Backhertz

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My blacksmithing experience is limited. Retired & needed a hobby. Wanted to be a woodworker until started learning what makes for a good cutting tool. Got interested in steel & forgot about wood. Been very fortunate in spending time with others whom some of you may have heard of. They’ve been doing what they do for a very long time. Louie Mills, aka Yasutomo, is a traditional Japanese smith. He lives on a farm in Michigan. Louie has plenty of trees, so he makes his own charcoal & also makes his own simple carbon steel. Spent 9 days with him in 2013 doing his thing using a fuigo with his right arm while stoking the coal with his left. Unlike most, Louie doesn’t own or use a belt grinder, but a sen followed by files and sandpaper. Al Pendray & Ric Furrer make what’s known as wootz- a crucible steel. Al can do things like tell the temp of steel in the daylight by looking at it- something his farrier father taught him while most people do it in the dark. Ric is known for the Viking sword featured on a Nova special. Al uses gas & Ric uses coke for making wootz. Ric also uses a propane in his shop, as does Howard Clark. I’ve taken several classes with them both. These guys can do things with steel using a power hammer that amaze me. In March, spent time with Daryl Meier. He showed me what looked like a brick with a lot of holes in it & then turned his forge on. I planned to make a venturi burner until I saw Daryl’s setup. It’s my understanding that glass makers use ribbon burners as well. Come to the conclusion there is no one right way to work with steel, but up to the smith to go with what they know & use what they have. Money is a driving factor which is a reason Louie makes his own charcoal and steel. No one told me this what I need to do this or there is only one way to that. I’m a graduate of the Whatever It Takes school. Making the ribbon burner was easy- even for me with no welding experience. Made a few errors like forgetting to remove the paper off the crayons, nothing show stopping. After watching Wayne’s video the first time, had planned to make a 10” burner until I bought a used propane tank & held the 10” square tube up to the tank. Realized, back to the drawing board. Watched Wayne’s video again & reread John Emmerling’s paper which kept me on point. Yesterday, learned the central vac motor (Lamb 117507) that blew the water out of my homemade manometer tubes actually produces 134.1” water column pressure. Holy skata, Batman. Wasn’t sure if my bounce house blower had all the pressure needed at 7.5” WC, so I gave it a try. The output tube fits perfectly inside a 2” PVC pipe. Does it have pressure? OMG, it has pressure. Took a little adjusting to get the ball valve set, but got it going. Had the interior of the forge glowing red in no time with only .5 to< 1 psi of propane. Still learning. Noticed not all the holes of the burner have blue flames- several had no flame. The flames were about an inch or so from the burner holes. Some had crayon paper in them still which the powerful motor blew out. Will check for other blockages. Used 5/16” holes for the baffle. Perhaps that was too large. That’s easily modified. Can use either the bounce house or the central vac blower/motor. Looked at the Pine Ridge burners & noted the holes in their ribbon burners appear to be smaller in diameter & there’s lots more of them. Must be a reason, yes? Noted at the store yesterday some birthday candles are like crayons- not tapered or spiraled and no paper. Just looking at differences that might improve the next one- if there ever is a next one. BTW, Walmart brand crayons were only 47 cents a box compared to Crayola. Still need to learn how to make a reducing atmosphere. Heated up some rebar for making tongs & noted forging scale on it. Comments? Anybody in NJ- near NJT Exit 5?

Great pics & nice shop, Frosty. Thanks Wayne for the video sharing John Emmerling’s PDF & your web site. Also used Chris Price’s You Tube video on building a forge. The collective wisdom of this forum is priceless as is the help others have willingly provided. First time I ever welded or used a MIG welder- learned from You Tube videos. Secured the main blower to the stand last night & tuned the gas/air. A brass orifice drilled to 1/16” in the reducing elbow seems to be more than adequate. It came with the Bayou Classic regulator for their Bayou cooker. Used a 2” reducing elbow tee from Fastenal. Was supposed to be a 2" x 1/2” x 2” standard reducing tee (466128) but Fastenal sent a reducing elbow which I think is better. I imagine it’s 6 of one, half a dozen of another. Waiting on electrical parts- a pressure switch & a gas solenoid. Using 12 volts DC rather than 115 volt AC. Last night a piece of rebar heated up in less than a couple minutes- so did the brick... Think I need an additional blower.

First attempt of building a forge. Was going to make a simple venturi burner until I saw a ribbon burner back in March used by someone much smarter than me. Except for the ease of constructing a venturi burner, don’t understand the reason ribbon burners are not more popular. These burners look to be more efficient & have a reducing atmosphere- a couple of really good things in my humble opinion. The burner was relatively easy to make from a 3” square tube 3/16” thick. It's almost 7” long with a 5 1/2” cut out in the bottom. I have no idea what peanut butter consistency is with Mizzou as it is nothing like peanut butter unless it’s the nutty kind. Surprisingly, it came out. Rapping the form to dislodge air resulted in no air bubbles, but dislodged a few crayons- no big deal. Used two 1” layers of insulation in the 20# propane tank. The tank is gets very warm- see also hot. Perhaps thicker insulation should be used, or more refractory? Made a large square opening on the front of the tank & a smaller on the back. Should the front and back be the same size? Having a good blower seems to be essential, but they’re expensive. A bounce house blower was recommended when I asked where I might locate a reasonable cost blower. I scored a used one off Amazon for $50. My homemade manometer (two 24” tubes with about a quart of water) measured 7.5” of water column. Don’t try testing a central vac motor pressure in your kitchen. I did & learned it produces much more than 48” of water column- all the water immediately blew out of the tubes & ended up on the ceiling in about the time it took for me to look up.... Only have a single 1/16” gas hole in brass fitting in the 2” elbow seen in pic 2508. Wondering if three 1/16” holes should be used? My burner baffle has 5/16” holes. Am open to any suggestions. If anyone has links to what a good ribbon burner fire should look like, feel free to share- thanks in advance. Burner inserted in forge prior to insulating. Using .5 psi gas below.

I recently used electrolysis to clean up a very rusted & painted anvil. Layers of paint & rust fell off after several days. I can now see the stampings on the side. Most of the letters on the top are worn off; however, I can see NTED. Below that looks to be an image of blacksmith hammer with a hand. Under that are the numbers 138- I believe that is the weight. I’ve attached pics. Thanks in advance for any help.