Quenchcrack

I will be setting up the new forge this weekend and will take a few pictures. You can see photos of the forge (2 burner Blacksmith model) at the Diamondback Forge Website. He also has some videos of the forges in action. I was unsettled by the recommendation in the set up booklet that the forge be put on top of refractory bricks due to the high heat. I haven't found a retail supplier of refractory bricks yet but I will work something out.

Welcome, ctom57. What exactly do you want information about?

A leaf blower would create an inferno and blow fire fleas everywhere. A gentle flow of air is all you normally need. Look into a bathroom fan/blower.

I did call, no answer. Well, The Texas Spring Fling in Oldenberg is in April and I am betting there will be someone there with what I want.

Bonehead, your wife is a saint!

Got my new 2 burner Blacksmith forge today. Looks well made. I won't get if fired up until Saturday, though. Yes, I watched his videos but I have a ball valve on my Whisper Baby and only use it to turn it off and on. Not sure I would remember to flip the leaver on every heat.

OK, 103 miles north of Houston, about 2 hours. Closed on Mondays I guess. I got there at 9:30 AM and it was closed so I went on to my appointment in Shreveport. On my way back home I stopped by about 4:30 PM and it was still closed. Just inside the chain link fench was exactly what I wanted to buy: a rivet forge and blower. 10 feet from my fingertips! Yep, he has a LOT of stuff that he apparently is in no hurry to get rid of.

Tom, google maps show it SOUTH of Lufkin on the left (west side). Is there any sign to let you know where it is?

where does one find a Snake Door? And if snakes have no arms or hands, how do they use a knocker?

Sorry, I am on my second glass of wine.

I might suggest you consider making a flatter that is the width of the blades you make. One or two good smacks with a 3# hammer on the flatter tends to take out a lot of the dents and waves. "Get it hot or hit it not"

Glenn, I will just tell him I am you. :-)

Nevermind, I found it: Paul Nerren's Junk. Maybe the economy has pushed his prices down to earth.

Does anyone remember the name of that Junkyard in Lufkin TX, along HWY 59 that had all that blacksmithing stuff? I am going to be going through there next week and I would like to shop.

That was a heck of a dialog considering it all started over the definition of Damascus steel from a now-defunct Japanese Blade site!

Actually, Volume 9 of the Metals Handbook, published by ASM, states that nickel alloys up to 96% nickel can be readily etched with a mild mixture of HCl and Ferric Chloride. I would assume A203 would respond quicker than, say Nickel 200 or 270. I thought Ferric Chloride was the etch preferred for etching pattern welded blades? As for theW2 having no nickel, thats true. But the A203E and the W2 must have the same carbon content due to diffusion and the carbon is what gives color to the etch. So if the carbon content is now uniform, and the nickel does not pose a serious resistance to etching, where do the light and dark bands come from?

Carbon does not diffuse into or bond with nickel as it is not a carbide former, but 204E is not nickel , its a steel alloy that contains some 3.5% nickel tho, there is a difference.

OK, the 204E is not nickel, it is a low carbon steel. That means the carbon will diffuse into the steel part as you state. After forging it has the same carbon as the W2 (which is now lower since it is donating steel to the lower carbon areas). So if the nickel is substitutionally alloyed into the 204E it will be randomly and uniformly distributed throughout the iron matrix, not in bands. If nickel and carbon are randomly dispersed through the 204E and carbon is the same as the W2, what causes the light/dark bands?

Key, check out on the DB website why he will not supply a forge with independant burner controls. The guy has done his homework.

Frosty, be careful! What ever ya got going in the photo, it looks too much like work!

OK, I need Jim Hrisoulas to explain this to me. The use of acid to etch a metallurgical specimen dissolves the IRON and leaves the CARBON replica in place. High carbon areas etch dark and low carbon areas etch light. If the carbon diffuses and homogenizes, what causes the banding? Microstructure? Pearlite is iron carbide in a ferrite matrix and it etches dark. Ferrite has basically zero solubility for carbon so it etches light. But in a pattern welded blade, the carbon content is the same all over so there should be no inhomogeniety in the iron based structure. It should all etch the same. And if the carbon diffuses into the Nickel, why does the nickel still etch white? Inquiring minds want to know.

Key, so the ball valve is either all the way open or shut down completely? And the needle valve trickles gas to the forge? Why can I not do it like the DB valve does? He has a set screw that can be adjusted to allow the valve to be full open or partially closed back to the same position as per the placement of the set screw. I guess I just don't know why you need the needle valve. Please explain this as we don't want accidents.

From looking at the photo of the idler valve on the DB website, it appears to be a single ball valve mounted onto a fixture that can be adjusted to provide a stop to the travel of the handle. I did not see anything that looked like a needle valve.

Interestingly, my Whisper Baby has an idler valve on it and it is 8 years old. It is a standard WOG ball valve and it is used to adjust the heat in the forge. I occasionally use it to idle the forge. I think I can buy one of these at the local Ace and rig up a way to mount it for a few bucks. I am looking forward to being able to heat steel up to a temperature beyond a bright red. Maybe my arm will not be so tired at the end of the day. But then, I might just confiscate the idler on my WB and put it on the DB. They build a Z-buner for the WB. Yeah.....

I finally ordered a new Diamondback 2-burner Blacksmith forge. I checked ebay and he did not have one of these for sale there so I had to pay full price. Hope it will be worth it. Prolly gonna keep by Whimper Baby for club meetings.

If you cannot control the cooling rate in your forge, heat a heavy mass of steel along with the H13. Put the heavy mass in the ashes/vermiculite/kaowool or whatever you have below the H13. Cover them together and let the heavy mass keep heat in the H13 longer than just letting the H13 cool by itself.

One of the problems with copper and iron is that copper will literally melt into the iron grain boundaries and cause it to fall apart. This is called liquid metal corrosion and is why smiths generally do not mix copper and iron. Note that many tanks and anti-tank aircraft fire sabot rounds made of copper. Upon impact it is liqufied and it eats through the armor. What happens inside the tank is not pretty.