Elemental Metal Creations

Ok, then here's the question.
Does anything you put on your house (or garage in my case) become an instant lightning rod? I was given a copper weathervane as a gift when we bought our house and tossed it up there without ever thinking about it.
Is one metal less tempting for a lightning strike than others?
In the olden days (20 years ago) every house had some sort of antenna (aluminum I think) to grab whatever tv signal they could. Some were quite elaborate, but I don't recall any being hit by lightning even though they were mounted at the highest point on the rooftops.
Just wondering.

Thanks for putting this on here. I have a champion #40 that works pretty good right now. I will keep this for future ref.

double post!

Look through "Show me your forge" in this forum. There are some brake drum forges that do not take any welding and work great with charcoal. I can burn steel in my brake drum forge with a blow dryer. It sounds like you might be getting to much air, get a dimmer switch or for a few dollars more you can get a fan speed control at a big box store, these will hold up a lot better that a light dimmer. Charcoal needs to be deep to work well. I use a piece of sheet metal with several 3/8" holes drilled in it for a grate.

Rember it is far easier to prevent something from moving in the first place than to stop it once it starts to move! I agree with Tonopah, I wouldn't want to lift that out of a car trunk. Good luck

One handy item is a pry bar about 2 ft (60cm) long with one end bent like a ? that will just fit the thickness of the most common size of framing timber use in construction. Here in the US it 2in. This is a great tool for taking the twist out of lumber when framing.

Does anyone know what type of steel these blades might be made from? I know it sparks like it is fairly high in carbon.

Haha, best part, his shop foreman said "if it just disappears, I won't notice"
Now...to try and fit it into the trunk of my honda accord on my way home from work...

I have a brake drum / 55 gal.barrel forge now, but I want something with more table space. I have used a forge with a rectangular firepot and liked it better. I burn both coal and charcoal.

I am getting ready to start building a portable forge. It will have a 2' x 4' table, champion #40 blower, welded rectangular fire pot, wheels so it can be rolled around and be built so it can be taken apart easily for hauling around.
This is what I am making the table out of,. 4ft. diameter, 3/16. in thick. You can see the outline of the table on it. The choices that I have at this time for material for the firepot are cutoffs from this blade(med-high carbon) or mild steel plate that is also 3/16 in. Which would be better? I realize that this is a little thin but it is what I have.
After looking at it some more I am thinking that I might just cut the front and back leaving the teeth on the ends, bending a piece of flat stock and weld it to the teeth for tool holders. What do you folks think of that idea?

Well, you know that he won't loose that "toy". at least for several years. LOL

I use wood for all my hammers except for my Estwing claw hammer.

Sounds good, count me in.

Sounds good to me, depending on the weather. I have had about 4 days out of the last month and a half that did NOT reach at least 100+ deg.F. Not much forging going on. I have never made any kind of knife but I would like to learn.

You gotta be careful in this heat!!
I got heat exhaustion several years ago working in the sun all day. Every thing was fine and I felt good until I noticed that I had stopped sweating, a short sit in the shade and a long sit in the truck with the AC on full blast. I still can't take the heat for long periode of time.

Thanks for the replies, the main reason that I was not happy with the results was that I used some old flux that I found that was white in color, kind of looked like old motor oil that had water in it. It left a white film on some of the petals. It is not that noticeable but I did.
I need to get some new flux so I thought that I would see what people recommended first.

Steve, I know what you mean, right now I can't aven afford a torch that will burn MAPP gas so I am stuck with a plumbers propane torch. Maybe I will make enough this weekend at a festival to gat a better torch.

I have started cold working with copper and brass the last couple of weeks because it has been to hot to light the forge (105-115 every day for about 3 weeks). I made one copper rose and soldered the petals to the stem with what solder and old flux that I had on hand, It worked ok but I was not really pleased. I would also like to solder some bases to some copper and brass bowls that I have made.
What would be the best/proper solder and flux to use for this? Also any info on the best methods for doing this would be helpful. I already have a commission for a copper rose that I have to have done by Mon.the 17.
Thanks.

I second Nathan at Jackpine forge. I had the opportunity to try some of his hammers in his hammer making class at the BAM conference this year. they are very nice. I believe he had some straight peen hammers in the 6lb range for sale there.

I don't know about where you are in Indiana but if you are driving back to Ar. come through Mo. and stop by one of the BAM coal keepers. There are several around the state. Bob Alaxander is in Desoto near hiway 67. PM me for more info.

RAIN? I dimly remember that, it was about a month ago we got about 1/2"

Here the problem is Brown Recluse spiders. There bite is worse than a BW. they make the flesh rot and will leave a big hole that takes forever to heal. I was cleaning out part of the barn that my shop is behind and must have found 100+ over a couple of days.

Thanks for the replys, nice to know that others have used the method that I was thinking of an can tell about it!:-)
I don't want the last thing I see and hear to be a big flash and boom!

I have an empty 100lb propane tank that I want to cut the bottom off of to make a large bell. How can I do this safely? I am thinking, remove the valve assembly, fill with water, and then cut the base off. Hopefully with something faster than a hacksaw, maybe an angle grinder with a cut off wheel,
Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this? How thick are these tanks?

Remember that in a large disaster the internet may not be available for a while (GASP!) A couple of years ago we got hit sy a 100 mph straight line wind and were without power, phone and internet for 2 weeks.

I have had the same glassy clinkers with my homemade charcoal in the past. I dug through my charcoal and found some dirt and rocks in it, cleaned them out and it didn't happen again.