mandoro

Well Irnsrgn, ya beat me to it. I had just resized my photos and was about to edit my post. Thanks!

Heres my anvil and a couple pics of my newly made smithy as well. Its behind my shed at my house IMG_2757.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting IMG_2756.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting IMG_2755.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting IMG_2754.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting IMG_2753.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting I tried looking for marks on the anvil and found none. I dont know anything about it except that it is xxxx heavy. Im 6'8 270 and can squat 350, but I couldn't get this up off the ground

Oh ok, I understand now. I dont know why I was thinking pewter was some kind of plaster of paris type stuff. Well that gives me an another way of doing this

That is how I visualized it. What I was talking about up there was the pewter mold. I was just wondering how you are supposed to get metal to conform to the shape of the pewter mold?

Tim, the trademark issue was expected (I just didn't know the degree) and is only a mere obstacle. I read their "terms" so to speak and I what I plan to use it for will be allowed, I just have to get it approved by them first. I do like the idea about the branding iron though. The thing about that is it isn't "legal" under their terms because they can cause harm, but like you said, some alteration and I should be alright. Pam, I like this type of casting seems easy after I get the hang of it. Although I wonder how this mold actually works, Im just trying to get a visual of how it looks when finished. I think I know what it looks like, but how do I use the mold to shape other metals? If what I am visualizing is correct you have something roughly in the shape of a small hill and how would I use that to make other shapes using the mold?

etching with acid? How do you do that, it sounds dangerous O.O

I know I am a beginner and I need to be learning the basics and I plan on doing so with making my own tools (hammers, tongs, chisels, punches, and hardies), but I have a million ideas running through my head right now about things to make. Now I go to Texas A&M and some people around here and real hardcore on aggie merchandise. So I thought of maybe transposing a couple of our "symbols" on various products. Now here are the pictures I am trying to change. There are a couple others, but these are the hardest. Texas A&M Industrial and Systems Engineering (the dog) http://www.aggiemoms.org/pages/traditions/images/bonfire_big.jpg OR http://www.tailgatershandbook.com/Images/tamc3.jpg http://theory.gsi.de/~vanhees/images/Texas_AandM_University_seal.png I was thinking about casting, but I dont have a clue about how to do that. I could chisel it all away and I would be willing to, I was just wondering if there were a more efficient way. Im guessing that if I were to sell these items that I would have to get an ok from somebody? Im pretty sure that some of these items are trademarked. Finally, I was wondering if it is possible to paint metal. Ive seen a couple of demos where the person painted to rose red. I would be interested in that as well

Dine. I got the same message as you did

Don, that helps a lot. I really appreciate it.

I guess that is what I was asking more than anything, ok cool. I wasn't real sure what metals were to be used for each kind of project.

Ok, so when I get up to knives and swords I'll remember that. I'm guessing that everything else you should use a tool steel? What are the numbers of good tool steel? Slowing down should be easy. There are speed controls on the side of the fan, if its still too fast, I can put clothes pin on the tubing I'm planning to use to make the air flow smaller. If I wanted to get fancy I could drills holes in the metal pipe and make a turnable stopper.

Well, I've been looking at stock on various sites and whatnot and I see all the numbers and I don't have a clue what I am looking for. I've read a lot about 55120 and 1095 on here, but what else is good to use. Of course, since I am in the beginning I'm just going to take metal files and do what I want with them, but when I get established I'm going to start getting stock. I also read about people looking for blowers or whatnot as well. I had an idea. I am building the brake drum forge and instead of getting a blower I have two choices at home and I wanted to run them by yall. One is a Stanley fan:Stanley Fan and the other is a hair dryer. I'm not sure which will work, but one of them will.

Blackbeard's suggestion is looking mighty nice right now. I dont hve a 4in grinder, but I have one of those delta grinding wheels with a wirebrush on the other side, im sure that could get it done. I don't know any plumbers, wish I did though. I just called a place and they had the piece! It was $27 though. I guess I shoulda listened to Thomas. Ok, so I could call them for a coal supply. I like the idea of the duct, the only problem is how to cut into the metal pipe. He had that ready, im not so lucky. I guess its time to go back to the junkyard sometime soon. Plus I have a squirrel cage fan and some of that dryer hose stuff. I just need the metal piping lol. If the dryer hose stuff doesnt work, my mom prolly has some canvas lying around. Ill tear some off its painting frame and could use that. Would the Side blast forge get to welding heat? He didn't say if it did or not in the bp. This option is looking better as well

All awesome ideas. I tried to go to a couple hardware stores today and they closed earlier than I expected. Oh well, there is tomorrow. I actually read the bp about the side blast forge. It is a very neat idea and the only reason I stay away from them is the fact that i don't want to deal with coal. I've heard its nasty stuff, plus I don't know of anywhere to get it here in waco. Even though I am in Texas lol. I was going to go charcoal because I was planning on making my own and since we've cut down a lot of trees here recently I have plenty of wood to use. Not only that, back in college station they are building subdivisions all over the place and there is a bunch of scrap wood im sure I can ask for.

cool, Ill look into that chef. I dont know much about this town yet (Ive been here a year to go to college). YYF, I went to Lowes and they didn't have anything about 1" in anything that I could use. Unless you are talking about some other kinds of shops? Edit: Oh I see YYF. I gues Lowes doesn't count as a hardware store. Ill make sure not to make that mistake again.

Ok, well Im trying out the Brake Drum forge (dunno if I found the blueprints here or somewhere else) and I found my brake drum today after I went to the junkyard. Now I didn't exactly think through how I was going to get a T. Most people would say that you just cut a hole in onw pipe and weld another pipe on. The problem with that is I don't have a plasma torch (or a welder for that fact, due to family issues). In fact, I practically just lost all my tools in the matter af 2 days (my anvil and the tools), due to the same issues. Even though I now have a setback, im not going to let it stop me. Yall are imaginative people and Im still working on that, so for the time being I will just have to use yalls imaginations! =P What I have thought of is to have someone make one for me (like a iron working business or something), I just don't know if they would do something that small. I looked through the junkyard I went to today and I found plenty of pipes that could be cut into T's, but none were 3in (I dunno how I did that, found a junkyard with no 3in pipes). I also need to figure out where to get flanges for the 3in metal pipes to have it hold onto what im doing (since I no long have a welder).