Earthquake

I am building a forge with a mild steel box, I has a 3/8" bottom and the sides are made from 1/8" plate and its about 20" square by 4" deep. I am thinking about putting a layer of refractory cement about 1" thick around the sides and bottom, Will this be thick enough? Can I use the cement you can get at Home Depot that comes in 1/2 gallon buckets? Thanks for any help. Casey

I found out this is the same company that made Parker shotguns, which are very expensive when you can find them. Later on they were bought out by Remington. Casey

I was over at my Aunt's house and she asked me If I wanted a old vise my Uncle had, Well being the tool junkie I am of course I said yes. It a Parker from the 30-40's, I am debating weather to sand blast it and repaint it or leave it in its original patina. I have it apart to clean it up and lube it, what I like about it is it has smooth jaws, I work with a lot of aluminum and and brass. Casey

New guy here, I need to make a stand for my anvil and it is hard to find big logs here. what would be a good alternative, I had thought about getting some Burke tube [thick cardboard round form] about 14-16" in diameter and filling it full of concrete about 1" from the top. after it sets I would set my anvil on it and pour it full of quickcrete to form around the base of the anvil to keep it from moving around. before the first pour had set I would have put in some all thread for anchors and make some straps to hold the anvil. I would also stick a few pieces of 3/8" all thread in the side to use for hanger brackets. It would probably weigh more then any anvil I will ever have but wont be too heavy. Does this sound like it will work? Casey

I wont say I'm newbie to blacksmithing but I dont know a lot, I was working with this Russian named Boris when he came to the shop I used to work at, [universal Brass] He was a master blacksmith. This was in the late 90's, he got xxxxxx xxx at the guy running the shop and moved to San Diego but I learned a little working with him. He had a 100lb "Little Giant" power hammer that would do a days work, I made a few sets of custom door handles with it, I was the Brake and shear guy in the shop for 10 years and then I started running the waterjet machine it was a lot of fun, I also did some machine work using the lathe and mill for the company. Like I said I like to make my own tools when I can, I built a English Wheel and modified a Harbor freight bead roller while working the WJ machine, they let me do just about any thing I wanted to when we were not busy... Here's my English wheel... It was not quite done yet Here is my Bead roller that started life as a Harbor Freight unit... I cut a new frame from 3/4" steel plate and replaced the hand crank with the aluminum hand wheel. I made a VW engine stand... I had it painted by a guy that did some of the painting for the shop. I designed a few parts for old VW's and sold a few [i wish I had acess to the WJ now, I have guys that want some of the stainless parts I was making] I hope they start a new shop soon so I can go back to work. Sorry to sound like I'm bragging, Casey

Hi my name is Casey and I live in Las Vegas. I am tring to set up a small Blacksmith shop in my back yard to make knives and do some other blacksmith work, I am in the process of building a forge... The base is made from 3/8" plate and the sides are 1/8" plate, I am using a fan motor from a air hockey table I got off of E-bay, same with the tuyere. I am tring to find a hand crank fan but have not found one yet. I am looking for a foot switch to turn the fan off and on so I dont need to use my hands. I was thinking about lining it with refractory cement, do you think it needs it? I have a couple of ASO's I bought one before I knew much about them and a friend of mine dad gave me the other one. The one I bought is a 110 pound-er that is cast steel, its one of the ones from Russia with the diagonal Hardy hole, I am thinking about making a high carbon steel cap for the 55lb cast iron anvil and brazing it on around the edges while the surface is still straight... I also have a PEXTO stake my uncle gave me... I made a stake holder out of a brake drum for a semi truck, I was going to use it to make my forge but I think it would have been too deep. I am a welder/fabrcator and I used to run the water jet machine at the shop I was working untill they had to close there doors, I like to make my own tools and this made making them and other things easy. I am looking for a good anvil but they dont show much here in Vegas. I will be using lump charcoal because its hard to get coal here in town and I think its illegal to burn it here anyways. Are there any guys on the forum that are in Vegas? Hopefully I will be up ad running here soon, I have a jack hammer point that is dieing to become a knife. Casey