RainsFire

cool, I love the etched pic. cant wait to see what it looks like mounted ;)

ya, I've been thinking of doing some alum castings.. and my parents used to do lost wax bronze castings, so they are fairly knowledgeable in that area. also, today during our oil collection trip we got permission from a hotel owner who is removing an incinerator from the basement to pick up the firebrick they had removed.. Is about 3pickup truck loads of soft white non asbestos firebrick, most of it in good shape, and another load of broken brick for grog.. so I'm going to see just how much heat that stuff can stand, and maybe form the basis of my smelting furnace out of it.. we could have a fireproof yellow brick road.. or a shop made entirely out of firebrick.. well anyway, let me know how it goes this is something I am really interested in and you seem pretty knowledgeable about it.

hmn, very cool design. I had never thought of pumping heat from a solid fuel source into a seperate melting furnace, that could make things even more controllable as far as the enviorment being absorbed go.. what I'm shooting for is to eliminate the need for refractory around the bloom, because it seems to always corrupt the steel unless you use really expensive refined crucibles.. I'm thinking of starting the melt with a thermite reaction, which would knock out alot of the time consumption for the initial heat, not to mention it can yield really controllable alloy's. but ya.. I'm thinking a charcoal "crucible" or bed for the ingot to land on.. so instead of consuming refractory components, all it will consume would be carbon.. but I dont know, I'm still toying with design and like the idea of taking something like a bloomery, and combining it with a crucible melt with wvo as its heat source, best of both worlds so to speak.. anyway, maybe we should collaborate, all I'm really doing is messing around with hotter fire and trying to figure out something cool for my senior project for highschool.. making steel would definately be a first for my crummy school..

I've dropped and seen people shatter tungsten electrodes in their hands.. and how would you bend the ceramic sheild? a little bend would be possible, but not easy.. and there wouldnt be much gain.. but, Ive seen some cool torch bodies, including some small straight ones that use half an electrode.. which would be alot easier to use than a bent one.. yup.. gluck!

I have alot of those, and I cant remember quite right but I think they had casting seams to em.. could be wrong though, and if the track is 1050, I would wager that the plate is too.. either that or its railroad tie metal.

oh, so cast iron would melt at a lower temp right? because of its high carbon temp.. so hmn... this is very interesting, I have a plan for a furnace small runs, totally controlable, high temp, and no molten refractory waste.. Should work, and I think it'll be one of the first wvo powered steel smelters. thanks guys!

IT seems to be a craze lately to make your own steel, and its something I really want to try at least once. but I guess something I don't get is what is the difference between cast iron and steel? is it just part of the process where you don't let it oxidize? or is it a heat thing, anyway.. any help would be lovely. Thanks guys, Kenon.

Nice meeting you Terry! Gas forges are fairly easy to make your self, and there are many plans in this sites blueprint sections.. not to mention, making your own is a money saver, and can accomodate for any shape of metal you wish to hammer on.. Its nice being able to modify your setup quickly and easily. have fun! heres one I just make the burner for a day ago, works like a charm! I Forge Iron - Blacksmithing and Metalworking - BP0535 One Burner Gas Forge

sweet, where did you find the plans for this?

it seems like it sort of defeats the purpose, to buy railroad scrap steel.. I'm sure someone here will be able to hook you up!

you could always re-cast them.. or diy, cool find copper isn't cheap lately.

I dont think you can.. easily anyway, I know there are some businesses out there that will sharpen certain ones, but I guess I dont know.. heh.. I have a bunch of those files I use for hot filing, they still cut, and it helps that the steel has the surface hardness of margarine when I do it.. you might try wirebrushing it, I've done that to a few, blast it with a liberal amount of a rust breaking agent before hand.

wow, thats really good!

YouTube - Titanium Sword kinda cool+related.

Shmiti's smithy? Honking chicken furnace!! The hot place! I dunno man, I think its something a person has to think up themselves.. your's sound good

Ive done it.. not pretty by any means, but if your careful with a really small tig head.. and really gentle foot control, you can get it.

I've tried sitting and welding before.. and burnt holes through my jeans.. I don't want to think about a yellow hot bar landing in my lap..

cool site, I wish I had some time to check it out..

ya totally.. it doesnt necessarily have to be a direct heat.. you could power a kiln with solar pannels and use that or something along those lines. theres alot of solar potential..

take this with a grain, but I find it easiest to make a drift shape you know () that kind of thing, all the same thickness lengthwise... (so no bevels yet) then hammer in the bevels.. keeps things simple.. get it? have fun -Kenon

This one- Omura stone #150 grit Omura Water Stone should be fun.. I suppose it could be used as a shaping stone before claycoat..

He is the Ice czar! cool, nice seein ya here J. Bennet out of curiousity, is your start chamber furnace an orrigional design? It'd be cool if you could paten it. Heh, I was just reviewing your posts on the other forum, and I finally understand what your doing with your furnace design!! I'm fairly proud of myself now lol.. just wondering, could you have used propane to heat the crucible? instead of the tuyers and charcoal? or would it not hit enough heat? just wondering, it'd be cool to make a more "permanent" design using something like a gas or wvo furnace blasting around your crucible (contained) just as a secondary heat. have you taken metallurgical related classes? you seem really knowledgeable.

ha, ya.. I dont get it you're definately leagues ahead of my understanding of metallurgy.. good luck on your experimentations! and you're the same person from D-foggs site right? with the star chamber forge.. nice seeing you here!

as do wire wheels.. possibly even faster.. congrats mate, grinders make a serious difference!

Something I dont understand, (theres alot of em..) is why cant we use a metal with a higher melting point to smelt the other one in? Like smelting bronze in a steel crucible.. would it contaminate the metals produced? Oh, and where in oregon are you located? I'm in the corvallis/philomath area..