acoop101

I don't think they are going to ask you for your serial code and you can usually find the help line number on there website. That said at school we have solid works and there is a way to designe a mold then invert it into a mold... That said I have no memory how to do it, it is for mold making.

From what I've gathered and had good luck with to anneal copper it must be heated then quenched, not sure why not sure if it's true but it's worked for me and hopefully some one else can give there opinion on this.

I like that Idea, the only thing I'd be worried about is making it too difficult to move it, I think just keeping it out side away from the banks of welders has worked... we'll see, they are trying to close us down right now.

That thing just screams foundry to me, cut that thing in half hinge the top to the bottom line it with some castable refractory and start melting metal, backyardmetalcasting.com has great information of this particular hobby.

At work we have a Galv. SlackTub that students keep droping pieces of quarter inch steel into, and every once in a while they drop it in corner first and it punches a hole in the bottom and makes a big mess. This happened a couple of times in the shop then we gave up and made them take the metal out side to cool it. Any way now when this happens we let the thing dry out then take it into the shop which has a high volume ventalation system and just weld a piece of 10 guage on the bottom. Come to think of it I don't think the original bottom even exists.

I'd talk to your local truck shop. Trucks with air brakes have a mechanism that once the air brake tanks come up to preasure this valve collects all of the condensate, oil and any other liquid that has built up in the tank and expells it with a little bit of compressed air. I'm not sure if this is pressure operated or if it's electronic but it should be a simple install.

Another website you might want to check out is melting metal in a home foundry, backyard metalcasting, metal casting and the forums on their website. As for using brass cases I have cast with them before and they work well just make sure you don't over heat them and once the metal melts don't hold it at temperature for more than 5-10 min to keep the zinc loss to a minimum. I also used a layer of charcoal over the top of the melt as a cover to keep the air contact to a minimum, there are people over on backyard metal casting who used smashed up glass for the same reason.

Well at least he didn't try and cover it up. I guess if you are in a real pinch you could get one of your 30's refilled just to get working again. Propane is propane no?

Verry nice looking, what are you going to use for a handle?

heat and bend, it will take a lot less time and will look cleaner in the end imho. ;)

well thanks for the information. I have the "horrible problem" of only having acess to a TIG set up right now that's why I asked for tips on TIGing this project. How hot should I heat it to before welding?

TIG because it's what's usually set up and since I mainly do small jobs it takes less time to tig the project than it would to tare the system appart to set it up for stick.

if an RCH is a "loose" tolerance your a machinist.
if an RCH is a hammer tap away your a blacksmith
if you don't know what an RCH is your an engineer

so this "cracking" that i've heared high carbon steels like to do isn't going to cause it to snap with the heating of forging?

I am wondering if anyone has any recomendations on how to TIG weld o1 tool steel to a piece of 1018 mild steel. I have a piece of o1 tool steel that is about 4 inches long and .5 inches around. I don't like to use tongs to forge knives so I was thinking of welding a piece of mild steel to the piece as a handle. Was wondering if anyone has any recomendations on how to weld this up so it would hold up to forging?:confused: I was thinking of preheating it to about 500 degrees then welding it. Any recomendations or experience would be apriciated. Thanks in advance.

If you can find it Two Part Marine Epoxy works really well, it creates a hard clear coating and only needs to be applied once. It's really toxic though so use it in a well ventalated area.:)

more pics and or plans?

has anyone made demascus out of 440 and regular steel?

I have a piece of 440c stainless steel, was considering forging some knives out of it and was wondering if anyone has any tips for working with this material?:confused:

Well California is burning again, this time it's the other end of the state:rolleyes:.

California Aggie // Jun 30, 08 // Fires still blaze across Northern California
Their are alot of them and it's makeing the air quite smokey, If the Midwest could send some rain our way it would be much apriciated.

2008 Interactive Fire Map - CA-OES
a google map with the current california wildfires marked on it.:cool:

what i found worked reasonably well was to take pieces of lumber, for me it was 2X6 cut them to the length you want then drill bolt holes through and sandwitch them together to the size you want with a couple of pieces of ten guage or heavyer steel plate, this has worked quite well for my 250lb anvil for a few years now and their is now signe of it braking down.

Take a look at "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Weygers. It includes how to heat treat rail anvils!

I haven't really because of the space constraint, if it wern't so much of a concern I would.

Frosty could you give me a link to CBA's website?

Does anyone have a source for a new hand crank blower? I was hoping to make a forge I could take off the grid but I haven't been able to find a source for blowers, I was considering getting a 12 volt blower but I'd rather not if possible.

Thanks for you input in advace
acoop101

Last weekend I had the fire lit for about 4 hours and got a very small amout that looked like the clinker on the right minus the rocks.
I have looked everwhere for coal in Calif., and can only find it at a ferrier supply in Sacramento, about 60 miles from me.
Comes in white woven plastic sacks. 50lbs for $29. Don't remember the label on the bag. I will have to look tonight.