territorialmillworks

Grandsons were in from the east coast and wanted to "blacksmith" something cool. So without parental consent, we got busy. Blades were from a ag disc and the rest were scraps. Most of the work involved a plasma cutter and a tig but to them it was blacksmithing. Best part was the one-on-one with the boys....Oh, I forgot to mention the grizzly death of the watermelons lol

I'm re-purposing some hardware that was copper plated and covered with a black lacquer type material to 'antique' it. Sanding is impractical/incomplete and burning it in the forge accomplished nothing. (All PPE/safety procedures were observed :D ) Muriatic acid after removing the the lacquer/varnish didn't help. Any suggestions??? THX, Keith

Agreed upon conventions put the dates as follows: WW1 July 28, 1914 to Nov 11, 1918 WW2 Sept 1, 1939 to Sept 25 1945

Congradulations on being well qualified on your side of the pond, you've worked hard for that and I respect you for it.....please be mindfull that in the 1970's, 'unschooled smiths' in the US were responsible in large part for the renaissance of blacksmithing as an art and trade. I,for one, am glad to have the freedom to do what I want, when I want, how I want. I prefer to set my standards rather than that of a cast system. If a customer likes it, they buy, if not, they won't. History serves proof of that founding freedom of thought and action in 1775, 1914, and again 1939. That's said, welcome to Iforge. Keith

Bought a TD6 PID controller for a tempering oven. The english syntax in the 'manual' is so bad as to be totally useless. "In display estate press SET,P/MV lamp on means SV setting while off means MV manual output setting but only on manual operation and input connect do MV settable" I can set the target temp and that's all. I need to change from celsius to fahrenheit. I'd like to set a ramp speed for cooling but can live without it. Any help would be appreciated. Keith

Not to hijack this post, but...I'm tired of seeing 'antique' or 'vintage' tools with absurd prices when the item is a rusty hammer with a rubber grip handle or one in which you can still see "Plumb" on the painted handle. That and old tongs of questionable quality with asking prices greater than new tongs from a reputable blacksmith supplier. OK, got that out of my system...now back to work LOL

Seems like everytime I use vinegar for scale removal, I have to first find the right size container to hold the work piece. Then I end up using a lot a vinegar to cover it. Recently I noticed my wife marinating steaks in a plastic bag. Nothing new there until she suspended the open baggie in a larger container of water to displace the air and then 'zipped' the baggie closed. Total immersion....now I use garbage bags and my slack tube to do the same thing. Yep, that woman is not only smart, but a good cook too! LOL

Mastershake, there are endless burner designs, each with their own strengths and weakness..I've built hybrid-type burners plus 3 other venturi style burners and a blown ribbon burner. Why? Because I like to make tools as much as I like to blacksmith LOL. Since this is your first build, use the KISS principle while giving consideration to your own skills and abilities. Learn from the success/failures of others on Iforge. Here are some ideas for thought....First determine the size of the forge needed for the type of work you plan on doing so you can determine the burner requirements. Will you out grow this forge in a year. If so, you can always recycle the burners. Is your forge well insulated? You can have the 'best' burner made but it's useless if you don't have a well designed forge. There's info on the number of burners per cubic inches of forge volume and the size of the openings that need to be considered. For a naturally aspirated burners, check a Zoerller Forge. His burner design works and requires a limited amount of fabrication. Blown burners are going to be more expensive and complex. If you still want to go this route, I would encourage you to look at Pine Ridge ribbon burners. They are very affordable and have extensive engineering behind them. As a safety note, you MUST have a gas selenoid wired in-line with the blower in the the event that the blower stops working, you don't keep pumping propane into the the forge. Running my ribbon burner forge and my 3 burner forge side by side, they consumed nearly the same amount of propane. If I had only one, it be the ribbon burner. PM me if you have any questions or want to know how to build your own ribbon burner for the price of one fire brick..Keith

Great score..you'll find lots of uses. Neighbor gave me a similar table but only 1/2" thick. Used in a shipyard as a hydraulic test station...the 'trough' around the edge was tapped for a drain. Needs new castors cause it steers like a brick.

Wife asked for it and a few minutes later she got it. Fast and simple...Happy wife, Happly life.................

Got two 1.25" dia tie rods from work thinking they would be tough and make good drifts.....anyone know what kind of steel they might be and thoughts on tempering...thx, Keith

My employer decided to go with a new hardware supplier which included all new nuts/bolts and cabinets. They had me spending two days sorting out the old stock and then decided not to mix it with the new stock. They offered this cabinet and all the bolts that I had sorted out LOL. Hundreds of dollars worth of inventory.....no more running to the local hardware store

I probably enjoyed this more than anything that I've made. Denise was on board with good suggestions and encouragement..."more branches...more leaves LOL

Miller syncowave180 ad. Er5356 filler rod. 3/16 wall thickness. Too soft to be titanium.

at work, I tried to weld cracks on the 4x4 alum sq tubing that makes up the bed of the fire truck. The alum wouldnt puddle or flow. Had good clean surface and plenty of amps. Tried a horizontal area with out a crack thinking there might be contamination. No luck. My boss tried..same thing. Any ideas what is going on?

I told my wife that I "needed" that power hammer. I can't repeat what she said other than "NO"

I could have figured this out 30 years ago but my higher math skills are non-existant today. So I need to put three legs on a 20" circle. I know that I could draw a circle and use a divider and get there by trial and error but I'd like to use a formula for future projects. thanks, Keith

One of our officers is transfering and it was suggested that we buy him a tomahawk. Anyone got one for sale? If so, can you respond to territorialmillworks@yahoo.com with price and picture Thanks, Keith

Hey guys, can you video tape some of the forging at Cannelton....we'd love to see you at work. Cant imagine how you open it up with 3" stock.....

Having made many split crosses, this was not only a huge undertaking (LOL) but well done. Thanks for sharing..........Keith

So I guess its not a domahitchy after all

I used to be a general contractor and restored cars so I brought a lot of tools to my blacksmithing. I have my shop contents insured at $30G. To get to that amount, I incorporated for three years of tax write-off. Can it be done cheap? Yes. But my blacksmithing time is limited so my investment makes me more productive and often makes the end product better. The real value is the enjoyment of 'creating' something that is unique to me.....my 2 cents

Every once in a while, I'll open the peacock on the oil seperator and drain the oil. Not regular maintenance, just when I happen to think of it which isn't all that often. For the last several months I've been frustated trying to to keep the JY hammer tuned for peformance. Just couldn't find the sweet spot anymore. Today the hammer started to whistle from the seperator. Turns out it was clogged and fell apart when I tried to clean it. So I ran the hammer with out the seperator and found my lost power. Now looking back, I think that one, I bought the wrong seperator and two, I should have been looking for my lost power not just on the supply side but on the exhaust side as well. Lesson learned........Life is good........Keith

It sounds funny to me too but I'm working on a woods type piece and my artistic director (wife) thinks an inch and half frog would be great. It's my own fault because I was fooling around and made an 'eye' punch. I tried a few search terms but came up empty.......so point me in the right direction....thx, Keith

Great job..very nice