot and last year in my shop (unheated) I had temps at -15 degrees My shop is in the woods in a low spot and in the winter it does not get sun until around 1:00 pm. Lets put it this way this time of year I hang deer and game in my shop and they keep as if in a meat locker.

I have been using their coal off and on for about 6 years I like the way it cokes up and that it is in easy to handle bags that work great for storing and they don't make you buy it by the ton. forgot to add that I was talking about their blacksmithing coal and not their home heating stuff.

Just looked at the torches you linked to and they don't look to bad. Did these torches work fine before? Or are these torches new to you. It sounds like your mixture pressures are off or not being mixed right, that is if the torches are new to you. If they were working fine and are now doing this then it sounds like you may have a bad O ring or regulator diaphragm, either of these would allow air to pre-mix with your gases or give you unstable pressure at the tip.

How many others have this problem, that your shop has to have several purposes. I built My new shop my self over a period of 5 years, it is 16"X 26" with a full second floor ( you can see the process in the member gallery under Dave M ). At the time it seemed huge but once you have the space your stuff just seems to multiply:rolleyes:. I finely got it set up so it had great working flow and then I went out and bought a old farm tractor for use around the shop and house and it needs more work then I thought:mad:. You know what that means I had to move every thing in the shop around to make room for it. I hope this is a short term thing but it just seems like every time things start going smooth in the shop there is some set back. Well I am off to find some cheese for my whine. oh and to find a muffler for a 1977 Romanian built tractor.

I have 2 leather aprons I use all of the time, forging, welding, plasma or O/A cutting, grinding, buffing and polishing. 1 full length with center top pocket ( great for soap stone, scribe and ruler ). In the summer I will wear the full length one with shorts or a kilt. I like to use the split leg apron for detail or finish work that allows you to sit down. I know from the cuts and burns on my aprons that they have saved me from injury a whole bunch of times. As for the yellow goldish virgin apron color, it goes away pretty fast with use.

There is a list of blacksmith coal suppliers in the blacksmithing section it is at the top of the page as a sticky.

Hammerkid did you use castable refractory as the liner? I am building a new gasser and wanted to try lining it with something different then ceramic blanket. What ever you are using it looks great.

I picked up at the dump saturday 3 throw away helium party tanks ( great propane forge bodies, great for buckets ) a bucket full of old spicket knobs and 2 broken 30 gal broken compressors that I will pressure test the tanks if good , spare air tanks if bad large propane forge body or cut up steel ring forms or water storage tanks for shop use.

it is good to see skills being passed on. It will be some thing he will always remember and look back on.

I just thought I would share this since so many new smiths are looking to tool up. I have been surfing Craigs list for ME.& NH. & VT. lately and have scored a good number of priced right blacksmith tools. It seems like with these hard times people are cutting down or out some of thier hobbies or just cleaning out. I have picked up a couple of anvils for about $1 to $2 per pound and in good shape. There have been a bunch of leg vises at great prices and some have just been listed as just vises. I have just seen coal forges and even 3 propane forges, Always check out listings that say old tools with pictures of them, I just scored a bucket full of swages and fullers and punches ( $15) gave her a $20 and said keep the change . I have also found with some things that are over priced that once I tell them I am a blacksmith and that thier prices are a little high that they are some times open to offers as they would like too sell and see them used by a blacksmith. It just seems like E-bay price gouging has not hit Craigs list just yet. Also for any new ME. or NH. and maybe MA. blacksmiths there is an antique dealer in southern NH. who always has anvils and other blacksmiths tools some tools are not priced too bad plus you can get a good look and feel for them before you buy. He almost always has 2 -3 anvils some times more, his prices on these are a little high but if you can't find one it is a good place to start. Just send me a PM for name and location.

I own one of the cheap A/O kits they sell all the time on e-bay for $129 made by lincoln electric (china) It is a little work horse. The hoses were too short to be any use so I replaced them with 25' hose from welding shop for $19.95. This kit is now 4 years old and it has been in my truck tool box since then I use it all the time to do some heavy equipment repairs and to cut plate and scrap. It cutts 1" plate with no problem. I do have much better torches and gauges in my shop but would not like to have them stolen out of my truck so they only come out as needed. I did have 1 of those bernz-o-matics kits I got to cut the muffler of my jeep before I had good torches, lets just say I finished the job witha sawsall. So save up

I did a job that they did not want it welded so that they could make field repairs to replace the mesh if damaged. I just backed up the mesh with 1.5" flat stock and then just drilled through the angle stock and the flat stock and then bolted them together with the mesh sandwiched in between. Oh the parts I made were window brush screens for a mini excavator. Other wise I would have mig welded it and I agree with SGropp, start the weld on the angle iron and bring the heat and puddle up onto the mesh.

I have found a lot of stuff listed wrong on craigs list or the local paper, like bench vise $50.00 it turned out to be a perfect leg vise they just did not know. Or I find stuff listed as old tools. I have purchased tools from farm auctions or blacksmiths to be who just did not stick with it. At the last auction I went too there was a women there buying any tool she could she did not even know what most of them were she was just going to put the in her store.

A big one would toxic fumes, explosive gas build up and carbon monoxide build up. Also particulate inhalation.

I purchased a sleave of grinding discs from one of those cummings tool sale trucks, They were for my 4.5"grinder. Same story as the others I got what I paid for. They did not spin balanced and they made a ton of dust for very little stock removal. It takes 5 of them to do the work of 1 good norton disc. Well I wont do that again.

Man I am full of questions. Yesterday while using my small rivet forge out side I had about 5 blower fires. It was windy out and it did it every time I added fresh coal and then stopped turning the blower handle. This may be related to my earlier coal dust problems but I figure I would check with everyone else to see what causes this as I do not recall having this problem before. thanks dave m

I always use a watering can to control my fire so I know wet coal will burn but the coal dust was making me nuts and I will tell you it doesn't take much to do that:o. Thanks for the advice I did screen some today and I will throw it in 5 gal. bucket of water later on after work.

I am not able to buy washed coal so my question is has any one washed thier own coal. I am thinking of building a frame with small opening hardware cloth that I can screen and wash the coal through. If so how long should I let the coal dry. I am sick of all the coal dust and the way it flares up when you dump a fresh scoop of coal onto the forge.

Using the tang of a file, boy I have buckets of them and they have tapers of all different sizes. I will give that a try. thanks. Dave M