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I Forge Iron

CEmory

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Centerville, TX
  • Interests
    SMITHING! Then comes Writing, primitive archery(not much going here tho) leatherwork, anything outdoors unless its a TX Scorcher, and most important, spending time with the fam
  1. To add for those just coming into metalwork period, and I know there are a few out there, Sparks and other hot junk can bounce too, hot little marbles or tiny razors flying about. Safety glasses should fit pretty tightly against your face be XXXXXX with comfort unless you REALLY have a good reason. I used to always wear ArcOne wrap-around shades as a welder and was grinding once when I had one on a mission to find my eye. I came around my work oddly and this little spark glanced up off my shirt, then off my cheek and around my shades, off the inside of the lens and onto my contact. Wasn't really too bad that time honestly, but it hurt for awhile afterwards and I had to ditch the contact obviously. Wore the goofy round strappy ones after that, though I still buy on the ArcOnes on the regular cuz they are great sunglasses and cheap. 12 bucks and my last pair lasted over two years and I only tossed 'em cuz the nose pieces had been long lost. But my uncle had a worse call when something similar happened while he was welding. Somehow or another a grain of slag made it around his hood and nailed him the same way. He had to go to the ER and they sent him to an eye doctor so they could DRILL it out. Yes, you read that right. THEY DRILL THE CHUNK OF WHATEVER OUT OF YOUR EYE. I've had it done once too when I did the 'It'll just be a quick grind job' and had a little bit get me nearly right off the bat. The needle is small, the drill is too, and my dr was quite nice, BUT ITS MY EYE!! So yeah, scared outta my mind and always stuck the glasses on my face. Aside from 'the spark with my name on it' I have not had another incident. And as a side note, if your welding something above you, don't tilt your head if you can help it. slag can make it into your ear. I suffered moderate damage from this very thing while welding in an awkward position. It can sneak around your hood too so theres that as well. I had NEVER done this before because I had been warned, but I had to for the job and thats what happened. Earplugs could have helped maybe, but I wouldn't like one of those smoldering in my ear either so muffs would be better. My little story, ~C
  2. Didn't see this until I posted the other one, but I loled big time.
  3. I had not done the hose test, but hemitite was what I had originally guessed my ore to be. Geology was never my strong point, but I'm working on it, like many other things atm lol. I really need to get batteries for my camera. This was helpful as always Thomas, finding a small nugget that looked like that in a gopher mound was what had gotten me investigating the iron content of this county. I have yet to find another, but was pleased to discover that my area has ore in general. I am working my way to my first smelt, but working on refining my charcoal making methods though as of yet no success. Looks like its the old way until I have the funds to put together a little monster machine.
  4. I gave a little shout of glee when I saw this! What I have and wanted to get confirmed as ore looks alot like that. Is there a way to estimate the quality from a cross section like Jammer's first pic? I'd like to be able to sort out my stock somewhat without having to post a bunch of pics up if anyone could help me.
  5. I have been misunderstood I think. This is not an immediate project at all and I am saving this ore for the right time. I do have more from elsewhere to work with, just was harder to get ahold of cuz I had to drive around more. Leon county is on the state list for having iron ore so finding more isn't really an issue, I believe it is hematite (spelling) but need to get some pics up to be sure. That will be posted elsewhere. I understand that I have alot of time ahead of me still. In 'soon' I meant within the year.
  6. See...shows how much I have yet to learn; thank you. I meant vertical and horizontal though you make a good point in having a thin and thick set of both which was why I had asked about the thickness of the one in my link. So my little set now comes to 7 hammers total, but I will probably end up doing a pair/quartet of larger cross peens. Should I do a larger ball peen as well? 5 lbs maybe? My education here is sorely lacking so I do not know what is commonly used. I had really wanted a sort of 'starter' set forged of this ore and I may start some sort of line out of better stock somewhere down the road of the same combination; whatever that will end up being. I pretty much cleaned out the large stones that I could, but there are some MUCH bigger stones outside the 'proper' cemetery, but that just didn't mean as much to me. I hadn't thought of forge welding on a face as forge welding in general is something I have never tried. In the past I had only made some basic fire tools, the poker of which I suppose WAS forge welded a bit but I didn't use flux, then I lost the room to work. I have not worked with bloomery iron at all which is why I needed alot of practice beforehand. I'm just getting the idea out there so I can find a little help with it. Could you point me in the right direction to learn this process? Perhaps I will madke the body of the hammers out of this ore and buy better stock for the faces, but honestly I'd like to avoid that, which leads to......... ....I have been learning all I can about the Aristotle furnace which can refine the carbon content of the bloom or just whatever scrap you have around if I am understanding things right. I have heard it has to do with the oxygen input, like the air blowing off the carbon during the melt or where less air will allow the product to soak up carbon. Please tell me if I am wrong about this. I plan to forge the hardware for my shop as well out of different ore and want to make it out of wrought iron as well as make blade and tool steel so I am highly interested in learning the processes for coming out with the results I am aiming for. It can be a bit confusing however because it seems to be vastly determined by what size furnace you have. Many smelts in my future, just working up to it. I would love to hear stories about how you came up with your designs as well. About how you maybe redesigned something you already had to do a certain job better, made a twin of a fav cuz you loved it so much, or for those hammers that are not self-made then I know people have a hammer that means something to them and I would love to hear the story. Some first time jobs would be awesome too. ~C
  7. One day soon, after I get a good bloom or five I plan to forge my own set of hammers starting with a regular old mini-sledge, both styles of cross peen, a ball peen (these in the 2-3 lb range) and a larger sledge for heavier work. This is sort of a project of love for me as the ore I am saving for this came from a very special place. For my own sake I will keep the details short. In October of 2009 my wife unexpectedly lost our third child, Jordan, in a miscarriage and he was soon buried in an old cemetery out in the country nearby. It so happens that there was quite a hoard of ore there that I have recently brought a good deal of home and as I CANNOT waste any of this I have to get everything right the first time. I plan on practicing smelting with ore found elsewhere, but I would love to see everyone's self made hammers and if anyone has made a matching set that would be even better. I really like this style http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEAT-2-Lb-NORDIC-FORGE-Cross-Peen-Hammer-Blacksmith-Farrier-Anvil-Forge-Tool-/190676947612?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c653b529c Just seems to fit me, I dunno. This cross peen seems thick to me though, is that because it is a farrier's hammer? I am sorry, but there are so many different types of hammers that I'm a bit in the dark, see. I would like these to be all around hammers for now, but I do have plans for more in the future. Any tips on heat treating would be helpful too. I was thinking to try a clay treatment with this to get some nice patterns and hard faces, but I can't remember off hand if this has been done or is a bad thing to try. I would think the clay would have to be applied quite thickly because of the mass, but again, I'm probably totally off here. However I did it these would be 'pretty' hammers so I would likely do some sort of design on the sides. So again...SHOW ME YOUR HAMMER! Please? ~C
  8. I happened to have one off the hair dryer I fried from over use the last time I had room to smith. Just used it cuz I wasn't sure if the old motor I was trying to fix was worth it or not and it needed a cord anyhow. I too have use the ol' lightswitch trick :)works nicely and you can put it within easy reach
  9. Awesome, just what I was looking for. Thanks ya'll!
  10. I asked about this in my intro, but figured it would get more feedback here. So, is there a state/nationwide one? I'd hate to inadvertantly copy someone.
  11. an easy on/off switch is the safety plug off a hairdryer or other bathroom electrical device. Hit test for off, reset for on, but I dunno how long would last under heavy use. Just rigged my first one to the drill press I salvaged.
  12. not spending money on it lol, wish i could, but yeah, I should just bring it all inside, was just trying to save space in the future shop and this wasn't really meant to be entirely permanent, just hardy. I'll just build the rear extra thick and have it serve as part of the rear wall instead. This was a quick attempt to get the smokestack outside without having to go through the future roof, so if I could still manage that without having to buy anything for a foundation atm it would be nice and we are coming into our dry season in texas so rain likely wont be a problem, though it has been drizzling on and off all of today. This will be replaced with a more proper stone forge at a later date, hopefully by winter if all goes right with the stars and planets and all that stuff that seems to effect my bank account <_< . This is quite helpful too. So you dont mix your clay with ash or anything? Always heard you should when going this route, but I'm always open to a new way. If anything I can use this liner until I can get my hands on some firebrick. Tell the truth this thing's gonna be a big ol' 'HEY OVER HERE SIGN' until I get a building around it so in a vain effort to keep the neigborhood happy I wanted this to be......pretty :ph34r:
  13. I'd have to second this, fewer attachments to make, but however ya'll do it I would love to see the results! You can BECOME ambidextious, my sister did. A small note, I read in a Nat Geo about the breakthroughs in modern cybernetics. For something like this that would required a good deal of durability and dexterity, not to mention being an 'odd' amputation (not to offend) someone out there might be willing to foot the bill.
  14. I am starting my forge build and am having to do things on the cheap, but I have a bunch of flagstone that had been serving duty around the graden beds and figured it would serve as a good foundation on which to build. The location is odd as I want the rear to be protuding off of the poured slab of our former garage to both save space and add a little something to the small building that I plan on in the future. Now, to save a bit of stone (cuz I don't really have alot of large, thick pieces) I chose a spot on the back side of the foundation that had several inches of hill where sediment had built up against the siding, likely from the former's dog digging back there cuz it was a fairly large, if low hill with a big ol hole next to it. This dirt is obviously the same dirt they had hauled in to lay the nice large slab I have here because it gets nice and hard after a good soaking with the water hose and dries xxxx hard. I went ahead and sorta framed out what I wanted on the slab in the stone then filled it up with the same dirt cleaned free of most of the debris and packed it down until everything was level with my original hill that I had leveled beforehand and gave it a good soaking. My frame of stone is currently six to eight inches deep and composed of a single 'wall' of large stones set directly on the slab and ends at the original dirt hill. I plan on simply laying another frame on top of the original hill and building up a short wall to fill with some more dirt. After I get to a height I like, tapering inward a bit as I go, I'm going to burn a bunch of stuff in it to get a bunch of ashes and pack them all in there. I'm having to work with all natural materials, red clay mixed with ash and sand will be the morter for this stage. So my questions are, how am I doing so far? Should I have made everything level with the slab, or even built up a more proper foundation for the rear 1/3 that will protude off the slab? I'm 6' and want this to end at perhaps hip height to the be built up slightly further with the rest of the forge, is this too high in the end? And either way can I fill this 'base' halfway with dirt or more then pack ashes in the rest? I want it to last as long as possible, so should I mix something with the ashes to make them firmer and thus more durable? Maybe lay down a gravel base before adding the ashes, too? Could I use the flagstone to build up the forge itself, enclosed save for the front with a short-stacked chimney towards the rear, not too wide, 8 inches, maybe 9 square at the opening and long enough to eventually get a sword into. Should this be bigger? I'm going to put with some sort of refractory on the inside, but again have to do it natural. I have a bunch of broken ceramic tile that I was thinking of turning to powder and mixing with my clay/ash mix, or if I could just use some of the bigger chuncks to line it I will, but if I HAVE to buy some portland I guess I can sneak the boss' wallet out of her purse, lol. NOT! But I'll tell her I'll make her a steel rose soon and maybe I'll get points. :) What I'm worried about is the stone cracking. I've flintknapped in the past and heard that while this stone is not really favored for it, with a good cooking it can become glassier and thus worked with patience. Should I maybe do a slow bake on the particular stones making up the forge to toughen them up a bit before building? There will be a small ledge to the left side as well to accomidate a Japanese style bellows and maybe a little more. This will be made of the same stone of course, ending at the forge wall and it will be a side blown forge. Could I form the airways out of something I could remove and mold them out of my refractory, whatever that ends up being, leaving the hollows when I removed my mold? And lasty, should I form a 'ditch' for lack of a better word atm, for a firebed or should I just leave the bottom of the forge flat? If anyone could maybe supply a picture or two of some old (or new, lol) stone forges that would be awesome too. I've done searches, but only found a couple and they were not so great. And as a side note, working with this stuff is hard! I've had ALOT of trouble with shaping it because it flakes off so easily, being formed in layers, and I don't have access to a diamond blade to cut the stuff with. I'm going to try to score it with a regular saw, but I'm afraid I'll just end up ruining a blade. Good thing I have one on its last ropes! Thanks in advance for any suggestions. ~C
  15. Doing so atm, lol. Having....not really issues, but I'm at an impass with my forge, I'll post up elsewhere in a minute. Thanks for the heads up and the invite Thomas! Waiting on gas money lol. Do you smelt too? I'd bring some broken up ore with me if ya do. Something I'm going to play around with to build up my tool supply. I figure why not make em from scratch, though I realize it will be a long road still. I've been scavanging to start, but thats going to dry up sooner or later so I need to find a landowner out in the boonies that has a mound of the stuff and a broken bowie. BTW, been looking for a touchmark registry so I can finalize my design to make in the near future, other than the one on Iforge I cannot seem to find a more complete list. I KNOW there are more smiths out there than that. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
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