irnsrgn

An easy way to control the air is to cover the blower opening and open it just enough to get the correct amount of air to the fire. Its a lot easier than trying to make a flap valve.

Its not really a backfire, A backfire would come out the blower. What is happening is the unburnt gases are going down and into the air supply pipe. I know hot gases go up not down, but stop and consider that the blower is usually higher than the fire or close to it and this makes a chimney effect and actually sucks the unburnt gases (remember how the smoke will burn if you stop the blower) down thru the opening in the firepot. They are too rich to burn till you add air with the blower device and this mixes air with the unburnt gases and you then push them up into the fire. If the right mixture is obtained ( it won't do it all the time), you will get a minor explosion at the bottom of the firepot. What makes an explsion work is it is touched off in a confined space and it expands just like the air full mixture that makes a motor push the piston. I have seen a ball of flame come out of the firepot and at the same time it launches hot coals in every direction, not a good way to get a wave in your hair or your eyebrows trimmed and some times 1st or 2nd degree burns on the operators face. Not to mention hot fine cinders and coals in your eyes if you don't have safety goggles on. It won't happen too often, but if you want to stop it , the only way is to install a one way flapper valve in the air pipe close to the entrance at the bottom of the tuyere. Or to mount your air blower down below the firepot which is impratical unless you have an electric blower. my 2

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7419.html

Hello, newlad, welcome to the forum, you are evidently sliding down the coal chute like the rest of us. Congratulations on your purchase of tools, I am not sure what 70 quid is in US dollars but it sounds like a really good bargain. You have sort of opened the door with your questions, so be prepared for many different solutions to your problem. My 2

Jr's rule of thumb for calculating shape changes. Most everyone has one of those handy little books the steel companies put out with sizes, weight per foot and weight per 20 ft. Round to Square, look up the weight per foot of the square you desire, look in the round section till you find a round whose weight per foot is just a little more. for square to round just reverse . If you have some scrap round and want to know what size square it will make, look up the round weight and then go look in the square section to find one that is a little less than the round is per ft. my2

Elk Doc, my 1957 1 ton chevy has 2 complete sets of springs under it to keep it up its original GVW was 8800 lbs. it takes 6 ton (12,000) lbs license to operate it emptly legally. what I did was take the second set of springs, cut off the eyes on the ends of the main leaves and put the 4 top leaves including the main ones less eyes right under the original main leaves. and left out the real short ones on the bottom in the front and in the back I added the top 3 main leaves in the original also leaving out the short ones on the bottom, and adding the rest to the overload springs so it rides nice when empty (which is never LOL). My 2 1/2 ton military has 2 complete sets in the back stacked one on top of the other with longer u-bolts and I replaced the front ones all except the main leaves with the rear springs from a farm truck, and rearched them to give me 18 inches of ground clearance.

Thanks Daryl, Most smiths in the US are not used to working with a striker, and I have not been exposed to European smiths working with strikers so I had no idea there were Universal signals. I have a couple of young smiths I work with occassionaly and we use the signals taught to me by my father. When I was young I more or less grew up in the blacksmith shop and I was the striker most of the time when one was needed. The Signals I was taught; 3 taps on horn when the piece in the forge is almost ready = Striker needed, come to anvil. There are 3 different sized sledges for the striker, after striker shows up. 1 tap for 6 lb , 2 taps for 8 lb., 3 taps for 12 lb. After lead smith starts working on the piece. 1 tap for Start striking, after striker starts striking, 1 tap for softer blow, 2 taps for heavier blow, lead smiths hammer laid on its side on anvil, Stop striking. With a striker I am not familiar with, I just use words or set out the sledge I want used, and use words like softer, harder, stop. I also use 2 small platforms for the striker to stand on so that they can stand at the right height to deliver a fair and square blow with their sledge, from expierience I have found out its easier to deliver a better blow and a lot easier on the strikers shoulders if they are at the right height for striking, especially when striking a top tool. And the sledge handles are cut off to about 24 inches so they don't have to fight the sledge handle to the side when striking. I guess I am what would be called an Old School Smith.

Well here we go again with a twist this time. I guess my grandfather, my father, my uncle and all the OLD blacksmiths I grew up with were REAL BLACKSMITHS then. You don't really ring the anvil or hit it, its a resting tap sort of when turning the workpiece. You just let the hammer fall on the anvil instead of stopping, it keeps your rythum going I guess. Any way that was the way I was taught by my father and uncle. Now to the subject of a sway back anvil. Most of my anvils are sway back from use. Most anvils that were used for plow work will be that way from the constant pounding in one place. The type of work done will determine whether the anvil is swaaaay back or not. A lot of old smiths crowned their anvils too. They will be high in the center and lower on the sides, they thought the crown helped draw the material a little more than just a flat face. Cause; The cause of sway back is the crushing of the wrought iron under the hard face from constant use. If you will look close at a sway back anvil the sides will be pushed out where the sway is. The top is really not worn away but driven down from constant use in one spot, some call this the sweet spot of the anvil. The sway is very useful for straightening things as there is a little give so the metal can go past center a little to facilitate straightening. $.02 worth from an OLD smith

As was stated above, 6 inches is enough to start a scroll and get the detail you want. If you are working it around a scroll jig this gives you enough heat and time to do it right and get it formed around the jig good. A second heat will let you finish it and you can cool the first part to keep from damaging it when working the second part. If you are doing a scroll free hand on the horn or in horns in the hardy hole 6 inches is almost to much to work and get it formed decently. all scrolls are works of art and even with a jig no two are exactly alike. Most small scrolls will use about a foot of material and if you are trying to work a foot of material all hot its going to move where you don't want it to, and your are going to sacrifice quantity for quality, scrolls take time to do right, and if you try to speed things up to the point of only a couple of minutes for each scroll they are not going to look worth a darn. Remember you want to end up with something you are not ashamed to put you name on, and brag to someone that I did that. Personally I take 4 or more heats to get something that is pleasing to my eye. take the time to do it right the first time. after you make quite a few they get easier. To me taking a real long heat on a bar to make a scroll would be like trying to stuff a wet noodle up a pipe from the bottom, it will do anything but what you want it to.

that's what I thought first time I heard about it Woody a long time ago. But, the National Blacksmiths and Weldors Association I belong to started out as a bunch of horseshoers(farriers) in NY in the late 1800's. I am one of the few in the Association who can forge iron now. LOL

I think you are forgetting that trailer balls have to be tough. If they were subject to work hardening, they might break form rough use, and can you imagine what would happen if one broke and the towed thing came loose and hit a van load of kids or a school bus. I have had people come in with them bend almost 90 degrees after some kind of accident or stupid attack and I will not touch them cause they have stress from the bending in them already and if I straighten them it will only increase the stress and make them really unsafe, not to mention I would be responsible for the liability on them and I would be leaving myself open for a humongous lawsuit. I still think they are stressproof, I have made things out of them and the chips coming off them in the lathe look like stressproof.

1. The piece of 3/8 by 6 angle iron I put in a leg vice on one of the back benches for a temporary work area 20 + years ago, It hasn't been removed except for once in that time to turn it so I would have a new surface to work on. 2. Back when I used my chop saw a lot, I made a light angle iron stand to put it on so I wouldn't have to stoop over to use it anywhere and then a table on the off cut side that could have a piece of angle iron clamped to it for a stop for short pieces and a stock stand under the outside end to hold up the end. 3. Short pieces of 1 1/4 inch square tube welded to my other bench at the same height, so I could slip peices of 1 inch square tube with a T top in them to hold long things up , like augers etc when working on them, they are a set height even with the bottom of the Big Vice so I can clamp things to keep from rotating or moving while I work on them.

Wishwon, I am assuming some will send things even if they can't make it to the hammerin. I imagine after the first day most of the stuff up for auction will be known and if possum wants to list it on this site you would be able to make a bid if you desired. That will be up to Possum to decide, of course shipping would be extra

LOL, Cold forged, read CNC lathe forged. Can you imagine what they would cost made out of S series steel.

Well in defense of Glenn's statement above, it was Glenn who was holding the iron and when I got done he showed me how it should have been done as he is more proficient with his left hand and I only use mine if it is absolutely necessary. Now as to a 2 pound hammer, to me its a toy and I only use one as a finish hammer preferring a 2.5, 3 or larger so I don't have to stand at the anvil pecking away with a little hammer when there is metal to move. Move it and be done with it. The customer is expecting me to move iron not bruise it to death. But you must consider that I have been using hammers all my life to make a living and you have to use what the job calls for if you are capable. My main anvil is a 125 # Blackjack and it works just as well as the 58 # Acme I used to have. I have a 400 # or so anvil and it just sets and collects dust till I need it to do walking plow lays as it has a big enough face that I can lay the whole plow lay on and do the wing pivot. Why everybody thinks they need a humongous anvil to do work, Beats me. Then there is the power hammer theory, the weight of the power (moving) head should be a ratio of 2lbs to every 100 lbs of the bases weight for stability. Somehow everbody got to thinking you are not supposed to use over a 2 lb hand hammer on a 100 pound anvil, get real and think about that one for a bit. What are you gonna do split a 100# anvil down the middle by using heavier than a 2 lb hammer. My grandfather, my father and my uncle and I all used a 4# hammer to finish plow lays with on a 100 lb or so anvil and the Anvil is still alive and well. A power hammer is nice at times, I have 4, 2 of them under power at the moment, and they get used very little, just for mainly plowlays and big rotary mower blades, but they are there if I really need them. I don't have a treadle hammer as they take more energy to move metal than a hand hammer does and are a lot slower. I have started to make one, but it will have an air cylinder to operate it and be temporarily fastened to the waist of the 400 # anvil to function as a striker as I work alone, and will be swung out of the way at other times. An Oxy-Acetylene torch is a must for cutting and brazing and some welding, but a MIG (wire feed) Welder is more efficient, faster, and has less heat build up for welding light material. A good AC-DC welder is more useful, quicker and less expensive than a TIG welder. I have a Tig set up, but only use it for Aluminum and Stainless as it is so expensive to operate, Gas is outrageous, filler metals are higher than a cats back and the consumable parts of the torch are expensive and its slow. It has its place just like the other processes. A plasma cutter is a more useful machine and a lot more versatile than a TIG set up. I am in mainly the repair business with some light fabricating and some machining work. I have a large hydraulic press also and it gets a lot of work done for me. I have a shop full of tools, a portable rig full of tools and some more loaned out and some stored in my garage. I didn't get them all at once but they were purchased as they and the money came available over a 40 year period since I started my own business. Most of the first purchases have been replaced with newer used machines. I buy very little new machinery due to the initial cost. well that's my windy 2 cents worth and I am sticking to it. Now to the question posed at the start of this thread, Dan my advise to you would be to put money into a savings account and just watch other people work and how they work and how they do things. You are young and right now you have a deep and inquiring interest in becoming a blacksmith, but as you get older your life may take a different direction and if you have all your cash tied up in smithing tools you will have to liquidate them to go another direction. Take it slow and work with what you have and learn how to do it without all the fancy stuff first, If you really do end up smithing for a living it will make you a better smith in the long run when one of those fancy machines breaks down in the middle of a job. But then I am just an old crusty opinated (hard headed) old smith. I have been down the road you are traveling at the moment. It has been a good road for me altho a dirty and strenuous one. Just what ever you do, do not injure your back, or loose an eye as I did. Irnsrgn

trailer balls are more than likely made of Stressproof shafting. They take a lot of abuse so they have to be tough not hard.

Irnsrgn is donating a 2 pound right hand quarter pein hammer and possibly a pair of universal tongs.

There will be an auction of surplus and smith made blacksmith tools at Possums Hammerin in Salem Indiana, last weekend in July. Proceeds to go toward the upkeep of the Iforgeiron server. Bring your items to the hammerin or send to possum. e-mail ba@wcrtc.net for mailing address and details.

Ed, prayers for you and your family, you are in our hearts and minds always, god bless you all

Great News Dawn, keep him outa trouble and I wish the best to both of you and for his speedy recovery.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints/BP0072Make_Hammer/BP0072Make_hammer.htm start with figure 33 in my opinion those round supposedly wedges are the most useless things I have ever seen, the hammer plant used to put them in here, with me a half a day of use and the round piece of junk is somewhere on the floor. Just my opinion tho

start with a rod a little smaller than the hole, silver solder an old piece of hack saw blade on a squared end, grind the back side off flush with the rod, grind the front side at an angle so that you have like a miniature lathe cut off tool sticking out, bend the rod so it has a handle a little over a hands width from the end, stick it in the groove and scrap it out to size using on hand on the rod and the other on the handle to keep it orientated.

THE 4TH OF JULY Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free!

Glenn said (As the sweat evaporates from the shirt it cools the body. Otherwise the sweat just runs down and into your belt loops and you loose any cooling effect.) He forgot sometimes you loose your pants when they slide off LOL, Hooray for biboverals for those of us who have lost our hips to old age and good food.

http://www.e-tinsnips.com/vbindex.php?Array[sessionurl]