FieryFurnace

Thanks! 'll pull everything out now and again, but the forging 4/5 days a week are gone for now.

For the last 4 months or so I have tried to be a blacksmith, construction worker, and farmer. Soething has got to go and unfortunately it is the former. I was planning on going to three more events this year but I simply don't have time to make stuff. I hate going to an event with a dinner bell, two hooks and a leaf neclace. (I.E. unprepared) I have about 30 regular products, and the preveous list was what I took to the last demo.:mad: I haven't forged since the last demo I did. (about 3 weeks) I haven't even had time to look at my blower to see if I could fix it.
So, I figured I'll just quit for the next year or two. (until we slow down a bit) Sure I pobably will not be able to makeanything when I start again but, maybe I'll meet a smith to apprentice under in town.
Thoughts?

I wear glasses because I don't like the idea of contacts. I also don't liek wearing safety glasses. They are too cumbersome and tend to fall off my tiny head. My granddaddy makes glasses for a living so he made me soem special pair. My everyday pair is a auto shading lense but is also made from safety glass maerial. My reenacting pair is clear lensed but still made rom safety glass material so I can forge and reenact safely and authenticaly. Anyway, I prefer the regular glasses with the safety lense.

Hey Doug, I didn't punch a hole. That is spot welded. Impressed ya for a minute huh!
Congrats on the demo CWBlacksmith.

The demo!


Also, here are pictures of me forging in uniform...you like me hat?

Well, somebody must have cursed me or something! I arrived at the demo this morning and set up. About 2 hrs later my blower COMPLETELY froze up on me!!:mad: I borrowed some tools from my neighbor, a woodworker, but was unable to fix it. Couldn't forge for the rest of the day. To make up for it I came home with $120 more than what I went with. That's with no booth or reenactor regestration fees.:D

Can't help ya. Just make sure the can is empty!!!!!
boom...boom...Boom...Boom, BOOM, BOOM:D:D:D

Got a Civil War living history tomorrow. I'm gona set up the forge, and Lord willing I'll be reenacting as well.
I've had some folks ask for pictures of the cooking grate I posted about earlier. I'll try to get those posted Sunday afternoon!

I'd try to cut it down a bit before heating to make a horn. If you cut up from the bottom you will be able to bend the steel all of the way around.

First, they are not stupid questions! I asked some of the same ones.
The I-beam will work. If it's thinner near the edges then stay near the middle. If it's over a quarter of an inch thick then that's great. One thing you might consider is getting it cut to look like an anvil. Clarification...get a horn cut out on one end. . A hardy hole would be good too. (A square hole in the anvil)
I'd stick with coal about the size of gravel. If it's too dusty then little bitty pieces of REAL hot dust tend to fly out and land on you hand. (I think that they have homing devices built in that automatically lock on target...your hands, arms, legs, face, etc.) I haven't done this yet, but I do not suggest wearing sandals when you forge!!!
I NEVER try to worry about coking. I have enough to worry about...flying bits of coal, steel catapulting out of the pot, what I'm making, what am I going to do next, where's my hammer, not that hammer-the other one, now my steel is cold 'cause my hammer was missing, so on and so forth.
Good luck! And keep the questions coming! If I can answer them ,it makes me feel smart!!! (Frosty will probably be playing with that one!!!)

We have had a couple of them fall out of a cone. Remember the phrase, "run around like a chicken with it's head cut off." That came from real life experiance. Funny thing is, without a head, they NEVER run into ANYTHING, and they ALWAYS run strait toward YOU. Sounds weird, but if you want to come help on butcherin day we'll show you!

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

We don't scald so we don't worry about the smell.
Here are some pictures of the killin' rig. Dad welded it and I did the camera. I didn't get any pictures of my welds. I'll get them later!

Here is a picture of my boat that I posted a while back. I got the rigging done. (I forged the hardwear) I need some lights now.

You will have to wait on the pictures! I'll try to get them up later.
My little brothers carry the bird upside down from the pen to the killing "cones," me or dad cuts the head off and drains the bird into a bucket, (up under the cone) I cut the wings/feet off and begin skinning, (we don't pluck, we skin the bird) dad finishes skinning, mom cleans the inside of the bird, the bird goes in cold water with apple cider vinegar, (kills anything on the bird, organically) finally my sister cleans the bird inside the house and packages it. We can do 10-12 an hour.:cool:


The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

Well I had my first welding class today. Did pretty good; my first welding class was on a special order! We also welded a chicken killing rig for chicken butchereing day. (today and tomorrow) We have killed 15 and we have 10 to go. What did that have to do with smithing????:confused:
Thoughts?

I went to someone's house the other day and found a very good aprox. 75 lb. anvil in the back of their barn, topped with an old vice. I asked the old lady whose it was. "It was give to my husband a loooong time ago" was the reply....And I stopped right there! :)
I have a question! How do you upset the end of a piece of steel? Do you just heat the end up and hit it vertically on the anvil?
Thoughts?

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

I am making two Civil War cooking grates today. 3 ft. by 2 ft. I will post pictures later.
How should I finish them? If I use oil, I would have to have a rather large tub, and it would a very large amount of oil. Paint, untraditional and unsafe for cooking on.
Thoughts?

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

Let me measure mine, and I will try to get back with you tomorrow. Pm.

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

"Everyone thinks I am crazy, now I am going to prove it."

"Invention is the mother of necessity" Yes, I did write it that way on purpose. Think about refrigeraters and micro-wave ovens. They were not necessities when they were invented, but they were after they were invented. My sister, she got tongue twisted.

"Fight On!" It's the name of a book.

The kdismith,
Dave Custer

What's scarfing?

The (rather stupid) kidsmith,
Dave Custer

I agree sabre! The only problem is I like to have a ringing anvil at demo's, It's like being on a loud speaker. It gets people looking!
Another stroke of good fortune, I have a friend down in Ga., and last time I spoke to her, she said that she new someone who would give me an old anvil. The next time we go down thataway I'll be checking into that as well. Idealy it would be bigger so I could use it as a shop piece. Anyway I hope that pulls through as well.

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

I have never lit anything with a forge fire, excepting grass from coal falling out of the forge or a hot cut piece.
I did manage to light a 30 ft. tall rotten oak tree with a brush pile fire. 400 ft from the nearest water supply. We spent 5 hrs putting that one out!
Another time someone put an old PVC cement can (half full) in our burn pile. It blew a pin sized hole in the side of the can, shooting a 2 ft. flame out of the side. Unfortunately, the pressure inside the can built up faster than the flame released it. The result...boooooooooooooooooof! It blew little pieces of burning cement all over the yard, including the trampoline. The trampoline is now retired.
Now that I said I have never burned anything with a forge fire, I will probably burn the barn down tomorrow. Untill then I will remain,

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

I tested the anvil, and it has absolutly no ring. It does have a good rebound though.

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer

I don't know much about cast iron but I can tell you a little about fire pots. I use mostly 3/8 and 1/2 inch steel, and I find that 3-4 inches deep works good. As for the grate in the bottom of the forge, I have always left the bottom solid and drilled holes through it. It works fine! I have only had one problem with that, and that was a clinker melted into one of the holes. It only has happened once in a year and a half, and all you have to do is punch it out. Support, anyone?

The kidsmith,
Dave Custer