Zsartell

Mild steel should work fine for a monkey tool. I sometimes give the end of the tool a slight radius so the center sticks out a bit more. This way you are surely moving less material at one time as the center near the tenon is usually the only part sticking out. But more importantly to get a nice fit, the center near the tenon should actually go in a little further than the outer edge.

Ok guys, I was not able to make it to Quad State this year and I'm sure you guys took some pictures of all the wonderful events including the bloom making on Saturday. Let's see those pics...

Here a a couple of my favorite ones.

I had e-mailed Clay and asked about the details of getting a tire hammer class together and he said he estimated almost $1600 for each person if all supplies were bought new. Since it will probably take 6 - 8 months to get something like that together I have decided to build my own tire hammer and hopefully have it done in 3 months or so. I just sent away for Clay's plans and have enough money to start the bulk of the project. (the money is all from profit of me selling forged items!) Unfortunately since I am saving every penny for this tire hammer, I have decided to miss the SOFA event this year. I really want to go, but saving for my hammer (and a house) is more important right now. The only other power hammer I have used is a Big Blu 75. Has anyone ever used a similar Air Hammer and the Tire Hammer? I am curious how the Tire Hammer will compare to the Big Blu 75 or perhaps any other small air hammer.

I do this sometimes with 3/8" stock. Sometimes one fold over won't do it and I do it twice. This helps saving time when trying to neck down the stem as well since you aren't starting with 1/2" stock and trying to get to 1/4" or less.

Aeneas, I think I will make a video on forging, quenching and tempering a cold work chisel. This should hit a couple of different techniques all in one. I've found that a lot of smiths have read how to quench and temper a tool, but many still are not sure how to do it until they see it for themselves. MadDog, I tried to make this video as clear and precise as possible. I'm glad everyone can enjoy it without any problems understanding it. Flattening on the diamond is something I should have said, but like a lot of things that come natural to you it got overlooked. I had thought about calling this a key fob, but I have seen a lot of people that still do not know this term, so I figured key chain is close enough. Thanks everyone for your kind words.

Frosty, Yeah, I plan on doing some more. But it might be a while. Anyone have any suggestions for projects? I mounted the camera to a tripod and worked it myself.

Yeah, I wasn't totally impressed with the narration, but I've been trying to finish this thing for a month and figured it was good enough. Thanks..

Hello, I made this video of how I make a generic leaf key chain. Please let me know what you think. Blacksmith Forging a Leaf Key Chain - Video

M_brothers, Sounds great. I think now we need some pictures of it in action.

It looks like a great setup. I think you've done a smashing job. The only thing I see that might be a problem is that your chimney looks a bit big. A smaller tube might draw better. The best ones that I have seen only had about a 7" diameter tube, gut then again i may be just blowing smoke.

I already need to make enough tools. Now I'm going to have to make Wii to keep up, I don't think so. Have you ever tried to forge integrated chips and lasers? I'm with you Thomas, there are too many kids out there that would love to "Forge" their own sword because they can do it on the video games and once they realize what's really involved they realize they'd rather be stuck in front of the brain scrambler playing video games. It's a sad thing for sure.... Kids now days need to get up off their butts and do something constructive. It reminds me of the people that stare at you when you are working and ask "Why?" What do you mean "why?" I'm doing this because I enjoy it and because perhaps I haven't tried it yet. I used to get that all the time when I used to make pulse jets. You'd think that kids would be a little more interested in home built jet engines.

I built a forge from a 15" steel truck rim almost five years ago. Except for replacing the tuere because of a design flaw it shows almost no signs of wear. I can't say that I've used it day in and day out, but I have gone through many hundreds of pounds of coal. I plan on building a new forge someday and if I happen to have 1/8" on hand that's what I'm going to use. If I have to go out and buy some steel, I'd probably buy some 3/16" and be very confident that it would hold up for many years to come.

To sell my shop would be to sell my soul. When I have kids and die it goes to them. If I die before I have kids, then it gets distributed to a few of my good friends. It's worth a lot more than I paid for it in sentimental value.

I don't usually have this problem, but that may be because I use smaller and easier to maneuver tongs. If you are having trouble you may want to use a piece of pipe in the fire and put your small pieces in the piece of pipe.

I have worn contacts since I was 14 and love them. I have also been welding and fabricating for many years and have found that contacts actually give you another layer of protection. I wear my safety glasses (the ones that actually fit your face, not the cheap ones) and can still seem to get things to get past them and into my eyes. Just yesterday I replaced my right eye contact because I had a piece of steel, slag or scale stuck to my contact. Now this has happened to me a few times before and will probably not be the last. I figure I would have been much more angry if I hadn't had my contacts in and that chunk of whatever it was had hit my bare eye instead.

That should work just fine. I've done long pieces in my coal forge before, you just have to control the heat with water and keep an eye on how much you are twisting and where it is twisting. (It's easier than it sounds)

I usually find it just as enjoyable to make the tools as it is to make the product that you need the tools for.

If you are going to use junk steel, make sure you stay away from anything galvanized. Breathing those fumes can kill you and remember some steel that is painted on the outside has a zinc coating on the inside.

Here is a fancy one I made last Christmas. It has a 3/4" round pipe under the holly leaf.

I purchased the burners from a well known source. I did not make them myself. The heat exchanger is something that preheats the air coming into the burner. They have been proven to reduce the amount of gas needed to operate your forge. I understand that the heat exchanger has nothing to do with getting up to heat, it is just something I want to try out. I know that I am just dealing with an improper fuel to air ratio and that I need to do more tweaking. I know it will get up to welding temps easy, but there just must be too much air rushing into the chamber. I just need to "finish" my forge and get to know how it operates. One of these days I will get some pictures of it. for everyone.

I had a few free minutes last night so I decided to try and cover a little less than half of each of my venturi's (with duct tape). It made absolutely no difference in how my forge sounded. I also kept the pressure down a bit and tried a faggot weld with 20 mule team and Boric acid. I got absolutely nowhere. Actually this time I believe that my temperature wat too low. I waited until the piece kinda disappeared in the lining of the forge, but it did not stick at all. I think I am going to finish my heat exchanger, put the air adjuster on that and go with bigger jets and put the jets closer to the burner tube. I built this forge mostly for forge welding billets and by golly I'm going to make it work and with the heat exchanger I'm hoping that it will be efficient as can be.

I have a feeling I am making this more complicated than it needs to be. I tend to do that....