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I Forge Iron

barbar27

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Everything posted by barbar27

  1. OK well Matt sort of swayed me in the direction of putting off the sword in question and I will not be making it, I will probably just cut it in smaller pieces and use it to make him a few different, more "safe" implements, or make him a small machete type thing that has less change of bending and breaking, or take some of my higher carbon steel scraps and make a hatchet or two for him instead.. I didn't really think about the whole breaking thing as much as I should have..
  2. Hello, my name is Juris and I Am still fairly new to blacksmithing, One of my friends from highschool has seen and played with a few of the farm knifes that I have made for utilitarian purposes and his younger brother has now requested me to make the older brother a sword for his birthday.. He then handed me a 4', by 2", by 3/16" piece of mild steel and asked that I make the sword out of this.. I told him that I will TRY and see what I can do, now I have little Knowledge of heat treating, especially on big stuff.. thankfully he will probably just be hacking at old trees in the woods with it so it doesn't have to be "pretty" just somewhat useable.. and he said something akin to the sword in "Braveheart", the large one carried by William Wallace, for the style of blade.. I would like to know if I can harden the mild steel enough to obtain an edge that is decent, to hold an sharp edge for a few sessions in the woods before resharpening, also I will probably use old motor oil for a quench, or a mixture of lard,cooking oil, and paraffin mixed for a "goop" type edge quench, the main thing I am worried about is that while he is using it, the blade will bend and not return to the previous shape, will heat treating and quenching imbue enough "spring" to it to overcome this? idk where he got the steel but it looks like flat stock that you can get from a fleet supply store and I don't think it has a lot of Carbon content to it, Now I have some old stainless steel that is about the same dimensions and also a few leaf springs from an old truck, would it just be easier to use either of these or stay the course with the mild steel? I've heard stainless can get tricky.. and he wants it asap haha. any input is appreciated.. Juris
  3. I myself have sifted my father's wood stove for charcoal as well, although it seems like it burns up faster than the stuff I make in the drum, is there a reason for this or am I just thinking it burns up faster?
  4. Ok I'll try flipping the drum over and have a nice fire ha I thought about trying my hand at pipe bending and rigging up the pipes to direct the coal gasses back under the drum, I think just flipping the whole drum over would be a bit easier though..
  5. I actually have been making my own charcoal but I am runnin out of fuel wood.. will it work with starting a fire inside of the drum, letting it get up to a nice heat/burn and then cap it off with the lid and a small hole in it? I have been letting it sit on top of a fire with the lid on it and a hole in the top to let the "coal gasses" to escape.. i go through a lot of burning scrap wood to make one barrel of decent maple charcoal.. I was just thinking if I could get like a whole bunch at once for a reasonable price it may out weigh the hassle of rounding up fallen trees and brush from the woods, although it is free haha
  6. Ok thank you guys for the input lol I'll check my local restaurant and roofing supply places if that doesn't pan out I'll contact the Northern MN metalsmiths
  7. Hello all I'm in Northern Mn and I am wondering where I could get like 100 or more lbs of charcoal (not a semi-trailer) full though haha, either that or does someone have quite a bit of coal or charcoal they would be willing to part with for reasonable prices? and if anyone knows off hand what would the Min. order be, the price of the orders and also delivery? Juris Zelenko.
  8. that Is awesome information lol I won't be able to make the July 9th meeting bc. I am heading to Norway with family for two weeks and I need to get some things in order for that trip, also for these meetings are there like fees or something that you would have to pay? sorry I would love to come to it and I'm sure that I would learn a lot ha I will see if I can make any of the LSM meetings and or get in contact with someone when there isn't a set specific meeting.. Thank you for the Information though and hopefully I may meet some of you one day
  9. Hello everyone Im in northern Mn located By Hibbing, approximately 75 miles north of Duluth, I'm wondering if there is anyone that is close to my area that I could join up with or within reasonable driving distance that I could meet and garner some advice and hopefully some practice.. I am new to the art and I'd like to learn from someone bc. I am more of a see it get it explained and then try it kind of learner. PS. I posted a reply in one of the topics that is very similar to this I then realized nobody had posted on the topic since like 2009.. so if it this seems redundant, please excuse me.. thank you for reading Juris Zelenko
  10. hello all My name is Juris Zelenko and I live up in Northern Minnesota by Hibbing, I am wondering if there are any blacksmiths living within a reasonable driving distance from here Because I am just starting out and if there happens to be someone living close then I could make time to travel to them for some pointers and advice and possibly some practice haha Thank you for reading, Juris Zelenko
  11. Plated as in how? with Zn or like Chrome? and thank you I would hate to be getting poisoned by being not informed
  12. Thank you that is quite helpful, I have actually postponed the welding until I am more acquainted to the art ha but just reading a little bit when I looked at it I learned some info. about the fire itself, It is bookmarked and will be well read
  13. thank you for the input ha and yeah I suppose I jumped the gun a bit on the welding.. so it is better to start (once I get to that point) with larger massed scraps to weld? And I have made like two knifes out of some bolts I found in the back yard ha the shape to them I think is somewhat alright but as for hardening and tempering well that is a work in progress.. Also I am located in Hibbing, Minnesota, about 75 to 80 miles from Duluth, Minnesota. again thank you for the input, Juris
  14. Hello everyone, my name is Juris and I am quite new to all this and I basically only have a book and a farrier that I see once in a blue moon for advice, Today I attempted to do a forge weld and it failed miserably... I have an old stand alone open top forge with a handle cranked air supply, and I just built a small firebrick forge and am going to use two pipes down either side with holes drilled in them and attached to a dual squirrel cage blower, aimed at the base of the fire. And I am just using homemade charcoal for my fuel source.. I'm 19 and I don't have a lot of money ha for the weld I tried to put two old screwdriver bits together and basically all it did was put a deep indent on one and a shallow indent on the other.. what should I look for when I "know" it is ready to forge weld, also for the weld is it totally necessary to use a flux like the borax or does that just make it that much better? air supply- do I need a ton of air or will for example a hair dryer get me up to the temps needed for the welding? My book says that the metal will look "drippy" or like "waxy" when the metal is ready to be welded, as for my air supply do you think the two pipes of black 1/2" black iron pipe, with hole drilled down the length do the trick? Thank you for reading and I would much appreciate any and all feedback, Juris
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