KjZitur

For all those interested, check out these two videos. The first one is some HEAVY forging and the second one is some ol' boys doing a little forge welding.....pretty cool stuff..............ken Revver : find Revver : find

Ezra, If the reason for a portable forge is to do some demonstrating at shows or events I wouldn't give up to quickly on the rivet forge. I did art and craft shows for almost 25 years between 15 and 20 shows a season and I did demo's at most of those for all but the last few years. I can tell you from experiance that you want to keep everything as light and portable as possible. My rivet forge served me well all those years. I did add a hood that I made out of one of those conical freestanding fireplaces that used to be popular to help get rid of some of the smoke and ash....ken

My wife is my assistant (read apprentice/striker/in charge of the finnish and shipping department/secratary/gofor/personal motavational speaker/BOSS...just to name a few!!)...we work toghther 24/7....couldn't get along without her!!!...........ken

The smell of smoldering cotton always gets my attention!! LOL........ken

How about making the tool rest out of flat bar instead of round??...say 3/4" or 1" thick X 1-1/2" wide or so....just a thought..........ken

I usually soak the roller chain in parts cleaning fluid for a day or so and then wash it with hot soapy water to get the chain as clean as I can before I start. For a Harley primary chain, I cut it in half and then fold it over and mig weld the loose ends to a suitable handle such as a piece of 3/8" x 1-1/4" flat maybe 30" long. I preheat the chain in my gas forge to an orange heat and then with light hits under the power hammer I hit the chain on the flat side (with the roller pins vertical) to stiffen up the billet (some fellows will tigweld all the links in the chain). I then go to the anvil and with a light hammer try to knock out as much of the scale and other crud as you can. The billet then goes back in the gas forge to soak and to get hot enough to flux. I then place the billet in my coal forge to slowly bring it up to a good welding heat. (I usually do several billets at one time, thats why I preheat in the gas forge and weld in the coal forge. It just speeds things up!) When the billet reaches a welding heat I begin welding under my power hammer (150lb. Fairbanks) I don't let the billet get to cold (just under a welding heat) then reflux and bring it back to a welding heat and continue under the power hammer. A Harley primary chain takes about 3 or 4 welding heats to get the billet down to say 1/4" x 1-1/8" bar. I hope this info helps......good luck...ken

I think George says it all.........CMT.com : Loaded - Watch Thousands of Videos for Free, Country, Music, Movies, Shows, Broadband

My anvil is knuckle hieght (32"), and so is my coal forge and a couple of the tables I have so that if I have a longer piece to work on I have a convenient rest handy.........

scrapman, here are some pix taken from the book Wrought Ironwork. This should explain how to make a scroll jig. Hope it helps.............ken

When I was a starting out as an apprentice the old timers would constantly remind to "quit swingin' that hammer like an old woman and Hit the dang thing!!!!.