HWooldridge

I try to regulate the fuel mix so I don't have a huge amount of gas burning outside the forge. As stated, there will always be some exhaust - but foot-long blue/orange flames burning outside the box is wasteful.

I also have a bunch of loud dogs and a reputation for shooting first and asking questions later. Word gets around - at least to the locals. My sons used to tell their friends NOT to come up to the house at night without making a lot of noise ahead of time so I would be sure to be awake and alert. The ones you have to worry about are the strangers looking for something to haul off. We've had a couple of incidents in the 15 years we lived here but nobody has left bleeding (so far). If I had to replace everything with new stuff (for example, a fire loss), it would be well over $50K. Thieves are not be able to carry off the lathes, the mill or the power hammer - unless they had days to work on it - but the anvils and hand tools are easily transported.

Valentin, Sounds like you are asking a serious question about changing your life. Businesses are typically sold on either "good will" or asset value - or some combination of both. Assets are the hard items such as equipment and the building. Good will is that intangible quality that made the business successful - for example, the Coke trade name has an enormous amount of good will so any purchaser would be buying that famous logo and name plus their considerable assets. If you are feeding 14 people, then you are likely billing US$500K to $1MM or thereabouts in annual sales - please don't feel obliged to share that information, it's just my estimate for the sake of conversation. If you have no repeat business and are in a bad location, you may well not have any good will value in the business, so you would have to sell the assets and pay off any creditors to get any monetary gains. You might also want to consider the business to the employees - they know how it runs and they would keep their jobs if the enterprise is successful. You could either finance the sale (retain possession in case they fail - and probably make more money in the end) or have them obtain a loan through a bank, then you walk away with a lump sum and no worries other than how to spend it. You could also sell to another business or individual and negotiate a continued position as an employee or consultant. This can be lucrative and free you from the grind of managing. There are a lot of ways to value a business so if you really want to sell it, you should consult someone who is experienced in selling small to medium sized companies.

I was also a kid once - with his first air compressor. We all have to start somewhere and we should never finish learning and sharing with one another until that day when we lay our heads down for the last time...

I make 'em go someplace where they are not underfoot and yes, I'd wager his dog is blind from the arc.

That line should be hard plumbed. Nothing on the head of a compressor should be soft line. You may just want to buy the factory replacement rather than fool around with trying to make it. I think you got a good deal if you can get it to work. It's probably a $400 or more machine.

The yellow stuff was water and oil mixed together. This is normal. A picture would help on the pipe connection issue - can't comment further other than to say they may have had some special purpose for it. Copper is fine - a rubber hose is not correct. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and look at the ones on display - that should help you picture the repair in your mind.

I wore hard contacts from age 13 until I was 42 - when I had cataract surgery and the doc fixed my vision (that was GREAT!) so here I sit seven years later without needing glasses of any sort. However, I worked around blacksmithing, welding and machining since I was 18 so wore contacts in nasty environments for a long time. Contacts are no worse than glasses but any trash that does get in your eyes will hurt more. Glasses get smudged and dirty plus they distort your vision more than contacts. Of course, some people cannot wear them because they have dry eyes and I can't predict your success but having worn both, I'd pick contacts over glasses any day.

Set hammers often show signs of impact on the struck side but this tool is pretty clean. Almost looks like a cutler's hammer for working bevels.

Most of the metals suppliers will have that info readily available, either on the 'net or in sales literature. Carpenter, Crucible and Uddeholm come to mind - there are others. Look for 440C as a common alloy.

Long twists are easily done as you suggest but I find it more efficient to use a torch to add heat to slower twisting areas that have cooled rather than use water to cool hot spots. It may be nothing more than "one man's opinion" but I believe it is more easily controlled and keeps the piece hot for the next part of the twist.

An auger is a rod, bar, pipe, etc. - around which a helix is attached. This is commonly two pieces of flat wound like ribbons. This is what a post hole digger looks like and works quite well. If you want to make a wine corkscrew shape, forge a point on a round bar, then wrap around a tapered mandrel. The corkscrew will now be at right angles to the bar, so you have to bend at a 90 and then center it so the screw will be centered on the rod. Look at a dog anchor at a pet store and you'll see the form.

That's a pretty smart idea. Good method to solve the problem of even twisting and how to hold it at the same time.

I don't know how stout an Appalachian PH is but I'd guess "yes" if you get the stock hot enough. Maybe someone who has one can chime in.

If it were me, I might do both methods, one as a rough-in and one as a finish pass. The first would be to roll the cone in the swage over the mandrel. No slot needed in the mandrel - you simply heat the steel and sink it then wrap the edges with the hammer around the mandrel (while still in the swage). Next, reheat that blank, drop it in the form and drive the mandrel in to finish the shape. We also should consider the math on the material. If you use a 1" handle, you'll need 3.1416" of material to encircle it. Of course, that is more precise than needed so 3-1/4" wide will work. You could either cut this from sheet metal or flatten it from bar stock. Theoretically, 1/2" round will get you pretty close to do this. Here is the math: 3.25"x1/16" = .205 Vol of 1/2 rd = .196 This only leaves you .009 short but the forging won't be a perfect 1/16 thick all the way across. Using 1/2 round tool steel would allow you to make the chisel and socket from one piece without welding, which is usually good practice. It would also give you enough material on the working end to make most normal chisel sizes.

If you are talking about taking a long tapered punch and driving it into a long tapered hole with hot steel between and expecting a socket, I think you may have a fight on your hands. That is basically a deep drawing operation and takes a lot of oomph - although I suppose a progressive die would work and maybe that is what you are describing. Now, on the other hand, a half-funnel shape in a block of steel with matching tapered mandrel will allow a quick roll up - although there will obviously be a seam down the side.

Your jig is great but it's pretty fast to do them with a thin bladed hot cut. Also leaves that "forged" look from the split. Not a criticism - just an observation.

Excess body weight is a killer in many ways so try your best to lose any extra pounds. I know what I'm talking about because I was about 50 lbs above my ideal weight and it caused all sorts of problems. I finally started walking at night with my wife - short distances and slowly at first, plus minimal dieting (no snacks but same sized regular meals). I dropped 12 lbs in a month and have hit a plateau, but I'm sticking with it. I'm up to 10 miles a week and feeling much better. Maybe I'll be 38 lbs lighter in a few months... My prayers are with you that you can overcome the obstacles and continue your career but your health comes first.

Great tip, Frosty. My shop floor is the natural caliche and clay found in this area - and I have to water it periodically to keep my lungs from filling up with junk so some cement might help. South Texas was underwater several million years ago and the whole plateau is underlaid with limestone. Probably why there are Portland cement processors and quarries every mile or two. We use bentonite to line stock tanks for cattle watering. Stops 'em from leaking. (Nice to have a geologist here - there are a lot of mud loggers in this neck of the woods so we all have a warm spot in our hearts).

Bingo! I was hoping someone else had seen it.

Frank Turley once commented it should look like the back of an old pocket watch that has been carried for a long time.

I have seen singles and doubles. The doubles held coal and water. The singles held whichever one you wanted more. There is an ad for Champion or Buffalo (can't remember which) floating around on the 'net which shows a double trough and each one is labeled.

A swamp cooler a big radiator with a fan behind it. No chilled air, it just acts as an evaporator. They are good for about 20-30 degrees below ambient in very dry areas (hence the popularity in Arizona) but aren't worth much where it is humid. We have a couple at work and they probably only drop the air about 5 degrees. On the other hand, moving air at 95 F is better than still air at 100...it's all relative.

Good tip - an easy way to convert a tool without forging. I might also add that on a conventional square faced hammer, the two edges parallel to the handle are essentially straight peens. I have a little 2 lb hammer that I dressed to have about 3/4" radii all the way around - the only "flat" spot is squarely in the center of the face and even that is a large radius, while the peen side is a regular cross pattern (although a very large radius across the face, about 3"). This hammer is a drawing fool and will pull a point in nothing flat - especially if working over the far side of the anvil; it's essentially a set of double drawing dies.

You'll have to tell her sooner or later cause one of these days, she's sure to spot the little blue light reflecting off the car...:-)