EtownAndrew

I hope you make it to Quad state. I'll also be there.

There will be lots of used tools for sale that should help you get set up. 

Going to my dump can be inexpensive. They weigh me when I go in and out. So if I pick up a few things after unloading it can partly cancel out.

Thanks everyone so far - I'm in Potsdam, NY.

 

As far as building things go, I was planning to set up a portable thing I could bring to where I was going to work. 

 

In the mean time, looks like a visit to the dump is in order!

You'll want to call around to several and tell them that you would like to buy some scrap steel and ask if you would be able to look around to see if they have some suitable scrap steel. Some let you walk around and some don't. 

I went and watched the bean can forge video that you referenced. When I was starting out I tried a similar thing called a "1 brick forge". I couldn't get the metal hot enough in it to do any forging. My main problem may have been that I was using a plumbing torch. I bought a different over the counter Harbor Freight one and had the same result. The guy in the video seems to be able to heat 1/4" round rod but that is not very big for making a knife. So I think that getting a commercial propane torch with enough output may be your biggest challenge. They are normally set to the output needed to melt plumbing solder which is different from what you need.

So after trying that route I bought a 3/4" burner that was really more suited to heating up knife size material. I have now used it for a couple years and made many knives. I recently added a second 3/4" burner that I made myself by partially copying the one I bought. That allowed me to more easily heat up all of an 8 or 12" long knife to then quench it for hardening. I run them using a barbecue type propane tank and a regulator and hose that I got from Tractor Supply. 

The attached pictures show my first test of adding a second burner. The second picture shows the propane tanks and my "brick pile" forge. You only need one tank even though I have three.

Super nice!

As was stated earlier a fire brick works good for a kiln shelf. See attached drawing.

kiln.pdf

Can you post a picture of your forge. It has an interesting name and I am wondering if I would recognize it by another name. By the way I use a common hair dryer for my coal forge blower. However, you may want to be more "old time" and make a bellows to go with your forge or find a hand crank blower.

They look nice. Good to see that you smoothed the faces. They were a little rough.

They look nice. Good to see that you smoothed the faces. They were a little rough.

There is a fairly wide range of used big and small tools sold there. So my general thought is that if it is a tool you will get some lookers. If you have small tools, drill bits, screw drivers, etc they can go in boxes or trays for people to rummage through.

DSW is correct. My Lincoln AC stick machine does not have any way of detaching the normal AC stinger and ground cables. So I clamped them to the input on the rectifier. I then needed a ground cable to go from the rectifier to whatever I am welding. 

Yes, I was realizing as I tallied up the cost that my best plan would have been to sell my stick welder for $100 and put the money into a regular stick/TIG machine.

On Friday evening I got the last part I needed and finished putting together the accessories that would allow me to do scratch start TIG welding using my stick welder. I was relieved to see that it seems to work since by that point I had spent $410. So this is probably only worth doing if you already have an old stick welder. I see that harbor freight sells a comparable TIG/stick unit minus the gas equipment for $400 on sale. So with adding $200 for the Argon, regulator, and some consumables I could have gone with all new equipment and spent only a couple hundred dollars more.

I had done a fair amount of thinking about what welding I wanted to do prior to buying the stick welder a couple years ago. I don't think I made a wrong decision but I have struggled some welding 14 ga metal and I have also fought the slag that stick welding produces. So I think that I will hopefully reduce those issues with the TIG.

Anyway I did a small repair job this afternoon using it. I'm can see that I am going to have to retrain myself to not pull all the way away from the weld. I kept on welding and pulling away and then wondering why the puddle was doing some funny bubbling I would then remember to put the gas shield back onto the puddle for a few seconds. I'm also going to have to do some playing around to get a better feel for the right amp setting. 

Tig conversion cost - Final.pdf

I got there around 7 PM Friday night last year and they had already closed registration for the day and were setting up for opening ceremonies. So this year I'm taking off Friday so I can get there a little after lunch. I'll set up my tent and start looking around at the vendors.

Beautiful!

I'll have to look around for you guys. It would be neat to meet some people in person that I see on IForgeIron.

The SOFA Quadstate 2013 conference registration info was posted today on the group site. 

http://www.sofablacksmiths.org/conference2013/2013index.htm I have also attached the info.

I went last year and have been looking forward to the next one since then. It is September 27-29 in Troy, Ohio. I took a quick look at the seminar leaders and noticed that Brian Brazel will be a presenter who I think I have seen on IForge Iron.

I searched through the regional groups a couple times bud didn't find an appropriate group to post this under and so I put it in everything else. At one point I thought there might have been a Kentucky group that I posted under but I don't see it now.

2013 Demonstrators.pdf

QS 2013 registration form.pdf

General Information.pdf

I like it. That certainly looks like something to put on my list of things to try at some point. 

That does look good. I'm a little bit inspired to try again to make a trowel. I have made one that I used yesterday in my garden but it is misshapen and feels uncomfortable. Maybe I'll try again.

I am happy with silence but fairly often I have ear plugs in due to the racket I am making.

The variety of music everyone listens to is interesting. We are a diverse group with a common interest.

That is really really good! One of these days I think I may try a sword but I am not there yet! How did you attach the guard and pommel? (I think I got those names right.)

How does the knife edge hold up under use?

I used nails as pins for my first knife. I tried to drill three holes for the pins and after a couple broke bits decided that two holes would do it. A first knife is something to hang onto.

My guess is that you would like to be able to forge weld if you are not satisfied with an orange color in the steel you are heating. If so I have a couple comments that may help.

1. It looks like your chamber is open front and back. If so you should be able to develop more heat by blocking off some of the front and back.
2. Also my guess is that you have a 1/2" burner. (1/2" nominal size of the long pipe). I have used a 3/4" burner with the same brick forge set-up and got to a yellow forge welding temperature. However, I never succeeded in forge welding. I probably have numerous problems but I think a basic one was too much oxygen in the chamber. My burner needed to be turned up a lot/openings adjusted to try and get an excess of propane gas into the chamber to consume the oxygen. If flames are licking out the openings there shouldn't be much oxygen in the forge to interfere with forge welding.
3. I suspect you will get tired of bending down to look into your forge. I built a roll around stand for my brick forge when I finally had enough of it.
4. Probably all of your soft fire brick will have developed cracks in about a year. I bought a whole case a couple years ago and they are all broke in multiple pieces despite me trying to be careful with them. Don't try to use a soft fire brick as the support for what you are heating. They are too fragile for that abuse. Also if you try to forge weld and dump Borax flux on the metal it will get all into the porous brick and ruin it. Flux on a hard brick. (Personal experience)

Occasionally when I am describing my use of blacksmithing to others I say that it is another tool in my tool box to go along with carpentry, welding, machining, foundry, etc. It gives me options that I would otherwise not have to make what I need. Plus I am all the time carrying what I am working on over to my post vice because it is my biggest strongest vice. Likewise when I need to center punch or flatten something I often go to the anvil.

Also I occasionally enjoy the irony of using blacksmithing methods to make lathe tools for precision machining work.