RandyScott

I had a similar problem with a tank I have had for a couple of years.. one day the gas just stopped flowing.. messed with it and messed with it and it would flow again.. and a little while later it would cease again. Replaced the tank.. same thing. Went to the local propane dealer and replaced the tank.. same thing. Then one day I backed off the valve about a full turn and no more problems. Upon reflection what I think happened is: I had read that with the valving, one was required to open the valve slowly to full open to ensure continous gas flow. Must have been the engineering design vs. practical application. I still open it fully but back off a full turn and no further problems. Oh, one other thing worth mentioning: I charge the propane line by ensuring the needle valve to the burner is closed, the regulator is at my desired setting, and the ball valve between tank and regulator is closed, then open the tank, slowly open the ball valve, then the needle valve and light her up. This ensures the gas flow is low enough to not trigger the internal valve closing. Hmmm, you are down in my neck of the woods... maybe you got my old tanks!

Here is the notice of the 20th (yes, 20th) Trackrock Hammer-in. There are two per year, spring and fall. Blairsville is in North GA, just under the NC border. Convenient for folks in SE TN, Western NC and NE SC.. as well as North Georgia. Come on and visit some fellow bladesmiths. Trackrock Hammer-in Spring Event 2012 Date: Weekend of March 30 - April 1 Notice: Open to all & no admission fees Location: Trackrock Campground, Blairsville, GA Directions: WWW.TRACKROCK.COM Activities: Bladesmithing, Hawk forging, Leather Crafting, Forge Building, Anything Knife Related Who: Anyone interested in knives, knife making, hawks, leather work, collecting, trading, etc. Watch, meet and talk with several talented bladesmiths, master leather craftsmen, collectors, etc. See old discarded steel, scrap metal, wood and bone transformed into functional works of art. General: Craftsmen from several states, finished knives on display, collections on display, etc. Family oriented event, Behave! No unsafe or reckless behavior will be tolerated. Saturday BBQ: Saturday lunch is catered on site at cost. You must RSVP to partake in this lunch. Drop dead date to RSVP for the BBQ lunch is March 20th. Additional: “Iron in the Hat” event Saturday to help fund event. Please bring usable item for this event. A chance to pick up valuable plunder - knifemaking materials, parts and pieces. Strictly voluntary, participation encouraged. Knife Raffle: We are currently working on two separate custom knives to be raffled off at the next couple of Trackrock Hammer-in events. Funds will go toward the purchase of major equipment to be used at future events. One knife will be a collaboration piece by Wayne Hensley and myself, the other a collaboration piece by Rick Lowe and Will Dutton. Accommodations: Full hook-up & primitive camping available (check web site), Trackrock is an excellent campground and very well maintained. Several motels near: Blairsville and Young Harris. Contact Trackrock Campground for further information at above website. Please contact me if you wish to participate, or need further information about the event. Email: crex68@yahoo.com __________________ Carl Rechsteiner, Bladesmith Georgia Custom Knifemakers Guild, Charter Member Registered Master Artist - GA Council for the Arts C Rex Custom Knives

I used a two bricker for four years, hauled it to half a dozen hammerin's too! Yes, they take a beating, inside and out. My solution was to use Satanite, a refractory mortar, and skin coat (a very thin coat) inside and out. Inside I then put a coat of ITC-100, a high emmissive product that will increase the forge temp a couple hundred degrees. The outside skin coat was put on after the edge protectors (aluminum 1/2" x 1/2" x 1") were put on and wire bound. the wire is over the angle to prevent the wire from cutting into the soft firebrick. I used a propane torch played over the refractory coating to cure it and it becomes a hard outer shell very resistant to abrasion, etc. I'll attempt to post a photo, side shot of the burner portal side. Forge entrance is to the right. The black squarish/rectangular markings on the forge shell outline the aluminum angle position under the skin coat.

There was a NWG for sale in a knife forum on another website, turn key, ready to plug in and grind. The seller had a detailed listing of all the expenses and parts to complete the grinder. He has about $1,500 in it and will sell it for $700. Drop me a PM or an email and I'll provide a link to the thread. This will give you a better feel, and perhaps a more objective viewpoint, for all that is necessary to get a 'kit' completed and functional. Then, depending on your resourcefulness and scrounging abilities, perhaps you can complete the project in your cost window.

A lot of good info in the preceding posts... my loss is a result of an M80 detonating at arms length while looking at it, a motorcycle with no muffler, a big V8 with little if any muffler (back in the days of big iron), loud bands and a couple of years around F4's. In post #21 is a link to some really good info on sound and, if you scroll down, there is a chart of extra-loud sounds, up to 190 decibels. However, just stuffing your ears does not resolve the problem. Sound is conveyed in two methods, via the ears and via bone. Ear plugs and ear muffs block the sound conveyed down the ear canal to the ear drum, via the hammer, anvil and stirrup and then into your cochlea. Bone, your skull, conveys the sound directly to your cochlea as the cochlea is encased in bone. The cochlea converts that energy into an electrical signal to your brain which interprets that signal to be a certain sound. Long term exposure to sound damages the 15,000 - 30,000 hairs in your cochlea to the point they cannot generate a signal.. therefore no sound perceived by the brain. So it is true! if you have profound hearing loss and a tree falls in the forest, it does not make a sound.. that you can hear! Long term exposure over a certain level is cumulative and irreversible. The higher the decibel level, the shorter the time till damage has occurred. Extra high decibel level exposure can instantly and permanently damage your hearing. Most of the ear plugs I see only reduce the decibel level approx 30 decibels. so if you are shooting high power rifles with a wad of cotton in your ears, you still are receiving approx 120 decibels into the cochlea and damage will occur. Same is true in an industrial environment, or with anvils, or large power hammers. Deaden sound as best possible, wear hearing protection, and get your hearing checked. Also, if you have kids make sure their electronic devices can limit the amount of sound put into the ear buds, some of them can put huge amounts of sound out and they will have hearing loss in their early twenties.

I tried to braze what I considered 'small stuff' , i.e., 1/8" to 1/8", when I was fabricating the burner collars for my forge utilizing the one pound propane bottle and the hand held oxygen bottle and was unsuccessful. The oxy bottle contains darn little oxy and it runs out real quick! My solution: use the 1/2" torch I fabricated from Michael Porter's book to heat the work piece and used the oxy/propane to spot heat just the area to be brazed. Still used a lot of oxy bottles. Having never welded, I found there was a tremendous amount of heat/hot gases/etc., up close and personal and I singed my hair, burnt my hand... but I got 'er done!

Well, it depends... my experience is with a Bernz-O-Matic JTH-7 torch used in a 2 brick forge. The torch/hose unit was designed to fit the tall skinny bottles. It will also fit the newer 'FatBoy' bottles. However, that fitting will NOT fit the connection on a 20 pound bottle. I solved that with a Coleman 'appliance connector'. It merely connects to the torch fitting on one end and has the POL connector on the other end. That was five years ago and I was able to find my appliance connector, made by Coleman, at the local Bass Pro Shop Outdoor shop. Recently I learned Wally World now carries such a hose. Cost less than $25 I think. Yes you can run the torch without a regulator as it is designed to work on the propane pressure in the bottle. Caveat: I could frost up the FatBoy bottle if I fully opened the valve to get some heat in the forge. At full throttle, a bottle lasted about 4 hours. Once I learned to reduce the pressure, I reduced scaling and the bottle lasted a lot longer.

Nicemibs, Saw your post about doing some bladework and thought I would add my two cents. I have attached two photos of my roll-around forge stand fabricated from an old gas grill. Ripped off the grill and replaced it with a piece of plywood with a layer of concrete backer board over that. The bottom shelf originally was concrete backer board till it sagged from the weight and was replaced with plywood. Eventually I will find the right sized/thickness sheet metal to replace the lower plywood. My Freon tank forge has a brazed 1” ID black pipe for the pole mount, the center pole is BP ¾” x 18” and slides into a BP 1”x 8” which is screwed into a floor flange mounted to the table surface. This permits me to have a lot of vertical adjustment if required. When I travel to a hammer in, I take the forge and all the mounting BP and it mounts to the piece of plywood that is locked into the top of my Black and Decker Workmate. Everything fits into the trunk of my ’97 Corolla except for the anvil stand and it goes in the back seat. Caution: this type of stand can get very top heavy quickly and the wheel base is narrow, therefore it can be unstable when moving it in position. My forge is easy to slide off the pole mount, reducing the risk of a roll over.

Cutting the kiln shelf with either a fiber disk or a masonry blade will create vast amounts of airborne dust. Wear your personal safety gear and protect your eyes, ears and lungs.

I can't answer the question regarding gunblue, however I use ATF (automatic transmission fluid),just a little dab 'll do you, a little on a paper towel and wipe the face real good. I had read that some of the ATF components have an affinity for metal. I then throw a cutoff leg from a pair of jeans on the anvil and a piece of wood to keep the wind from blowing the fabric off. No rust. Instead of a ball bearing, use a lightweight ball peen hammer. Ensure the face of the hammer is smooth. Grip the hammer handle lightly between thumb and forefinger (they will act as a pivot point) with the remaining fingers loosely gripping the handle. Start tapping the face from a height of 2 to 3" and work the entire face. You will be listening for consistency in the sound, for example 'bing', and feeling for a consistency in the rebound. If you hear different sound, for example 'bong' and/or the rebound is different, that area gets a little more attention. Could be just a tiny soft spot, i.e, the 'tack' you mentioned. Not a big deal. If the sound is attenuated, 'buzzy', over a larger area could be an indication you have a separated face. You may notice that a certain area seems to be 'sweeter' that the rest. If that is over the center of mass just behind the table, take that into account in your work. Don't worry about denting the face when 'tapping', if you miss the workpiece under a full power stroke and the anvil has good rebound, the butt of the hammer may tattoo your forehead. If the hammer leaves a dent in the face, everytime you look at it you will be reminded to watch your hammer control! And by the way, each anvil is unique. I have a 115 pound de-horned anvil that may be pre-Civil War with rough edges and dings in the face yet has a lovely sweet spot that is just right for my blades. Here is a link to a post by IFI member Frosty on testing unknown metal for sufficient carbon content for blades. It is a good read: And by the way, good score on your anvil! Now, go hit something hot!

Robert, The 'burner portal' is, to the best of my memory, centered in the length with one edge of the hole tangental to the upper chamber surface. It creates a hot spot from Top Dead Center around to about the 4 o'clock position. Yes, the center portion of the blade gets a lot of heat which is not a problem during initial rough forging. As the stock becomes thinner, I just back off on the heat. Thought I had some photos of my two bricker. If you want, I will try to shoot some photos tomorrow of the two bricker, my burner torch head mount and my home made choke for the Bernz-O-Matic JTH-7 burner. My two bricker is four years old and is looking rather beat up now and is in semi-retirement. I will send them to your email address on your website.. BTW, beautiful rockers! Nice knives also!

Robert, Are you building a 'stack' type forge? Yes, the soft bricks are fragile. In my two bricker I lined the forge chamber with Satanite and ITC-100 and it was very hot. I used 1/2" angle aluminum cut into 1" lengths placed on the edges to prevent the wire wrapped around the forge (to hold it together!) from cutting into the bricks. I had to coat the exterior with Satanite to provide a hard shell to the forge or it would have slowly just eroded away from being handled (I hauled my two bricker to several hammerins). Rigidizer is expensive; Satanite is not that expensive. Only worry about the forge chamber surfaces, a couple of very thin coats of Satanite, let dry and heat cure between coats and followed by two very thin coats of ITC-100. Keep in mind the soft fire bricks will crack from the thermal expansion/contraction as they heat and cool. If your burner is at high pressure, you may get little squirts of flame poking out hither and yon. Looks cool at night! Oh, I almost forgot.. if using Satanite, mist the soft brick surfaces before applying the Satanite, otherwise the brick will suck the moisture out of the Satanite and it will fall off the brick. I ended up with very thin Satanite and multiple coats to get the thickness desired.

Not to hijack your thread, here is a photo of my 'roll around forge' sourced from our old gas BBQ grill. Roll into the drive, move the tank out about ten feet, connect and fire it up.

I don't have experience with a coffee can forge but I did run a two bricker for 4 years using a Bernz-O-Matic JTH-7 burner (now out of production). First, is the back of the coffee can open or closed? If open, that is a tremendous heat loss. Next, it appears your ceramic wool has not been overcoated with rigidizer/refractory mortar/ITC-100/etc. I lined my 2 bricker with a skim coat of Satanite followed by ITC-100 and it was almost hot enough to weld. There is so little thermal mass inside the 1 & 2 brickers and coffee can forges that a large piece of metal will suck the heat right out and will take a few minutes to get back up to heat again. In the early days, I would heat 1/2" mild steel rod and practice pointing, rounding and squaring the rod and it takes a while to get it up to heat. The 'kicker' to really get the forge hot was the ITC-100. Yes, it is expensive, but it really helps add a couple hundred degrees of heat. Additionally, I noticed you appear to running on a little bottle of gas. Those little bottles tend to lose pressure quickly if the outside air temp drops. I purchased a Coleman appliance connector that permitted me to connect my JTH-7 hose to my 20# propane bottle. It appears you use soft firebrick to partially enclosed the front opening. I suggest an opening only large enough to be able to get your work piece in and out of the forge. That will also help hold the heat in the forge. I use cheap Harbor Freight long handled needle nosed pliers as my 'fire tongs'. Just move the work piece out to the mouth where it can be grabbed by your working tong. And one more thing, I do have a rear opening in my 2 bricker that is about an inch square. I made a little plug that I could remove as needed when a long piece needed to be inserted out the back. This helped in reducing heat loss. And last.. check the torch burner.. sometimes the teeny little gas orifice becomes obstructed by gunk/grit/etc., or is defective. Hope this helps...

As a former tire store manager, our most common issue with 'aged' tires was on boat trailers, utility trailers, campers - full sized and popup, RV's and 'granny' cars, i.e., low mileage useage wherein the tread appeared good to almost new while the tires had dry rotted due to the evaporation of the volatiles out of the tire. Examine the tire, look for 'cracking' or 'checking', especially where the tire sidewall is flexed. We didn't have a problem with tires sitting inventory till they aged out.. we sold about 800 tires a week and kept about 3,500 tires in our store inventory. Our tire salesmen and tire techs were required to check the dates prior to tire service. All it takes is one tire blowing up on the stand to make a believer out of you. How many RV's/boat trailers/campers have you seen sitting on the side of the road with a flat or blown out tire in the spring when folks head for the lake? Don't forget, the tire ages while it sits there whether it is driven upon or not. If it sets out in the sunlight, it will degrade a little faster. Just my $0.02.

Here are links to three sources. check the sources for their pricing... don't forget tax and shipping! http://home.comcast.net/~eellis2/EllisCustomKnifeworks/itcproducts.html http://www.zoellerforge.com/flare.html see Plistix 900F http://www.anvilfire.com/sales/ I have used all three sources at various times. One of the sites indicated you would need 1/2 pint for a freon tank sized forge. Get a pint.. it doesn't go bad and if you damage the lining, you will need more ITC-100 to patch it. I bought a pint 4 years ago, lined a two bricker three times with it and this summer finished a freon tank forge, contributed a 1/4 cup of it to another knifemaker and still have plenty left. Oh by the way, ITC-100 is applied as a very thin coat.. it is not smeared on like mortar.

I have used the pritchell and hardy holes to take the bend out of a half coil of auto/truck spring, then finalize the straightening on the anvil face.

Russ (and I don't remember his last name either) from either SC or NC & I didn't meet his friend so I don't know his name. If you are referring to the tall lanky guy to the right of Russ' location, that would be Rick Lowe (aka RLo, from up around Asheville). He was teaching a new guy, Scott (and I don't remember his last name either). This was Scott's first Trackrock also. Don't worry about that memory thing... just remember to come back next spring!

Wheel lugs? Do you mean the studs that the lug nuts screw onto? I don't know the type of steel, probably something designed, either through make up of the steel and/or heat treatment, for a certain amount of tensile strength. Beyond that point, the stud breaks. An air wrench develops enough torque to snap those... auto and light truck. OTR trucks.. don't know. Do a spark test, forge one, quench it and test it. The old fashioned lug wrench, back before the days of the scissor jacks for autos and Chinese imports, is purported to be 5160...

I completed fabrication of a Freon tank forge about a month ago. I used the Freon tank build tutorial in the Ron Reill pages on the ABANA website. I forge blades so the freon tank is the right size for me. Your post did not specify the burner tube size, but I believe it is 3/4" black pipe. If so, that should be more than adequate for the freon tank sized forge. Should you decide to go with the Freon tank, drop me an email. I have several suggestions that I intend to incorporate in the next freon tank forge I build.

Tim, I checked the schematic which specified the flameholder is at the end of the burner tube. Due to the heat involved, there will be oxidation of the pipe. How much is dependent upon how hot it gets. If the flame is burning inside the burner tube prior to the flame catcher, then there will be greater oxidation. If the burner tube is inserted into the forge, especially deep enough for the end to be in the forge chamber and exposed to the full forge temp, yes there will be more oxidation. Additionally, if that were to happen, the red hot burner tube would ignite the gas/air fuel mixture deep in the tube prior to the flameholder. If there is insufficient exhaust vents, i.e., too small or too small for a high pressure/volume fan, then the back pressure could cause the flame front to move back into your burner tube. In an unrestricted exhaust flow scenario, i.e., top half door open, an insufficient air flow, i.e.,not enough pressure or flow would also cause the flame front to move back up into the burner. Try this test: fire it up at night and see if, and how much, the burner tube becomes red. I used BP nipples for my burner tubes and nozzles. The nozzles do get red and are oxidizing. I consider the nozzles to be sacrificial and will replace periodically as needed. Additionally, my burners are mounted so that the end of the burner tube is even with the freon tank shell, the nozzle is an additional inch into the two inch Kaowool lining so it is never within the actual forge chamber. The portion of the burner tube where the nozzle is mounted has blue oxide scale due to heat. Therefore it never gets over about 700 degrees just one inch behind the end of the tube. Those are my thoughts.. hope it helps. Randy

Tim, I agree with kcrucible.. I think your exhaust openings are too small. If I read your post correctly, the only opening you have is the one shown in the photo. I believe the rule of thumb is the exhaust opening is at least or not less than seven times the area of the burner. The schematic was for a 2" burner or 3.14 square inches. Per the rule of thumb you will need at least 22 square inches to properly ventilate the forge. I just completed a Freon tank forge build and fabricated 2 half inch Porter style burners for a total area of .40 square inches. I have a rear opening, 1" x 2.5", and a front opening, 2.875" x 2.5" (kinda horseshoe shaped). I reckon the openings are about 8+ square inches total. Of course, my burners are aspirated vs. blown, but I have no back pressure problems nor getting it hot. At 5 psi, the dragon will reach out and lick your hand. Randy

I am in Sugar Hill... between Suwanee and Lake Lanier. I am a hobbyist blade smith. I lurk around here from time to time to see if I can pick up any tips and techniques I can use in bladesmithing. I am sending you an email PM.. just a quick note off line.

Due to the heat this summer and that my little forge is in my west facing garage and gets full afternoon sun, I decided to look up a 'heat index' chart via Google so that I could print it out and post it in the garage beside my outdoor thermometer with humidity gauge. In reading the info on the chart, I learned the heat index values are based on a shaded temp with a light breeze. If in the sun, add 10 to 15 degrees F to the air temp to get the index. So, if the local TV weatherman says todays heat idex will be in the 105 - 110 range, and you are working outside, you have moved from the 'danger' to the 'extreme dangerous' category. Physical labor is not factored into the chart. In the USMC training commands, these were called 'black flag' days. All outside phyical activity was to cease.. so they moved it indoors. One of the early signs of impending heat exhaustion was confusion and diminished reasoning ability as the heat cooked your brain cells. Lots of good info stated or referenced above. Additionally, I also learned that the young and the elderly have the hardest time coping with heat.

Only on the surface of the inner layer, i.e., the surface that becomes the forge chamber wall.