thingmaker3

You know it when you try to pull it apart forcefully and it stays together. Anything else is just guessing.

The "authentic" aged look requires more fly ash & grease in the area where the grubby paw goes & more of a "clean" aged look up near the head & down near the end. Add a burn mark or two to please the connoisseurs. Don't forget to ding up the side of the head as well! :D

Sad to say, but in Oregon they want you to pull a permit for ANY 110V or bigger wiring. Even if you're just moving or adding a single outlet or lamp.

Clay won't keep the heat off the S-7 any more than it keeps heat off tamahagane. The clay impedes cooling. I doubt it will impede cooling enough on S-7. Unless it takes more than 75 seconds to get down to 500F, you miss the bainite nose. I would use the kiln to anneal, and I would HT by heating only one end. (Actually, that's not true. I would harden & temper the whole thing. Temper at 1-1.1 KF and the RC is only 47-51 with darn good impact resistance. And real good resistance to temper drawing.)

The anvil horn is traditionally pointed at a rubber chicken? :blink:

My wife and I have been researching this heavily the past two years. Most counties in Oregon do not require any structural permit for an "agricultural building." If the strucutre is not intended to be "in support of the house" (like a garage or woodshop) then no structural permit is needed. In most counties, that is. 12 volt wiring does not require a permit in Oregon, in many cases. Many portable inverters run on 12 volts. Just sayin...

I apologize for being ambiguous. As Mr. Turley noted, for a full anneal the S-7 has to cool at a much much slower rate than low-alloy or plain carbon-steel. If you know anyone with a little kiln, they will be able to help you with annealing.

You're going to forge-weld the stuff, right? No worries about micro-cracks if you can weld up macro-voids. You're going to be heating over and over, yes? Crystal structure changes by heating & cooling. New grains nucleate every time you heat up. Fatigue? Erased by what you are going to do. Mind you, I would NOT use the cable for rigging anymore.

That's a good plan for low-alloy and plain-carbon steels. The transition point of simple steels is very close to the non-magnetic "Curie point." S-7 is a high alloy steel, with the Curie point not near the transition temperature. One needs another method of judging temperature - a tempil stick or a thermocouple or some such. S-7 is not likely to anneal in vermiculite, as will low-alloy and plain-carbon steels.

The horn has to point NORTH. :lol:

Overmodulated, Be sure to clean and abrade your surfaces regardless of which glue you choose. No matter how much you pay for it, the glue won't stick as well to smooth or dirty surfaces.

The main ingredient is indeed kerosene. I looked up the MSDS. Then I looked up some of the CAS numbers listed. http://www.wd40.com/files/pdf/msds-wd494716385.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcsneng/neng1379.html I can't help but wonder if the "proprietery surfactant" has something to do with the MS's success with fluxing. I don't "hate" farriers. I just don't want to be one. A few bad apples have given them a reputation of being sour-pusses. :P

Type "Brian Brazeal" into the YouTube search box. If you don't learn something from watching Brian, you're watching with your eyes closed. B)

Believe it or don't: you can safely quench your 4130 at 575F without hardening it - IF you cool it slowly enough. Put it in ash or vermiculite or something for five minutes or so.

Hi temp RTV silicon will have (at most) 1/9 the strenght of epoxy. If you want impact resistance, go with a rifle bedding compound or one of the many impact resistant epoxy products. Or just use rivits.

To xxxx with cats. Cats remind me of... cats. Get a Terrier. They don't eat birds, they do kill rodents, and they're DOGS.

To get a UL listing costs a lot of money. They need to test the product to destruction a few times under very controlled circumstances. Are you sure the customer doesn't simply want UL listed sockets & cords? http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/perspectives/manufacturer/prepareforulevaluation/

Worth keeping? Depends. Is $17 to $23 worth keeping? Know any black powder afficionados you can barter with? Fishermen? Plumbers?

I wasn't aware a condiut bender would accomodate 180s. The shoes only go a little over 90, don't they?

One should, of course, strive to breathe fresh air and only fresh air. Smoking cigarettes is vastly more damaging to the health than working at a coal forge. Depending on exposure levels, second-hand smoke can be more dangerous than working at a coal forge. I usually wear an N-95 mask at the coal forge. I've read nicotine is more addictive than heroine. I gave up smoking six times. The sixth was in 1992 & I could start again now if I didn't want to loose my wife.

If you buy rivets, shop carefully. If material is not specified, the rivet is probably aluminum.

Tempering doesn't leave tempering lines. Differential hardening leaves temper lines. One of the many incongruities of the English language as mutated by marketing mahem. :blink:

Of curiosity, does anybody know how much an average smith's arm weighs?

Not in this neck of the woods. Oh, sure, you'ld be low bid. Good luck making ends meet, though. Other places you might be too high. Got to know the rates in the LOCAL economy.