bipolarandy

has anyone used the aftermarket auto-darkening shades that replace a normal shade?

Its exactly as the name implies, Pure Iron, its metallurgical grade and homogeneous. Its quite different from steel and wrought iron as it does not contain silica or carbon.

To bad the stuff is over a 100 bucks a pound here, I could see some fun uses for it..... YouTube - Cannonball in mercury

I finialy broke down and got a Oxweld oxy/propane cutting and heating rig and I love it, it can cut from 1/8" to 1" plate no problem with the tip that came with it and the rosebud can heat a rivet head to sparking white in just a few seconds.

A foil is a tapered rectangle , whereas a epee is a more like a flat blade thats forged into a V shape, I have lots and lots of broken foils and epee's and that a friend gives me from his fencing studio and let me tell you they are hard stuff, I cant imagine making one that could stand up half as well as a factory made blade. I use the fat end of the blade for cold chisels and punches, and the triplettes are my favoite too :)

hmmm, to what degree does the pattern on the panel matter? Because I have another idea, what about setting up a punch press and punching the holes manually , It wouldn't be the fastest but it would be cheap'er, If it must be exzactly like the 3D cad drawing then its waterjet for you

I dont want to sound like a broken record, but have you thought about buying commercial SS mesh and manipulating it to get the desired look, for instance, Rolling or selective planishing might get a more organic look. I cant imagine it'd cost more than 20,000 pounds.

Best post ever

Inazuma, the hybrid burners are very good and probably the best of the aspirated burners sold. I use two of the 3/4" t-rex on my forge, but like Jymm said , they take much longer to heat up and use more fuel then a well made system like his. The appealing part of naturally aspirated forges is the control of the flame from reducing to neutral to oxidizing which might be important for some people, but overall is kinda useless.

I dont get it , how did you hook up a air compressor to a jack ram? could you explain?

I got a bag of "bubble alumina' anti flux refractory coating for my old forge that I welded in alot, and it worked wonders. From what I saw the stuff is completly imperveous to borax and borax acid. Refractory Coatings - Ellis Custom Knifeworks

quite a few regs on that forge... i wonder what thats about?

On your tongue??? what were you doing when that happened?

Iv only had the tool steel bits on my cutters crack from use, never the welds. I normaly heat both pieces to be welded to a dull cherry and stick or mig weld them togeather with one pass.

Here's some quick progress pics [url=""]just need to be welded and sprayed and then they are done

Since you asked... YouTube - Firefly

Yes it does, my Mom grew up in Japan...

LOL , Is it as bad as burning used motor oil?? I think might?

Good for you Archie! Sounds like hard work is paying off.

Chyan, The head of the gallery saw my work and wanted to put my stuff in there. they dont have any good iron work and when they saw my big candle sticks they loved them. Im not really into the Art's and Crafts style , not my cup of tea Im sure Ol' Elbert was a cool guy but I could never be a part of a commune/collective/artistic utopia ,where every piece has to be the same And everyone makes the same thing.... I mean, its 2008 and the "new" roycroft artists are still making work identical to the people 100 years ago, Same bowls , same tables, same woodcuts, what happened to artistic freedom

No, no you dont.

Thought id share some recent work of mine, they are just quick snap shots so they might be blurry. And a couple of pieces in progress. [url=""] All of this is going to the Roycroft craft gallery in East Aurora Ny. -Andrei

Wow, that brings back memorys... i havn't heard the word clipart in years, back when we use to make our own icons. :)

Very much so. Wrought iron , especially old, unrefined or course grain iron will have a tendency to break apart if forged below a welding heat. Most old iron that was used was refined 2-4 times to solve this problem, but still, it has a fiber , and this can come apart if forged wrong. Another thing with iron is it wont burn 'like' mild steel, so you can work it at much hotter temps. 1" and a half is kinda big to pound out by hand, you might want to cut it in quarters and forge that.

Im hoping to switch over from propane to natural gas before the fall. I believe the cost difference is around a 1/3 of what propane is for the same Btu/hours.