MrMaelstrom

Colloidal silica tends to work pretty well for this application. Another good option is sodium silicate, or "water glass" that I would recommend more. They will both end up functioning the same. Remet's colloidal silica binders are generally used for the investment casting industry. Many stabilizing/rigidizer mixes, to my knowledge, are actually just sodium silicate mixed with refractory powders and clay. I know the stuff I used for my last forge was exactly that. The issue is that most of these binders are made with a specific particle size distribution because of the industry they are made for. That actually manages to hike up the price a fair bit. It works, and it works well, but it is a little over engineered for the purpose of stabilizing the refractory blanket. In the investment casting shelling process, the colloidal silica is what actually holds the ceramic shell together. The strength of the shell can be related to the relative sizes of those particles, and usually 2 or three different slurries with different binders are applied over the course of the shelling operation. The colloids are actually amorphous, which means that they are technically glass. Once they get into the furnace though, and "set" they end up turning into crystoballite (quartz) crystals which is what makes that blanket (or shell) rigid. Quartz is what ends up causing silicosis (as well as the other forms of crystalline silica), and way more care should be taken when you are replacing blanket that has been stabilized with the C.S. for that reason. The Sodium silicate is a bit different. Essentially, once you cram enough sodium oxide into a silica glass, it can be easily dissolved in water and this solution is what you will end up buying. (silicate glasses are also water soluble, but that is a different story...). You can then add more water to it to thin it down and paint/spray it on. Once all that water evaporates out, you are left with a sodium-silicate glass that STAYS glass when fired due to the amount of sodium ions still in the network. A bit safer once you go in there and start replacing blanket in your forge. it works pretty good on its own, and if you want to give it just a bit more IR reflection, you can always add some -325 mesh mullite to it. http://www.amazon.com/Rutland-146-Cement-Sealer-Fireplace/dp/B004YEDQOK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433535206&sr=8-1&keywords=sodium+silicate Also, way cheaper than buying a pint of ITC-100

That's immediately what came to mind, Thomas. I remember looking at those tests when I first started out and thinking that they were impossible/required some sort of dark ritual to pass. Then came more experience and a material science degree. So much cooler knowing why things work, in my opinion, and reading about reverse engineering artifacts from history also tickles my fancy.

I just moved from that area last year. A good friend of mine is the Forgemaster of the Mohawk chapter of the New York State Designer Blacksmiths. There werent many of us in the Mohawk chapter so we were all pretty close, and everyone is more or less self taught and extremely friendly. I can personally vouch for them. I will send you a PM with some contact info. http://www.nysdb.org/ if you want to look into the club as a whole. They usually meet about once a month, depending on everyone's availability.

Honestly, that might be some of the classiest, and safest, packaging I have seen. I might want to invest in wooden boxes. When I was in college, I shipped a rather large camping knife to a friend in what I had deemed "Acceptable packaging". I had wrapped the tip in cardboard and packed it in a box that I had under my bed. I got a call a few weeks later. Essentially, it had wiggled loose from the cardboard "sheath" and stabbed its way through the box. Add to that, apparently my laundry detergent had spilled into the box while it was under my bed. Imagine getting a package for a college student at the local post office that has blue soapy fluid leaking from a massive hole: A hole that is currently filled with 6" of sharp steel. It was a stupid call on my part and every bit unprofessional (and unethical). I was younger, and dumber, by comparison. Needless to say, it was one of the incidents that cause me to throw out the "Good enough" mentality. The other one involved tongs that weren't suited to the work...

I had never been, or worked with, a striker until I met a good friend of mine (who is around on this forum somewhere). He is a hammer buff, through and through, and after some convincing, we decided to make me a 2lb straight peen. I was fresh to this, although I had quite a bit of time with a single handed hammer, I didnt have the stamina or the trust in myself. Took us about 2 hours to do that first one with me swinging a 14lb sledge with careful swings and having to put the steel back into the forge when I was tired. Right before I moved though, the "rail road swing" was almost normal, and I found it a bit easier to conserve momentum by doing it. Still couldn't sustain it for a while though, but we were able to forge a 3 lb Brian Brazeal-style rounding hammer in about 45 minutes or so. Trust was a big thing. I found that as I got a bit more accurate, I could swing a bit harder. Then all I did was rinse and repeat until I gradually built up the strength. Then came his trust in me not to smash him in the head. When he struck for me though, it was trust from a different perspective. I am 5'6" swinging either a 10 lb or 14lb sledge, not exactly an imposing figure. He is 6'+ swinging a 22lb sledge (half swings), and causing the entire floor of his barn to vibrate like a drum. THAT took alot of getting used to :-P

Not to be the materialistic weasel of the bunch, but... How much are you looking for it? I have been in situations like that in the past: Stuck between a rock and hard place making tough decisions.

Charles, I have an identical one to yours. it has, however, seen MUCH better days and was pretty beat up when my dad gave it to me (not to mention, having a handle covered in duct tape). He loved the thing so much that he named it "Dirge", and took it with him every time he went camping. I agree with you, the blade makes it a bit unwieldy, but other than that, it is a superb tool. Took an edge very well. Since then however, it was stored in a basement that flooded. I think it would take some extreme TLC/magic to get it back to acceptable condition.

I have actually forged two knives with a very similar blade profile to the one pictured, and only one of them survived heat treat. Mind you, this was a good five years ago when I got really serious about blade making. Still, that step from the upper portion of the blade to the lower portion was a bear to grind evenly with the tools I had, and proved to be the point of failure in the blade that didn't survive. A sloppy HT, combined with a rough, uneven grind proved to be the downfall. For someone who doesnt have a huge amount of experience making blades, it might take some trial and error (as it did with myself). I had attempted to make them for a friend of a friend. After I broke the first one, I didnt feel confidant enough to sell off the one that did survive. In hindsight though, I could have, being that I have used it heavily for years (although I have learned to not prefer the blade design for general use). Just a fellow amateur's two cents.

In718 is an ni-based super alloy used for air based and ground based turbines. It's not really hot workable at all, given it's hardness and brittleness and is extremely corrosion resistant. Nickel it's very soft on it's own, and when it's alloyed with copper and chrome, but in super alloys, that isn't the case. It's able to keep a good chunk of it's mechanical properties up temperature where steel would turn to butter, which is why it's used in turbines. I used to work as an engineer in an investment casting foundry. The vast majority of what our air-based turbines components were cast from was either in718 or in738. I managed to grab a scrap of a cut up airfoil and made a divers knife out of it. Wasn't really that good for cutting, but decent for prying and stabbing...

Update: I had a very hard time tinning the inside of the ring with the high-temp solder. Heating with the torch, although gradual, was not very precise. Getting the solder to melt without overheating it was tricky, and spreading it was a nightmare. As such, I decided to try and use the low-temp pipe solder after getting some flux paste. The results are below, and I am pretty happy. Not bad for my first time, I think. Also, I went with some ferric chloride for the patina. The only real gripe I have with it is that I wasnt able to get a perfect seal between the band and the mokume, so there are some areas where there is a bit of pitting. The ferric only really made it look worse, but Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

Hmmm, never would have thought of that. I will certainly give that a shot. Along those lines: I have some silver plumbing solder as well. Would that theoretically work as well or would it be too weak of a bond? Thanks Frosty!

Hell all, Being that I am waiting to get my new regulator, I decided to try making some mokume out of quarters. Made little trinkets and stuff, so I decided to make a ring for the girlfriend. I dont want to turn her finger green from the copper, so i wanted to put a silver liner in. I got some sterling sheet, cut the liner and pressed it into the interior of the ring. I heated it up, got my borax and applied it, waiting for it to wick into the gap between the mokume and the silver. Never really started to get fluid and when it finally did, I ended up alloying the solder with the sterling band and melted the band right out of it. Im using an easy silver solder because I figured that the lower the temperature, the better to avoid the exact problem I am having. Thankfuly I didnt end up cleaning the ring very well, so I was able to just pop out the melted mess inside, but I am not sure what I am doing wrong with the solder. Sense says I was too hot, but it wouldnt wick at the lower temperatures. Am I missing something?

At least the military grade 4340 is usable for something. I recently worked as a process engineer casting air and ground based turbines and we used quite a bit of IN718. I had a few sections of an airfoil lying around and managed to make 2 really decent dive knives. An 11 lb cylinder though... I managed to pick up a "pile" of old metal from my current work place and scattered in the bits of steel was a 5/8" rod of F-75 cobalt super alloy and a 4" x 18" block of 17-4. Same boat as you: Really cool, cant figure out what I am going to use it for.

I used to go winter camping quite a bit, and got started making tomahawks around the same time. Brought my first one out with me and promptly chipped the edge later that evening. It was about 0 F out as I recall. It wasn't known steel, and my heat treating wasn't as good as it is today, but the image of my pride and joy ( at that time) chipped to XXXX stuck with me Since then I make my winter axes out of 4140. They don't hold an edge as well, but I have no complains taking it to a stone a bit more instead of trying to grind a chip out. Just my two cents.

So, quick update. I still haven't gotten a new regulator yet, but I did try and fire up the old one to do some mokume gane. I had no issues with it what so ever running at 10 psi for a few hours. In a week or so, I will.see if the news regulator makes any difference

Thanks guys. I will look into getting some paste and seeing about either replacing or repairing the regulator. Frosty, I knew that propane was pretty reactive (took quite a few chemistry courses in school), but I didnt even consider that it didnt party well with the teflon tape. One of those things that makes sense in hindsight. If it works, great, if not, I might be back Either way, thanks again!

So, just to be sure, i replaced the teflon tape on all my fittings and made sure once again that my line was clear of debris (turns out I had a small leak right out of the regulator). Fired the forge up, set it to 10 PSI and in about half an hour I was down to 5 PSI, and sputtering about a 20 minutes after that. I did not mention though previously, but I am unable to turn the regulator's pressure up after it has gone down and by closing and opening the ball valve doesnt consistently return me to the pressure it was before I closed it in the first place. For example, if it was set at 12 and I closed/opened the valve it might go to 10 next, then I do it again and it might go back to 12. Once again, thanks for the help, guys.

Frosty, Yes I am using a propane rated hose. It is actually the same hose I have had for years. Didnt think there could be something wrong with it, I would say it was the least banged around out of most of my gear. As far as sealant goes, I have teflon tape on everything - even the threads from the tank to the regulator. It has been pretty humid lately. Recently, Kentucky got a nice foot of snow (A lot for them, I just moved here and it isnt that much for me), and with that melting, and the rain we have had, It is a bit sticky out. I honestly couldnt be able to tell you what the humidity was when I have had this problem in the past. I haven't fired up the forge since Monday, given that I have been trying to finish up a few pieces and that involves a lot of one on one time with my grinder. Since I have cleared the lines, and taken the thing apart to check it, I think we need another test. I will report sometime this evening if I notice anything else, or if the problem has resolved itself. Thanks for the help.

Ok, So, there doesnt seem to be any blockages within the hose or the jet. The regulator is cool, but not cold during operation, and I dont really think the tank is cooling. Its about the same temp as it is in my garage, about 60 degrees F. Something I did notice though, is that when I took the line off the regulator, turned on the gas and opened the ball valve on the other side, the regulator dropped to zero. Is that how that is supposed to work? I thought the regulator regulated the outgoing pressure and that it shouldnt matter whether I have a line hooked up to it or not, if it is set to 15 PSI, it should stay at PSI whether the ball valve is open or closed.

When I get home, I will give it a shot. Thanks.

A bit of background: Back in October/November I made the switch from forced air to NA. My previous burner was a fuster-cluck that had been hacked and welded and recreated a few times as I switched forges/air sources. That being said though, I was able to achieve welding heat with about 2 PSI coming from the regulator, and my 30lb tank had no problem with that. The issue I had with the forced air was that I needed power wherever I went. Although not frequent, I do occasionally take my forge places and try and get people interested, and needing an extension cord had gotten a bit tiring. Fast forward a bit. I installed my new T-Rex burner. Everything seemed to be going fine, but I noticed that after a few hours, the output pressure began slowly dropping, and I was unable to actually maintain pressure for any decent amount of time. Given that I was now running at 10 PSI, I figured that I was pulling too fast out of a used tank (It was starting to frost a bit). Filled the tank, had the same problem. Given that the regulator had been bashed around a lot, I figured it was time to retire it and bought a new one. New gauge, new regulator and I was still having the same problem with a completely full (and not frosted) tank. Went out and got a 100lb tank just to see if that was really the issue (I was just using this as an excuse to buy one), and for a while, didnt seem to have a problem. After a few weeks of use, the issue came back again so I figured that the tank was running on empty. I went out, got it filled and still have the same problem. When I start off, I have no problem setting it to 15 PSI for forge welding (even with 3" high-temp blanket and a sealant I cant manage to get it lower than that and still get to 2100+) but after about an hour or so I begin dropping and it isnt long after that I am below 10 PSI. I have my regulator plugged right into the tank and a ball valve just off the regulator. From there it goes right to the burner. I am thinking that the regulator might be bad, but it is pretty new. I have a lot of experience dealing with forced air burners, but am pretty new to NA ones, but i doubt that the burner is the issue. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Dan

This happens on every single one of my axes, save the last two: the two where I had a striker. That leads me to think that it is caused by my own negligence in hammering one side more than another, and by not making my hammer blows square enough. You have my sympathy :)

I actually got into blacksmithing because I watched a history channel special about swords. I was that kid at the age of eleven, sketching fantasy blades and watching Lord of the Rings and going into my backyard ruining all my dad's tools by putting them in a bonfire and hammering on them. I was a fanboy, and wanted every single sword in the Buck catalog. It didn't start as a passion, it evolved into one. I have been doing it for going on a decade and a half, and I love it more with each hammer swing. That being said, if I had been responded to the way some are on these forums I don't think I would have stuck with it. Not at the age of eleven. I have a habit of being an elitist at times (like whenever someone tries to make a railroad spike knife and sell it for a couple hundred bucks) but I really try to guide more than correct. Keeping people interested is about nurturing that initial interest, not scolding them.

I have made several axes out of 4140, but you have to understand the limitations of the steel. It can theoretically get to mid-50 RHC, and I pretty much temper it at 375 just to stress relieve. I used it because I had it. If I had had 5160, or 1050, I would have used that first. I used to go winter camping allot more than I do now, and frequently chipped knives and axes chopping though frozen wood. That's where I used my 4140 axe. It's tough as hell, and easy to sharpen in the field.

Actually, it isn't. I got a boat load of it from my last job and made a "knife" out of it. The links are way to soft and it was a pain in the rear end to forge weld because most of those links are coated. If I were to do it again, I would do a san mai with it with a high carbon center.