Ratel10mm

Ah man, that's good news! :)

Hello Forrest, & welcome to IFI. Mike, I'm up for that as of now, will check wife's diary & confirm. Let me know if I can help at all, like bringing an anvil or something?

Sheesh mate, are you ok?

That's very pretty. :)

Irontwister, as rmcpb says, solid fuel other than wood is hard to come by in some places. Here in SE Queensland for e.g. There's little to no heavy industry here (very heavily tourist economy especially on the Gold Coast) and as we're subtropical, not many people have open fires - those that do use wood as fuel. Barbeques are almost exclusively gas. As a result, finding charcoal, coal, or ideally coke is very difficult (at least so far) in this general area. It can be done, but it's never convenient / reasonably priced - until you understand how hard the supplies have had to work to get it themselves!

Yeah, yeah!! GREAT idea Rob! Congratulations Dale, it couldn't have gone to a better home - except mine of course! lol. I look forward to hearing exactly what tooling it's got - and how to make copies. Man, I'm really stoked for you!!!

Charcoal mate, but would prefer coke.

Pipe? What pipe?? Yes, thanks very much Bush Bugger, that was very kind & is appreciated. Thanks also to the Victorian crew for the great Tee-shirt and advice & tips. And beer! Although I couldn't be there long, and not at all on the day :C, I picked up lots of info that'll be very useful to me as I progress. Thanks a lot guys & ladies, and I hope you all got home safely. Mick, I noticed the lack of ash dump, and I'm sure I can get around it. I'm also thinking to fire up my forge to see how it works with a depth of charcoal as compared to your forge - no, I won't use the lot! See you at the weekend mate.

Mike, I have a spare drum off an old Commodore (iirc) that you're welcome to. I can leave it at Mick's next time I'm up there, or possibly take it up when you're going to be there too if you like. Mick's just helped me make a '55' forge - these drums are about 2.5" deep and Mick reckons they're still too deep for charcoal. As you know, he believes shallow is better with charcoal. I intend to fire it up this weekend & test it out, see how it works. Hopefully with enough air through it the depth will be ok. Anyway, enough wittering. If you want the spare drum I have, just let me know.

Looking forward to it. I've checked my hardy hole & it's a wierd size - 1 & 6/16" So like Mick's, a 1" hardy may be sloppy, but as he says shimming it can't be hard.

I will if my plan doesn't work! Edit: Here's my plan - pinch my mate Owen's portable anvil stand, it's the first pic on this link.

Mine's about an inch, I'll measure it & let you know if it's under. I scored some 2x4" from the work skip today, so hopefully will have time to make a travelling 'stump'. I'll need parking for one car too please Cliff, if possible. Otherwise there's a public car park a short walk away.

Still 80% or better mate. :D

Yeah mate, as discussed I wouldn't leave you without your equipment for several days! I figure that if I'm at your place the weekend before, it seems a pity not to take advantage of the extra transport. Maybe if there's some non-essential stuff that won't fit in your transpo we can put it in mine. Kaowool, Isowool, it's all pretty much the same stuff I think. Was just thinking since I want to build a gasser anyway, might as well try & get it done in time for this demo, eh? Any idea if the woll supplier does castable as well? Yes, if I may borrow the stump & some gear for the day I'd be grateful mate.

Good on the gent above for offering the same thing too. And congratulations on your good fortune Drako, I hope it all goes well for you.

Mick, I can probably lug your stuff down & bring it back, if you can manage without it for a few days. Was also thinking it's time to make myself a gasser - my one brick has seen better days. Guess who I know who knows where to get kawool. I'll give you a ring.

Coke seems hard to get hold of in this part of Oz (So far, anyway). The nearest supplier I know of charges $200 for a 44gallon drum (Sacks just rot in no time here, so the extra cost of the drums is worth it.). As Double Edge2 says, you can get it cheaper by joining the local farriers association and chipping in for the shipment, although you then have to get it home yourself - i.e buy your own drums or whatever.

Pete's courses are good. I also thororoughly enjoyed the courses I did with Bob Oakes at Cold Hanworth Forge. Turnpike Forge at Clifton Hampden (near Culham if you don't know South Oxfordshire) are the closest lot I know to you. Several years ago one of their apprentices won apprentice of the year. I have no idea if they'd let you have a go, and as far as I know they don't do taster courses, but give them a ring & talk nicely to them, it's got to be worth a try. WWW.turnpikeforge.com

I may be able to help. I'll give you a ring. :)

Hmmm, panic?

Indian Damascus can be poor quality for knives as mild steel is often one of the components. I'd steer clear unless you can be sure it's from a manufacturer who understands what knife makers need.

I glued my one-brick forge back together the other day, using cement I got from my brick supplier and so far it's holding together. :)

That looks like a very good link Charlotte, thanks very much. :)

Hi OldJeff, welcome to IFI and good luck with the learning. It's a good idea to put your rough location in your profile in case there's someone local to you who can also offer help. Hi Allan. You're welcome to drop in on me, although I have basically nothing at present. And Double_Edge 2 has an open invitation to his forge for anyone.

Looking better for me mate, 80% certain now instead of 10%. :D