Steven Bronstein

Thank you Mikey, this is exactly the kind of help I was looking for. There is so much information out there and it can get really hard figuring out how to apply it. I will make up my solution and coat my kaowool just as you suggested. Thank you Frosty. I very much appreciate correcting the technical errors. It is the only way we can ensure real understanding and the ability to make good decisions. I have posted previously about the kaowool bricks I make and this will improve them significantly. I had only been rigidizing the outside layer. This did help stabilize the fibers and facilitate applying the Kastolite coating but now I will more fully saturate them to add more structural integrity. Thanks again to you both for sharing your expertise.

Thanks Mikey98118 , If the proportions are approximately 1100 grams silica per liter of water the my 300 gram ( gallon of fumed silica) will produce approximately 1 cup of solution so I am thinking something is off in my thinking about this. I would have thought a gallon jug of fumed silica would create a lot of rigidizer but apparently not....thanks.

Commercial solutions usually contain about 1100 grams of colloidal grade silica per liter of water I bought a gallon of Cab-O-Sil fumed silica. It weighs 300 grams including the plastic bottle. I had thought the suggestion was to use fumed silica and am now thinking this may not be the same as colloidal silica and I missed a detail. Is this a different silica than is recommended for making a rigidizer solution? Thanks

So 8 months later I thought I would offer a progress report. The kaowool bricks are great. I have a number of gas forges that receive rough treatment from my production work and beginner classes. My forges were all stacked soft bricks and as the bricks have broken ( which was often) I have replaced with the kaowool bricks. As Frosty warned, the Satanite coating did not hold up well to withstand impact and I have switched to Greenpatch 421 and it is great. I just did a recoat of the bricks with the Greenpatch. I am constantly rearranging the shapes of my forges to accommodate my projects and the K Bricks make it easy and I get the benefit of a structural brick that is very impact resistant and insulating too. i have attached some images of the Greenpatch repair. Because it is only a skim coat on the inside of the bricks, a minimal amount of Greenpatch is required and it is a quick operation. The Kaowool Arch is an easy way to extend the length of my heat and I add or subtract as needed. It is lightweight and easy to pick up and move. You can see some of the iron frame that is exposed to the heat is degrading but that is the nature of gas forges. Especially after 100s of hours of forge time. As a cost of doing business it is a bargain.

Do you mean make the stamps thinner so the space between the letters is smaller?

I have a job personalizing a number of products with words stamped into the metal. I can easily hand stamp one but would rather create some mechanical advantage for production. Another challenge is lining up the letters on the face of 3/8" round (though I expect to flatten that area to accept the letters). Using a stamp holder would help a lot but require more force to make the impression. I am wondering what size press would be required to stamp 8 letters 3/6" tall. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance Steven

Sorry, I will try it again. On the power hammer the pulley spins around the clutch shaft and there is metal on metal spinning abrasion happening most of the time, except when the hammer clutch is engaged and the pulley and the clutch shaft spin together and the hammer strikes in a car transmission the spline and drive shaft spin together , while the car is in motion, except when the clutch is disengaged , while the gears are being shifted, so most of the time they are spinning together and it is only when the clutch is disengaged that there is metal on metal spinning abrasion I hope this is a more coherent analysis. If it is clear then my question is that it makes sense that a car spline is run dry because it is running dry for a fraction of the time the car is being used. The power hammer is running , without the clutch engaged, for much more time and that is why I would think that it is necessary to keep those surfaces oiled to fight the greater likelihood for rotational wear and tear.

Am I correct that the drive shaft mostly spins with engine ( when the clutch is engaged ) and it is only when the clutch is disengaged that the shaft is spinning, so most of the time it is not spinning dry On the Beaudry the drive pulley is riding on the clutch shaft all the time and only when the clutch is engaged are they spinning together......

Thanks Frosty, There is no oil hole on the clutch sleeve. I was considering drilling one. What is most confusing is that this is an old machine and wonder what they designed to occur. There are effective oil/grease ports everywhere else on the machine. I pulled the clutch off and see no holes ( I was expecting to find one clogged and hidden but nothing) The clutch is grabby so I hope it will smooth out as I use it. I did smear some lithium grease on the clutch sleeve before I put it back together .....

I have a 50# Beaudry Utility Hammer. I just replaced the clutch lining and noticed that the clutch sleeve was really dry and the hammer has not been running as smoothly as it has in the past. I have grease fittings to lube the main drive shaft and the crank pin., The Main Drive Pulley rides on a sleeve that is attached to the clutch. The clutch slides towards and away from the pulley in order to engage. it is not clear to me how to keep that sleeve oiled. There are cut oil grooves in the sleeve to transport oil but there are no oiling ports and when I squirt oil on either end , it tends to just fly off before it has a chance to seep onto the contact surfaces. Any suggestions? This is a picture of a 25# hammer but it is the same setup.

I have a working blacksmith shop in Vermont. I was just contacted by a stone mason who had bought a Milwaukee 100AS Anvil 55 years ago when the local hardware store was going out of business. It was new then and has never been used. Thought you might like to see it. Wondering what it might be worth.

I have a 50# Beaudry Utility Hammer with the markings U501. The clutch lining has worn out. I have it removed and the lining is held in place with 5 copper rivets. My questions are: Can I use composite Flat Bell Pulley Belt for the clutch lining or should I get brake lining? I have seen some linings attached with adhesive which would mean I don't have to worry about scoring the clutch drum when it wears down. So is adhesive a reasonable alternative to riveting. I have the rivets, just curious about what modern best practices might be. Any thoughts?, Thanks.

I really value iforgeiron as a resource. Thank you all for your generous sharing of your expertise.

I understand what you are saying. My meaning was I wanted to get to the point that I could retemper my tools. I think if I said I wanted to harden my tools folks would say I forgot that I still needed to temper them. I could have said I wanted to harden and retemper my tools, which is absolutely correct but thought that was implied but I guess not.

Thanks, I put Instuff all the way around to rigidize the kaowool and Satanite on the interieror kaowool face and sides to just cover the expanded metal. Because the outside kaowool face is protected by the expanded metal, I am not too worried about it getting knocked around. If that changes I will cover that with Satanite too. Interesting, I wonder if that would improve the durability of the outside face, rather than just brushing it on. Because the wool is so well protected in the frame, I think the only source of abrasion in getting poked on the interior face

Well, I am a blacksmith with 40 years experience and I still have a lot to learn. We had a shop fire 5 years ago. I was able to recover nearly all of my tools out of the ashes. One lingering problem was I was not able to successfully retemper my hammers. I retempered my chisels and could easily temper new hammers. The old ones would go through the process and still come out soft. I went on multiple forums and discussed this problem with friends to no avail. I described my process as follows: Heated them to bright red and let them cool slowly to normalize Heated them to above magnetic and quench in oil ( tried both Canola and Parks) They would not harden. I finally gave up and handled them and just resigned myself to the fact that they were some how negatively affected in the heat of the fire and that was it. I was playing with tempering some new hammers, out of old drive axles, and got to thinking that I tend to work with mystery tool steel so I use a magnet to let me know when I am at the critical temperature. I realized that for reasons I cannot explain ( I think because I was so worried about saving my favorite hammers and doing it correctly ) when I retempered my old hammers I put them back in the forge after they reached critical temperature, just to soak " a little bit more" to make sure I had it right. Well....I have realized that what I was doing was raising them up too high above the critical temperature so that when I quench them, they were not cooling off fast enough to achieve a hardened state, so they stayed soft. I went back a retempered all of my old hammers, when I reached the non-magnetic state I quenched them and they hardened just as they were supposed to. Tempered to a dark straw and they are perfect. I was thinking too much, worrying too much, and could have save myself a lot of trouble if I had just followed the directions.

Here are some progress photos. I wanted to create "kaowool bricks" equivalent to insulating firebricks (IFBS). I am rough on my forges. They get moved around a lot going to do classes and reshaping my forge shapes as my jobs needs change. I welded angle iron and expanded metal to form open frames 2.5" x 4.5" x 9". I then cut 4 kaowool strips 1" x 3" x 9". These were stacked into the frames and coated with Satanite. The kaowool extends beyond the frames so that the metal does not sit inside the forge interior and is protected from the heat. This results in a "brick" ~3" x 4.5" x 9", the same size as a thick IFB. The Satanite makes it a little thicker and I am ok with that. I could have changed the dimensions accordingly but a little extra wall thickness is not an issue for me. I did the usual cure letting them dry for a day or so and fired slowly. When finished they feel and almost just look like IFBS. but are rugged and will last me many years. Depending on how hard you are on your forges and how much you pay for IFBS will determine if it is worth it to you. I am very happy with the results and no longer have piles of broken soft brick everywhere I turn.

I will check these out. My kaowool bricks are helpful to me because I am rough on my bricks . I load them in the truck to do demos and not gentle when I am rearranging my forges. For more sedentary setups I can see why these would be great. I think I use to have ones like the K-26 and my smaller forges last a year or two.

Based on advice from Jock Dempsey I started making my gas forges with folded kaowool tops. I like having loose soft brick sides so I can rearrange as the jobs require. They are always breaking so I just made modular "bricks" of folded kaowool. I fabricated frames with 1" angle and expanded metal 2.5 x 4.5 x9". I fold the kaowool so it is 3" wide and extends out of the frames 1/2" on the interior side ( making my "bricks 3 x 4.5 x 9") . I coat with satanite and use just I would regular soft bricks. As my soft bricks break I am replacing them with my modular bricks. It is working really well. PDF removed due to copyright.

Thanks JHCC - I see that Harris has a heavy duty rosebud with a 36" handle. I will have to heat up 1 foot sections of pipe at a time to create the gradual curve. Thinking that will be easier than setting up my gas forge on site and moving back and forth.

I have a railing job that requires I do a fair amount of field bending of 1.25 pipe (2-3 foot sections have to get curved to match the natural landscape) I decided it was too hard to make a jig so I think field bending is my best option. I have a lightweight gas forge that is easy to move. I am trying to decide if it would be easier to use that on site or weld one end of the rail in place and use a torch to heat and the bend the rail to line up with the in posts. The customer wants an organic feel so not needing to make perfect radii. Any suggestions and how big a rose bud is available to do this? Wondering if the 500K BTU propane torches could work. Thanks

Glenn, thank you

I am having great success with electrolysis and small parts. I have a big rusty leg vice with frozen threads. Do I need to heat , free up ,and separate the parts first or is there a benefit to putting them in the electrolysis bath as a whole assembly? Thanks

I am going to try pulley the pulley with a porta bar attached to the two bolts I tapped into the inner rim of the pulley. hope 10 tons is sufficient. Wondering if I should heat first, hesitating because it will make attaching the porta bar a little more challenging when the pulley is 500 degrees

George N.M - I threaded two 1/2" bolts into the face of the pulley and I will first try to pull the pulley off with a porta bar.