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I Forge Iron

drason69

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Everything posted by drason69

  1. ive yet to make a 'nice' axe/tomahawk/hatchet type item. but i have made several knives...tools are cool. they help you make, um, more tools(?)
  2. hi 'so-steve' a note on rebar/rerod, ect...the stuff is basically whatever steel is dumped together at the foundry. sometimes high carbon, other times low. you never know whats going into it. engine blocks, tin cans, even *(gasp) some old wrought iron.....the posibilities of what its made of are endless.....(ok, ive made my point there i think) best bet, start scavenging if you cant find a scrapyard or fabrication shop to utilize for material. look in your own backyard, a neighbors junk pile, auto repair shop...anything that has to do with metal. somewhere, you will find something they call 'junk', but to you it is usable stock. ive made nice shepards hooks, s hooks, nails, and any manner of other items from old electric fence rods. they run about 5/8-1/2 inch round stock. check out auto salvage....some trunk torsion springs are about 3 feet long and about 1/4-5/8 or so. a tire iron may be short, but can be used for a number of things when heavier rod is needed. i made a bottom fuller from a grade 8 nut and bolt for my anvil. screw the nut almost all the way down, find someone (or use your own) welder to secure the two articles together (this was a 1 inch diam bolt about 3 inches long). then i just got a good heat (orange or bright red) and started drawing it to a wedge shape. then heated the threaded portion and squared it to fit the hardyhole. the end of the wedge needed a little grinder and file work, but overall it was done. not to mention i had made a tool myself, in the forge and with hammer and anvil....as i was informed 'the mark of a blacksmith'. try things, ask questions, watch and learn from others when you can. good luck to ya! *(my apologies if i have totally re-iterated someone elses post)* drason
  3. drason69

    Feathers

    ive made leaves before using round stock and drawing one end to a point. then flatten it out on the horn of the anvil to give it a beveled edge. doing the same on squared stock works quicker for me. just turn the square so that you are striking it from a diamond shape. clear as mud? [] then go to ^ maybe that will help (?) drason out :)
  4. i had the chance to use a vice like this once and fell in love with the tool. we called it a 'kick vice'. id love to have one built or found for reasonable (read that as cheap)price. they are nice to save yourself from losing to much heat when cranking a regular vice to hold your work.
  5. you can legally buy RR spikes from many scrap dealers. i ran into a guy last summer who had purchased the rights to a load of spikes and scrap rr stuff. he was hauling it north about 45 minutes away to a 'recycling center'. as long as the rr splikes are not on railroad property, i believe they are ok for the taking. unless you locate them while trespassing that is :)
  6. could be a part for a lage farm impliment. a bailer, combine, ect. a friend had a section of the main drive for a combine that broke. i tried talking him out of it, but i think he had plans for it when he got his forge going. try taking it to a tractor/farm supply place and see what they can tell you. :)
  7. i do plenty of the same.....'dumpsterdiving' scrounging, ect. anyway you look at it, you are being enviornmentaly friendly by saving the stuff from cluttering the landfill. in the end, you get something usefull or decorative from the treasures you bring home. im sure there are many significant others who feel you just 'collect junk'...until you make something for them or fix something they have broken. my favorite stopping points are a tractor supply and an atv business. both are on my way home from work at 7am. i also get a few bits from work (factory) as they throw a lot of usable tool steel away when something goes wrong with a machine. many factories dont see the 'potential' of there scraps, so ask around...the worse they can say is 'no', (in some cases it depends on who you ask as well) so try somewhere (or someone?)else. :D
  8. my rivet forge had a lever to power the 'paddle fin blower' it came with. but since it was pretty broken up when i got it from the scrap yard, i replaced the lever and gear section with the back geared end of an old kids bicycle. a leather belt is the connection between the two. an old disk plow blade and a section of steel pipe connect the bike parts to the forge. after removing the seat, i welded the two together. the tire was removed from the rim and a few holes and staples complete the leather belting (about 3/4 inch wide) i just grab the peddle and crank away. the next forge (2x2.5 foot cast iron pan) will be powered the same way, but with a 10 speed or mt bike as the gears and crank section. i built a bellows, but seem to have made some mistakes in the air box section (part that opens to blow air and closes to keep from sucking in the fire) i need advice on that i think :)
  9. sorry to hear of your loss sandpile here in WI (former iowan) i have been keeping the anvil heating thing in mind when i do get ambitious and fire the forge. i have a chunk of 4x6x 1/4 steel with a loop welded to it. i put this on the fire as i set up my tools and ect. the little anvil seems to think its ok. im not using my 110 anvil yet, so the little 40 pounder works and is sufficient for most of my 'tinkering' stuff that i do. i do have the other anvil (with no horn) inside the garage for bigger stuff, but i dont use it much. it had been reasonably temped here lately, but the last couple of days have gotten down to the teens (F). i will heat my anvil in the 30 degree F range and below, should i get off my butt to do anything during the cold weather season...to many horror stories about anvils breaking to make me take a chance.
  10. on my forge (a small 'rivet forge' i think) i just take some newspaper or wood shavings, add some small pieces of wood or lump charcoal, and a few pieces of coke. light the paper or shavings and let them burn and light up the wood chunks or lump charcoal. after these are going, gradually add a few more bits of coke and maybe some green/unburned coal. give it some air blast from the blower. gradually add coke/coal and give it more air. in a few minutes, you should have a nice fire going. best of luck to ya :)
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