ironrosefarms

Here is one of the manuals that was listed above... Worth looking at... Basic blacksmithing: a training manual Here is the other Intermediate blacksmithing: a training manual

Scale is like your boss at work... it will burn you under the collar and leave a mess where you are trying to work. James

I agree... I just finished a spear, the blade and socket was one piece. Fanning out a half inch bar to be just over 3" wide makes for some pretty thin metal. I had concerns that even with just letting the piece lay in the fire and "soak" up the heat might be too much for this area that was about as thick as two business cards on top of each other thick... but I had no problem at all. Keep the air off the fire when the thin stuff is in. The only problem I had was with the "fan" shaped socket fully drawn out it took a while to soak up the heat as it was actually large enough and the right shape that it deflected the heat. It took a couple heats to get the socket wrapped around because of this but burning wasn't an issue.

You folks never cease to amazed me! The orphanage is almost the middle of the island so I will do some checking on the charcoal availability in that area. I found a site by worldbank that is very interesting if your willing to sift through a long long document! it is about 20 years old but paints a decent picture of how charcoal is made and used specifically in Jamaica. Jamaica charcoal study As for scrap steel? I know they have some rebar scrap from the construction (never been real fond of rebar for forging but...) Another great question for me to talk with the missionary in charge about. Those manuals sound like a great resource and I will see what I can find on them. Thanks again and any other ideas or info is more than welcome! James

I am going on a mission trip to a orphanage in Jamaica next summer. My original purpose was to help with maintenance of some equipment they own. Things like a John Deere tractor and mowers and some wood working equipment that is in non operable condition. Anyways, tonight my pastor called and asked me if I might be able to teach some blacksmithing to some of the older boys from the orphanage. The orphanage is continually looking for ways to generate income and to teach the young men and women ways to support themselves upon leaving the home. In talking with pastor further, I convinced him that building a forge is not much of a problem as with a bit of imagination I have seen just about anything made into a forge. I was already planning on taking tools down to leave there so adding a couple HF cross peins wouldn't take much more. As for an anvil, I know they have some I beam cut offs from some construction so I have already asked that those be saved. Now for my what I am not sure of... here I use coal, from what I can find from looking at the international energy council website coal and coke is basically not available in Jamaica. So that puts me to homemade charcoal. I need to find out what woods I will find there that may work to make a decent charcoal??? If not charcoal then what, by my understanding propane is also not a possibility. The orphanage is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Kingston and about the same from Montego Bay (the two bigger cities). I am told that tools and such are incredibly expensive and for many to far away to obtain. This might actually make a forge a worthwhile venture if a fuel source can be worked out. So thoughts and ideas on a fuel source? Anyone here from Jamaica? Thanks in advance James

gripe... what the wife has when you sell or give away the piece you made specifically for her... Not that I ever did that:o

welder19 and ptree thank you, welder19 if you have a specific brand by all means let me know... I have spent up to $18 on a pair thus far and couldn't stand them. My boy's think they are cool so they wear them... As for the sweat the problem is a few of them have a foam like bar on the top that just takes all the sweat and creates two streams into the corners of your eyes, a horrible design flaw. James

Prayers go before your wife and the family. Keep looking up and don't hesitate to take your wife's hand and pray with her. James

crap the stuff sold at the biggymart as iron work...

I have one that I use when I go fishing... A single window weight is just enough for calm days to use as an anchor, and it never comes up all nasty and weed covered like the other objects I have used in the past. For days that the wind picks up I actually use two or three more of them hooked to the first one with snap clips and it works great. Currently I have a pile of these things, must be 40 or 50 of them, so more ideas for uses is great!

Since I have restarted in my smithing I have really been trying to use safety equipment. The one thing I am having the most trouble with is safety glasses. I have now bought 4 different pairs and have had trouble with each pair. The biggest problem is them fogging up to the point I can not see. Another problem that I have had with a few others is they channel sweat directly into my eyes. One pair of them was goggle type and besides the above two problems they hurt. Working my paying job as the supervisor over 40 production employees, I know that the only safety equipment that works is equipment that is comfortable enough to be worn even when the boss isn't around. Well that is what I need is safety glasses that are comfortable enough to stay on my face and yet truly functional in protecting my peepers. So what are you using? I'm willing to pay for a pair that will work but don't want to keep buying pair after pair just to find out they are just as problematic... James

This is good stuff, keep it coming and please better pictures on the sharpening of a twist bit. It has always frustrated me that I seem to be able to sharpen anything except a twist bit.

I had a small leaf key chain that shot out of the tongs recently didn't see where it went and it was orange hot when it left. I took a few minutes and was searching around then I seen the smoke over in my wife's flowers (forging outside). Didn't do much damage but it did fly a good 20 feet away from the anvil. The worse I've been got by metal though came from my drill press. I was drilling a 1 1/4" hole in a 1/2" plate of steel for my dad. I had already worked up to 7/8" and the method of holding this plate down to the table had worked very well. However the torque when the 1 1/4" bit grabbed and spun that plate of steel around caught my stomach and sent me back onto my back side slamming me into a work bench. When I finally got my breath back and stood up my shirt was shredded and it looked like I had used the angle grinder on myself. I finished that hole then I quit for the day as I was just plain sore after that. Still have a bit of a mark from that excitement...

I have an old (very old) drill press, a 4 1/2 dewalt angle grinder (I've sworn off the cheapo grinders as I have a pile of about 10 of them I've burnt up), bench grinder, Miller stick welder, 25gal portable compressor, 200+gal home built compressor, 2 pneumatic die grinders, pneumatic hand drill. On my list of NEEDS (want is not a strong enough word when talking tools)... horizontal electric hacksaw, band saw, belt grinder, sand blasting equipment, treadle hammer, and a powered hammer of some sort...

Here is one of my anvils, however the other one is nearly identical. The only real difference between this one and the other is the other one only has one pritchel hole and has some very small chipping around the edge of the face, but not enough to concern me. I don't know for sure the brand or the exact weight but rough guess is 250 pounds. I've asked around before but never been inquisitive enough to find the time to see if there is any writing on the sides... prior to my purchasing this anvil it spent many years under an oil fired furnace at a auto dealership as a prop to hold up one corner. Originally was used when the dealership was just a repair shop making parts for Model T's and such. That stump is what I have been using for several years but it has seen just enough weather to inspire me to salvage a couple new stumps from an old maple that fell at the inlaws place this year. Excuse the mess, the anvil got pushed back into the clutter while I was laid up for a couple years after the motorcycle wreck, this one has found it's way out along with the forge and the oak slab N sassafras log table that holds my vice. if you look at the last picture you can see a glimpse of my drill press. Formerly driven with a leather belt from above at it's original home, now has an electric motor and foot operated power switch that was installed by the prior owner, weighs in at just over 850 pounds and cost me $50.

I AM MAN hear me roar:mad:!!! I need no reason to buy tools:D!!! Just permission from the wife:p...

Unlike many other addictions there is no 12 step program for this one... Which for most of us is a good thing! As for the cast iron, I have had to rebuild all the lower kitchen cabinets in my home to support the weight of our cast iron cooking wares, the old cabinet bottoms gave out from the weight...

Around here if you put up a brick structure for your mailbox they come and wrap a chain on it and drag it off. The guy just North of me built a brick enclosure for his mail box, rebar throughout, filled with scrap brick and then filled with concrete and they still came and broke it off drug it about a mile down the road... Currently my post is 4" Black iron pipe (I have no clue where it came from) the walls are about 3/8" thick then I filled that pipe with concrete. That post then is set into a pipe that is set into concrete in the ground with an ID just big enough to take the 4" black iron pipe. Overall the pipe sits 5' into the ground. The pipe has never been "injured" but it has always been a good thing that I can use the tractor to remove the pipe when we have had over sized machinery come down the road. The only thing that gets damaged is the mail box itself, I have 4 of them that I try and keep beat out and ready to install.

I was volunteering in a pioneer village and had my fair share of minor burns... Then the village organization thought it a good idea to allow a bunch of kids to join us in the shop. The shop was already over crowded but we was told that they still wanted the more experienced guys in the shop as well. So the first time a hot mild steel knife wantabee came around and caught my reenactment shirt on fire and putting that cool white ashy line on my skin from the metal I wrote it off and went back to work (not happy but still went back to work). Not more than an hour later another kid did the same thing to me. The best part was the village organization people couldn't understand why I was upset and packing my stuff. That was my last day there.

I have been considering going and buying one of those large mailboxes (thin metal) then taking one of the many destroyed small boxes to put it into the middle of the big box. Then filling the void between the boxes with concrete. My only concern is the liability side of things... I have become real good at taking apart a box beating it back in some reasonable shape of a mailbox then putting it back on the front line... errr I mean at the road side.

Fiery here use my USB cable... I don't mind a bit!:D

My favorite hammer is the only hammer I have that was owned by my Great Grandfather. It is a light weight at just 1 1/2 pounds but has a good balance. Recently I broke the handle and put on a new one, still trying to get it shaped back to the point of being my favorite again. Anytime I buy a hammer that has that epoxy plastic plug thing in the top of the eye I first take it to the drill then pry that plug out. Once the plug is out you can drive the handle out and start over in getting the handle set in the right way. Only after this has been done will I swing that hammer. I do this on the smithing hammers as well as claw hammers for the occasional carpentry... I just don't trust the epoxy plug system of hiding the cheap and often improper wedging of the head and handle...

Hmmmm, interesting breakdown of ages... definitely not the normal age group for internet users...

Hey John, stopped off and looked at the door and it is great. The pictures don't do it justice...

One of the hazards that I didn't notice being mentioned is when a building is being gutted for renovation. Often the drywall and or insulation can be filled with some real bad mold. Locally we just had some bad flooding and the mold issue is real bad. These molds are very toxic! Around here dumpsters are protected property and you can get into some pretty stiff trouble. You not only have to have the property owners permission but also the permission of the company who owns the dumpster. Even if you get the first you will pretty much never get the second thus the laws take on the trespassing thing! Now all that being said, man I have found some awesome stuff in the dumpsters around here. I seen one place cleaning out a building a few years ago as I drove by and seen a table saw going into a dumpster. I turned around and got permission to return after they was off that day. I nearly emptied that dumpster of it's contents to get to some of the stuff on the bottom. I didn't even take enough to fill my pick up truck, but because of how I shuffled things around the dumpster what was a full dumpster ended up being stacked and packed to only about 1/2 full. I dropped back by the next day and thanked them and found they had been separating things out on the ground with the hopes I might return because I saved them from having to order a second dumpster. That was by far the best dumpster dive I have ever had, the second load I took reaped $250 dollars worth of copper, and $150 worth of brass. Not to mention a slew of old tools and scrap iron.