Woodsydad

I like the backlit idea. You could stack cut 2 boards, put glass on each side and then put little LEDs between the two halves.

Thanks for the help. It will be a recurring process so, i will fabricate a permanent pot but, building a test out of firebrick sounds like a good idea.

I have numerous 18x1/2 inch rods to bend and bending them in one heat would be ideal but, is not possible with my current fire pot. I am looking at welding up a new, long, narrow pot. Never having used bigger than a 9x9 bottom blast pot, i am wondering how feasible it is to make a 20" or so long pot that would get its air from a 12" hand cranked Champion blower. Should i have 1 air grate in the center of the bottom like a standard pot, have a couple of grates equidistant with an air trough underneath or make a trough and put holes all down the length? Thanks for any suggestion.

I recently built a side draft hood. It drafts good but, i can not keep coke built up. With the flame all pulling to one side, the green coal that i rake on does not coke up very well. I never had that problem with my outside open air forge or when i had a hood over the firepot. My firepot is right next to the bottom of the super sucker. Thank you for any advise.

It may not be rubber but, a piece of gutter makes as long of a shallow trough as you want.

Looking good. I can't wait to get moved to our new house (which has a shop building) and start rebuilding my post vise and floor stand blowers.

Try asking at machine snd welding shops. Some of them have unused smithing stuff shoved back in a corner from Dad or Grandpa or the previous owner. Over the years i have seen several large cone mandrels and swage blocks at old auto repair shops, just never when i had any money with me.

Try opening a door or window a crack. When i worked for a chimneysweep, we frequently had people who experienced that type of problem but, as soon as we told them to crack a window the problem went away after the stove or fireplace ran for a bit and they could shut the window but not always. Usually the wordt problems were in basements because pressure differences would cause a vacuum in the house. For those cases we would install a permanent outside air supply. So you might try a drier vent or similar and run it to near the forge.

I did not have quite as much forge time as you did but, i did get in a little hammering today. Made my third ever cooking fork and got the matching handles made for a ladle and spatula to go with it. I am going to make a copper blade for the spatula and copper bowl for the ladle.

Dude, that is a great idea. Some people want their ashes spread in the ocean or at a favorite park or on the family farm. Why not have them as part of a piece of art or a tool that will be used in something they loved? One more reason i need to get a will done.

My experience had been that generally dull blades skip, stick, etc., requiring an excessive amount of force. That seems to be the cause of the majority of accidents. So my reasoning is that a sharp blade will do its job safer. I do see a problem having sharp blades on display to the public. I can just imagine some of the idiots out there. But when giving someone a bladed tool, my instinct says to have it sharp. If they are not old enough for a sharp knife then, do they really need that knife? I am not saying that to be an XXX, i really do want serious input.

It looks good to me. I like a simpler, ruged, practical knife and that fills the bill. Nice clean lines.

I just read a post where someone intentionally made a dullish blade so it would be safer for a kiddo. To me that is backwards. The worst cuts i have gotten have been from sharp blades but that was from misuse when i was young. Of all the cuts i have gotten over the years, the vast majority would not have even happened if the knife, axe, saw or whatever had been good and sharp. What say ye?

Back when I worked for a chimney sweep we used high temperature paint and stove paint. To cure it we built a small fire and let it burn a while, then built the fire up a little more and leave it a while, then get it good and hot. We never used a themometer and never even tried to hit a certain heat. We never had any problems.

I always put two holes in hooks now. I have circles scraped into a couple of walls and a door from hooks that only had one screw in them pivoting.

How many thousands of smithys have had wooden floors and survived for a hundred or more years? My vote is to go for it.

I would sell one of my kids for a shop that big. Who am I kidding, I'd trade off all three of my teenagers for a shop that big. My tools and steel are in a couple of outdoor closets. To save room but give you some extra work space, you might think about a fold down table.

Two 45 degree angles is a lot more efficient. In many places it is illegal to use 90 degree angles for fireplaces because of the redistance.

Put out a few extra tools on the table for people to see close up.

Check to make sure that the pipe from the blower to firepot is clean. A while after I bought and started using my portable forge, I decided to replace the bolts holding the blower on. When I looked in the the air pipe, it was atleast a third full of a hundred years worth of oil, ash and general crud. It worked pretty good when I got it and now it will blow coal out of the pan if I get too enthusiastic.

I have good quality blacksmith coal but, what I am wondering is, should I screen the coal before using it? Some bags have quite a bit of fines in them.

I highly agree with not talking to management. I always ask some working guy, preferably while I am in work clothes. I've gotten free railroad track, powerplant coal before I got good coal, lumber, bulldozer work and all kinds of things that I would never have gotten asking some guy in a suit.

Bleach will not get rid of all fungi or critters. When I worked at the garden center (for 10 years) we sold a lot of copper based fungicides. Should work in wooden slack tubs. Also for anvil stumps that start growing fur.

Are you keeping the clinkers cleaned out? I don't know how long you've been blacksmithing but, I know that was a problem I had when I first started.

I would think almost anything would give more heat than charcoal briquettes. They add green sawdust to the briquettes to make them burn slower.