Gorlimtouk

i am also looking for a Railroadtrack stand but i have the feeling that concrete would make my neigbours ("house-in-a-row") upset with the noise.
I do have a 40x40cmX1,3m (1x1x4 feet?) hard-solid piece of wooden beam to use but i dont know how best to "strap" the roadtrack to the head of this beam.
Anyone here having some suggestions to get it nailed down without having to drill a hole through a railroadtrack? (would be a pain for the drill(s) and time i'm afraid)

Welcome to I-Forge-Iron,

i hope to be able to make knives aswell some day and 'll be looking forward to the posts and related content.
Good luck with the Knife making and other projects, Keep up and most important, have fun

(as obvious i dont consider a piece of iron with the shape of a knife to be a good knife without the proper heat treatment and stuff, so i have lots to learn)

Welcome to IFI, i hope we all can learn from each other

Gorlimtouk

A regular working fire won't get you to welding heat and just leaving your welding experiment in it while you do other things will likely oxidize it enough to make it very hard to weld indeed!

On the other hand: a welding fire with "other" work in it will most likely end up with the other work burning up while you work to get the welding heat.

You don't drive a formula one race car to the store to buy milk and you don't drive a regular car in a formula one race.

However after your other work is done you may have a fire that will then be suitable to bring up to welding heat---lots of coke instead of green coal. It does need to be clean of clinker build up though.

Does make sense when u state it like that, unfortunatly its hard to make it to that heat normaly spoken as i usually stop forging after 2-3 hours to allow the neighboors to get some sleep, instead of tinkering on the workpiece. After browsing on the internet i've also seen some butane/propanegas - brick forges, wich might be the solution for it once i'm a bit more capable at the basic principles first.
I'm currently trying to make some simple blacksmithing tools (currently trying to find out if i should give them a heat treatment instead of making 'm hard and brittle with quenching. Secondly i'm trying to find an interesting design to use the leaves for.

In answer to another question posted: I'm from holland, nearby amsterdam (11km)


Again my regards for the helpfull suggestion and tips i'm receiving

Yours Sincerely, Gorlimtouk

I'll take the tips to heart, and am glad with the link provided to make nails (making the mold is a nice exercise aswell.
Following the point i do need a working weld for my friend, i'll use the "electrical way" for now and try the other on scrap for a 'desert' (just let it be in the fire and see it get hot enough to weld, while forging something else as the job and reason to keep the fire up).

I'm looking forward to the free-time before going off with the caravan.
Thank you all for the advice and tips, i hope to report some progress and in any case: 'failures' are a succesful learning method to see what not to do, and no iron/steel is lost

Yours Sincerely,

Gorlimtouk

Welcome to IFI,

No apologies needed for the language barrier. Most of us have english as our first language and we butcher it badly.

First things to start with are small things that won't get you discouraged. Things like leaves, nails, random twists and curls to learn how metal moves when hot. I was told when I first started to get some modeling clay and use it to learn how metal moves under a hammer. It really does help.

The most important thing to remember is safety. Look at the safety topics and read through them. There are a lot of goot things to learn there.

Enjoy your new found hobby. It is great.

Mark <º)))><

I'd like to thank you for your early reply and advice in particular
I'll definetly try to make some leaves and twists and nails for the iron/steel i work with
(i now recall i have to make some nails to store some (bought) blacksmith made tools in the shed in a way they should be).
all i need to find/make is a hole to "crop" the flat end of the nail while keeping the point sharp..(i saw the flat end made that way a few years ago)
maybe i'll also try to make a mold for that precise purpose.

Gorlimtouk

Hello all,

I am new to forging iron/steel and decided to make the leap and give it a go:
after many hours watching other blacksmiths at LARP-fair's and Historical Reënacting on several occasions.
From my study: Mechanical Engineer (i'm still a student) i have basic knowledge about iron, steals, quenching and iron-carbon structures (austenistic, martensite etc.)

From my first project: forging a coal noun (to stir up the coles) from an iron rod, to forging a crude cross for a friend of mine.
I experienced i could not weld the irons together (yet) with my woodstoked forge using a square brick of granite for anvil (its crude but it does the job)
With deep respect i now look upon the blacksmith's work and hope to learn a lot on these fora.

i'll be trying to fireweld the cross next (think i'll use a gass-burner + wood or "cheat" by regular welding) and would like to thank everyone in advance for the knowledge i've already gained from these fora.


Yours sincerely,

Gorlimtouk


any tips on projects to start on (for educational means) are welcome!


a Rooky, hobby 'blacksmith' (cant call myself that yet before i get all basic skills atleast)
P.S. english is a 2nd language so i'd like to apoligise in advance for any language/vocabular mistakes i make