Flaming S Forge

That is one serious looking piece. Nice job.

Welcome. That is a fine looking piece. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Good morning, Reb, I assume the picture you wanted was of my knife. I did some spark testing on it and got some crows feet. Then I tested a chisel I made that I know is tool steel and got close to the same spark pattern. I know there is some carbon content in that shoe. However, with a file test, the file will just bite the slightest. My chisel, the file just glides. So, my thought on horseshoe knives is they are more of an ornamental conversation piece, but they will cut a rope, skin the bark off a branch and cut your own finger while sharpening. It's not a beard shaver though. People will probably buy them because for some reason their is a certain mystique about items made from horseshoes. I'll have to test some of the other shoes I have. Like I said before, I had some that I coulddn't drill and the file would just glide across it. I wonder if it was similar to "work hardening" from the horse beating the shoe. Now about the picture. My main idea was to give it a primitive look. After I had it forged, I ran the blade over a rough sanding belt to give the blade a bit of a texture. Applied bees wax and hung it up for display.

That is really a neat looking piece. Funny thing, I did alot of stained glass work several years ago and was just thinking the other day of what I could do with my leftover glass. You have inspired me to get serious in my quest to incorporate stained glass in some forged projects.

I'm not aware of any charcoal grill that has a blower as the air source. Charcoal is made from wood. Wood burning stoves have the air source coming in over the fire as opposed to under the fire. Charcoal normally burns the same way. The exception being when used for forging you want the blower going in addition to the natural top air source to turbo-charge the fire for faster forging heat. My very first forging was done with a Fisher wood stove with no blower. Loaded it up with hickory and white oak. I got more than enough heat and within a day or two, I built my first coal fired forge. Another factor will be how much charcoal you use. A small amount probably would benefit with a blower. You have to experiment and see what actually works for you. Since I never tried the forge grill concept I'm giving you more of an opinion than fact. However, as stated by azIronSmith, make sure all the coal is removed. Last thing you want is to ingest sulpher and tar. Let us know if you do it and how it works.

Nice job. I like the fish tail scrolls. I guess next you'll be making 2 matching end tables since the 3/4" is so much fun to hammer.

I don't know why it wouldn't work if you design it right. For the firepot I have forges that range from 3 1/2 to 4 inches deep. An idea I would have for you when grilling is to have something built up along the sides of the firepot that has some height adjustments to lay your grilling grid onto that. If you put it right on your pot you will probably be the new king of char-broiling cremation style. Also, I don't think you would want the blower running while grilling. Just my thoughts. Good luck.

Excellent informative photos. Thanks.

Hang in there and keep trying. Eventually you'll get if figured out and you will end up with a piece you will be proud of.

I use a pritchel hole hold down. Reb, I like your idea with the chain and stirrup. That idea is going to the top of my to do list this week.

I'm in Schuylkill County. Not exactly a next door neighbor. You are welcome to stop by anytime if you like.

I wonder if really all horse shoes are mild steel. Reason being I've done several projects with horse shoes and have had to do some annealing in order to be able to drill holes. I'll have to dig out some of my shoes and do a little experimenting. I have a horse shoe knife out in the shop and it has a pretty keen edge. That bad boy will get some serious testing tomorrow.

Don't forget to check out any weekly auctions in your area. I recently lucked out and got a post vise for $15.00. It took a few years to find one in a reasonable price range. Where exactly are you located in Eastern Pa? Maybe you are not too far from me.

I was making some split crosses today to replenish my stock for the upcoming demo events. I got the idea to make some split thunderbirds (eagles) . Here are 2 prototypes with minimal detail. Now that I know the concept will work, I have to come up with a must have design so they will sell. The one on the left was wired wheeled and then heated to draw a little color. The one on the right was just wire wheeled. Both were finished with bees wax. I can see these used for necklaces. What else could these be used for? Any comments or ideas are always welcome.

I agree with refinements for the head. If I get a chance to make some more of them I will definitely fine tune the details. Right now it has that cartooney look of Quick Draw McGraw. The young ones on here might not know who he was. Frosty, I like your comment about the Vikings. Now you have me thinking about making some sort of Viking head gear. Ha.

Yesterday I had an idea pop into my head to try to make a friction folder with a horse head. I usually don

That is a sharp looking forge.

That's a good looking piece. Maybe one of these days I'll give damascus a try.

$7.00 per pound which includes shipping sounds like a great deal. I pay around $7.00 per pound when I buy my wax directly from a local bee keeper. Plus I have to drive a few miles to his place to pick it up.

Looks like your young fellow is off to a good start. It is nice to see the young electronic generation get involved in the real hands on crafts. My son does woodworking. I keep bugging him to at least let me teach him some basic blacksmithing. Hopefully he will attempt it some time during my life time.

I have been using a Lincoln welder for over 10 years. The model is SP-100. It can use either flux core wire or if I choose to hook up the gas and change some wires around it will use the solid mig wire. If you plan to weld thin stuff like sheet metal, the shielding gas is necessary. I have only ever used flux core wire with it. Most of the welding I do is under 1/4". Migs have two main controls. Wire speed and amps. Look for one that has more than just a high and low amp setting. My Lincoln has settings from letter A to J. It gives you more control depending on the heat you need for different thickness metals. My back up welder is a Century brand which was made for Lincoln in Poland. Cost was about half of the Lincoln. It only has a high and low heat setting and doesn't have the rugged features as the true Lincoln. It works okay for what it is but the true Lincoln is my every day unit. Miller is another top of the line brand. They market the Hobart brand which I never owned but it is supposed to be a good choice also. Hope this gives you some usefull info.

I remember those good old days of getting a soda, bag of chips and a candy bar for 25 cents. I'm 58 and the time surely is going too fast. I'm getting that Mr. attached to my name way too often. I remember talking to some fellows years ago that had just retired and they told me they were busier now than when they were working. You know what the truth really is? It takes alot longer to get the same amount of work done that you could do in one day before. Now it might take a whole week. That's if you even feel like doing it. Ever bump into an old classmate and think wow, that guy got old. Then you go home and look into the mirror. Yikes. I did too.

Depending what kind of blower you have hooked up you can install an air gate to limit the amount of air you send to the forge without messing with the motor rpm.

Check out blueprint #133. There are many different ways to build a working coal fired forge. Also do a search for forges in the forum. Loads of information there.

That is definitely a touching poem. We can all be thankfull for what the men and women in the military have done for us.