Spurrit

Hey, y'all, please give me a holler when you have something going on. I live in Augusta. Can't make the next meeting, as I'll be in Kearney for the next week. If anyone out there has some coal for sale, please give me a holler.

Could you do a step by step on getting the coke going? I've got a coupla rivet forges, and finally got some coke(got the second forge with blower and a storage tub of coke for $25 from one of my horshoeing clients) Can't seem to get it very hot or keep the fire going. Considered hiring a neighborhood kid to run the crank, but......

SOme folks act like it's a crime to do things different than they would, Zig. My pickup's always got some kinda scrap I picked up in the back. And a buncha horseshoes.

I've forked a broad or two, but never needed anything like that.

I "get" how desperately you want it to work. You can ask all the questions you want, and yes, if you do enough work, you can eventually punch through with a rock. Really, what you need to ask yourself is, do you want to make do with crap, or can you just hang on, watch Craigslist and yard sales, and save your pennies? These internet forums create a ton of peer pressure. Everyone get to thinking they NEED all this crap. I bet 80% of the guys posting haven't lit a fire in a month! Same with firearms forums. When I'd meet some of those folks at the range, it was pretty obvious they spent a lot of time on theory, and very little on practice. Not to say I'm some great smith or that I'm in the fire every day, (it's been friggin' COLD here, and I don't have a shop right now) but it's just kinda how things work, as I see it. I STRONGLY recommend looking into a Shopsmith with a bandsaw attachment. Lotsa power, variable speeds, modular, and great bang for the hobbyist's buck. AND, since people are getting more and more useless, used ones are getting cheaper all the time! I got mine for $175, then went and test drove a truck to get it home, back when I had an Explorer. :rolleyes:

A gunsmith friend of mine uses .50 cal AP bullets to make punches on his lathe because they're made of tungsten.

Forge weld it. And how did the guy I'm replying to get banned? You've gotta really look for something to be a jerk about with this group, I'd think. All good folks, from what I've seen.

I HATE when that happens! I especially hate when the handles on my hoof knives develop that greasy sludge from my sweat! I've gone so far as to scrape them, wash them, scotch brite them..... nothing helps. Considering a coating. As far as handle shape, I can pretty much guarantee that we can't all wear the same tight fitted leather gloves. Some of us have thick hands, some don't. The only thing that's definite is.... "It depends".

I have some wrist pins from a Cummins diesel available to me that I want to make hammers out of. Any idea what kinda metal they are?

What length do you guys make your hot work punches and chisels? I'm a horseshoer too, BTW, so if any of you have any dimensions or prints for shoeing tools, I'd appreciate them. I need to make a creaser and a city head punch.

Hock shop!

A lot of folks don't realise that a handyman jack is also a huge C clamp that can be used to winch you out.

That was my first thought.

Could you dumb that down and explain it? Is that some kinda steel you can't hammer or something?

How's your health? :rolleyes:

Go to the farm supply and get that stuff that kills skeeter larvae in stock tanks.

Put an angled mirror up overhead like they do in demonstration kitchens. They can get a first person view from a safe distance.

I have a whisper deluxe and need an insulated door. Can I make it for less than the $50 NC Forge charges? Also, is the liner in the forge Kaowool, or what? Where can I get more of that stuff? Can I build it back up, or does it have to be removed and replaced?