territorialmillworks

Have a three burner gas forge and a new 24x22 shop. Question is how to vent a gas forge with a front, back and side openings...Seldom use the side door but both the front and back have to be open when using 2 or 3 burners to keep the back pressure down......Not very imaginative but thinking about just mounting an exhaust fan in the wall behind the forge...Open to all ideas,,,thx

My wife and I have been using blacksmithing to share the Message by selling and gifting crosses. A small book mark sized cross was re-gifted to a woman whose husband was dying. The son saw his mom praying everyday for her husband while holding this cross. I learned today that he passed on July
14th, the same day that my father-in-law Jimmy passed. Jimmy surrendered to the ministry 48 years ago and preached just two weeks prior to succumbing to pancreatic cancer. We are continually blessed to see the 'spider-web' effect of God acting in one person's life to impact another's. While we are heart-broken at the loss, we are sustained in knowing that they are with the Father.

Keith and Denise

Impressive machine work and woodwork...

Frosty, you haven't heard how bad the solar rust is here in the southwest??? Not to mention the problem we're having with sand sharks..

I'm finishing my shop which has 2X6X10' walls on 24" centers. Steve's idea to use the 'dead space' between the studs will save a lot of floor space and get my materials out of the elements. Placed in the shear wall corners and lined with an extra panel of chip board should minimize any negatives. Now to figure how to recycle my old stock rack into something usefull ....LOL

This piece really appeals to me. the rivets make set it apart. As soon as my shop is completed, this will be the first project I try. Could you give some idea as to the diameter & depth?

I appreciate that there is a wealth of good info out there. However,I've concluded that I'm now more ignorant (confused) about cast iron vs cast steel than I was before reading the posts. Getting dizzy....got to lay down....lol

A neighbor from down the street that I've never spoken to before came to the house and said that he was moving and had some stuff to give me. A 40X 40 mobile workbench with 3/8" plate top, a like new oxy-acetylene cart, a parts cleaner tank, a milk carton full of logging chain, plate jaws for hoisting steel plate, a new 5 gal gasoline safety can, silver solder, welding rods, mig tips for my lincoln 200, a 12" and 18" c-clamps and and 4 more c-clamps-the type with short throats and a square head. I ended up buying 15 large milling cutters for $75 and 8 heavy duty military surplus adj shelving units for $100. I moved my forge and tool racks to the new workbench and I'll pass the gas can, chains and parts tank to my buddy who's helping build our new shop. All from a complete stranger....we were really blessed

I went to the local welding supply shop and got two oxygen caps free from their bone yard. They had rounded tops not the ones with a hex head. I band sawed the dome portion off of both but one was intentially shorter than the other. Welded the deeper one dome back into the cut off portion to form the depresssion and radiused the edge with a flap sander. Welded a piece of plate into it the shorter dome with a piece of 1" round for a handle. That and a hitch ball with a welded handle lets me rough out the shape quickly and then a stump and mallet to finish.....

I buy Norton brand @ local HF store for about $5.50 ea. My local source for SAIT is $12and some change. For me two Nortons will outlast one SAIT because I have a second fresh edge....

We've found these popular but it's taken time to become efficient. Learning the meaning of economy of scale, I've found that 6-10 of anything works best for me. The hardest part was the crown of thorns. We tried a half dozen different approaches before I figured it out (lucked out:rolleyes:). Twisted 2 pieces of #14 copper wire with a drill to form the ring and then tig welded short pieces of wire to form the thorns, trim to length.

Outstanding....I really like the thru and thru drifted handle loop. I've got 4 requests for steak turners and am going to give it a try this afternoon! I'll probably get some kickback cause I'm in the middle of two other projects with due dates but isn't that what creativity is all about...THX

Here are a couple photos of a stop gauge I made for our cut-off saw. I used a mill to drill holes on 1/2" centers. The stop collar on the left engages the detent hole while the stop bar is pinched by the spring and collar to the right. This allows the material to be advanced to the stop bar and then the stop bar is pushed down out of the way before cutting. This lets the cut piece fall free, otherwise it binds against the blade which causes the piece to either flying across the shop or it breaks off teeth on the blade. One is too dangerous and the other too expensive. For 1/4" lengths, I just clamp a small piece of stock to the stop bar.

My neighbor is a county plans examiner and has been 'proof reading' my bldg plans and application to help reduce the cost and insure that the plans don't get kicked back. Another friend knows the manager at one of the 'big box' lumber yards and took my material list in to get it priced out and is calling in a favor from a truss company. It's scary how all the pieces are falling into place......BTW it hits 120 deg here for 3+ weeks . After 21 years, I've had a 'solar lobodemy' and I've never had to shovel snow. go figure....

Problem with CO monitors is reliability. My daughter is an arson investigator and fire inspector and she confirmed this. Recent testing had 1 in 8 sensors bad out of the box. Gel type sensors are the worst and need to be replaced after 2-3 yrs. Semi-conductor technology is supposed to be better and last up to 5 yrs. These have digital display which is a plus. The other problem with CO sensors is that they need to be mounted 20 feet from a fossil fuel burn source (stove/furnace/FORGE) Not saying not to use one, but I'm not sure they will work reliably in the smithy....Just my thoughts

My propane forge is on a cart so I can forge in the open. The fire hazard and CO risk keep me from working inside the shop. The blower for a coal forge shots vertical while a propane forge vents horizonal to the front and rear. Anyone got suggestions on a hood or an exhaust fan that will work ?

I forged a 2" hitch ball into a hot cut hardy. Anyone have suggestions on how to heat treat something this big/thick and to what color....THX, Keith

For 4 years I've been building hot rods and now 2 years blacksmithing in the side yard under a fabric shade structure. Last week, zoning cited me for no permit and for not having a 3' setback from the property line. For 6 years my wife has been telling me to build a detached shop and I've refused because I didn't want to spend that kind of money on myself. Trust me,my tool lust is expensive enough. This time she insisted I take the tax return and build it. Seriously, she made several more runs at me until I gave in. Well face it, you've got to let them win every once in a while! LOL I've got to be the luckiest man on the planet to have a wife like that!!! Friends have stepped up with a garage door, lots of labor and more importantly help navigating the building permit process so that I can get it right the first time. Oh, and did I mention that this evening my wife said we should postpone our vacation so I can build the shop before the weather gets really hot.... Honestly, I just can't find a down side to the zoning inspector shuting me down....maybe I'll send him a thank you note...............

Other than a couple 3/8" tapers, I've only 'smashed' some scrap steel. To test the hammer and dies, I cold forged a piece of 3/8" round to less than 1/8 easily and without any damage. 1" square should be no problem. Minotaur, I'm guessing that forging stock either 1/2" bigger or smaller than optimum die spacing and I'll be losing power. But it only takes about a minute to to lossen the 1" fine thread nuts on the top link and change the spacing.

Started my PH almost a year ago. As a home machinist, I chose a complicated and somewhat over-engineered design patterned after 100# LG but using industrial heim joints. Total wt: 975#, anvil 305# (traded for 24 pack of beer, generic none the less), ram 72#, 287 BPM, frame 4X4X.25 sq. tubing filled with sand, 3 sets of 2.25 X 2.25 X 4 dies made from farm subsoiler toolbar, 1.5 hp baldor motor, and sow block with adjustable gibbs using UHMW plastic guides. Cost $1300. Lessons learned: several failed cluch designs before going with tire hammer, not pretty but works great. With Dave Manzer's CD and video recording with slow motion play back, I tuned the hammer to the sweet spot in just 15 minutes! With 72# ram, I need to go with either higher spring rate or higher BPM for max efficiency.

THX for spring info. No modifications will be needed.....

Need a heavier spring for DYI hammer. Could someone help with physical dimensions for 50# LG spring. Also, are there other sources besides LG for springs with 2700 to 3400 spring rates.

Thx for input. Should finish flat dies tommorrow. Combo dies to follow later after I have a little experience.... Will check out Clifton Ralph's videos..shaped tools on top of flat dies sounds 'fast & cheap'. Will post photos as soon as I finish guards and rattle can some paint.............

Finished my power hammer last night!!! 72# ram weight and 300 BPM. With several feet of 3" X 3" tool bar, I need to make a set of dies. So which dies to make first? I'm thinking a set of combination dies but since I've never used a PH, I really could use help.....THX

Having made similar items, here are some of the ideas that I have used on PINE. Hardwoods should work much the same.
1. When making a lot of Southwest style furniture, I gang mounted 10 wire brushs side by side on a horizonal shaft over an adjustable bed, powered by 1 hp motor. Strips the soft material right out leaving 'weathered' ridges of the harder stuff. Without a power feed, a SCARY tool to use. Never got around to reducing the RPMs

2. For small quantities, I just use the wire brush on my bench grinder.

3. Make a stain by soaking iron scale/nails/ or floor sweepings in vinegar for 48 hrs. Gives a gray color if diluted or a dull purple color full strength. Test first because it darkens a lot after reacting with the wood.

4. Wood leaching removes the hygroscopic elements- sugar/starch/protein/lignin, leaving harder elements. Only formula I have is water/lime/detergent and 2% sodium hydroxide by volume. Multiple application to desired gray color.

5. Use Minwax Polysealer in spray can. Let dry and buff with Scochbrite pad to denib and then reapply second coat.

Another idea is to make a crown of thorns from black anodized/annealed craft wire.. We make the thorns by twisting short pcs around a small finish nail, thread them onto a longer wire, spacing them accordingly. Add two more long pcs, holding one end in a vice grip with the other end in a drill and twisting. Then trim thorns to length.

Hope you will post pics later