irnsrgn

Paw Paw, our thoughts and prayers are with you. irnsrgn

Also, 4 5 foot long healthy rods with an eye in the tops can be driven into the ground and a short sidewall screen of canvas or other material can be fastened to these to make a 3 sided wind screen aways from the forge and with the center section toward the wind to make an effective wind screen and if the wind changes just move the stakes and wind screen. hope this helps Jr.

the brassy color may be from the copper coating on your mig wire if it has a copper coating. The rust should all be removed in the weld are before attempting to repair it, rust is iron oxide and will contaminate the weld in any case, and Mig wire is not an option its too soft, MG740 is a hardsurfacing underlay rod and is good for this, it gives a good color match when ground down and it will be about 51 rockwell when you are done with it, and it will work harden from use. MG740 is a stick rod, not mig

JIm, take an old larger disc blade, put 3 short legs on it and enlarge the hole in the center and put a plate with holes or such for your air device to blow thru, then make a ring a little larger than the fire you want out of narrow flat iron and just lay this in the disc blade and lay your rocks around the edges, the ring keeps them from sliding into the fire, and keep the ground, grass or whatever under the thing wet and it will not kill the grass in that area. You can also lay rocks around the outside of the disc to hide it from view too. It will lock just like a pile of rocks at a casual glance.

PPW for what its worth I cut many a galvanized water tank in two to make hog feeders out of in my day, and have done my share of welding on galvanize. I have never become sick, just a funny taste in my mouth when I light up a cigarette. My Dad and Uncle always made me drink milk before, during and after. I have been led to believe that the poision goes to your stomach not so much your lungs and have been told milk is the antidote for it, and after all the years taking the advice of my Father I believe he knew what he was talking about and that the others were correct in their assumption also. Best of Luck and Get Well Soon. You know what they say about us old codgers, Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart. by the way I am getting over my second bout with pneumonia in a months time and the doc took an xray and couldn't believe that I am a smoker and a welder from the picture. LOL, maybe I am just lucky

I kept Stasil Bros. Blacksmith Shop as my shop name as it has been that name since 1941 when my father and uncles started it the year after my grandfather passed away, It quickly became just my Father and Uncle Louie as they just gave the other two brothers a job and the other two didn't last long, one was to lazy and the other one to fussy. When I purchased my Uncles share the year after my Father passed it was just good business to keep an established name that was associated with a good work record and it was a tribute to my Father and Uncle to keep it the same name. I had my own business, Jr's Portable Welding, but consolidated it into the new business as I had been working in the shop for the previous 29 years, sometimes full time and sometimes part time, and everyone knew me. irnsrgn

In the for what its worth department about moving heavy equipment like Ed did, when a winch truck or forklift or other means is not available. 1. Level out the ground side to side as best you can. Don't try to use large timbers unless the machine is excessively heavy, they are hard to handle and sometimes hard to obtain and getting the equipment upon them can be a problem. Use cheap inexpensive precut 2by4 studs from the local building material place, and keep moving and reusing them, it doesn't take that many and you can always use 2by4's. Don't just use 1 per side, put them at least 2 or more wide and stagger the ends as the joints are the weak spot and can sink into the ground tipping the center of balance past the center point and the equipment goes on its side. Also space your runners (2by4's) as far out as you can to improve stability. 2. Use pipe rollers or round wooden post material to make moving the equipment a lot easier. The larger the roller the easier it will move with a minimum of effort. If going down hill some, put a block and tackle or such on the back side so it doesn't get away from you and run off the rollers. As you will be reusing the rollers and putting them under the front quite often, use a small piece of wood with a taper cut on one end to stop your rollers so it doesn't run off the rollers before you get another one under it. 3. When you want to make a corner or turn the equipment slightly, the easiest way is to start early and place the rolls at a slight angle so the load will turn easily and smoothly, remembering that the load is going to move to one side and you don't want to run off the roller. The easiest way to make a sudden 90 degree or less turn is to run the center roller up on a piece of board or iron placed in the center of the roller so it acts like a pivot point and just twist it around, its amazingly easy to do by just one man even with a heavy load. 4. Do things slowly and don't get in a hurry, this is the important part. 5. With machines that are top heavy, use a couple of good stout ropes fastened at the very top and tie them to a pickup or even a car positioned on either side far enough away to the sides that if something drastic happens it will not damage the anchor vehicle if things go awry. Even if the machine is heavy it doesn't take much to keep it from tipping sideways if it doesn't go to far past center. I have moved machinery weighing several tons using these methods with very little effort many times. The main things to remember are use your head instead of your back and always be prepared for the worst. my $.02 worth. irnsrgn

Sorry you took offense ED. I meant none. irn

Ed, I can see you need a crash course in rigging and moving machinery, I have moved items much heavier than that just by pushing on them and corners are easy if you know how to position pipes under it, it will just roll around the corner. LOL sorry I couldn't resist irn

Ed, I ended up with one of those really weird patterned caps once, because it was the only one that was large enough to fit me. I kept getting questions all the time because I usually dress very conservatively. The question was ,"why do you wear a cap like that?" My answer was, "So I don't have to look at it!" :mrgreen: :wink: :lol:

Ed; there have been several business's and a couple of the schools that they put a sloping standing seam roof on their flat roofs after years of leaking and fixing, I had to do some welding on one of the stacks at the middle school and those people have electric powered tools to do that job. I was pressed for time and did not get to see them work but they don't take very long to do a double crimp on the seams. irn

Ed, if you meant the one with all the holes that fits in the ends of the lift arms, they are usually good material (1045) or better, but are in an unhardened state. Ones for larger tractors are usually a little harder. When welding the stubs on when making a new one or repairing an old one I usually flame cut a 1 inch or deeper slot in the end and then insert the stub in this slot and weld it in using 7018 rod. irnsrgn

Well, my grandfather, my father and two uncles were blacksmiths, real blacksmiths that is. It was just natural for me a rather large only child to start in the blacksmith at an early age. My Fathers and Uncles shop was across the street from a lumber yard, and my dad would bring home lumber scraps and a pound of nails I think they cost a nickel and I made most of my own toys when I was young. Broom handles were especially prized for gun barrels. LOL Like I said I have always been a good sized lad and I loved going to the blacksmith shop and tinkering. So they just naturally put me to work when I was 7 in 1951. My first jobs as I recall were replacing spokes and fellows in high wheeled wagon wheels. I got to play in the coal forge some too. Then the coal forge was removed in favor of a gas forge which would heat the plow lay better and not burn it and you can do a plow lay in just two heats. I worked full time in the summers and after school along with having a paper route. As I was good sized, I was put to work grinding and polishing plow lays. My father and uncle would switch off sharpening plow lays with the 50# Little Giant and my uncle always ground and my dad always polished, so I took which ever ones job that was drawing lays at the time. It was not uncommon for them to do a hundred lays a day. Manipulating a plow lay on a grinder is mostly done with the wrists and my wrists became rather large and I had a lot of upper body strength in those days. I also rode a bicycle everywhere so I had strength in my legs too. I learned to weld by watching my uncle and my dad collected the little short rod stubs and I built up the toe and heel caulks on horseshoes, dad was a good horseshoer and I used to help him all the time on weekends. I still remember my first commercial welding job, it was welding new points on 2 plow lays when I was 9, I really didn't want to do it, but my uncle insisted. The next day the farmer came in with one of those lays and all I could see was that it didn't have a point. He handed it to my uncle who was sharpening plows and then I could see that the point was bent back on itself from hitting a stump or something. Boy was that an ego trip for a 9 year old kid. As Smithing the old way was almost non existant except for plow lays that launched me on my welding career and into the repair and fabrication field. Up until I ruptured a disc and required surgery I could still wear my 8th grade graduation coat, it was a little short in the sleeves tho. After the time off to recuperate from back surgery it was quite a bit shy in the stomach area tho. LOL I quit high shool and joined the Navy at age 17 in 1962 and after boot camp went to Steelworker "A" school at the SeaBee base in Port Hueneme, Calif. I had a little trouble in boot camp with the fitting of a uniform, I had 14 inch wrists, weighed 225 lbs and wore size 28 pants. LOL I was a SWF,(Steel Worker Fabricator) and was attached to the shop company of MCB 3 on Okinawa and then switched billets with another fella and went to Nakom Phanom, Thailand with Detachment Whiskey where we did Phase One of building an airstrip close to the Thai, Laosian Border. I was one of the "A" Company steel workers and did nothing but repair and modify Heavy Equipment. They found out I could forge and so I built my own forge using an air compressor for the air supply and natural charcoal for fuel, "B" Company had an anvil, but would not part with it, so I built my own out of scraps and I did nothing but forging for several months until they put me on night crew. On night crew another fella and I just did enough to get the machine in shape for the day crew to weld up. It seems there are lots of people who can weld well, but few who can do the straightening and preparation prior to the finish welding. I am pretty good at that so they put me to work doing it. I really didn't do that much different of a job than I did in my fathers blacksmith shop. I volunteered to go to Vietnam and drill water wells, but a shotgun breach blew up in my face and I spent the next 11 months in two navy hospitals untill I was seperated. Oh yes I lost the sight in my right eye from that expierience and it took me several years to be able to tell steel dimensions from a distance as I have no depth perception. After getting out of the Navy, I worked rebuilding Missouri River Barges for a while and at a tool factory operating a drop hammer for a short time. The Union boys didn't like my work ethic, I put out more product than the union boys and they were going to have a talk with me one night, they had pipes wrenches and clubs. I showed them the business end of 30-30 saddle carbine and they got fleet feet in their exit from the scene. I never went back. LOL I built a portable rig right after I got out of the navy, but had to sell it to pay bills when our first child came along. I built the one I have now in the early 70's and it supported me and my family (wife and 4 children), I also still worked out of my Fathers shop as a base of operations and place to put my mill , lathe and press etc. My Father passed on in 1979 and I bought my uncles half of he shop in 1980 and my mothers 1/4 a couple of years later. It has been a good life all in all, I don't mind getting dirty and it has been a demanding physical job, I have limited my self to the smaller jobs anymore and don't take on the large jobs I used too. I have always played at actual smithing, but got serious about it in 1990 and started collecting and making smithing tools. Most of my grandfathers tools have long gone, but I have a few that were his and I also enjoy doing woodworking using all hand tools, and do demonstrations on woodworking at steam shows and such during the year. I also occasionally do blacksmithing demos. I belong to 5 different blacksmithing organizations and try to be active in all of them to a certain extent. I lost my wife unexpectedly and rather quickly last year and I had no desire to do demoing last year except at the very end when my fiancee, now my wife went with me. I am now married to this fine lady and have a renewed interest in life. Well the rambling is over. Irnsrgn Jr. Strasil

Davydoo, you definetily have the RIGHT site, but what you are looking for is another section of it. Go to http://www.iforgeiron.com/ and scroll down the left side until you come to BLUEPRINTS, click on it and it will take you to another section where the blueprints are archived. You will find several different styles of candle cups made from pipe. There are a least a hundred blueprints there and another hundred more on the contributors section of the site. There are also 2 live blueprints every Tuesday night at 9 PM Central time that you will like too. They can be accessed from the opening page of http://www.iforgeiron.com/ and scroll down the left side until you come to "Tuesday Nite Blueprints" , and click on it. Enjoy the site, there is lots of information to glean. Have fun, Irnsrgn Edited by Moderator

Straight 8's were common in Buggattis, and prior to the 50's in Buicks, Oldsmobiles and the luxury chrysler and GM cars. They had perfect primary and secondary balance and did not need a balancer and ran really smooth. You can tell a car that has a straight 8 as it has an exceptionally long hood.

WT- I don't have a lot of expierience, but when I used a 35MM camera. Mine had a built in light meter and I would take 3 or 4 pictures with different openings and 2 or 3 with the flash and different settings. then I would pick the best one or two. I do the same thing with my digital but if I don't like it I can erase the digital ones. I was always told to take several at different settings to make sure you get one good one. If you jot down the settings when you take the picture, then you can compare the results to the picture and it will help you with getting the proper settings for later pictures. Irn

Copied to the Prayer list I was chatting with jwolfe and he has had an operation and will be off 6 to 8 weeks, he is recuperating at home. Also when his wife brought him home she fell broke her wrist. Please add the wolfes to you prayer list please Irn

For those of you who watched the Conquest of America or taped it tuesday night, there was a Blacksmith inside the Russian fort at almost the very end of the second part, the Northwest. He is only on screen for only a few seconds it seems, but if you put your tape on pause or slow he is our own J-J from California.

There are no holes in the nozzles. There is just a long slot cut into the base pipe for the water to come up thru. The big ones have a piece added to the side to provide a cavity to allow a volume of water to get to the 1/16 wide slot where the water comes out to form the wall of water. On the smaller one a plate circle was stretched in the hydraulic press to form the cavity part, then cut apart and welded to the bottom pipe with a piece of 16 gauge plate between the sides as a spacer and then some holes were drilled thru both pieces and short pieces of rod were plug welded on both sides to keep the slot from pushing open due to the pressure of the water. The fittings are old brass hose ends that were brazed on to the pipe. and the single foot and bolt allow them to be rotated a little sideways to allow the spray to go up and over a car, propane tank or other object to protect it from heat. The larger one was put between two ancient multistory apartment houses when one caught on fire. They were approxiametly 10 feet apart or less and the one burned to the ground without any damage from heat or flame to the other one. The spray extended from the street to the alley and approxiametly 60 + feet high. The small red one is used on a deluge set or deck gun to control burning embers rising from a structure fire from spreading the embers to other buildings and property. The yellow one was originally developed for a rural dept in Iowa to be used to keep propane tanks cool and to protect adjacent trailer homes in a congested rural trailer park. At rural fires water availability and consumption is a critical factor. they have also been used to isolate parts of burning stacks of large round hay bales etc. I made an 1 1/2 nozzle like the small red one only with a larger fan area for the front of a rural truck for field use on grass and stalk fires. I also made a portable hydrant for our dept, for use at the end of a 5 inch hose lay, so that water could be distributed to several trucks or hoses.

Copied to Stories WINTER You know, time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was a young Man just married and embarking on my new life with my wife. And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all... And I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams. But, here it is...the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise... How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my babies go? And where did my youth go? I remember well... seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like. But, here it is, my wife retired to heaven recently and she was getting gray. She was in much better shape than me...but, the lord took her anyway the one I married who was dark and young and strong... But, we were those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be. Now I have found another lonely graying soulmate like myself and we have married. The Lord has seen fit to bring us together so we may enjoy love and togetherness again. Some might call it a union of convenience, but if this is conveniance, I sure like it. Its so nice to laugh and talk and comfort each other and know love again. Loneliness is such a demoralizing word, Happiness is a much better word. Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore...it's mandatory! Cause if I don't on my own free will...I just fall asleep where I sit! And so, now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things. But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last, but I know it will be one of happiness till the end. This I know, that when it's over...I will enjoy the Spring in the arms of my loving Father... and wait for my loved ones to come when their winter is over too... So, if you're not in your winter yet... let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Our life is but a vapor, it vanishes away ever so quickly... So, do what you can today, because you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life.... so, live your life to the fullest each day and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember. Laugh, Love and enjoy life while you can. God has blessed me twice with great partners, and for this I am eternally thankful. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dan, I once drille a 5/8 inch hole thru the center of a 6 foot long turned porch post so a customer could make a lamp out of it. I used two short pieces of 2 by 4 with holes drilled in them to fit 1/8 black pipe, I positioned the post so it was straight with the holes in the 2 bys and an oil hole in the top and clamped the post to the bench and also the short 2 bys with about a foot between them. I then flattened the end of the pipe and ground the tapered cutting edges on it and then drilled 2 small holes just behind the flattened area for air to escape and then hardened the cutting edged. The pipe was 8 1/2 feet long and I used a hand drill on the end, drilled for a ways then air pressure to blow out the shavings. kept this up till I came out the other end, I was off about 1/8 from the center of the other end. it takes time tho and you have a much shorter distance. Wrap a piece of tape around the drill stem at the distance you want to stop at.

Hollis and Ed, I have retrofitted several large boilers with the inside cone to make it draw, the best rain cap is one that is almost flat but will still let rain run off. Another thing, the cap should be high enough above the top of the stack so that the area is at least twice that of the area of the stack. with even a slight wind all the smoke will be forced out one side of the opening. A tapered scushion at the very top of the stack will also multiply any wind and make the stack draw much better. And of course don't forget a spark screen. irn

Are thinking Disaster Area ED? LOL

Well here goes my story, unbelievable, YES, did it really happen, Yes, and I have a witness. Belive it or not what I caught on fire was a MOUSE, yes a mouse one of those furry little rodents that come in for the winter and stay till the food supply runs out. I have a fold down cutting table made of flat iron on edge at the end of my welding table in the back room. I was using a gouging torch to gouge out a rather large crack in a piece that I was repairing and the very large amount of sparks were kind of concentrating on a pile of parts and pieces I had stacked against the back wall. I happened to notice movement out of the edge of my cutting goggles and immediately lifted them up to see what it was. What it was, was a rather large (I found out later) Female mouse running from under the pile trailing a small stream of smoke from burning fur. I almost died laughing from the sight and also pitied the poor mouse. I also learned that a small amount of burning mouse fur leaves a rather offensive odor behind. This poor smoking mouse disappeared under my Lincoln DC welder. This welder has the same generator as a gas powered Pipeliner Welder, but has a 15 horse 3 Phase electric motor for a power source. End of story, well I thought so at the time. This happened on a friday afternoon, and we didn't work on Saturday or Sunday. The Saga continues, The Mouses Revenge. Monday morning about 9 AM, Dewayne my helper assistant had prepared a piece for welding and drug the cables over to the welding bench, set the welder, and pressed the ON switch. There was lots of yelling and a very large Dewayne was moving at Warp Speed right at me. Not wanting to be trampled, I moved to one side to let him pass. Looking in the direction he came from and wondering what would scare him so, I saw that the air was a cloud of light brown and was settling to the floor in a layer on the floor. I immediately determined it was coming from the welder, so I hastily pushed the OFF button and retreated to let the air clear. After the air had cleared sufficiently to see what was the cause, I made my way to the welder again wondering what would cause such a mess. To my horror there was all kinds of stuff sticking out of the slots at the end of the welder where the cooling fan for the motor is. It appeared to be cloth, paper and some kind of straw or such. I quickly determined that it did not come from the internal parts of the welder, thank god. Well the large mess on the floor was the first to be swept up, then I started pulling the stuff sticking out of the slots off. It didn't smell to good either. Next came a wire brush to get what was left. And you have to remember this machine is in a corner with limited access, what a job. Next came a shop vac and an air hose. Finally I thought I had it all, so I turned the machine on again. OOPS another cloud in the air and a thumping noise. After the second mess was cleaned up I stuck a welding rod thru one of the slots and slowly turned the fan, and thats when I saw the mice, yes plural, one large mouse and quite a few offspring. Did you know baby mice are pink, hairless and have their eyes shut like other small animals when born. Now the big question, How am I going to get them outa there so I don't have mouse innards all over the place. Its in a place where I can't move it out without at least most of a days work. So the sidecutters came to the rescue. I snipped one end of 3 or so of the metal between the slots, bent them out and reached in with a welding rod with a hook bent on the end and managed to remove the bodies. Bent the metal back and started the machine again, only a small cloud of stuff this time. I let it all get blown out before shutting it down again and cleaning the third mess up. I think the mouse just wanted revenge for burning its hair off, and yes the mother did have badly singed hair over about 75% of her body when I finally got her out. Funny, Yes, unbelivable, probably, a work of fiction, Definately NOT. irnsrgn

LOL, sounds like the steel industry has been keeping tabs on you JUNK Damascus fellows. Thats what they are passing off as mild steel these days from all those mini remelt plants only they don't forge weld it together, they melt it together and make structural shapes out of it. irnsrgn