SmoothBore

No. The accepted technique for working any shape tube, ... hot or cold, ... is to fill it with sand, to prevent it from collapsing.

Being completely self taught, I've never been on the receiving end of much advice. But have always been a prodigious reader, and have gained much insight from the published experience of others. Based on the questions that so often appear in this forum, ... I'm of the opinion that many neophytes place entirely too much emphasis on the esoteric nuances of certain aspects of the Craft. My advice to all beginners is . . . . . K I S S In the fullness of time, the details will take care of themselves.

When I was younger, I was active as a volunteer fireman. Here, in southern Pennsylvania, many of the old German style "bank barns" incorporate corn cribs within the structure, ... and the few farmers who are still feeding livestock, still store ear corn in that fashion. Once-upon-a-time, barn fires were fairly rare occurrences, ... but as electricity became available in those structures, and machinery driven by fossil fuels were stored inside those barns, ... catastrophic fires became more and more common. Once a timber framed, wood sided barn becomes "totally involved" in fire, there's just no saving that structure. So, in the case of a barn that was a "total loss", often times the decision was made to allow the debris contained within the barns foundation to burn up, completely. Thus, saving on cleanup costs. What that means to the volunteer firemen, is that somebody is going to have to "babysit" that fire, for perhaps as long as ten or twelve hours, before snuffing out any hot-spots, and calling an end to a long, sad day. Being young, enthusiastic, single and self-employed, ... those all-night fire watch vigils, often fell to me. Which is essentially a long-winded way of saying, ... that I've seen a lot of ear corn burned up in barn fires. Long after the hay and straw are gone, ... after the 18 inch square Chestnut beams, and the 4 inch thick floorboards are all completely gone, ... there will still be a pile of coals, ... glowing like the highway to hell, ... where the corn crib used to be. To the thoughtful observer, there could be no better comparison of charcoal versus corn, as fuel. --------------------------------------------------- Keep in mind that "shelled corn" is an even more densely concentrated form of carbon, than ear corn.

Any common acid type soldering flux will quickly turn copper green.

To one extent or another, I agree with most of what's been said on this subject. All my adult life, I've been "selling out" my engineering training, ... by giving people what they wanted from me, ... even when I didn't necessarily agree with their judgements and choices. Rarely do you get "carte blanche" to build projects exactly as you would wish, ... unconstrained by time or budget. B U T . . . . . Dumbing down a presentation, to the level of the audience is one thing, ... and MISREPRESENTING that which you're actually doing, ... is quite another. The "drama" of adolescent personalities and conflicts, is insulting to the intelligence of every viewer. .

I'm probably too late to offer timely advice, ... but will try anyway. In my opinion, ... 1/2" square mild steel, will not hold it's shape, when buried in hardwood coals. As mentioned above, 1/4" x 1" flat bar, ( or larger ) set on edge, with about 1" spacing between bars, will serve much better. If there's room for something heavier, 1/4" x 1 1/2" flat bar, would do a fine job.

Or, in their case, ... the moderate-sized money. --------------------------------------------------- As with most of the other "reality" shows, ... I feel the gratuitous personal "drama" directly reflects the producers disdain for working-class people. And yes, ... silly story lines, that treat minor equipment failures as major disasters, is insulting to your intelligence, ... but clearly indicative of the attitudes and mind-set of the writers. Generally, I'm much better entertained, watching the Brooks Falls "BearCams". ( I've even given some of them names. )

Amen, ... I hear ya ..... I do take a bit of comfort, from learning that in that sense, my beloved "Patrish" is no crazier than the rest of her species.

It's been about 6 weeks since anyone commented on the current round of "heat it and beat it" shows. So I'll offer my impressions ..... The Milwaukee crew have proven to be essentially ornamental iron workers. Which is OK, ... but not particularly interesting to me personally. While the "Make a Big Honkin' Knife" show, has generally improved the quality of it's "contestants", ... and their products. ( The first season left a LOT of room for improvement. ) It's still a very one dimensional view of the Blacksmiths craft, ... and obviously aimed at a narrow target audience. I haven't run across the "Legacy" show anywhere on my local cable, ... but was happy with what I've seen on the internet.

I think, perhaps you're asking the wrong question. ( We live in a world where virtually everything is "possible". ) The challenge lies in determining that which is "practical". The process of "sintering" has been with us for quite some time, ... and yields a variety of useful products. But none of those products are recognized for a particularly attractive appearance, or texture. -------

The "frame" is not from a Linotype machine, ... but it is a piece of Printing equipment. It's called a "Chase", and is part of a "Letterpress" style of, printing press. An assembly of raised type and/or engravings, was "locked up" inside the Chase, using wooden blocks called "Furniture", and expanding wedge, or cam action devices called "Quoins". There are still a lot of old Letterpress machines around, ... and are still in limited use, ... mostly for "Steel Rule" Die Cutting operations. Up until about 35 years ago, the majority of "Job Shop" printing was still done on Letterpress equipment, and Newspapers were still in the process of converting from Letterpress to Offset Lithography. I suspect, within the next decade, printed newspapers will vanish from our lives, ... and an industry that once employed as many people as did Steel Mills, Automakers, or Logging, ... will be no more. .

Although these comments won't help you solve your problem, I think that they are still appropriate, ... in a general sense. One of the things that seems to "slip through the cracks" in the way we think about forge welding, ... is that the process was developed and intended for use on wrought iron, ... not steel. The practice of "steeling" cutting tools, involved welding relatively mild steel into wrought-iron. While the practice of forge welding tool steel into mild steel is commonly done, ... it can be, ... and often is, ... very demanding. Yes, it's an interesting process to dabble in, but under the best of circumstances, results are still unpredictable. We all experiment with arcane practices, ... just because we can. And that's a good thing. But I think it's wrongheaded to tell yourself that forge welding a piece of tool steel into a piece of mild steel "duplicates" traditional tool-making.

Stuff a possum with apples, ... or "dirty" rice. You bake a possum, wrapped in foil. ( By that, I mean you wrap the possum in foil, ... it doesn't matter how you're wrapped, ... tightly, or otherwise. )

Well sure, Hedgehogs are real, ... while that other thing is an "urban myth". -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My lifelong hunting buddy has much better eyesight than I, ... but I can smell a deer in the woods, before he can see it. ( A "dry" Whitetail Deer, smells much like a wet dog. )

In some cultures, dogs are thought to be quite tasty. While this solution isn't for everybody, ... I submit it, as part of the endless quest for enlightenment.

Anyone who has worked in a shop doing Zinc or Aluminum Die Casting knows the odor associated with "Heavy Metal Toxicity". Whether that is the odor of the base metal, or one of the trace alloys, ... like Arsenic or Antimony, ... is unknown to me. Also, Iron Oxide, on Steel or Cast Iron, has a very noticeable odor and taste. Copper Pennies are widely regarded as having a noticeable flavor. The variables in human sensory perception are intriguing, ... as well as extensively documented.

I don't want to start an argument, ... but only want to add perspective on this topic. There has ALWAYS been a broad range of quality, in the blades that were produced during the past 1,000 years. In that interim, Swords, Sabres and Cutlasses were mass produced, to fulfill very "cost conscious" military contracts. While simultaneously, the renowned "Hundred Guinea" presentation blades were also in common production. Certainly much of the cost of those "high end" Swords can be attributed to embellishment with precious metals and jewels, ... but it's also well documented, that those blades were known to be of superior quality, as well. Then, ... as now, ... the "price point" dictated the quality, ... so, they really didn't always make ... "the best tool they could out of what they had to work with at the time". More accurately, ... they made the best tool they could, ... for the agreed upon price. Some things never change. .

As do mine. And obviously, it's a simple thing to "nick" each die, in the same fashion. I use a magnet to hold letter stamps straight and square on a work piece. --------------------------------------------------------------- In the days when printing was done with hand-set individual "type", the type had a "nick" ( or 2 ) cast into the body of the type. The nick was located at a slightly different point on the body of each font of type, so that the "Compositor" could easily spot any irregularities in an assembled "line" of type. For a number of reasons, the individual type characters were assembled in a "Composing Stick". A GOOGLE search will yield ample images of "Composing Sticks", ... that might give an idea of how you could apply this simple technology to your problem.

About 25 years ago, I replaced the Kingpins in my old Ford Backhoe, and used the old ones to make punches and Hardy tools. They're still going strong ..... I didn't know, ... or care, ... what they were made of, ... and still don't.

Concur. The portable Infra Red Gun is a far better system.

Well, ... you're not going to like this answer. But my advice would be to forego the life-size "paper dolls", ... and learn to work from properly scaled mechanical drawings. Even the most fundamental CAD drafting software, is an INCREDIBLY USEFUL TOOL. I use AutoCAD every day, for a wide variety of purposes. Finding unknown dimensions, angles, spacial relationships, etc., etc., etc.

I've never been called upon to teach Blacksmithing. But I feel qualified to comment on the subject of introducing raw beginners to a subject that's totally foreign to them. To wit; ... 15 years experience teaching handgun safety and technique, ... in a fairly formal setting, ... to the wives and girlfriends of fellow Gun Club members. The thing I learned from that experience, is that it's not possible to underestimate the beginners lack of familiarity with the hardware. So, ... I would resist the urge to jump right into any "hands on" training, ... and spend some time discussing all the basic tools, and materials, and their intended purpose. To a neophyte, this is NOT immediately obvious, ... nor are the often archaic names of those various tools, particularly "self explanatory". For example, ... most people have heard the term "cold chisel", ... but it's unlikely that they know WHY it's known by that name, ... or much about it's correct use. Sure, covering such fundamental knowledge is not much fun, ... but I think it will help the true beginner put things into perspective.

If it was, in fact, some kind of counterweight, ... it was most likely cast iron or cast steel. Not much good as an Anvil.

Cooking and eating utensils, particularly Spoons, Sewing Thimbles, Hardware like Buckles and Rings for harness and tack, Scrapers.

Horse shoe hearts are easy, and a sure hit with Mom.