JohnW

Okay, great -- I don't quite understand how you can burn it so fast, but great.

Zampilot, how well charred is your charcoal? If there're any sticks of charcoal, and you break one is it charred all the way through?

I'd recommend to sharpen them with an angle grinder or other grinder. They don't need tempering, they take a beating, so they need to be tough, not hard.

Smart alec. I believe I say anvul, vul like in vulcan, or voluptuous. I certainly don't say vil, like in village.

No, I think it's the other way around. Sometimes, whiskey barrels (barrels previously used for whiskey), are used for other spirits, like especially some sherries.

Just in case you didn't find it yet the IBA site is at http://www.indianablacksmithing.org/ Yip, the annual conference is in Tipton in June, and there will be some tailgating going on, where they're bound to be selling a few blowers. It looks like the closest satellite group for you is Johnson County, which is not a large group, but Tim Metz is a good blacksmith.

50? I wonder if he could have been referring to 1050.

Some of the older responses mention fleas. I believe you can eliminate fleas by sifting out the fines.

I will tell you, at the risk of stating the obvious, the upside down picture can be rotated by way of the view menu or by ctrl+shift+plus.

Braedon, I can't imagine that there are no Hedge Apple trees in NW Ohio, because they certainly do live and grow in NE Indiana. They're not a very common tree, or, more accuratley, they are an uncommon tree, but they are out there. I can't give you any statistics on their numbers, but, I don't expect to see any when I go walking on a new trail, but then I wouldn't be too surprised if I did see two or three.

Right Bentiron, hard as nails. It's well known that it does no good to nail a fense to a live hedge apple tree. Hedge apple will shed the nails as it grows.

Great looking fish, I can't even tell how you would make such a thing. So, I'll be looking for you pictures.

I'd say they're all different. You have to find somebody friendly, because I don't think they really make any money selling steel to us a few pieces at a time at scrap like prices.

Yes definitely upsetting steel, can be pretty uspsetting to the would be blacksmith. Upsetting doesn't usually work straight away. After upsetting a little, you usually have to take another heat to hammer the the steel back straight, which kind of tapers the steel back to almost where it was in the first place. Get steel with a bigger dimension. The more I see experts, the more I see they have stock just about the size they need to start with.

#2 -- No I can't recommend. Aches and pains usually require inactivity, or at least less activity to get better. But then once healed your elbow will probably be stronger. I don't know about your shoulder. I'd say elbows are tougher than shoulders. #1 -- Be deliberate, be acurate. Maybe get a bigger hammer (or use plenty big hammer) and slow you're pace.

Tatertatum, as you've said and others, you can work mild steal at a wide range of heats. You probably just want to stop beating the steel by the time it's cooled down to black, to avoid cracking, and you want to get it out of the forge before it starts sparking, do avoid pitting.

brians you crack me up -- "Does anyone know anything about these anvils?". That's the anvil that everybody's looking for.

I believe you're correct that fines cause sparks. I make charcoal by the method you describe, except I shovel the the hot coals into a barrel and cover it with a tight lid to smother the fire, then sift in wire mesh to remove the ashes and small particles. I'd think charcoal by any method could benefit from washing or sifting. With washing though, how to you dry it, spread it out on tin roof?

removalist? Oh, you Australians. Are you talking about professional movers? I don't know if I'd trust removalists with my anvil. They might drop it or bend the nails or something like that. Probably not if you tell them to handle it with care, but otherwize they might do something wierd.

Hey philip, you might try the famous everlasting fense post recipe. Stir pulverized charcoal into boiled linseed oil until the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over the fence timber. There is not a man alive who will live to see it rotten.

Concerning the weld problems that nakedanvil mentioned, my friend showed me a hot cut that he had made from a square bar for the shank, a steal plate, and big tooth from some digger thing, with all the welds on the top side of the plate. I don't remember how thick the plate was, probably like 12 gauge. He cut the plate barley larger than the base of his hot cutter (the tooth), and cut a hole in the middle the same size as his hardy hole. He stuck the sqare bar through the hole in the plate and welded it to the plate, keeping the bead on the top side. Then he set the hot cutter on the plate and welded it around the edge. Of course the tooth was already hollow, so protrusion of the shank or weld were no problem. nakedanvil's method is probably a little more direct in the build process and in anvil support.

A gate valve sounds like a great thing to have, but I don't think you'll be too pleased with a leaf blower. I think you'll be looking for a smaller quieter air source.

Rabbit trap? Dang, what kind of rabbits to you guys have down there?

Yes, a bathroom vent fan has plently enough output for a coke forge. A reostat may not provide as good of control as you think, but there's lots written about it on the forum.

Mike, I believe the above sited links have exactly what you're looking for. I'm about the least qualified to explain it, but there's a couple types of codes the AISI and the SAE codes. The AISI codes describe the steel composition, like 1040 -- plain carbon, .40% carbon where 10xx is plain, 5160 - low chromium (51xx), with .60% carbon. The SAE codes describe a preformance standard. Codes like O1, D2, A2, ect. The first letter is the main descripter, like O=Oil Hardening, A=Air Hardending, D=Die Steel, etc.