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I Forge Iron

Clif

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Everything posted by Clif

  1. Peter, Thanks for the post. Been thinking about making one of these and the kicker spring idea makes a lot of sense. Now to find some springs and...... Many thanks Thomas, did you notice there are 2 chain links on the are where the kicker spring connects? you could put several on the arm to engage the kicker at different heights for your dies. not as fine an adjustment as a turnbuckle but changing would be faster.
  2. Thanks for the replies. I found a guy who makes them not far from here that makes them and has invited me up to look at them and talk about pros and cons. I'll let you know how I get on. be sometime later this month.
  3. Morning all, I'm digging for some info and advise on the English Wheel. I've never worked with any and only seen them used on you tube. My son is retraining into sheet metal fabrication and has been looking at these to add to the shop. the cheapest cast iron one is around £1700 and up. ($2500). Steel tube versions are a quarter the price, but he has heard they will flex, throwing off your work. What do we look for? I realise this could be the proverbial "how long is a piece of string" question, but I'm not sure of what to look for or where to start. Cleon is looking to make custom car and bike parts. so size wise we are looking at 3 - 4 foot neck, and the anvil and shaped wheels will vary, but what are the frame issues we should look for and avoid? any help is welcome Thanks
  4. Thomas and Frosty, Thanks for your expert comments. I have read up on forge welding many times and not gotten quite what the author meant. Your descriptions clicked and I can match them to what I have seen in my forge. I keep going past the watery/melted butter and in to the sparkler range and my weld aren't very good (land look nasty). Again many thanks.
  5. Well Done Marcy, It's both better and more functional than my first weld. Keep going you've got a knack.
  6. Daydream believer, I found this on the UK bladesmiths site. Hope it is close enough for you to get to. James Todd (AFCL) Ltd The Forge Great Warley Brentwood Essex CM13 3JF Tel: 01277 222645 Fax: 01277 224522 e-mail: jamestoddafcl@hotmail.com I live in Ely and have a local coal supplier that carries coke beans. Do a google search for Blacksmith forge coke beans and your should get some hits. coal4you has it by the 1/2 tonne pallet at £292, but that's far too much for me to use up in a reasonable time. check out the baba sit as well. they have a list that might help you. Welcome the craft Clif
  7. Evobob, I use lump wood charcoal for my medieval re-enactments, I burn through a bag the size you showed in a weekend (about 8+ hours of forge work). My first guess would be your putting too much air to your fire, second would be that you're getting a cross breeze that is burning up your charcoal while your working your metal. My first forge was about the size you state your is. I then used fire brick to create an area about 10 inches in diameter in the center ( mine was a flat plate with 1 inch sides). I use a small 2 gallon bucket and will load with about half of it, then work for 1 1/2 to 2 hours without topping up more that a couple of handfuls. the times I burn through more is when I get a med to strong cross wind and my charcoal is burning while I am working at the anvil. I've never used the Royal Oak brand of charcoal. but I have found that the supermarket lump wood is not good quality (mostly mangrove wood) I have found that good local hardwood charcoal is the best. See if you can find mesquite or oak charcoal. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
  8. Cooper Elf, Nice work. where about in England are you? I'm up Ely way. Clif
  9. Max, I had/have the same issue. I don't get many opportunities to work with skilled smiths. I spent ages trying forge welding with no success. A friend stopped by the forge one day with a school friend in tow. turned out to be a proper blacksmith (by proper I mean went to school and earns his living from blacksmithing) from down near London. In about 10 seconds he told me what I was doing wrong. I get scrap steel from work, Stainless Steel that is. Arc, MIG, or TIG all day long, never get it fire welded using charcoal or in a gasser. ONE limitation of the self taught method, I do not know how different steels react or what is good for what. As my medieval style forge would not get to welding temps Jude was not able to help me weld that day. I got to make my first weld working with The Iron Dwarf using his coke forge at a different event. it took about 10 mins and some pointers from Dave and I had it. Now have to try it at home. Best of luck. Clif
  10. To all, Great thread , I agree with Laertius, this has gotten a lot of varied imput, which for a newbie like me, with no forge welding (successfull anyway) experiance, the amount of knowledge and veiw points was good reading. Now as an ex-teacher one rule we used was First learned Best learned. So I will agree with Brian that this may not be the best first weld to teach a first time student. What I have not seen are suggestion on what should be the first weld technique taught. Any suggestions? Brian gave his reasons for not liking this weld as it causes thinning and weakness. How can it be improved and made useful to a student? For the Pro camp, I agree that this is a one handed weld technique that keeps it simple for the student. This follows an other teaching rule of KISS. Which brings me back to how do we improve the process for the student? To those of you that have posted pics, THANKS the work is beautifull and way beyond what I can do, great inspiration. Please keep posting.
  11. I was given a 3 inch solid ball used for topping railings. Had the guys in the weld shop weld it to a 3/4 square bar. then to polish it I turned it on the shop lathe using 40 grit sand paper and worked down to 400. still has a few dips but will work for either armour or body work.
  12. Life is always good. Spent Sunday (as this was started then), it the rain (under supervision of the wife) clearing out my end of the garden. 3 trips to the tip (trash dump) later and I found the gas forge and her trellis project that got buried at christmas. Got me hankering to start the brick forge and finish the shed for it that I promised myself a year ago. Thomas - Please post the weather report come Easter and its over 100 down your way. Kids never let me forget the melted easter eggs for the backyard hunt! (San Antonio in '98).
  13. I grew up on a farm with smithy at the bottom of the garden. Played with the fire and anvil to make small stuff for farm. Learned to junk weld watching my brother. After 25 years touring the world via the USAF, I found myself in England and talking to a reenactment group. couldn't swing a sword due to a should injury (surgery fix that) and their blacksmith had turned to wood turning, so I took over the forge. That was 4 years ago and still loving it and still learning.
  14. The first pair look alot like a ball joint puller I used on my truck. good ideas just keep getting reused else where I guess.
  15. Matt, I doesn't come much wetter or mousier than here in the English fens. 7 years ago a local built a straw bale house and it still stands. I copied a link to it but not sure if you will be able to get anything off it. British tv is set up differently than us tv. I ran in the the guy a coulple of years ago and he was very happy with it. As you in PA then getting straw and at a reasonable price isn't hard but you may have to wait until end of the summer when everyone is baling. The program suggests getting the bales fresh and keeping them well protected until installed. good wire to keep out the mice is a must too. as to the outside, i suggest ship lap boards and do the lime wash inside where you can take your time. Hope the link works and good luck. clif www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/episode...6/episode-11‎
  16. itsme, Contact Estwing and let them know what your doing and how it's affecting the hammer. They may have a solution (different style or temper). My brother is still using the Estwing my father bought about 40 years ago. It's been used and abused around the farm with no deforming. and yes we do us the lever method a lot du to it's metal shank instead of wooden handle. Also, they my take your suggestions in and design a new style and send you one to proof test. Never can tell.
  17. Daryn, Welcome to blacksmithing. Getting started will require some effort and patience. Cash is optional if you are willing to put in the time and effort. As stated above by more experienced smiths, start by asking around. Best advice I can give is to be honest with everyone you talk to. Let them know what you are looking for. My first anvil was a 2x2x10 block of steel given to me by a guy I knew who worked in a small fabrication shop. Then I was talking to a wood sculpture, he gave me the stump to rest it on. Tongs were pliers from my tool box. Think outside the box. You don't need expensive new kit to get started. Just the patience to make do until something better comes along. It's taken me over two years but now I have an old english anvil (free), large steel block 4x8x9.5 weights about 75 pounds ($30.00), 8 or 10 hammers ranging in size (many free some flea market $2.00 specials), I am making my own tongs, the only steel I have purchased was for special projects my wife wanted, the rest I have been given by friends, gotten from the scrap pile at work (caution here - I always ask before raiding the scrap barrel no need to get fired over a few dollars of steel), my forge is now a gas one I made ($100?), my first on was a plate of 3mm steel with pipe air feed with bricks lining it(normal bricks don't last long but will work) Air supply was an old shop vac. Where I have spent money was on books, get a copy of 'the backyard blacksmith', very good tips for the beginner, look around old book stores or charity shops (found one on country crafts that had some good drawings of a forge I am starting to build). Read as much of this site as you can. Loads of good info all over. One last thing, ENJOY yourself, if you find your stressing over what you doing it's time to stop and take a break. My son keeps trying to rush things, get frustrated and more time than not will make a mistake or miss hit.
  18. Wes, Looks like a good shop. Not so big as to incourage too many big machines but more than enough room to work on any project. Good Luck and post some pics if you do get it. If you can't buy it, ask the owner if you can use it anyway. be handy to have shop already set up if you buy the house.
  19. Great topic Glenn. As a beginer I wundered about which fuel was better. I like charcoal but have used coke and gas. the gas is fast but has no "feel". Coke was great but requires more air than I can supply with any control (shop vac on blow mode). My charcoal set up uses bellows and the rythem and time lets me think about my next hits. Each smith will have his favorites but its good to know the science behind it.
  20. I was talking to Hector Cole last weekend and he showed me a knife blade he forged out of a piece of meteorite that fell in China in the 1800's. Beautiful! His web site is www.hectorcoleironwork.co.uk He does some forge classes and was a welth of knowledge.
  21. I'm a rough beginer at forge work (won't call myself a blacksmith yet, just love beating hot metal) I don't know anything about Vucan anvils so I'd say follow what most on this site are saying and pass on this if its not free. Ask around, let everyone you know that your looking and something will turn up. Ask every farmer you see if they have one they no longer use and would part with. My first 2 "anvils" were lumps of steel, first a 2 x 2 in square x 10 in long block stuck to the top of a 100+ pound yew log. Loved it for working small stuff. next is 4 x 8 x10 sittng on a bigger yew log. I have rounded off the edges to varing degrees and can work what ever I like. I found it gathering dust in the local iron mungers off cut corner. $30 was all I gave for it (about 40 cents a pound). About 8 months ago a friend gave me an old english anvil that his mother had in her garden. Free for the taking. I still find that I like working on the big block more than the anvil.
  22. Beautiful work! Thanks for all the info on how you made such a great anvil.
  23. PugMan, Great shop! This is the first time I've viewed this section. I've been putting off starting on my as I could not visualize a comfortable lay out forge. After seeing yours develope I can now see mine. Fortunately, I have the basic building to start with, a pile of cinderblock and brick, free steel from work and enough tools to get it all going. I like your forge hood. Mind if I borrow the idea? Thanks for all the pics.
  24. Perrin, You can make a gas forge for under your $280. I second Phil, some fire brick and charcoal and an old hair dryier and your away for a few bob.
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