HWooldridge

If he's in business to buy and sell scrap, he ought at least be open to conversation. Maybe try some skillful maneuvering and ask about a couple of other things you really don't want. In other words, inquire about the old forklift and the barrel full of gears. After you strike up a conversation, casually slide in the question about the table. BTW, him being cold may be one of the following: He really is worried about liability. He only deals with larger customers and sees an individual as a nuisance. He may have dismissed you as a tire kicker if you never buy anything. He really is unfriendly and you'll just have to work around it to get anything done.

Most are designed to hold pressure so air will always be available on demand. Mine stays plugged in and on all the time - it will occasionally run during the day or night, even when not in use. It shouldn't run away and burn up unless something is wrong - as 'frogvalley' said, it's inefficient to empty and drain it every day unless you are only using it once or twice a year.

Ralph, I think it depends on whether it's hardened. The tool shop I referenced working in had a wide assortment of #8 hardened bolts. We occasionally had to turn a head down a bit to fit in odd-sized counter sunk holes in mold plates. We'd chuck them in the lathe and take off whatever was necessary but high speed steel would not cut them consistently - only carbide. Sometimes, the HS bit would cut part way, then go dull or start squealing. I think something that hard would wreck most chisels.

Osage orange (bois d'arc) is also 'hard as a whore's heart' and tough. The native Americans made bows and war clubs from it - would make a good mallet.

Sounds like he just wanted to fight - I probably would have smacked him and gotten hauled off - I applaud your restraint. BTW, I worked around a tool and die shop for a long time. We cut Grade 8 bolts with carbide - not high speed steel so a good chisel would still not work on a hard bolt.

You're right that most blowers do need some static pressure to work properly. Squirrel cages are designed to move air at relatively low pressures but high velocity - hence their use in HVAC and other air moving apps. Centrifugal blowers typically move air at lower overall cfm but higher pressure - which is why coal forges work better with old "paddle" fans. (In other words, a 400 cfm hand cranked centrifugal blower will always push air thru a coke pile better than a 400 cfm electric squirrel cage). You could mount a piece of 3 inch pipe under the forge door after milling a 1/4" wide slot across the door width. That coupled with some 3" flex pipe to your big blower should make quite an air curtain.

Actually, we can work this out with our friend "Mathematics". The coefficient of thermal expansion for plain steel is .00000075 in/deg F so we can prove Jr's 1/8" is pretty close for a 48 inch diameter buggy wheel. Looks like this: Circumference of a 48" wheel is 150.8". Taking it to 1000 degrees (a good black heat) times 150.8 times our CoET = .1131 - so...an 1/8" is a dang good shop number for that type of repair. However, a 6 inch diameter mallet band will only grow .014 under the same parameters. Therefore, I think the suggestion of banding with an arrangement that can be tightened later is a sound one...

A twist on the Nigerian scam. I saw a really scary one the other day. Got a note from Ebay Inc. saying I needed to update my credit card info. Of course, I do business with EBAY but not with Ebay Inc. so this was a scam. I am also surprised that the real EBAY hasn't gone after them.

Outstanding idea! I think it works because the wire doesn't weld itself to the end but has a place to break away.

If all you are looking for is an air curtain to get rid of dragon's breath, a cheap squirrel cage should work fine. Check out WW Grainger for a complete line of small blowers.

Some time back, I was fortunate enough to acquire a factory Buffalo forge that came off a local Air Force base in almost new condition. The AF apparently ordered several during WW2 and used them infrequently. I was therefore able to see what one looked like from the factory - complete with electric blower, rheostat, air gate and half hood. This has been my daily user for about twenty years and has the classic 12x14 Buffalo pot with large square clinker breaker. The fire pot rested on the lower set of lips so the upper lips on the long sides were about an inch or so above the stamped steel hearth. For a long time, I used this setup with no refractory liner and just piled up wet coal on the sides of the fire. I can't say when it happened, but at some point, both long side lips cracked midway and the cracks ran to the edge of the pot and stopped. I do not know if this happened because the pot simply got too hot in use or from too much water. However, both cracks were in similar places on opposite sides of the pot so I think excessive heat was the culprit. After I discovered this damage, and wanting to save the pot, I lined the entire hearth with a mix of lime, sand, mortar and fire clay to the height of the upper lips. I raked the dry material flush with the lips and then graded a bit of rise toward the edges of the hearth so the coal would move downhill naturally toward the fire. The mix was put in dry and then sprinkled with water, which made it set hard in a couple of days. I have been using this now for some years with no further damage. The only real concern I have is that the steel hearth will eventually rust out from trapped moisture under the clay but I'll worry about that if and when it happens.

Like the announcer on Bullwinkle used to say, "Why the first table was not flat" - or - "how not to build a table..." (That may make sense to some of you old folks) After first learning to stick weld some years ago, I decided I needed a table. I bought some 2 inch square tubing and a 4x8 piece of 1/4" smooth plate. I put the plate on sawhorses and clamped the square tubing to the underside so it would be easy to weld. However, I did not notice that the plate sagged around the outside edge so welding all the supports and legs to the table kept the bow in place. When I turned the table over, it had a 1/4" sag in the middle. I now use it to support my chop saw... At a previous place of employment, we built a big table to support molds, the biggest of which went over 25,000 pounds. The table top was 4x8x1" and rested on 4" square tubing legs but they were cut short so the molds were at a comfortable work height. The legs and box frame were built first and the plate laid on top and tacked. It was quite flat and easy to scoot molds around on the surface. Due to the planned work load, we put eight legs in the box frame instead of four and had no trouble with sagging.

Ed, My first layout table was like that. I still have it and work around the depression in the middle but it's not right. If I was going to make another, I'd build the legs and frame first and make sure that the thing was square, plumb and flat. Then, I'd put a piece of 1/4" on it, which is heavy enough to support a good sized piece of work but flimsy enough to lay flat on the framework. Tack it all around and you'd have a pretty flat table top. If you want it FLAT then have it Blanchard ground. However, t'will be pricey - I'll wager... I have a big mold plate that I scrounged years ago, which is 36"x36"x2" and has been surface ground so it is almost as flat as a granite surface plate but it's not big enough to do really large work.

I think there was something else dramatically out of whack on this hammer besides being too loose. That is a really weird wear pattern - I'd be surprised if it hadn't made a whole bunch of bad noise when it was running. As Clifton Ralph said, one needs normal common sense to work in a blacksmith shop. Tactfully put, I should think this owner was not paying attention... :oops:

WD40 is the best - in my opinion.

Beeswax is more flexible than paraffin so you may get some flaking with the latter choice - but no reason not to try it. Grafting or tree wax is a pretty good substitute for pitch and will mix well with other stiffeners.

I would like to eventually get a 250-300 or thereabouts but I really don't need it - my 100 does everything I need - but I'll bet Ed's 150 does it a bit faster...LOL

There are of course, different size machines, but wire EDM is the best choice for this project. Broaching would be something for production - not a one-off job. Wire EDM is infinite in what it will cut so long as the piece will fit between the guides. However, the first thing the shop must do is get a small hole all the way thru so the wire can be threaded. A big "hole popper" EDM could do it but it would probably be better/faster to drill a 3/8 or so hole all the way thru the block and wire the rest out. Your buddy might be able to do that ahead of time. The 60mm response may either be the distance between their wire guides - or - how deep their hole machine will go.

I was given some power plant coal and it was useless. Burned up quickly, didn't coke and would not get above a red color. The guy who gave it to me worked at the plant and said they crushed then injected it into their big burners. It flashed then dropped the clinker and ash thru the turbines to be reclaimed as road fill. (I recall the stuff I got was 10-11,000 BTU and still wasn't worth beans...)

I started with a 25 LG and then was fortunate enough to get a 100 lb Beaudry. I ran both for a while but eventually traded off the LG and kept the bigger one. The two machines needed rebuilding when purchased but I got both running well. I have forged on a lot of mechanical hammers up to 250 lbs and only a few pneumatics but they were large. IMHO, the 100 lb is a good all-round size for the average one-man shop - big enough to do some work but small enough to run economically. However, that's just one man's opinion... :wink: A power hammer is not required for all work but sure is nice to have when you need one.

We have horses and cattle so we have flies. I buy those commercial fly bags that you put an attractant in and then fill with water. The flies go to it and crawl in but usually can't find their way out because the top is black. They die and it starts to stink so more are attracted. I had one earlier in this season with a good 4-5 pounds of dead flies in it and absolutely the worst smell I have ever experienced - definitely calls up the gag reflex. I could not bear to throw that nasty thing in the trash so I shot it with a 22 and blew it apart then let the sun dry out the mess. The Hispanics around here hang up sealed bags of holy water to keep away evil spirits so maybe that's why the flies leave... :wink:

Don't worry about trying to harden anything, it will create more problems than it might solve. The old vises were often completely wrought iron and so were not hard. Just grease the screw liberally and the whole box assembly should last many years. Silver will melt at a lower temp so will be easier to control and heating from the outside with a burner won't hurt the screw box. Your idea of drilling and plug welding would also work. I have also seen babbitt used for the box threads. The male thread form is coated with some sort of release agent (oil, grease, etc.) and centered in the box, which is then heated. The babbitt is poured and allowed to cool, then the screw is removed. The lead will shrink enough to allow a good working tolerance and a long length of lead provides plenty of strength. The only possible problem is if the lead core spins in the box so some folks run in a couple of machine screws to help with possible stripping. However, from a practical standpoint, the inside of the box is often rough enough to keep the lead in place. If I were rebuilding a vise, I would probably go this route rather than try to locate and fasten a separate screw form inside the box - just my $.02...

Babbitt bearings need continual lubrication. I have seen older bearings with and without wicks but most of the older information I have read indicates that the wick is needed to help retain oil and prevent lube starvation. The bottom reservoir is a splash reservoir that can be drained when necessary. I put cotton wicks in all my babbitt bearings then slop on the oil. It helps with continual lubrication and also keeps the bearing clean in a dirty old blacksmith shop... :)

Hobart used to make a good engine driven rig - a buddy of mine has one that's about 7-8 years old and it never gives him a lick of trouble in everyday use. On the other hand, I have heard more than a few bad things about all the major brands of newer machines that have solid state electronics - trouble galore on circuit boards in dusty environments. My newest machine is 12 years old (Miller Synchrowave 250) and my ancient Miller 150 MIG is over 20 years old. Both have old-style relay technology and work fine in my dirty shop. I personally would not buy any off-brand welder - Miller, Lincoln, Hobart and ESAB all stand behind their products so you will always get service in the event you do have a problem.

Softer steel won't perform well. I make flint steels from files and harden without tempering. I then polish the striking surface to about 100-150 grit finish and this sparks pretty good on our old Texas chert. Slightly OT - on one occasion, I was mowing the pasture and hitting rocks every once in a while. It was an extremely dry and hot summer so sure enough, I made a pass and came around to find a pretty good fire going. The shredder blade had busted a rock and thrown sparks - which had landed on just the right combo of tinder. If I had not found it, the whole countryside would have gone up in smoke. Mower blades are not extremely hard but they have enough to make sparks.