PJames

I broke my wood chipper about the same time Harbor Freight was putting their small flux-core welder on sale. I watched a bunch of you-tube videos and then bought myself the welder and all the safety equipment I thought I would need for a while.i had always feared getting eye or skin damage (I already have skin cancer) so I got what I needed. So far I have only made 2 projects outside of just playing.The first was my fabricating a wheeled cart to put the welder on. made that out of scrounged metal and wheels. The second was to repair the wood chipper so now I am back in business with that part of my garden activities. Now to give you an idea , I am almost 60. I first tried anything to do with blacksmithing last spring... So this is all new to me.

Almost all communities have a 'votec' school around.Some are under a local Jr. college, some stand on their own. Look at what they offer. I doubt you will find blacksmithing courses per se, but you will find welding, machining, auto body work etc. All these are good foundation education with the added benefit that you can get a real paying job after you finish. Then apply this base knowledge to your desire to blacksmith which you can do on the side. Just my 2 cents...but without some major finacial support to buy equipment and support yourself , you might find blacksmithing a tough road to start out in. I find it a great hobby and have looked at it from a 'supplemental income' cottage industry perspective.

I recently pulled all the interior out of my gas forge and rellined the 5 gallon bucket I was using with a couple inches of kaowool. I used the same refractory cement i used the first time, but it started flaking and chipping off. It was not exposed to rain but it was to the high humidity. The refractory insulation I had bought looked like chipped up insulation mixed with a little cement. I went to a ceramics store hoping to find some kaolin ( the woman running the shop had no idea what I was talking about) or at least 'porcelin' mix which i figured was laregly kaolin. She was out of it, so i bought some of the ;highest' fire ceramic clay. She had no idea of the componenets and when i went to the manufacturer's website, they did not disclose it either. They talked in terms of what cone you would put in the kiln to fire the stuff. I added a fair bit of the ceramic clay to the refractory cement I had on hand to thickly coat the kawool. It has taken all week to to dry enough for me to risk firing up the forge. I used some pure clay to fill in any cracks/weak spot i could see as the interior dried. Today i fired ithe forge for 3 minutes.I had some sputtering and flaking of 'plaster'. I remembered at that point I had not thoroughly cleaned the opening of my burner. After it had cooled, I turned the forge on end to let the flakes to fall out. Later I fired it for almost 8 minutes, and this time I did not see any flaking. I was impressed with how fast the interior turned to reddish orange. I put a piece of steel inside to see how fast it would heat. It sdeemed to heat even faster than it did before. (Might be wishful thinking though). I will let the forge cool overnight an see if I need to paint on some more of the ceramic clay slip I made.

I just broke out the coating and pulled the kaowool from my forge and relined it. The stuff was cracking and chipping badly. Im thinking I did not apply the hard coating properly. I used insulating cement from the place I got my kkowool from. It looks like insulation mixed with a little motor and hardens but still has some give to it. My question is how thick should that layer be? I smeared it on by hand to coat the wool fairly well and I think I might have 1/4 inch layer but probably not much more consistently. Should I apply more? Once it dries, I will paint it with Plistix that I bought as a substitute for ITC-100

Dave...I enjoyed your video and am gathering the parts to make aburner now. Did I understand that the tip of the mig fitting is to be at the bottom of the holes? So all the air comes in above the propane?

As a complete rank beginner, I bought a Harbor freight anvil on sale for less than $40..not a bank breaker... I know it will not last long, but is serviceable for now. I also found a piece of I beam that i use as well. Alot of the time, I turn the I beam on edge to use it as a fuller or swage (inside corners). A cheap alternative.

I'm old enough to NEED a treadle hammer, but too inexperienced to put one to good use. Plus definately too CHEAP to buy one....(right now anyway..) :)

I have not been smithing for more than 3 weeks but today had to refrbish my forge. I was considering just throwing the thing away and building a new one then figured I would be ahead of the game by fixing the old one. The original: I used layers of kawool, Ech was inch thick. I offset the join in the kaowool so as NOT to have a thin spot. I then covered the ceramic fiber with a layer of refractory cement that I bought locally. It was adry mix that really looked like insulation mixed with mortar. I'm not sure it is rated high enough. The company I bought it from said 2300 degrees but the bag said about 1900. Still, it wa the only available locally so I got it. I noted some cracks in the sides of the forge wallut discounted them until the past coupel days. The matrix of cracks had increased and the walls would move when presssed slightly. I mixed almost a gallon of new cement and coated the entire interior of the forge to cover the cracks. Iaked theforge n the kitchen oven for a couple hours at 350degrees to dry the cement. When I opened the oven door I saw several fissures in the cement. Most are in the front where I put most of the cement. not sure how many in the side walls. I will go out later and fill these cracks with some of the cement I made up earlier. Question is: Are these cracks common? If not, how do Iprevent them?

In watching a heck of alot of You-tube videos and seeing posts here I seem to have noticed that coal or ('m guessing) charcoal forges allow better control over the heating of the material being worked. Particularly where the heat is wanted to be localized. I live in the south and coal is almost unknown as a heat source. Charcoal is considered something you use for a bar-b-que. Unless you buy special coal and ship it in you can use or make your own charcoal. So that leads me to a couple questions. I have seen comments it takes several times more charcoal by bulk to get the same amount weight as coal. But a pound of charcoal gives you as much energy asa pound of coal...... True? HOw long can you expect to forge using either charcoal or coal? I mean for a 10 or 15 pound amount... I am trying to figure if I want to continue using propane, which costs about $19 for a basic exchange tank or try to convert to charcoal. I'd like to see comments/evaluations of each...

I got one of those deep fryer hoses and regulators. Problem with it is no gauge. Right now I use a venturi style burner and I get good forging temps butnot welding temps. For now it is adequate to learn basic skills, but I will need to make a better burner soon.

I was not about to try to get the pieces perfectly straight. I wanted to just have usable pieces. I did measure wrong (but at least I was consistent) makeing the pieces 14 inches long instead of 15 like I had thought..I was back on the tracks yesterday looking to see what I could find. I wasn't interested in spikes as I have enough but found a couple of those plates they use to hold the ties down, a really big bolt and something that looks like a tow bar with a U piece on the end.. That piece is going to be a bending fork. I cut it off this afternoon and squared the shaft to fit a hardy hole... I started making another set of tongs, but got run inside by the rain.

This afternoon/evening I straightened out one of those coils. I viewed it as an exercise in hammer control, seeing how metal should go, etc. As inexperienced as I am it is good practice. I also walked some RR tracks today and picked up some plates and some other metal , like big bolts etc that I can make use of. I have to work tomorrow at the hospital but when I get home I will try to get busy and do something some of this steel. I have pretty much decided that unless I REALLY need a specific piece of metal for a certain project, I will use scrounged stuff. ie I am not into this to make a profit much less a living, I find the idea very satisfying.

I understand the math.... I do it when I figure what I need.. My point with the original post was just how much material is in a single coil spring. A "lotta bang for your buck" . as you will.

Not too picky, huh? :D :D

Wow, I had no thought of possibly breaking even on this new 'hobby'. I started to look at it because of a desire to have fun making something useful from crap I scavenged or traded for. Also I knew my maternal great-grandfather was a smith. When I took my first successful set of tongs and a RR spike knife over to show my parents last week, my 80 year old mother almost cried.... Her comment of "Oh how I wish my Grandfather was here to see this!!" kinda touched me too... I figured that at best I might make a few things ( mundane to most here but unique to my family/friends) to give away for gifts. But after seeing this thread maybeI can even make enough to pay for this new hobby...

I have seen many posts here extolling the virtue of coil spring steel as a pretty decent (quality-wise) steel.What I NEVER saw was the amount of metal in a spring. I just cut up one of springs into manageable lengths (15") and discovered I had 11.5 ft of 1/2 round steel in it. I paid $10 for the 2 springs and then the guy left me have several other small pieces of metal after I BS'd with him a little bit. I'm thinking I need to make something and take it to him and see what I can get out of him, maybe a knife or something he might think is 'cool and unusual'

guess i have to figure how to drop pics in...

I got a set of tongs that are ugly but serviceable built Friday and decided to try them out by drawing out a little on a RR spike. I had a little trouble getting the grip right as I forgot one simple thing...jaws are a fulcrum and the further you are away from the pivot point, the more distance you have to travel.. So when holding something as wide as a spike the ends of the reins were too wide for my hand. At first i just choked up a little to compensate. I had decided to make a knife out of the spike after rewatching a couple you tube videos yesterday morning.. Then I tried to bend the ends of the reins together a little so they would fit my hand when holding something. And then decidd to adjust the jaws a little and that broke my rivet. I'm going to have to find some better rivet material than the 1/4 ( or maybe 3/16) rod I found. Here is the knife I made. Today I am going to try to harden and temper it. I wanted to take some pics before I screwed it up.

Not the first day, but close ehough... plus I do not want to start another thread... I got a set of tongs put together..... they would NOT win any award except maybe "ugley but useable (barely)".. It only took what felt like 100hours of punding to get them together. I'd get one side looking pretty, then get the other to match (finally) and then they would not go together... I had a major problem getting the rivet to seat. BUT I have a set that is FAR better than channel locks or vice-grips. So I am happy for the moment... Going to pound on some hot metal using these tongs..maybe draw out some RR spikes and straighten some coil spring I have into sections I can use later... I have to admit, I am enjoying the hell out of this...

I didn't get too far today until my hand got sore and my arm tired. Gonna have to work on the calluses and building more endurance.. I did get my chisel and punch made. Not sure how sharp I want the punch.

I'd found where the utility company had cut some trees and left some stumps and logs. I needed a firmer base for my cheap XXXX anvil, so i went over to borrow my Dad's truck and hand-cart. Of course,even at 84 he siezed the chance to go along.. So we went over and I cut a 4 foot section of log to take home. ( Actually the longer section made it easier to tip it into the back of the truck. So I cut the piece as long as I could handle.) Got the log home and cut it so with the anvil on top, it was the right height. I fired up the forge for the 2nd time today. I coated the interior of the forge with Plistix last night and fired the forge late morning. I was not sure what to expect- if it would glaze or whatever... I then got busy and made a hold-down device that would fit on my anvil. And straightened out a couple pieces of auto coil spring..... The straightening of the spring was harder than I thought it would be. I have one 8 inch length that tomorrow I will draw out into a decent punch. And another piece that I figure will make a hot chisel. I had worked a little before but ran out of propane, so I had to exchange the tank.. My inexperience is burning fuel but I am having fun...

Ted, I agree with the way you do things. I do the same thing. When I am concentraiting on my gardening tasks, the is the world for that time. Now that I have tried to check into blacksmithing, the times actually working are focused and the rest of the world spins without me. Not knowing what I am doing kinda hinders progress, but I enjoy all my sessions. Some of them are nothing more than sitting and figuring how i will approach a problem... just doing it in my mind first is therapeutic. Might not work when I get outside, but what the heck.... To me that is what a hobby is... You learn it and work it like it is your livelihood, but you realize your focus on something 'different' is a break. I remember back when I was in college. I would go home at Christmas and during the summer an dwould bust xxx working as much as I could. It was the CHANGE that was the relief not sitting and resting. Now at 59 I find I can't last as long working, but I get a kick out of changing whatever labor I am doing at the time... Well, enough philosophical BS. Others may laugh, but when they get older, I thinnk they will understand......

Wasn't my first time but felt like it.... My first attempt was a failure trying for a pair of tongs. Today my aspirations were alot more modest. I made a hold- down out of my failed tongs. And then cut and straightened out a few lengths of auto coil spring. One was like 14 or 15 inches and the other was 8. Tomorrow I plan to make a punch out of the smaller piece and a hot chisel out of the longer one. I did find that channel lock pliers do not work well at all. It may be I used an old worn out set, but I can really see how a good grabbing set of tongs would make things MUCH easier.

The pics help. I actually had a pretty lean fire. I thought the increase in orange/red and the lighter blue flame meant it was too rich so I actually increased my openings. I had to choke it back a ways and it started burning fine. I am using a burner with slits so a simple band made from folded aluminum foil works well. I do not have a guage. I thiought I was buying one since the package label on the propane line said 0 to 20 psi. It just has a needle valve and the forge seems to fire best at a little over 1/4 turn from off. I doubt I will get welding temp with this burner, but I can a bright red/ almost orange and the rebar and RR spikes I played with got fairly maleable. Thanks for the pics and comments.

After i got off work today, I went around to a salvage yard. The guy let me have 2 coil springs for $10. Then, as we walked around the place he gave me a couple valve lifters and a valve "to see how they would do". I'm not sure if the coil springs were a good price or not but they look like a fair amount of material once cut up and straightened. I figure to make chisels, punches and hardie tools from the coil spring. What else would you suggest as starter tools? I'm still gonna have to make some tongs pretty soon as my POS long pliers from Harbor F. and my channel locks are not gonna get me far.. But at least I have some higher quality steel now to work with than the rebar and RR spike I was playing with.