Buzzkill

Quick question: With the current condition of the horn, what can't you do that you want to do with it? If the answer is "nothing" or "I don't know" then you're probably better off using it for a while to see if you even want to bother changing it. Horns were sometimes intentionally blunted, and if you've run your thigh into a relatively pointy horn on an anvil you can easily understand why some people did that to their anvils. If you want/need to work on something with a smaller diameter than you have available now at the end of the horn then you might want to reshape it. Keep in mind that you can always create a hardy tool which mimics the pointy end of the horn, and that might actually be easier to use for some things. If it's just about making the anvil look "perfect" then I'd definitely use it a bit first as is. My 2 pennies.

Well, I do think you could re-purpose the non-reversible tremmi pipes to work in conjunction with the T inducer and improve output. You may also want to consider constructing the burner block out of prefamulated amulite for the next incarnation. I'll bet it cuts down on the yellow dragon's breath.

Not exactly what you're talking about, but along the same lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLDgQg6bq7o

The T burner works just fine. Frosty has been tinkering with something new and improved, but that doesn't mean the previous burner is substandard or inefficient. The "standard" T burner is far easier to build and obtain parts for than his new obsession. I'm sure once he feels he has the bugs worked out and is comfortable passing along the particulars he will do so. In the meantime you will not go wrong by building a T burner to the specs in the instructions given here. I haven't seen a simpler and/or less expensive burner design yet that functions as well.

If it were me and I wanted to get started right away then duct tape is the easy call. It's cheap and easy, you can replace it quickly if needed, and you don't need anything special to make it work. It's the kind of thing that stuff was made for IMHO.

Steel exposed to acid in the presence of oxygen will rust FAST. The muriatic or vinegar baths work well to strip zinc coatings or derust items, BUT only if they are submerged so that oxygen can't get to the steel's surface. You may have seen on here people talking about using muriatic acid in their shop and just from the fumes nearly everything that can rust within 20 or 30 feet of where they were using it gets rusty. I think there are better options for your anvil, but since all I've ever done on mine is wire brushes and wheels I'll leave the wipe down suggestions to someone else.

I had used Greenpatch 421 on another project and it seemed to hold up to the direct flame fairly well. However, my assumption that if one high temperature refractory mortar works then another one should as well didn't turn out to be accurate.

I didn't have any problems that I thought would be solved by a mesh. The cement I used just didn't stay solid at those higher temperatures. I was using a 3/4 inch Frosty T burner, and while it performs well, I seriously doubt I was approaching 3000 degrees F in the forge. It stuck just fine to the ceramic blanket, but when it turned semi-liquid the force of the flame and gravity resulted in some bare, or nearly bare, spots on the blanket. On another thread I saw someone who claimed that the stuff they bought at one of the big box stores is still working fine after a year. Not sure what brand he was using though.

FWIW Frosty, I really liked your explanation above and especially enjoyed the last bit about dessert.

It might work. I tried this in a small forge using cement that was supposedly rated for 3000 degrees F. However, once the forge got up to temperature, this stuff turned into a semi-liquid and would stick to the steel when I bumped hot stock into the lining. After it cooled it was hard and smooth almost like glass, but the next time I ran the forge it happened again. On the portion of the lining directly across from the burner the cement had been pretty much blown away where there was direct flame impingement after 2 or 3 firings. I believe the brand I used was "Do-All" by Durst, and others may react differently. Mortar/cement is designed to hold pieces together, not to really provide a structure in and of itself. Maybe you'll get better results than I did, but that was my experience.

IMHO knowing the exact speed of the belt is not particularly important. However, it is desirable to have a good speed range and to have enough power so that you don't bog the machine down easily if you lean into it a little. I found that 1hp with a 4 step pulley system gave me a decent selection of speeds, but not enough power at the top end. I'm much happier with the 2hp variable speed setup I have now. When/if I get around to it I have a treadmill with a 2.9 hp DC motor that I will probably build another belt grinder from, but I have not built one from a treadmill yet.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. It sounds like hot bluing would be the way to go, and at least some of those options would not ruin the temper. For now that option will have to wait for me since I don't have the space to set it up right. Thanks again though.

If I get that far along. It looks like multiple tanks are needed, a good way to keep the temperature where it needs to be, proper PPE, etc. to safely and successfully do hot bluing. Right now I don't have the spare space or funds to set that up properly. I've seen several home brew recipes as well, but experimenting with hot caustic materials isn't what I want to do. If one of the local gunsmiths has a setup and is willing I think I'll see if I can watch someone who knows what they are doing before I plunge in head first.

Just curious, have you used the burner in any other orientation? I wouldn't expect it to perform differently, but I'll probably do a side or bottom mount if I make one of these.

Brownell's is one I was looking at. Specifically the Nitreblue. The Oxynate 7 didn't give a temperature in the description, and they charge a dollar for the instructions, so I'll have to dig a little deeper. I don't like to farm out anything in my blade making, but I may check with a local gunsmith and see if I can get them to do one for me before pursuing this any further on my own.

Blue temper colors would definitely result in softer steel than I want for the blade, but the visual effect is good. Looks like a lot of the hot blue salts are used at 500+ degrees F. I don't want to change the temper with bluing and I'd also want to make sure this gives the desired result before spending the time and money on it. Is this something you have done and can recommend a specific product/process or were you offering a suggestion for the next thing to try?

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/31605-supplier-list/

Has anyone here achieved a good blued mirror finish? And if so can you explain how you did it? In my mind at least it's the perfect finish for one of my blades, but my only attempt so far was a miserable failure. After getting the mirror finish and wiping the blade down well with acetone then allowing it to dry I applied some cold bluing, but it didn't look good at all. I ended up having to go back to 600 grit and start the finish process again to remove the traces of bluing that remained. If any of you have a method that produces a good blued mirror finish I'm all ears (or eyes I guess).

36 or 40 grit for hogging of material quickly. 3M Cubitron pretty much shreds steel in those grits. I like 80 grit after that. It still takes off steel fairly quickly, but doesn't leave nearly as deep scratches. The ceramic belts I've used are definitely worth the extra money compared to the SiC belts. They seem to stay cooler and cut better for longer than other abrasives. I usually don't go past around 240 before heat treating, and by that point I'm trying to just do clean up work rather than any serious stock removal. Depending on the finish I'm after I may go up to 600 on the grinder after heat treat, but usually anything after 400 is done by hand. I was lucky enough to find a 50 pack of 80 grit Cubitron belts on Amazon a few months ago for about half the normal price - under $4.50 US per belt and free shipping, but I haven't seen another deal like that since. That's just my limited experience talking, but I hope it helps.

Is there a spring inside the square tube that the tracking wheel is mounted on pushing it up? If not then I'm missing how you're keeping tension on the belt while in use. Too little belt tension can also contribute to belts wanting to wander or slide off the wheels. Glad you got it functioning though. If you're like me the frustration of problems with a build is only surpassed by the satisfaction when it finally works as it's supposed to work. I guess that's what keeps me tinkering with home built stuff instead of saving up and buying new. I'm looking forward to see what you make with it.

Sent you a PM with this, but here's a snippet from Jay Fisher's site regarding the topic. If it's inappropriate to quote another site I apologize and please remove it. High chromium martensitic stainless steels like 440C or ATS-34 are processed with conventional heat treat (CHT) or with sub-zero heat treating (SZT), and the steels are then tempered and finished by grinding and then polishing. These steels are beautiful in their own right, with mirror polishes showing some grain texture. These textures appear like a much diminished and less noticeable version of D2 steel's "orange peel" granularity pattern, seen when held in just the right angle of incident light. While D2 has a much bolder and profound pattern, this same type of effect is seen in ATS-34 and 440C, with curves in the pattern following grind terminations, trailing points, and other geometric features of the blade. If the blades are cryogenically treated, these patterns will not appear! The cryogenic treatment makes the finish of these two steels much more like the finish of powder metal technology tool steel, namely CPM154CM. The surface is extremely clean and uniform, and no grain can be seen at all. This makes sense, considering the greater conversion of austenite, but perhaps more so the precipitation of fine carbides throughout the structure. Simply put, cryogenic treatment produces a more even, uniform, smooth, and beautiful finish than conventional heat treating.

I'm not sure if you're talking about the same thing I've seen or not, but where I've seen this is steel that was hotter than it should be when quenched. I believe there is decarburization that takes place on the outer surface of the steel which can create that effect. How deep that goes probably depends on the specific alloy and the temperature. Again, not sure if we're talking about the same thing, but that's where I've seen an effect I would describe as orange peel texture.

Unless you know that you are going to need that kind of size I would highly recommend staying smaller to start out with. Many of us went way larger than needed with our first build(s) and that costs more money in building materials AND fuel use later on. I mainly forge blades, but my current propane forge shell is a disposable helium tank for blowing up party balloons. It has the same dimensions as a freon/R134 tank and I'm actually considering going even smaller than that. As long as you put a pass-through at the rear of your forge you can work on just about any straight stock that will fit through your openings. Since you can only work about 6 inches of hot steel at a time before it cools to the point where it needs to go back into the fire there is no real advantage to being able to heat longer sections for general forging. If you are doing long twists, oddball shapes, or other very specific things then you may need more length, a bigger chamber, and/or multiple options for getting the steel where you want it to be heated, but if this is just for getting your feet wet you'd be much better off resisting the urge to go big.

Agreed. Based on the pictures I would have assumed you bought the head and just modified the handle if you hadn't told us otherwise.

I'm no expert, but your melter seems to be a heck of a lot better than a lot we see on here. You had me nervous with the plaster of paris at the beginning though. A couple suggestions: Put some rigidizer on that ceramic blanket so it doesn't send lung- damaging particles into the air while in use. Also, a drain hole for when (not if) your crucible fails inside. The the whole thing should be over a bed of dry sand to contain that molten metal when the crucible fails. I can't tell if your crucible is sitting on a plinth to get it off the floor, but that's a good idea. Usually you have to make some channels in the floor so the liquid metal can run under the plinth and out the hole. All in all though, it looks like you have the principles down that will allow you to easily melt metal in your foundry.