HWooldridge

Normally, I do not wear a glove on either hand but I have heavy cotton mill gloves for special circumstances when a holding hand would be burned from radiant heat. Leather can shrink on your hand and badly burn the skin. ~I might also add that the skin on my hands is absolutely wrecked by all sorts of UV. I work outside a lot (in South Texas), sometimes weld and of course, do blacksmithing - but rarely wear any sort of skin protection (yeah, I know about skin cancer but I also thought I was ten feet tall and bullet proof when I was 20). I am now 50 and don't have damaged skin anywhere else but the backs of my hands look like they belong to an 90 year old chronic sunbather. So coming from someone who should have known better, I'd recommend that anyone who exposes themselves to UV should wear long sleeves and light gloves.~

1. H13 is the best material for hot work that is easily obtainable. I use it exclusively for hot chisels and punches. 2. Thin - I have a 2" wide chisel that will cut about 1-1/2" deep and it tapers from 3/16" near the chisel body down to the edge, which is about 1/32". 3. Dead sharp will usually roll so I leave about 1/32".

They are oil zerks. You can take a standard grease gun and convert it to pump oil. The plans are on a machining website but the "executive summary" is that you take out the spring plunger and seal the rear half so it doesn't leak, then fill the gun with way oil and hold it 'port down' so the oil is carried to the valve by gravity. Working the handle will pump oil to the fitting. DO NOT use grease on a zerk on a mill or lathe unless the owners manual says to put it in that location.

I think he may be worried about rechucking the part and having a mismatch. I would decide how it could be placed on a mandrel or special faceplate so all the turning could be done between centers without moving the work.

A 30-50 ton hydraulic press will do it cold - and a small fly press will work if the stock is hot.

I work across the forge at right angles to the side draft but much of my work is comprised of long bars and often having to take a heat in the middle of one. Anyone working straight into the draft will be doing short work, i.e. blades, horseshoes, tools, etc. since you are limited on how deep the work can go into the chimney. The nice thing about any side draft is that you don't have to fight the hood so a large item like a wagon tire can be placed in the forge and heated without interference.

Very nice - looks a little like a Spanish belduque design. Your eye for detailed craftmanship and blade architecture is already well developed.

The English tricorn or cocked hat is correct for that time period (which turns into a slouch hat when dropped) and it was worn almost universally. You could also wear a French trader's hat or even a long handkerchief, wrapped like a "doo-rag" on your head.

Jim Fecteau over on the Forgemagic/Farwest forums had a pair made by someone a while back. You may want to post a question over there. Blacksmiths Forum

I'm not really sure about high traffic but I have used Varithane for over 25 years on natural iron and about the only complaint I've had is that the older recipes started to yellow and peel after about 5-6 years in the sun. I'm told the manufacturers have recently improved this weakness but of course, we won't know until 5-6 years from now...;-)

Jymm, I agree with your diagnosis and plan to upsize the blower but it's like a lot of things - it works OK so I just keep using it. If I ever get a break in my work schedule, I plan to build several more gas forges; all with quick disconnects so I can move between propane tanks with minimal setup. These will consist of a smaller "pocket rocket" with a 6"x6" box for doing tips and short forge welds, a long thin forge (probably 4 burner and 30" long) for pickets, and a large flat enclosed box with a slit on one side so I can get scrolls in and out without fighting a door. Thanks for your comments...Hollis

Clear satin urethane out of a rattle can works pretty well. I would suggest precoating everything, let dry overnight then assemble, followed by touching up any spots that get dinged.

My forge works better if I run a bit more pressure at the gauge and fine tune with the needle valve. I get an inconsistent flame if the pressure drops below 3 lbs so I usually run around 6-7 lbs. Burner design eventually boils down to sufficient fuel volume and proper mixing but I personally believe that good refractive insulation is one of the most important characteristics of a hot gas forge - so you don't lose the heat once it's created.

Well, I can tell you that I can closely control the flame and minimize "dragon's breath" out of the front door with the needle valve - or I can dump enough gas to have a 10" long tongue of flame. However, I do believe my blower is too small because I can run it wide open with no choke on the air intake and easily overwhelm the air supply with fuel. In other words, very rich to very lean is less than 1/4 turn of the needle valve. I think I should be forced to restrict the air and not run the blower at full blast - i.e. have a little extra oomph on the throttle.

Dodge, You may be correct as I was guessing when I built it. I do not have a cold spot in the forge under each burner but I just don't know enough about it to make conclusions without a bunch of experimentation. I converted an old naturally aspirated Sandia style forge and used the same size pipes that were there from the first iteration. I assume that for a given pressure and CFM, a larger pipe would make for less pressure and a shorter flame length.

About 3 degrees per side for crowning is correct. I built my grinder with my lathe so tried several variations from dead flat to 10 degrees but anything over 3 seems to be too much and typically will cup and sling belts.

I use a 60cfm squirrel cage with a two burner - each tube is 3/4" black pipe. Box size is 15"Lx12"Wx4"T and it will just barely reach welding temp and it is really more useful for forging because welding is a little hit and miss. I feed this with about 5lbs of propane at the regulator and set the gas flow with a needle valve. The fuel dump is just downstream from the blower so the mix goes about 18 linear inches before entering the forge. I have hot spots right under the burners but because it will not consistently reach welding temps, I think the air flow and fuel mix is just a bit too small for the box size so it could stand to have a third burner and maybe 90 cfm. Forgot to add that this forge consumes a 100lb (25 gal) tank of propane in about 50 hrs of runtime.

I use a lot of scroll forms so I'll add just a bit to Mark's always detailed description. The scroll form has to fit the inside of the material so what may be a gorgeous form will not necessarily produce a "golden mean" scroll. You can test this by making a form, then making a scroll on the form, then use that scroll as a form for another scroll, etc. You will notice visual differences at every iteration. As Mark also noted, the other thing I do is weld a piece of angle iron to the bottom of the form then the angle iron is clamped in a vise. This prevents springing the form when bending material that is not hot enough to easily move. I make almost every form from 1/4"x1" flat iron but can bend 5/8 hot on this size stock because it's braced by the angle iron across each radius. The worst problem I ever have is that the scroll pliers occasionally slip and allow the scroll to move slightly as I'm pulling it around.

How can you tell a blacksmith's dog? Kick him in the rear and he makes a bolt for the door...

Track of the Wolf carries a lot of that stuff as does Dixie Gun Works. Just google either one and go to shoppin'.

Fish them out with your long pickup tongs...actually, it's easier to put a lid over the hole and use it for a table, then swing it aside when you need to quench. I've used this setup for many years at demo's and it works well.

Mount it to a 55 gal drum and you have both a slack tub and a very sturdy vise stand. The only downside is dumping the water when you want to move it but that can be overcome by using a two wheel dolly to move it around.

One could also forge a normal tenon and file the angle to shape.

Francis Whitaker's book, The Blacksmith's Cookbook, has plans for a shop-built shear that could be modified as a punch.

I use hexagonal sucker rod and drill the hole all the way through the middle. I find that it's better to have something a bit harder than mild steel so unhardened tool steel works well enough. I normally make tenons under the power hammer using swages so typically drill the hole in the monkey tool 1/32 larger than the desired finished size.