MattBower

Now that I think about it, Don Fogg once mentioned that he had welded up cast iron into steel (with some wrought, by the sound of it). It took a little searching to find it, but here's his very brief description of what he did: In the process of finding that I also ran across a post in which our own Ric Furrer mentioned pattern welding CI with wrought: http://forums.dfoggk...showtopic=17864 I note that he seems to indicate that he gave it up long ago, which may suggest something about how practical the process is. But, y'know, if you're in a bold and experimental mood, there's always that . . .

But build yourself a foundry and have fun!

From watching Mark Aspery and Brian Brazeal videos on YouTube, I have learned the value of drawing over the horn with a rounded hammer face. It has made a significant difference in my forging efficiency. I like the horn and a rounded hammer better than more aggressive fullers; I find the horn moves metal much more smoothly. I find it easier to get a nice, even taper and avoid ugly mistakes. (Obviously there are some circumstances in which a small radius fuller is absolutely necessary -- but there are many in which it isn't.) Phil, the key to learning to weld is to use wrought iron. It'll make you look good. With wrought, I can sometimes almost deceive some casual observers into believing that I know what I'm doing. ;)

Pic?

Well, just add your search terms to this: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=site%3Aiforgeiron.com

Don't be too sure. Find a place that repairs forklifts. (Someplace that rents them might be a possibility.) I hear tell that they scrap forks at the first sign of trouble for liability reasons, so if you take 'em some trinkets you might luck out. Can you weld (arc or gas, not forge)?

I started forging with charcoal, and I like it a lot. It'll do anything you want a forge fire to do, including welding. Charcoal-making is pretty labor intensive, messy, and somewhat smokey, which may or may not be a problem for you. (It goes better if your wood is broken down to relatively small, uniform cross-sections before you char it.) Charcoal fires also need to be somewhat deeper than coal fires, generally, in order to get the best possible heat without excessive scaling. That could be a problem with some brake drum forges. And the radiant heat from a charcoal fire tends to be more unpleasant than what you get from a coal fire. But charcoal is a great fuel, and just about ideal for someone with more time than money. Note that, as Thomas P will tell you, it's possible to use charcoal without actually pre-charring your wood. You can get a wood fire going, and producing charcoal, while you're working in the forge. You can then transfer burning charcoal directly from the wood fire to your forge. It may not be the most efficient method -- sounds like efficiency isn't a big concern for you -- and I'm sure it's possible to outrun your charcoal supply if you're too aggressive with the blower. You also have the issue of the smoke and heat from the wood fire, which may or may not be a problem. But it can work.

Welcome back!

How about a big piece of forklift tine?

Thomas's point is that the advantage of turning a rail on end is that it puts a lot of mass directly under the hammer, which makes the anvil effectively much more rigid. But with a section that is only 8" long, turning it on end puts very little more mass under the hammer than using it like you were. You would see very little improvement that way. If a section of rail is 3 feet long and you stand it on end, then you've suddenly put a whole lot more mass directly under the hammer and you'll see a big improvement in efficiency. I would want something larger and heavier for a treadle hammer anvil.

Oh, I know -- but few of us have a Bader with a 1/2" contact wheel, or an apprentice, and those who do wouldn't be likely to ask the question. ;)

Judging from how heavily the whole thing is built, I bet it can generate quite a bit of force. But the fine pitch on the screw will make it awkward for forging operations. It's definitely no fly press, although it's a very distant cousin. Try it out and see what it can do!

Although some of Brother Thomas's suggestions are tongue-in-cheek, Cratex in a rotary tool will probably get you most of the way to where you need to go. If the fuller is really rough, make a scraper to clean it up first.

Well then, you're one of those rare people for whom a Ti knife makes sense! But I can't tell you how to harden it, or even if you can. Ti is very different stuff from steel. There seems to be a lot of info out there on Google and especially Google Books, but it's all pretty technical and I suspect you'd have to a good bit of reading to make sense of it. Good luck!

I realize we may seem like a bunch of killjoys. It's not that we don't want you to have fun. We just don't want this, or worse, to happen to you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s0dRcdyizU

So my pin vise arrived from McMaster-Carr today, along with a few tiny HSS bits. The vise maker is General Tools. Once I figured out that there was a second collet in the handle (I was starting to get slightly agitated that the first collet wouldn't grip a #75 bit, when the package clearly said 0"-1/8"), I inserted the 0" collet, stuck a #75 in it, and tightened it down. It gripped the thing fine -- but I couldn't seem to get it to hold the bit straight in line with the long axis of the tool! At first I assumed my fat fingers that were the problem, but I held the collet up to the light and I can clearly see with the naked eye that one of the kerfs used to make the jaws drifts off at an angle from the center axis of the collet. So yeah, that's not gonna work. Grrr. I bet this wouldn't be a problem if I'd paid a little more for a Starrett vise. I didn't think about it at the time. McMaster is convenient and fast, and I was buying the bits from them anyway.

OK, just to be clear, anvilflower is pulling your leg. Don't buy a four foot length of A2! Or any A2 for that matter, as a beginner. Although it might be somewhat amusing for others to watch, you would not find it amusing to forge -- especially given the cost.

Start by reading these threads: http://www.iforgeiro...__fromsearch__1 http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/23026-what-kind-of-scrap-is-strongest/

You can strengthen Ti through some heat treating processes -- quite different from the way you harden steel, I think -- but I'm not very familiar with them. A little Googling tells me that it requires pretty precise temperature control over fairly long periods of time. And the maximum hardness of your Ti is probably somewhere around 40-45 RC, which is pretty darned soft by blade standards. Frankly, Ti makes rather poor knives. It's good for certain special purposes because it's extremely corrosion resistant, and non-magnetic. But if you want to make a knife that gets really sharp and continues to cut stuff for a while, your best bet is good old-fashioned high carbon steel. I'd save the Ti for fittings. Ti forms some beautiful (and very tough) oxides when heated.

I don't think it's feasible, as a practical matter.

I think it depends how you value your time. I find tong-making very tedious (although I enjoy watching Grant's tong-making videos -- I wouldn't find it quite so tedious if I had all those cool toys to play with). I'd rather do something else with the limited time I have at the forge. But making your own is definitely a valuable learning experience. To add something on point, I'll say that I don't love V-bits for holding flat stock. Box jaws aren't nearly as versatile as v-bits, but I do find that the former give a much better grip on flat bar. A little slop in the fit isn't that big a deal, so 1/4"x1-1/4" box jaws would probably do fine for you.

Usually that's true, but there's always that one guy whose wife or mother is a potter or enameler with her own kiln, something like that. So I try to remember to ask.

I agree. The guys who smelt iron say that it's difficult to produce a uniform product. They usually end up with bits of near-pure iron, bits of steel, and bits of cast iron, all in the same bloom. Of course forging it down and repeatedly welding it will homogenize many of the variations within the batch, but batch to batch there are still likely to be variations. Much depended on the skill of the man running the smelter or, later, the puddler. It is not like modern steels, which (with a few exceptions) generally have chemistries within a fairly narrow range. I have read (possibly on IFI) that it was common practice in the old days to test each batch of iron when it came into the shop, to learn what its working properties were.

These guys ask between $2 and $6 per pound, more for nails. http://www.wisconsin...rought_iron.pdf I have no idea how fast it's selling, though. The rail presumably would sell for less because it'll require a lot of breaking down for most purposes.

I'm already sure those are wrought from the corrosion. Not all WI breaks with the stereotypical green stick fracture. It depends how highly refined it was, and, I assume, the chemistry of the iron. I have some old WI that has very fine slag inclusions and is fairly brittle. It also hardens up a little in water. (I don't think it's shear steel, though I suppose it's possible. I do wonder if there may be some phosphorous in it.) It breaks more like steel than traditional wrought. Modern rails in the U.S. are approximately 1070. But I'm pretty confident that what you have there is wrought iron. Great score!!