Rob Browne

Joe, Do a bit of reading on industrial deafness. Be very careful of your ears, like your eyes they are the only pair you get. Earplugs are very useful like safety glasses in this game. Cheers BTW. I have really enjoyed all your vids :)

If atmospheric conditions make any difference it would have to be affecting the fire surely. Once the metal is heated past water boiling temperature the water would become insignificant as it would just vapourise off and to start with there is not much. As for the fire rainy weather could make a difference but remember, we often wet our coal before using it anyway. As for gassers it could change the air fuel mix a bit and for getting the temperatures necessary for welding this could be critical if your burner is only just big enough to start with. I wonder if during hot, humid weather we are just a bit too quick to get away from the heat and just pull the job out a second or two earlier than we normally would as its not very comfy near a hot forge any time let alone with high humidity. Now balance these ideas with all the electrons used in their creation :)

OB, welcome to IFI and the buggerin steel family in general. The others have beaten me to all the advice about knife makin as a starter but give it a go and see where it ends up. We want pictures. As for gettin coal, I live near Lithgow, reckon I can get coal easily? Not on your nelly, had to talk my way into Clarence but when I did it was a supermarket. As for the anvil, just stick a length of rail into the ground so its end on and its a great starter. I know lots of people who never "progress" past that and are far better than me at workin steel. Another bit to toss arund is good as well. Don't get too hung up on the anvil bit. As a starter project how about whippin up a couple of sets of tongs? They take most of the skills you will use in knives and make makin/holdin the knives much safer. BTW How about goin into the Ozz Roll call thread in the Everything Else forum and addin your name. We like to feel special with all these blokes form the north lands Keep us posted and keep askin questions.

For any coal lovers out there I get mine by the trailer load from Clarence Colliery near Bell. Its good and burns down to a fairly clean ash. If you need names and phone numbers PM me please.

Its a beauty! Talk about a serious air supply.

Amazing work. Its the only way to describe it. As for your location. Cheers from hot, sunny Sydney, very different to your location.

That was a brilliant film, especially for someone who has never seen a sled like that before. In the end the crack didn't matter at all but it caught my eye as well.

Forging in a yurt! It would have been an interesting experience if you had touched one of the powerlines on the way home with that setup :o

Nice hammer. I'm jealous.....................

No help on the hammer build BUT what a lucky 11 year old! Mine gets to strike for me and crank when I can catch him. If he keeps going I would love to see some of his work when he is 20.

It doesn't take the same volume of air so you will have to reduce your air blast.

Or use the H beam on end to mount your sledge hammer head to a more convenient height.

Not a problem here, too dry. Well there has to be some advantage to not having any rain..............

Don't know about the source of the idea but it sure is beautiful work. Treasure it.

VERY nice and symetrical. I find making two identical pieces the hardest part of any project. Really well done.

Thankyou :)

Looks like I'm going to the "dark" side and will set up a gasser. I love my coal forge but it takes quite a while to get going and to shut down safely so a gasser appears the way to go for a quick forge in the evenings. Anyone have a source of itc-100 in Aussie or can we get it from the States? Thanx

You will go a long way before you need a larger forge than that! It looks great. How does your chimney go? If it was lower it would draw better? Just some suggestions....... Cheers

My thoughts on the water heater is that you may end up with a rather large forge which will take a lot to heat if you aren't working on big stuff. My friends who use gassers have more than one, most have a coffee can forge, a larger single burner and some have big forges. All for different projects, and because they like making them.

Just go to Woollies and get a container of borax from the laundry section. Then you are off and running :)

Fire bricks in the forge bottom are OK BUT not very portable :)

Looking good BUT don't be in too much of a hurry to give the railroad the flick. It has lots of great curves and edges that are handy for lots of jobs. Move it to the side but not out the door. Cheers

Really nice and simple. With the extra mass the bits to be welded should hold their welding temperature for a bit longer.

When you are running a coal fire once you get it started you keep it surrounded by wet, green coal. This coal heats and gives off the volatiles, expands and becomes very light compared to the original coal, this is breeze (commonly called coke). You are actually buring the breeze in your forge fire which is effectively a charcoal fire. You constantly make more breeze by slowly pushing the green coal in to the fire so more is being converted to breeze as you work. This stops the panic when you run out of breeze and are forced to pile on green coal which produces great clouds of heavy, smelly smoke. Good fire control ensures a virtually smoke free fire with a constantly refreshing supply of breeze. Breeze is very easy to light and gives off very little smoke so you always keep the breeze from your last fire to get the next one going. Also, a coal fire will keep burning while the air is turned off, a great characteristic if you are using a small bellows or hand cranker. Now, real coke is made from coal that is baked to force off the volatiles so these gases can be used in industry. The left over is a hard sort of glassy rock which is hard to light and needs a constant air supply (an electric blower is essential or a blower slave). After saying the bad bits it is virtually smoke free as the voaltiles are not there to form the smoke and you don't have to worry about making more, its already there. Pick your poison :)

Welcome to IFI Rick. Look forward to stories about your progress in this hobby. Cheers