petere76

Coal in storage is actually oxidizing similar to rust, it generates heat and if left in a closed space it has a tendency to smolder. On the old coal ships, holds carrying coal were checked for temp rise. The battleships that used coal had fire suppression systems in their coal bunkers. Peter

Kubiack, Thomas, Using the ash dump puts too much dust and ash into the air. I do use an air gate and I throttle the fan (casing) inlet somewhat. I also have a switch handy on the forge to secure the blower, which is usually what I do. The dynamics of the coal fire, seems to favor fast and furious over low and slow. Peter

I use the larger cfm rated unit on a bottom draft coal forge. In my opinion it works well. Only drawback being that it doesn't do low end very well. Does anyone have experience with using a rehostat on these units? Single phase operation using voltage reduction has some heat issues. Also keep in mind these are Chinese motors. K&S does not recomend going with a rheostat but I was still curious if anyone has tried this arrangement and I if so, what their findings were. I would like to get a better low end out my own arrangement. Peter

The above are all good suggestions for a successful project. Make sure you find out how your client wants to mount said hook rack. Check the distance between centers on the wall studs, if its going on a wall, so you get the screw holes in the right place. Bob (countersink) the screw holes so the screw is flush with the finish surface. Nothing say amateur. like a screw head that sticks out and catches things. Remember to keep up your shop log and take notes in regard material count, dimensions and finish in your project log so you can easily duplicate the process in the future. This way you recover the time and effort spent on R&D. Good luck. Peter

Looks squared away and functional. Portable to boot. Good job. Peter

Intrex, Exercise caution on the wild ones. Its real easy to get the ID wrong and as a result, you can have all sorts of nasty things happen. Keep that poison control number handy and save a sample. On a lighter note, I have seen similar mushrooms to the growth you show. They were harvested and boiled into a tea of sorts. The tea was then used as a homeopathic cancer treatment. Allegedly, when someone gets cancer this tea will isolate the cancer wherever it is located and stop it from spreading. I have seen the same fungus on old growth oak trees in some parts of Maine. Where found, the Elevation is usually less than 1000 Ft. and in my case, always around 45 Deg North Lat. Be safe, Peter

if you are just churning out key rings, consider a batch system of say 20 units at a time. Forged the pieces to completion, a vinegar soak to liberate the scale, wire brush to white metal, heat and apply a mixture of linseed oil, bees wax and turpentine. I use this technique on all the small stuff that we produce in batches. Particularly, anything we make a lot of and have to store. This way you reduce the repetitive cleaning when pieces rust. In process work, whatever you are making, its one step at a time, each step fully completed and finished one time not several. The man hours are in the finish details, try to get it right the first time. Without buffing, the pieces store well in cans. At the point of sale you just buff them out with a cotton rag. Also, the pieces don't transfer the finish to the hands of those using them. Stove black, when handled, will certainly transfer. Good luck. Peter

Essentially you a recovering scrap, do the least damage to the product and use an expedient method. We use the coils for set tools such as slitters and drifts. I like to make up spring pieces in batches to save time. It's better than wasting 2 hours cutting, straightening and fabricating the tool. Also, with springs avoid the oa torch if you can. The burnt ends still have to be ground back to good metal before you start forging the tool. It's about saving time. These tools don't last forever, so we keep a pile of various dia pieces ready for whenever we switch to a new project. We make most of our shop tooling out of scrap springs and those big chipper blade sections. I'm like a beggar at auto and logging truck places looking for scrap. Peter

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The tale of the glove pile, your dominant hammer hand is always the larger pile of spares. I use a glove on my tong and tooling hand and not on my hammer hand. I use relatively thin drivers style gloves as they offer some heat protection and they remiain pliable. It's not like your old welding gloves, atrophied into an armored stinger claw where you can just shake your hand out of the glove while in place. The off hand needs more protection than the hammer hand because we manage the process with the tong hand whereas , the hammer hand supplies the directed labor and it's a handles length away from the heat. Peter

In regard your plan to hard face with 7018, do some reading on hard face materials. There is a lot of product out there for weld application. 7018 is common, sometimes refered to as everybody's because of it's ease of application. However, there are some excellent rods for hard facing buckets on excavator and backhoe components. They are pricey but they have outstanding wear and impact characteristics, the stuff is bulletproof. Peter

Know your body and it's mechanics. Is your anvil, too low or too high ? It had to be right for you and your particular style. Try to get your shoulder as close as possible to being directly over your work. You want to be over the work not two feet away because the reach will kill your arm and create pain such as you described. Also check the shape of your hammer handle, round handles don't let your wrist snap the finish of the swing and by overcoming this resistance you tweek the tendons in you elbow. I have found a modified rectangular shape with rounded corners works well for me. When dealing with respective motion, your body has to be in the right groove to do this type of work repetitively. Peter

Black frog, I have seen this exact style stamp before. The American Bureau of Shipping aka ABS uses the Maltese cross symbol as their chop (stamp) on inspected items. In most cases its a pressure vessel of some sort but it may have been used on other equipage as well. Modern day vessels don't usually come with an anvil or a forge set up but many older vessels did. Perhaps in the "old days" PW had their anvils certified by the ABS or some other regulatory group that used the Maltese chop. Peter

Esse, I see that same set up in a lot of third world countries, particularly India and Pakistan where they work in open shops on the side of the road. You might consider moving up the food chain a little and buy a decent hood. Peter

Ingres, Simple and easy set up using a router. There are pics of this set up on IFI . Set up a router on a piece of ply with edges stiffened. use two boards that have been edged as runners, level the boards and screw them on either side of the stand, stump etc. eyebal the first set up so the stump or stand is relatively plumb and make sure the deck you are working off is level as well. Cut the top by making repeated passes till flat. Flip the stand or stump and do the other side . I have used this trick many times squaring off uneven surfaces so they look right. Good luck. Peter

Copeltite, we use it on steam line gaskets that operate in the 1000 Deg range. Not sure how flexible this product remains after exposed to high temp but it is effective. Also, on furnace cracks we use aplastic refractory, pliable when green but dries hard when fired. One other idea, the adhesive they use on heat reflecting ceramic tiles. Peter

Zero the blade for vertical square. Use a carpenters square and base the square on the stock and the saw top surface, this is the stock position. Hold the square on the base with the vise in the 90 Deg orientation and stock and then sight the daylight between the blade surface and the square edge. Shim the pivot mount until you get a min amount of gap. When you shim these cheapo saws you have to check the zero frequently because they can vibrate loose. Most job sites use these rigs to cut rebar bundles, think quick and dirty., they aren't really looking for square cuts. As already mentioned, good blades make a difference but they come at a premium. Peter

Eric, You are good guy helping out the next gen. In re tooling, think about the simple things you need in the shop. Steel scale, silver pencils, soap stone, a good hack saw frame, spare hack saw blades, spare gloves, tools might include, hammers( 2lb cross peen) wire brush, a good set of tongs that are somewhat universal (wolf jaw) maybe make him a cut off hardie that fits the anvil. Peter

A few handle and fire end examples. We made a run of these 42 in fire pit pokers. They had a larger hooked fire end. We forged the fire end separate and welded them to the shafts. Same with the various handle configurations. Peter

Dan, HEAVY DUTY.... nice job. Can you move it easy or are you going to mount it somewhere? Peter

Thoughts and prayers for you my friend. Hang tough. Peter

Ivan, I know a few professional smiths but most have other jobs or other sources of income. The cost of setting up and running the shop is not cheap. Also the costs of insurance on the shop, vehicles and health care for yourself and any employees pushes it into the range of outrageous. I have a regular job that supplies all the bennies, 401, pension, profit sharing and health insurance. The ancillary benefits that come with professional employment really amount to a sizable sum. In my business we hire marine engineers and the average cost for family plan health care runs about $32.0 per man day. The rest of the benefit package pushes the per day man cost close to $100.0 These numbers would kill a small business because you can't charge enough per shop hour to cover the cost of benefits. One good approach is to build and stock your shop while working and then gradually transition to running the shop part time. You will always need real income and benefits. If you have a family you need medical and if you plan on retiring you will need a pension. Chose your direction wisely because you can't get back your earning years when you are older. Peter

Repurposed drive shaft with a (male) spline end. Or, a tapered bob driven into a (female) spline and then dressed. Something like the drive components of a front wheel drive vehicle. Just guessing but It looks to concentric to be made only by hand. Peter

I believe that process used to be called "banking the fire". An experienced gent once told me that they would bank the fires to save time and coal. Secure the blower and the air gate and pile the green coal over the existing fire. Works good for the dinner break. Peter

The hammer eye size more or less gets you into the available handles unless you are making them from scratch. At $3.50 a piece for an ash handle, its a lot cheaper, time wise, than making one. I find the oval eye handles for a machinist's hammer at 16 " (handle) work the best. The round handle shapes don't work right for me. I take the store bought handle to the belt sander and create a rectangular shape with eased corners. It's all personal preference. I just like the hand orientation on the rectangular flats as opposed to the feel of a round surface. Also, I find the flats allow you better control for precise in close forging. After assembly, I soak the newly made up head in anti freeze overnight. This virtually eliminates loose heads from any shrinkage due to drying. I use the combo linseed oil thinner mix on the raw wood, it's easy on the hands and it prevents cracking. Peter