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I Forge Iron

Gazz

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Everything posted by Gazz

  1. I bought one of those Delta bandsaws a few years ago for $50, priced that way because it did not work. Got it back to my shop with the enthusiasm to fix it, took the blade covers off and found that the blade had come off the wheels - that's why it didn't work! Mine has a lever to shift from high speed to slow speed for metal cutting. I wish changing the blades was that easy.
  2. I once shot a compressed gas cylinder with a 30-06 AP round. While visiting in my home town I had spotted a small pile of cylinders on the side of the road and guessed they were left there by some road crew. A few years later on another visit, they were still there so I brought them home. I didn't know what gas was in them as any labels were gone. I tried to trade them to the local compressed gas place who said they would take them but offered nothing in return. So I took one that was missing its knob to the local sand pit and stood it up and from about 75 yards away, I shot it. It did not explode or go flying off into space as they do in the movies but just made a loud and short lived hiss as it fell over. The bullet penetrated one side and lodged in the other with just the point of the bullet poking through to the outside. I made a bell out of the top half and used the bottom piece in some sculpture thing. I do not recommend doing this however as it may have been another tragic story if the gas was flammable.
  3. I think most of these cutting disc failures and accidents are because of using the wrong tool for the job at hand. These machines are called angle grinders because that is what they are for - they are not cut off saws. Yes, they can be used for cut off applications but are not the right tool especially when the stock gets bigger. If you drop your grinder and damage a disc, toss that disc. Flying pieces do hurt and less than perfect condition disc will be tiring to use because of added vibration. Get yourself a oxy/acetylene torch with a cutting handpiece if you want or need to cut bigger stuff and use the grinder to clean up the slag. It is much faster as well. Cut off saws, whether abrasive or bandsaw are good for one thing, cut off. The torch will be quite useful for other stuff as well. The O/A torch can be used for heating and bending, setting rivets, applying finishes, loosening rusty fasteners and can even be used as a heat source for a small hotbox type forge made of fire brick. I understand that budgets require many to work with what they have but if you intend to grow with the craft, the torch is indispensable.
  4. Kiddcaprix - it looks similar to a vise on an older power hack saw. I have one from an old saw and while different, it's function looks like it would accomplish the same thing.
  5. I'd like to see one of those cut and polished. What is the slag from?
  6. Serious on the wagon tire prices!? I just bought a few wrought iron ones for $4 each. I may go back to see if he has any left!
  7. Years ago, I had a Sears credit card. I had just set up shop and was tooling up and thought it would be good to have a Sears catalog in the shop so I went to the local Sears on Monroe Ave and headed to the service counter asking them for a catalog. No, you can't have a catalog even though there was a stack of them behind the counter. I explained that I wanted one for my shop so that I could order stuff at the moment I knew I needed something. No, you have to buy something from the catalog to get a catalog. Okay, please give me a catalog? No. I cut up my credit card and gave it to the woman. Years later I was helping a friend work on his windmill mast at his house and was using a Craftsman grinder which quit. I took it to the Sears repair center and they would not fix it because I had used it in an "industrial manner" and not on a home owner project. Sears was no longer the valued retailer of my dads generation.
  8. We never had that problem I guess. The coal was bituminous and it was delivered several tons at a time as we burned it at a steady pace. Maybe faster then it would break down or perhaps enough of the larger pieces remained that it didn't make a difference.
  9. Curious as to why you want to go to the trouble to keep your coal dry. The shop I worked in just had a pile out back and we would bring it in by the wheelbarrow full, wet from rain or snow, no matter. We used old motor oil soaked newspaper to start it and I never noticed a difference in the fire on dry or wet days. It is basically a rock after all. I could understand keeping coke dry as that may be a bit porous and would soak up some water.
  10. Most gas places will simply exchange customer owned gas bottle for full ones at least the one I deal with will although originally they wanted me to show proof that I owned them. I bought bottles in 1970 and moved in the mid 80's. The gas supplier in my new location would not honor my hand written receipt (because it was hand written!). I had to rent bottles (they would not sell any) but I would still take my personal bottles back to NY to get filled. The owner has now passed and they will exchange other bottles that I have bought at yard sales and such without receipts. I will not take my NY purchased bottles there however and still take them to NY for refills when I visit.
  11. I must have close to a hundred picks without handles and never paid more than a dollar for any of them.
  12. Still interested to hear thoughts on whether I should line the pot wit refractory.
  13. I had planned for that and did get some flat stock to make a fence around the perimeter but haven't got to that yet.
  14. Here is my project. The flat area will be covered with 1.25" thick fire brick. The hood will be removable and have hinged sides to help create better draft through the chimney.
  15. Sorry I haven't been able to get pictures posted - I've been busy with truck repair and getting my small vegetable garden ready so the forge work got set aside. I do have a bag of castable refractory that I used when I made the floor for my gas forge. I also have a friend who owns a pottery studio so stuff like fire clay and grog are easy to get from her. I do intend to put 1.25" thick fire brick around the fire pot mostly to bring the level up close to the edge of the fire pot. Pictures will explain it all and I'll take some tomorrow.
  16. I have a large fire pot and an angle iron frame with steel plate top. I cut a hole in the plate to set the fire pot into and will be using a steel wheel barrow tub for the hood. My question is, should I line the fire pot with refractory cement? Years ago in a shop I worked in, the firepot there was lined with refractory but that forge burned 10 hours a day heating stock up to 3" in diameter. I'm not going to work it that hard. What do you folks think?
  17. Weld spatter can be removed with a cold chisel easy enough. A cup wire wheel on an angle grinder will work for the rest of it, that is depending on what kind of clean up you are looking for. If you want a smooth finish with minimal hammer marks, refine your parts before you weld them together. Do you have an angle grinder? If not you should buy one. You can also immerse your piece in a dilute solution of muriatic acid and turn it an even gray but you should neutralize it in baking soda solution when done. Then warm with a torch and use a rag with linseed oil to get a nice tough black finish. It should be hot enough that your rag is smoking when you apply the oil.
  18. This past month I have made several trips to shop at a retired smiths shop. I've come home with a tire bender, a Buffalo 14 silent 200 blower, a very large Parker 274 vise, a hand powered worm drive winch, a cross pein hammer, scrolling tongs, bar stock, sheet stock, a number of wagon wheel tires (all wrought), some buggy springs and a large iron ball - maybe 9" in diameter that rests in a slightly smaller hole in an 1.5" thick plate as well as bunches of small bits. He had a total of five power hammers but sold all but one before I got there, the remaining one being a Fairbanks 125 pound hammer - expensive and a serious moving task that I am not prepared for at my age. A fun place to poke around and an interesting guy. I will be going back.
  19. Yes, be careful with the wire wheel. Years ago I used on to remove paint from a metal cabinet. As worked, I could feel the wires coming off and hitting me, mostly in the legs. Tough it out I thought, just a little pain. Later that night when getting undressed I found that pants would not come off easily, they were pinned to my legs! One of the wires was deep under the skin on my shin and was there for years until it finally dissolved. I have found the cup type wire wheels a little friendlier to use. With either, protect your eyes!
  20. My small town has a transfer station that serves another town as well. The pile of scrap metal gets quite large but we are not allowed to take anything! I find this annoying as right next to the pile are some tables that are there for the purpose of put and take - you can take stuff if it is left there but not from the metal pile! While I rarely throw anything in that pile I do check it out to see what I'm missing and several years ago, I saw a Haybudden anvil in the pile that was in very nice shape. I knew I couldn't take it but thought maybe a bribe would work so I offered the dump guy $50 for it - no way he said, if I did it for you I would have to do it for everybody. Later that day as it became dusk and the dump was now closed, I returned and bushwhacked my way through the backside of the property. There was an ancient stone lined gutter hidden in the undergrowth that I found with my shin and I left a few square inches of skin behind. I persevered though and made it to the anvil. Sitting in the pile next to it was a wheelchair so I loaded the patient on and off I went avoiding the stone lined gutter but not the poison ivy which I could not see in the darkness. I had my yearly physical a week or so later and my doctor got a good chuckle over my scabs and blisters. In a fit of financial desperation some time later, I sold the anvil for much less than I should have. Since the covid thing, my local scrap yard no longer allows picking either - it was my favorite place to shop!
  21. Gazz

    Show me your Lathe

    Apache, curious about your cannon boring set up. Do you feed the cutter through the headstock perhaps driven like a drill press spindle? It looks like the barrel is rigidly mounted. I have a tube that has a heavily rusted bore and I'd like to line but will need to open the bore up a bit and that or similar set up may work for me as well.
  22. Nice lathe. Is it a real M60?
  23. I think it would be to soft and easy to bend.
  24. I clean stones in an ultrasonic cleaner with a detergent like simple green or mr. clean but they must be suspended so they don't abrade themselves through the side of the tank. WD40 leaves behind a gummy residue and will clog the pores in the stones. I recently repaired two firearms that were locked up solid and no part would move. The oldtimer who owned them told me he would always douse them with wd40 after he used them. Also stones that have developed a belly to them from use can be made flat again using a coarse grit 80/120 wet dry abrasive paper wetted to a flat piece of glass or stone which will also clean them.
  25. Diamonds and a few other precious stones can withstand the heat, just don't quench! For what you want to do, consider the wire wrap method as previously mentioned or bezel set. In these cases, copper, brass or silver are your friend. If you are intent on using wrought steel, don't plan on hammering your stone holding elements into place but use steady pressure like from a c-clamp or press. Be aware that spring back may be an issue.
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