Ian

considering a lot of folks (myself included) started out with big lumps of rail track as ASO's that is a GREAT lump of steel. The spark test and ring test may help you guage its carbon content but even if its mild steel as long as you work your steel hot it'll stand a fair amount of work before it starts to mar up. It'd make a great anvil base for a JYH then :D

Deepest forge fire I've worked was with Moony in Oz, that was an old truck rim with refractory to angle the sides. Must've been nearly a foot deep from the hearth table to the air grate. We filled it woth coke and it would happily burn with the sweet spot above the hearth table, mind you the blower was a big old thing that could float a tennis ball and we were working big stock. 30 tonnes of coke to keep the fire going was only a short wheelbarrow and shovel ride away

I'm with John, thats exactly what I've been taught and its what I do as well. If your patient you can hook out some real 'cowpat' style lumps, like a flat donut, and have a really clean roaring fire five minutes later (instead of the shrapnel you get if you dive in too early after shutting off the air).

George, probably the opposite. We used logs Lay the log on, rake up coke around it and leave, come back later, often much later, and turn on air. 99% of the time it'd fire back up. Drag out the log, water it down some and save it for the next time. The charred bit will spark it up again really easily.

I've met Brian twice, once at Ironbridge with the rest of his family and once when I went with a Blacksmith mate of mine (Moony) who came over from Oz to see him at his forge. I'd heard about him before I met him, seen his work and rated it but was suprised by how generous he was. I tried to lurk and just watch, but made the fortunate mistake of asking a question about how he got such a sharp clean outer corner on some square bar bent 90 degree's without thinning the corner. I think they were components of a gate. I'd hoped he'd just tell me, instead he showed me how and then went on and gave me a bit to try myself. He dragged the steel about so ruddy fast it was just impressive. I took another heat to get it done LOL. He said the one I did was good enough to try doing the other 100 or so he needed. Purely from an educational point of view I envy you those three years, I'd love to take some classes with him.

I'd have no issue with using that after a bit of a brush, nice find

"Get it HOTTER!" - Dale Russell "If you give someone your word then you KEEP it. If you tell someone you're going to do something then you DO it. A man who doesn't value his own word is NO kind of a MAN at all. So don't EVER give your word lightly " - My Father

Outstanding Adrian, truly beautiful work. Looking at it makes me think you've worked with Brian Russell maybe?

My latest purchase arrived this week and I'm pretty happy with it. Should certainly come in handy wherever it ends up going. For now it's living in the bosses cellar, along with several other bits of kit (I still darent tell him about the 'little' forge hearth in there. LOL) safely greased and wrapped up snug.

Oh thanks very much Steve! As if I don't have enough on my plate all I need is a hoofing great door knocker clattering my nose every time I nod my head . Even if it does look fantastic (hands up how many folks here have seen a TAPERED pineapple twist before?) I reckon it'll look better where it was made to go. Welcome to the site Manny, trust me, ask sensible questions and you'll learn more from this mob than you ever will with me.

If you mean to use a mould made of aluminium to contain another molten metal then I wish you best of luck and may I reccomend a good undertaker? If you mean how do you make a mould to CAST aluminium INTO then I refer you to the terms 'Cope and Drag' and 'Sandcasting'. I also suggest you google 'Backyard Metal Casting' as well.

I've heard it pronounced "To" and in 'touch' and "Yair" as in 'lair', and thats how I pronounce it. That being said in England I've heard Tue ( as in teusday ) iron as well. This is all with regards to side blasts though, for bottom blast forges it's not so clear to me what everythings supposed to be called. The blast goes through the same pipe the ash is dumped from, so technically only the part above the T junction at best could be called a Tuyere, but then it doesn't extend through the air grate into the firepot like a true Tuyere on a sideblast does. Everything below the T (on a bottom blast) would be classed as part of the Ash Dump to me. How about some answers from the text books?

Your pile of bricks, or even a hole in the ground will work, mine did. It's up to you what standard of work you can produce with them, but it will only improve with practice.

I know both Glenn Moon and John Nicholson personally and I can say without hesitation that they are both totally genuine blokes and a fountain of knowledge on these hammers as well as a heck of a lot of other stuff. My two favourite hammers were made with Moony and a lot of my favourite beer (free) was drunk with John. Great blokes and an asset to the site.

Can't be 100% sure but my 2p's worth is to try to choke the burner first. I also think that having a ton of dragon's breath is no good either, seems to me thats combustion going on outside the forge thus wasting a lot of BTU's.

I've heard of a few non invasive testing methods, one of which you've already tried (and because you say the hammer bounces back nicely makes me think it's not cast iron) the other is sound, cast iron sounds dull compared to the 'ring' of steel so how did it sound when you hit it with the hammer? If all else fails you can spark test it, cast iron has dull red sparks that don't split. Could someone else confirm what I've said? 12 hours at work with a ten mile bike ride chucked in means I'm tired and a bit foggy

I hope Philips OK, sounds biblical in the scope of the disaster. That said he's a Tyke, just plain harder to finish off than most.

Thats not faster than someone can blink unless my Maths wrong. LOL. Drawing faster than your adversary can react is the real test, 460 milliseconds would likely do.

As far as having an impact to a maker in England goes I see little here to concern me. Illegal to 'BUY', seems to be the big Hoohaa here, I see no mention of the word 'Sell' Beside which, if I do make a japanese style Katana then purely by dint of being a hand made replica I think it falls outside of the 'wall hanger' bracket this legislation is aimed at. I'd also guess my prices would keep non serious collectors/enthusiasts away.

Good excuse to play with Sketchup Frosty :D

Thats 300 to 400 milliseconds or 3/10th to 4/10th of a second on average apparently. I think I'd like to see that with my own eyes Youtube?

She's getting there mate, like that home made pulley

If its 280lb then it's twenty stone. I can lift that. Used to do it every day BTW Dale Try? Do or do not, there is no try :)

Ow do all Theres an anvil for sale at a local auction, its a double bicked type, the measurements are 39" long by 5" wide. The base is 17" wide. There's no height except including the stand at 28 1/2". The Auction list it as aprox 200lb in weight. Thing is that seems low given those measurements. Can anybody give me a better guestimate than that? You can see some damage to the top so this thing has to be heavy enough to warrent my attention, budget has to stretch :)

I might be way off the mark here, but we've used dimmer switches of a high amp rating to dial in the speed of the forge blower (which is a motor after all) could somthing similar be done to create a variable speed grinder? Even proper dedicated speed control boxes are available here, but they're expensive. Still if they'd work they'd convert a current cheaper non VS to VS right? So long as the control box and cheap grinder worked out at a decent saving on a true VS grinder I don't see a downside. Thoughts?