Jose Gomez

I was not able to turn up alot of information on this topic, but here are a few links to some things that might be of interest. The Blacksmith and His Forge in Ancient Ireland Blacksmiths of Ireland The Heroic Blacksmiths of 1798 Peatlands | History and uses of peat | Peat for fuel Hot Shoes and Heavy Metal This book explores the life and work of the blacksmith, once a crucially important craftsman in both urban and rural economies. It examines the raw materials, the work, the tools and the techniques of blacksmiths and looks at their place in the economic and social life of local communities. It focuses on the blacksmith in Ireland in the late 19th century. Ulster Folk & Transport Museum : Learning : Resources : Education Publications : Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland Craft of Blacksmithing

Ford knows best. Here is the ford welding procedure for post '04 trucks: https://www.fleet.ford.com/TRUCKBBAS/non-html/Q114.pdf Here is the ford welding procedure for post '05 trucks: https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckBBAS/non-html/Q123R1.pdf Ford clearly states: Models Affected: All F250-550 trucks; Model Year 2005 and later. Action Requested: Please provide a copy of this bulletin to all Engineering, Manufacturing, Service, Parts, Sub- Contractors and Customers that plan to use this vehicle as a mobile welding platform. Background: F250-550 Instrument Cluster failures have been reported following plasma cutting or electric welding operations. The 2005 F250-550 Instrument Cluster circuitry has proven to be more sensitive to induced voltage. This includes service trucks intended as mobile arc welding platforms. Warranty Statement: Before electric welding or plasma cutting on the frame or body of F250-550 units, disconnect the battery, instrument cluster, ABS module and the PCM. Just disconnecting a battery cable is not enough to prevent damage to these components. Damage seen in newly-constructed trucks has been traced back to welding. Electronic module damage due to this customer or vehicle modifier action is not covered in vehicle warranty. Here is some manufacturer's instructions for welding on a Dodge TSB 13-001-03 The fact that you have been lucky does not mean that it is good advice nor advisable to keep pushing your luck. Just because nothing bad happened the couple of times it was tried does not make it any less expensive when you finally do roast a computer or Instrument cluster. Clearly, it is worth the 2 minutes that it will take to ensure that you don't void your warranty and end up accidentaly spending well over a thousand dollars (potentially)

Now were talking!!! This is exelent. Thanks for your time and intrest Mr. Clark I look forward to seeing your results!

Though you can get away with 2% Thoriated tungsten it is not normally recommended. This is due to the fact that Thoriated tungsten will crack when subjected to use with alternating current. These cracks (sometimes microscopic sometimes quite large) can cause several small balls to form on the end of the electrode instead of one large sphere. These small balls and or micro fractures on the end of the electrode can cause the arc to be unfocused, thereby causing the arc to wander and jump from edge of joint to edge of joint requiring slightly higher amperages to gain stability. It is for this reason that most welding equipment manufacturers recommend the use of pure, zirconiated, or ceriated tungsten for any AC application. Pure tungsten has a low melting temp and though approved for AC welding has a tendency to form a small molten ball on the end of the electrode that can sometimes drop in to the weld metal causing what is called a tungsten inclusion (which like a chip in a wind shield can eventually lead to cracking of the weld), and it can not be used for DC welding. Zirconiated tungsten is used to apply high quality (x-ray quality) welds on aluminum and Magnesium. This is because the addition of zirconium stabilizes the arc and raises the melting temp of the tungsten to help reduce the chances of a dreaded inclusion showing up in the X-ray of a weld that you just spent two days working on. Now on to ceriated (My general recommendation for anyone with a TIG machine). Ceriated tungsten is one of the only tungsten recommended for use on both AC and DC. It is for this reason that I suggest it. Instead of having to wonder if you have retrieved the right type of tungsten (after the paint has worn, ground, or been burned of the end) you know that if all you have is ceriated then you can do no wrong. Another point of interest is that Thoriated tungsten is slightly radioactive (look up thorium on the periodic table of elements). As far as the rest of the procedure you are following, all sounds fairly normal. One rule of thumb is to use 1 amp of power for each decimal of base material thickness. For example, if you are working on 1/8 inch that is .125 so 125 amps is a good starting point, or 1/4 inch .250 inch 250 amps. I know it sounds high but the extra power is needed in order to establish the puddle due to aluminums ability to quickly absorb heat (high thermal conductivity). One thing to remember, though, is that once the puddle has formed and the work piece has reached welding temperature you will have to reduce your amperage significantly (let off of the petal) in order to keep the puddle from falling through or becoming far to wide (sometimes called hot short). When you get it right you will find that you have the puddle kind of balanced on the tip of your toe, foot goes 1/4 inch down puddle grows, foot comes up 1/4 inch puddle freezes. When you reach this point you are driving the puddle, not the other way around. It is here that you get to take your time and put the metal where you want it, drop by drop. I would definitely recommend a much larger cup (around a 9) to ensure adequate weld puddle coverage. From everything else it sounds like you are on the right track. Clean Clean and Clean some more be patient and gently work over any spots where you can see porosity as you are welding along and you can normally get them to close up. If not Grind or otherwise remove the contaminant causing the bubbles (using aluminum approved abrasives or grinder wheels) and make another pass. It takes a lot of patience. Good luck

One thing to remember is that nylon straps are actually quite delicate and easily damaged by welding spatter, sharp edges, and heat. If you do decide to use one around welding/forging equipment do not forget to inspect it prior to use and be mindfull of it while welding/working.

It looks to me like it is racked to the side at the pivot. You might be able to adjust some of the misalignment out with a new pivot bolt, but I kind of think that your vice could use a long visit with a torch to heat just above the pivot area (on the front jaw) and then a short visit from a large hammer to straighten things out. I normally avoid applying heat directly to the pivot because I have found that it is far too easy to strech out the pivot bolt hole when trying to straghten things out, but you will barely notice the kink if you true it up a 1/2 inch above the pivot. Don't forget to remove the screw to avoid any potential damage to this very hard to repair part when you attempt the straightening.

If you can post a few pictures it might help us to figure out how to best repair the vice.

Kelly Cupples carries a ton of metal, including hard to get metal powders. He is honest as they come and is super easy to work with. Here is a link to his materials list Ellis Custom Knifeworks

TIG, MIG, and stick welding share the same Tensile strength properties (typically 70 thousand pounds per square inch given traditional filler metals and proper application). The decision on which process to use is usually rooted in speed of application, thickness of base metal, precision required, and filler metal deposition rate needed. TIG is the slowest, yet most precise process. Lending it self to ultra-high precision applications such as stainless steel chemical piping and nuclear parts, and super thin materials. MIG is a close second to TIG, with higher precision and control than stick welding (though not as good or as precise as TIG) but with better filler metal deposition rates than TIG welding. Stick welding brings up the rear with brute force, high filler metal deposition, and an ever so important resistance to wind that MIG and TIG welding don't have due to the fact that they rely on a shielding gas that can be disrupted by a breeze (for protection of the weld puddle). MIG and TIG welding are both terribly susceptible to any type of wind (Causing porosity and poor quality welds). Making stick welding necessary for anyone wishing to weld in other than perfect conditions outdoors.

Find a local crane and rigging service. All of there machines use high quality cable that they throw away after replacing.

I use a tool like this Harbor Freight to re shape the hardy hole on almost every anvil that I rebuild. I have found that it is easier to re-shape the hole to a common size than fight to make every tool that you want fit the anvils odd hole size.

I can tell you from personal experience that Chile forge burners are outstanding. I have constructed several forges using Chile forge and Zoeller forge burners and have found both to be excellent, and more than capable of reaching welding temp. The forge that I use the most for propane forge welding is my Cliff Carroll Pro forge. They are not necessarily common, but I produce a ton of Damascus out of my pro forge and have never had any difficulty at all producing high quality welds with this forge, not to mention that it has also proven to be very fuel efficient.

Outstanding! That 3B is a beast!! Its neat seeing the results from different hammers. Thanks for taking the time to try this!

I love my KA-75, it is an amazing little powerhouse, but you have to think of it more as a pneumatic treadle hammer. It basically performs all of the tasks that a striker would, but it hits much harder. I thought that I would sell mine off when I got my Big Blu but no way! Nothing works like the KA. It delivers single blows that range from a love tap, to hits that make your teeth rattle, and the dies are huge by comparison to my other hammers. Another good thing about it is its size and weight. Small enough to fit into the tighest spaces and light enough for 1 person to drag around if you had to. All of this makes the KA my go to machine for using most power hammer hand tooling. Throw in a set of insert dies and it is a texturing dream, I use mine to texture stock for vines and also to pound patterns into Damascus billets regularly. But the KA dose not measure up to a traditional power hammer for moving metal. Like skunkriv said, Frosty's last line does sum it up very well. If you are interested there is some more info on the KA-75 in the power hammer forum. Good luck!

OUTSTANDING!! Thank you, Mr. Hofi, for taking the time to try this. Your data just proved that higher hammer weight does not mean the ability to move metal faster. The 110# Shahinler was way more effective than my 155# Big-Blu. Heck, that 55# Anyang also packed the steel down better than my KA-75. It would definitely appear that self-contained hammers do hit much harder pound for pound. I also like the idea of performing the test more than once and averaging the results, seems to me to ensure much more accurate results overall. Very interesting

Just go out and find any large chuncK of metal. in all actuality I would take a piece of rail road track over a cast iron anvil. If you dig around you might be able to find an old fork from a forklift, chunk of rr track, any hunk of metal will do. save your money and Keep your eyes open for a real anvil. you will be supprised where they turn up when people start finding out what you do!

Thats the point. we cant all play with every hammer, and A larger head weight does not mean that the hammer hits harder. The force with which any hammer hits is directly prportional to its velocity. This means that a fast 85 pound hammer can easily hit harder than a slow 100 pounder. Unless I am mistaken that is why Mr Hofi was interested in gathering more information about the ammount of "daylight" between the dies on my hammer when the test was performed. Because if you know the Hammer weight, how many blows per minute, and the total lenth of stroke you can calculate the speed of the hammer, and therefore, total kinetic energy. The formula for this if I recall correctly is Kinetic energy = 1/2 of mass times velosity squared. The fact that you sqare the velocity is what makes it possible for a smaller faster hammer to actually transfer more energy to the workpieces than a heavier slower hammer. Hense the purpose of this test, to measure the actual effectivness of the particular hammer under full load, and to give those infamiliar with power hammers a little bit of an idea of what these machines are capable of.

Saber, Looking good! Keep it up. The only way to get it is to stay after it until you catch it! I have forged buckets full of leaves and let me tell you, the ones at the bottom of the bucket didn't look half as good as your efforts. I still start almost every day of forging with making a leaf to warm up and get my brain in the right place. Then I throw it in the pile and use it later (when things are slow) for an accent on something, or to make a keychain, bottle opener, incense burner, buisness card holder, pen holder, wall hook, handles for cabinets..... you get the point. use your imagination, be safe, and have fun

Dear Mr. The Dead, One thing I learned when I was young is that if you start off with "this is not an attack" it usually is one, just wearing different clothes. You are right about BPM, if *you* can't control it it is going too fast, and therefore is a hazard, But that does not mean that someone else is not perfectly comfortable with it. My 25# Little Giant is reved up to where it will provide around 300 BPM, though I never really push the treadle down that hard, If need be, I merely switch to a bigger hammer. Use the right tool for the right job, and know the safe limits of your machinery. Safe, clean results are always the goal, otherwise we would not be doing it by hand. To clarify, the purpose of testing the hammers was to attempt to provide some type of numerical data on the performance of the machines under full power for the purpose of comparing hammers. Though full power is not commonly used in most smithing applications, it is the only non-operator influenced item that can be compared in order to give someone, that is not necessarily entirely familiar with the abilities of every style of hammer, an idea about the potential of the machines. If you had read the portion of my reply in which I stated "As far as control.. I don't really know that we can devise a test to measure control because that all really depends on the operator experience, condition of the machine, temperature of the machine, etc." You will find that I agree with you that there are many factors in play, especially the machine operator. Every machine on the planet suffers from this same affliction (the human factor). A machine, be it a power hammer or the family car, is only as capable as it's operator. Again you are correct in saying that skill with a power hammer is directly related to skill at the anvil. Using a hand hammer and a power hammer are a set of skills that require the same foundation of knowledge. Once again I agree with you that the operator should be entirely responsible for, and have an intimate familiarity with *any* machine that they will operate. From hand drills to combines, some of the most horrific accidents that I have seen were easily avoidable and caused by operator error or negligence. These are machines, and they do what we ask them to do, even if part of your body is in the way, respect them. That's the first rule of heavy equipment. As for performing the test with flat dies with the bar near welding heat. This is in order to eliminate the effects of fullering dies of various radi on different machines. Flat is Flat no mater the machine, fullering dies vary. And welding heat is a more consistant mark than about yellow or somewhere around orange, so it might actually provide slightly more consistent results, again, one less variable. On the topic of your hammer test I too do this and actually alluded to it in my previous post with "I think Mike-hr came up with a great full power test, but as for control, I am willing to accept the educated opinion of other Power Hammer operators. I know that I have no problems drawing 1/4" stock to a fine point with any of my hammers, or delivering a single light tap, or full force blow, which is a little tricky with the mechanical hammers but a breeze with the air hammers". I stated this because of the fact that I understand that power without control is nothing, yet the ability to hit hard it the very purpose of these machines, otherwise there would be no need for the larger hammers. As far as machine set up goes, you are right on with the notion that all machinery should be properly anchored and installed in accordance with manufacturers specs. I assure you that all of my hammers are bolted down to a slab that meets or exceeds specification, and that all are maintained and or tuned daily in order to ensure that they will operate safely for as long as possible. That being said, you can understand that when you state that you are "surprised how many people cannot draw a taper efficiently, do not have their hammers (both air and belt) setup properly (no stable, mounted base) and have a theory that these hammer like the blue need 175 psi because thats what the hose can hold". I draw a direct correlation between your post and the statements that I have made in previous posts. And to that, I must admit, I do take a bit of offense. If you were to read the entire thread you will find the section in which I posted "I actually made a mistake. I supply the Big Blu with full tank pressure (175 PSI) through a 1" 200 PSI rated jack hammer air hose, but the pressure is knocked down to 150 PSI by the regulator, filter, oiler on the hammer". The pressure is not set to 175 "because thats what the hose can hold", the reason the hose rating was given was to re-enforce that the supply line was in fact sufficiently rated to *safely* handle the ammount and preasure of air that was to be expected of it, something that John n had commented on in the post prior to mine. As for hammer air supply pressure, the regulator on the hammer is set to 150 PSI and drops to just under 140 during operation which is *exactly* what Big Blu calls for on this equipment "The hammer will run well at 21 cfm’s at 140 psi, but the more air you can supply to the hammer the more efficient it will run." This information is directly from the manufacturer, absolutely no theorizing involved on my part. If that is what the hammer needs then thats what the compressor has to supply, work out or not. I like the idea of de-tuning the hammer to 90 PSI for doing light work, normaly I just don't push the treadle down as far, but I am willing to try anything that will reduce the amount of wear and tear on this expensive and invaluable equipment. None the less, the tool should be limited by the person, not the opposite. Control is everything and the tool doesn't make the art, we do. We also make the tools, and the right tools used the right way sure help to produce the clean results we all strive to achieve.

Abenakis, the hammer is a Big-Blu Max 155. Saber, I'm glad that you found this thread. I hope it was helpfull. After the leaf was finished I went on to use it to make a handle for my little champion blower so here is the result.

I rarely use new metal to make a hammer. Most of the time I end up using old truck axle or salvaged machinery shaft of some sort. Both of the metals that you mentioned are exellent choices for hammers, but I never seem to have any hammer size chunks of 4140 nearby around the time I start cutting the end off of a truck axle, huge j-bolt, piece of rail road rail... whatever! If you have it, or are determined to get it, more power to you. But, some of my favorite hammers were forged out of "junk" metal.

I had the camera out the other day to take pictures of the new set up on one of my coal forges and decided it would be a good opportunity to take some short video clips. I remember that someone (I can not recall who) had posted a question on how to forge a leaf, so I decided to record a 4 video series of the steps that I follow to make a leaf out of 3/4 inch mild steel square stock. I use a 155 pound air hammer to draw the point and the stem, but one can accomplish the same task with a hand hammer if they are determined enough (though it is quite a bit easier if you use 1/2 inch square if you go at it by hand). After the first 2 steps (the drawing to a point and drawing out the stem) I do the rest with a hand hammer. I know that it's not the way most people forge leaves but this is my technique. forging a leaf - Blacksmith Photo Gallery Forging a leaf part 2 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery Forging a leaf part 3 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery forging a leaf part 4 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

No problem! The stroke was set right at 9 inches (the maximum for this machine). So when forging there was 9 inches between die faces.

Thanks Ted, that means a lot. I will always remember how hard it was for me to learn about smithing and to get answers for any of the questions that I had before I found Iforgeiron. Now that I have the chance to contribute a little it sure is nice.

Mr. Hofi I went to the forge and measured the BPM from the Hammer and was supprized to find that it is opperating at 240 blows per minute. Also, when I performed the test I had the stroke set at nearly 9 inches, which leaves the dies about 6 inches apart when the hammer is at rest. Let me know If you would like any more information or would like for me to perform any other tests.