matt87

Most 'beverage can' stoves I have seen run on a liquid alcohol. Due to various reasons related to governmental greed most people use a denatured alcohol such as methylated spirits ('meths'). Google would have answered your question a whole lot quicker than asking for advice on camping/hiking on a blacksmithing forum...

That would make sense if you're meaning a 'high welding' -- bright yellow to white -- (as opposed to 'low welding'). Remember that for heavier sections of stock -- over say a half inch (12mm), as this seems to be -- it needs to 'soak' in the fire for a while otherwise the core of the bar won't be as hot as the outside. It's like cooking a chicken; if the oven's at too high a temperature the outside can be burned to a crisp but the inside still be that 'gastro-intestinally interesting' pink stage... Considering that you seem to be getting a lot of scaling I wonder if the fire (or the part you're using) is oxidising. You can get a hot fire easily this way but it's easy to heat the bar too quickly so there's not enough time for the middle of the bar to get as hot; the outside of the chicken is cooked but the middle is still pink.

My microwave is fine, or will be until I fill it with coal! My point was that there are any number of faults with a vice spring -- it may have taken a set, broken, the mounting broken etc.

Dave, who is your collier? Have you tried the Guild stuff?

I have a microwave but it doesn't work. How do I fix it?

Hammerscale is black iron oxide, it has is no carbon. If you're getting a lot of scaling you are probably using or blowing your fire wrong. Out of interest, what heat are you working this at?

Try e-mailing their customer support; the worst they can do is say 'mind your own business' and they may tell you exactly what grade it is. Otherwise, can you spark-test? CrV steels give good abrasion resistance and toughness, so sound ideal for a number of smithing applications. Hot-hardness isn't mentioned but I suppose the plain carbon steels that used to be used for everything weren't either.

I buy cold chisels from a 'junk'/'recycling' shop for a small amount. They seem to be a fairly high plain carbon steel. That said Eclipse is a good brand so perhaps they would use a higher spec steel. If you contact them you they may be able to tell you for sure.

High carbon. They need to be hard. File steel (roughly 1% plain carbon) is a common and good choice. Only give it a slight temper on the working face, if at all. A gunflint would be fiddly, any piece of hard stone with a somewhat sharp edge will do. You will need some suitable tinder to catch the sparks; charcloth is ideal. You will then need to convert this ember into flame, here flax tow, cotton or similar are good. Then you do the usual with gradually larger kindling. There is more detail available via Google...

Modern powders have a different pressure curve to blackpowder. Looking forward to the pics!

If you read the suggestions earlier in this thread and used the 'search' function on this forum and on Google you would find all the resources you need. This website mainly focuses on the forging aspect of metalworking, not casting and so pointers to more appropriate websites have been given. Crossing the road may have its dangers but at least these are obvious, and children are taught about correct procedures from when they are old enough to understand. Getting smashed by a 1-ton car going 50MPH is one thing; getting the flesh melted off your bones by a drop of moisture in a crucible is quite another. What I am about to say I do so not to be rude and not just to you but to everyone: Your frustration at the lack of replies to certain threads is likely due to those questions having already been answered. There are a number of highly talented men and women willing to give their valuable time for free, it's bad manners to not at least make some effort to research what has already been said and expect them to spend more time .

Try it and let us know! There is no way for us to tell whether what you are describing is coke or clinker without a decent photo.

Looks fine to me. Many anvils have been ruined by 'repairs', it's a surprisingly complex and skilled job where few people actually know what they are doing. If you find that you absolutely need a crisp edge, make a hardy tool with one, they have several uses.

Another point to consider: what makes a 'kitchen' knife a 'kitchen' knife? I have used to great effect in the kitchen various inexpensive knives by Frosts Knivfabrik of Sweden for instance. None cost more than

If this is your first knife, use a piece of stock steel rather than trying to learn pattern-welding as well as knife-making in one operation. There's enough things to learn as it is.

Even a relatively small increase in stock size will greatly increase the cross-sectional area of the piece, and so the amount of heat energy stored at a certain temperature. For instance a piece 1/4 inch square has a cross-sectional area of .0625 square inches, whereas a piece of 3/8 inch square is 0.14 square inches and 1/2 inch square is 0.25 square inches.

Irregardless of whether you voted for them or not they are still your governmental representatives and their job is to represent you. If mining and importing coal is stopped overnight, there's an awful lot of people bleating 'change' going to be very annoyed when their X-box, TV, lights, refrigerator and computer stop working due to the power-stations running out of fuel.

That's a long time period...

The chap in the foreground of this photo has a 6-inch-long shirt 'modification' hidden just behind his left hand. I didn't ask whether he had 'modified' his belly, I was too busy dodging the sparks.

Unless you can turn a handle at 3,000 RPM (that's 5 times a second) you'll need to add a gearing or pulley system. Your mother-in-law's OK with a hole in her lawn but won't let you trail an extension cable across it for a few hours?

A real beauty there Bob. How much are you asking? Matt (who is suddenly tempted to start shaving again simply as an excuse to own that piece of art...)

You've got a 100lb anvil with good weight distribution and a large, flat face. As Frosty said bury it end-on at a convenient height.

Welcome to IFI, mjollnir! That anvil looks fine to me. A shame about the chisel-cuts but still usable. Heck it has a hardy-hole and that's more than most did until about 300 years ago! If you want a crisp edge you can make a hardy-tool for that purpose. As you learn hammer control you'll probably be dinging-up your anvil's face whether you start with an abused bridge anvil or a $1000+ Peddinghaus, Euroanvil, Brooks etc.

To match the speed from an electric motor without killing yourself you will need a step-up system -- gears and/or pulleys. The exact ratios and speeds will depend on what you have on hand and what your needs are. I have heard about old push-bikes being used to good effect and that makes a lot of sense -- a pre-made adjustable step-up chain-driven gearing designed for long use in harsh conditions. 12VDC blowers (e.g. from a car) can be run from a battery. Economically this should be rechargeable. If you're burning anthracite coal or metallurgical coke think very carefully about hand-crank; these fuels tend to need a constant blast or will go out. Why not just put the extension cord away when you're not smithing? Surely your MIL won't mind an extension cord when she's okay with burning coal and hammering on steel?

From the Tube, 9 minutes 52. A wartime documentary about the steelmills in a small town in Ohio, from the coal, ore and flux coming in to rolling to dimension. Touches on a number of topics including smelting pig iron in a blast furnace, converting to steel in the Siemens open hearth process, visual examination of ended steel samples, rolling to dimension and some information about the social and economic factors involved. Simply staggering! YouTube - Steel Industry 1944 Toledo Ohio