Elemental Metal Creations

On 1/18/2017 at 1:26 AM, SReynolds said:

Champion 145-18

Used in my blacksmithing class.

 

 

 

 

 Where do you find the markings on these?

 I have a cast iron Champion forge that looks just like this one. It has a Champion 40 blower and says to clay before use (cast proud on the floor of the pan).

Frank, I told a boss that one time comserning a costumer, though I changed it to Their part. Thought I wold be looking for a new job but he agreed with me. 

Thomas, I will look into the tumbler/ball mill. And yes I did find Lee Sauder's page, lot's of good info.

Smoggy, i will keep this updated as things progress. I see it as a long term project, I want to do this using local materials as much as possable with minimal $, not counting my time.  

Thanks guys, I am pretty happy with it. It is pretty tough and makes a good chopper, took a good edge. haven't used enough to see if it it will keep an edge but it will shave the hair on my arm. 

Thanks Thomas, It is plain  magnetite. it was ore left at a smelter in Pilot Knob when it shut down. There is no sand to soek of, it is all rocks. Guess I will set up something to crush i as small as it canand sift the fines ot to use. I am not in a hurry to do this, lot of learning to do.

 I recantly found out that the previous owner of the property where I work spread tons of maginitite on some of the roads here. I would like to smelt some it after I do some research.

 A couple of questions to start with,

1, Does magnitite ore need to be roasted?

2, How small  does the ore need to be crushed to give good .results? 

Thank you.

 After several years of heating and beating hot metal I finally decided to start making knifes. For practice I decided to use a rr spike, I know that most people on here frown on these but since I have several I decided to une some for practice pieces. It still needs some clean up and sharpining, have to get some sandpaper, all I had on hand was 60 grit on a 4x36 belt grinder.

Please let me know what you think.

So I guess using an al. framed miter saw with a steel cutting wheel as a chop saw would be a bad idea?

I found this at my mechanics shop Monday. 35 lb Iron City in near perfect shape for 25$. Is there a way to find an approximate mfg. date on these? I know Iron City was in business from about 1854 to 1958 but would like to narrow it down some.

  Went to visit a friend laxt week and while we were walking around he picked up this rr track anvil and said you need this don't you.  It is about 2 ft long.I am going to cut it dowm and make it into a small jewelry anvil for my wife. 

 Monday I wnet to my mechanic to get some tires and was looking for scrap when I saw a post vice laying on the ground in the rain. When I asked him how much for that piece of scrap iron he said that it is worth a lot, ir's an antique, I replied I don't care, I am going to use it. Then he said 25$ and I said SOLD! 35 lb iron City, 4 in. jaws, compleat. nearly perfect condition.

You might be addicted to blacksmithing if you......Keep your anvil, and hammers, in your bedroom because they aren't safe outside.

Cleaned some more and soaked in hot vinegar to help clean some of the pits.

Teeny, I think I will soak it in the ammonia for a couple of hours. 

Teeny, the tear started because I grabbed it with a pair on needle nose pliers when it was real hot after I dropped my tongs.

Here is a pic, some more polishing and a soak in ammonia to bring out the copper more and it will go to the wife to make jewlery. 2 1/4 by 2 3/4 in. 1/32 thick.

I used the wire to hold the coins together, I haven't got around to making plates yet. I was trying to set the bond by heating and clamping in the vice before hammering. I left them in the vice untill all color was gone. The wire was pretty stiff so I could not get it as tight as I wanted. i was happy that 4 of the coind stuck on the first try. I will be going to sheet as soon as I can get some.

I am not sure what happened, I wired the coins together with stainless steel wire, heated them and clamped in a vice as tight as I could, reheated and when I started to hammer them they came apart. maybe I hit them to hard?

On the melting they were at a low orange heat, I really did not see any melting but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

Well I gave it a shot today. Started with 8 quarters shined with a scotchbright pad, washed with soap and water, rinsed well and then rinsed with alcohol. 4 out of the 8 stuck so I am happy with that for a first try.

Flattened to about 1/32, ground lines with a bullet shaped grinding tip on a dremel tool and flattened. I did some cleanup with 220 grit paper, I can't really see any copper yet, I will finish polishing tonight and see what it looks like. 

Sorry no pictures, didn't have my camera with me, I will get some toniht and post them tomorrow.

Steve, I plan on sticking with copper, brass, and maybe coins for a while.

Frozen, I wish I could invite Grandpa over but he passed years ago.

Thomas, I knew the flatsand rectangular hole on the feet indicated a particular maker but could not rember who.

Thanks to all for the help.

Teeny, thanks for the info, less coplicated than I thought.

Frosty, I read this somewhere,;-).

A friend offered to loan me his granpa's 300lb anvil. Any help on the brand would be appreciated. That is a 12 prybar on the face.

 I am wanting to try mokume, I have been reading here and watching you tube getting a lot of good info but not finding much on prep. I see that the metal has to be very clean but not much on good ways to do this.

 I have sheet copper and brass, and of course coins available. The brass has some corrosion on it, could this be wire brushed till shiny and used or should I get new? I really don't have much cash to spend at this time.

 Do coins need to be ground flat first?

I don't think this one is going any where. He has had it for 25 years. Someone offered him $1500 for it and he turned it down. Not for sale at any price but he offered to lone it to me and I didn't even know he had it. His wife about went into shock! A very good friend.

I have done this before on my 135lb mousehole. cleanupwill have to wait untill I get a shop built and bring it home. I was planing on building a shop this summer but now it has moved up on the priority list! When this one comes home it will not be moving from place to place like my smaller anvils.The feet and bottom look a lot like my mousehole.

TPAAAT works even when you are not thinking about it. I was at a friends house this weekend. We were talking about blacksmithing and he tells me " I know where a 300 lb anvil is you can borrow, you can't have it but you can use it". Of course I say where and he said in the basement. So I head to his basemeny and find the horn sticking out of a pile of stuff. I couldn;t find a name on it but I think it is a Mousehole. It was his grandfathers.

I was also talking to an older farmer at the local gas station a couple of weeks ago who told me that his wife is making him clean out basement so I asked if he was getting rid of any tools. When he asked what kind my wife told him I was a hobby blacksmith he told me that he had some of his dads blacksmith tools and when he got to them he would bring them to me.

I have some real motivation to build my shop now. I am going to get as much info as I can on the former owners of these tools and put it on a sign in the shop.

That is a 12" pry bar ot top of the anvil.

Don't forget to check with your local auto mechanic. Coil springs, tie rods, ect. will work good for the punches and other tools you will want to make shortly.