Ric Furrer

I think you are underpowered....you have verified the psi and gallon flow how? Ric

What Matt means is that whatever the pressure you have you can change the amount of BTU by making the pipe bringing the gas a different size....at a given pressure a 1/2" pipe can bring the gas, but a 16" pipe can bring more...with no change in pressure. What does the gas company say is your total BTU potential? I am getting a nat gas line put into the shop in the Spring...700,000 BTU or so. I have 60PSI at the road and will have ten PSI put to the shop and step it down as needed so I can use the existing small lines. a 3/8" flex gas line most use on their forges may not be enough to run a big forge at 2PSI, but you double that line and you can run a larger forge. Ric

Hello All, I was asked to give a demonstration on knife-making for the Upper Midwest Blacksmith's Association last weekend in South Beloit. http://www.umbaonline.org/ The event was hosted by Jim Ribordy in his line driven blacksmith/machining shop...interesting place. I had a great time and the group is gracious host... and I thank President Joe Brannum and Secretary Pat Nowack for their hospitality. We covered steelmaking, some history and metallurgy, composite blade construction and then made a few blades from forging and grinding to quenching and tempering. I hope those in the audience had a good time. I like the metallurgy "dramatic play" section where I was the carbon atom and two taller folk..Kurt and Pat (I never seem to have issues finding taller folk) did the part of the iron atoms..we were a representation of a body centered tetragonal crystal of martensite....which is not something you get to see every day. Photos courtesy of Ralph Briggs. Ric

Daniel, There is a this company: http://www.oldglobewood.com/real-wrought-iron-rods.html I have not worked any of the material yet...have a small sample here BUT if they have 500,000 pounds available...I see little need for you to make any for the general smithing population. I would encourage you to give it a try for your own work though...as a learning experience. Ric

John, Want one from that W2? Ric

I was wondering what that powder was as well. I know they use boric acid in the mix, but it sure was sticky.........I'll look into it. Ric

I could store it here for you Ric

Oh, to be sure...if material is scarce I would think he would have wadded up the shears from whatever was around...I have seen hinges and some axes which looked like lumps of clay with globs put here and there as needed. For what you can get out a single small bit i suggest you have a look at the Bulldog shovel video.....and SMITHY1...have a look at what a whole host of dies and tools can accomplish: I'd like to work there for a few days to see all the forging tools in action. About the time I get all the tools I want I'll sell them and retire. Japanese stuff as well: http://web.mac.com/nami_aru/Daiku/いらっしゃい.html four videos in there. Anyone got anything similar...I'd like to see them...maybe something European again? Ric

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=184163436154365665# The above video is quite wonderful...great technique and a display of mastery of a technique. I wish we had more documented cases of this sort...old masters simply...working. Apparently he began his apprenticeship at age 13. Ric

It was up to the students..had a choice of wrought, magnetite or pure iron as the source material. Some are more traditional than others and they take such classes for certain reasons..I am sure had I offered to use animal skin bellows and charcoal for the melt that some would have opted for that....but propane is more controllable and offers a better success rate given the situation of teaching. Ric

The ore was concentrate (magnetically separated) which I got from a mining outfit North of Duluth. I have a lead on a large supply of similar ore, but not work on timing to get it. much of the existing ore from such mines are contracted out and getting a coffee can full is now near impossible. You sure can use the black sand from paydirt gold mines....and no doubt your steel form that ore will have a tiny amount of gold alloyed with it. DVD...no time period set yet....it is taking far more time than I thought....but I want it to be "right" and not a simple camera and guy talking. Ric

Amen David Ric

I second Randy's suggestion..it is the best booklet out there for such things. I have had three presses (sold one kept two) and am working on a fourth....they are good tools, but it is best to build them well as they can do some odd things if they fail under load. In general I would say once you have 20 ton or so go for speed over tonnage....30 ton at one inch per second will do more work for you than 100 ton moving like molasses.....I would caution not to go faster than two inches per second...and keep all tooling short and hands/head well away. Keep the lines covered as when they fail it can forces fluid into your skin and this is not good...a thin sheet metal cover is all that is needed. There will come a point when you are perfectly comfortable working with the press...that is when you need to pay attention. Ric

Frank, Did you ask this student why his math did not match the reality of the testing at his work? I have found it more difficult to shrink a ring than stretch it...make it 3.14 x the ID and cold stretch to size...you need to make it round from whatever your choice bending/welding operation is anyway. May as well be under to begin with. Ric

Have a farmer send something real big down the river and then offer to "help free the item"..and in the process say that you would take the whole bridge out of the way. Ric

Dog, A note about the scale of work would have been useful. What you are looking to do is a "pinch weld". Hold the stock however you wish in the fire...not sure if you use coal or gas. When hot and ready to weld...reach in with a scroll tong or some modified tong with enough mass in the jaw, yet small enough to get to the work and PINCH the weld closed. When in the fire you have as perfect an environment as you can get in the shop to join these ends of metal...taking it out and wasting time and heat and exposing it to the air are all bad. This sets the first weld ..in doing so you now have more mass at the weld interface and do not have to worry about lining up the ends. When you take another welding pass you may do so in the fire again or on that bick you mention. A torch may be the simplest way, but I would still pinch weld to begin with...lock the torch in the vise or to a table or in some way so as to have your hands free and the fire secured. Then bring the work to the fire and when ready pinch away. Medieval and Ren keys were made this way and some were using oil lamps and blow pipets to increase the heat..like some soldering you still see in other parts of the world. Don't think outside the box...think inside the fire. Ric

I rather like the idea of those and good execution. Waukesha eh? I grew up there...now I'm up in Sturgeon Bay. Ric

Nice bowl there Rory...you are getting more complex with the designs and this is good. I have seen Ginko leaf bowl/vessels..some are cast from a model and used for sinks..others are cast from a single forged one-off. I did a simple leaf bowl from 2" square..I'll post a photo if I can find it. I look forward to see what else you do Rory. Ric

Good insulation,good pressure with the blower and enough propane to burn.....how much is enough depends on the forge size and what is in the forge. Ric

Dog, Woodworkers rarely grow the wood and most do not even process the tree...they alter planks. Using factory steel is similar. My solution to your question was to actually smelt some iron ore and make some product from that....but the wood for the firing was bought and I use a store bought hand crank blower. I guess I could have run down a deer or goat, beat it with a found rock or broke its neck and skinned it with a sharpened bit of knapped chert or obsidian and then made the bellows from its brain tanned hide. Its the planting of the tree and waiting for the thing to grow large enough to make charcoal which takes the most time. I would, of course, shop it down with a rock axe which I have made by placing it in the crotch of another tree so as to grow a handle...to fall that tree I would borrow a stone axe from my neighbor. I see nothing "wrong" with buying the chain and altering it. I do think you should work on the welding of your own chain...it will come with practice and maybe a tune-up from a smith more comfortable with the technique. You may wish to wait till you have another order for a chain to do so, but without practice at some point you will have the same issue to overcome. The technique of forge welding has many uses and it is good to have it in your toolkit. Till then I suggest this: Do a longer bit of stock and double wrap it around the mandrel to make the link. Maybe even twist the ends of the wrap or scroll then and link the scrolls. Connect two of these with an "S" hook...in effect you have made a "chain" which has much much more interest than a simple set of links.....and you have worked around your lack of welding skills by designing a project within your toolkit of techniques. Ric

In the US maybe something like that (cleaned up and useful) would be that price ..or more if you made it for sale. Southshore...I think yours would have a flat top ready to use. When I was in India I saw many fab shops, but only a few smiths. The smiths I saw were actually pretty good given the products they could sell. I saw a locksmith in an open air market...he made "simple" steel sheet metal locks with one to five mechanisms (with one-five keys). I was tempted to buy his whole kit and set it up as a wall display in my shop. All his tools, less the files, he had made and he brazed the steel sheet with a small charcoal fire right on the street side. I did get a few locks and even talked him down a dollar or two..not sure why as they were inexpensive and he could use the sales. I think I looked to him as others look to me when they stop by my shop....its all relative. Now if I could just find an old filemaker's tool kit.....I like the look of them. Ric

The burp of liquid metal was bad enough, but rather than pick up the crucible and move back to the furnace they let it sit there on the bench..that was the fire source as the metal cooled well enough. Had they run the lab may have burned. Keykepper..you think the mold shifted rapidly with the heat of the pour? Some form of heat expansion which was enough to kick out the liquid? Not a bad thought. I have seen a bit of oil do a similar spit as well....we'll never know for sure...and it appears they will not either. Ric

Matt, The powder in the cups was magnetite ore..with the last cup being charcoal. I forge around 1800F. Cooling allows the steel to fully transform from the austenite. Ric

These were clay graphite, which I do not prefer to use, but they are less expensive that the SiC type. We got from one to three melts out of these..depends on the phase of the moon and the way you keep your tongue, the length of the burn, max temps reached and how aggressive you need to be when getting the ingot out. I believe my record is four. I am working out making my own crucibles, but the mix is not ready for prime time yet. In the past of course they were one use items. Ric

Because two apples in a row may keep the doctor away for too long? What I wish is that they made a low cost two stage pump with more flow that the max standard of 28GPM.....unless I am just missing it out there. They make the "log splitter" pumps which we are talking about in 8,11,13,16,22 and 28 gallons per minute....the 28 requires about 15-16 horse power to run. I'd like one with a bit more flow on a 20-30 hp motor. As I understand it without an accumulator you can not simply tie two pumps together to get more flow. As it is the 28GPM I will use makes about 22.4 GPM by the time all is said and done on my system (rpm of 3550,loss to efficiency etc). So in effect I will be upgrading the tonnage on the next press with no increase in speed. I am OK with that, but only because any alternative is 2-3x the money. Ric