arkie

Michael, your yard birds are far better than any store-bought ones. No chems, antibiotics, hormones, etc...just clean livin' and good eatin'. Same goes for the eggs. Can't beat yard eggs.

kyaw, welcome to the forum. The anvil looks really nice. You might want to recheck your measurements. From the photo, I measure that the length of the face is about 4 1/4 times the width. Your length of 10" and width of 5" are about 2 times length/width.

Michael, most of the electrolysis can be done with amperage anywhere from around 2 amps (slowwww...) to as high as 6-8-10 amps depending on how fast you want to de-rust. I haven't seen or read of anyone using more amps than that. I use a 6 amp manual and it does OK.

Nebula, speaking of "safety first", I would SERIOUSLY find some support for your brake drum forge. Bracing of some design is sorely needed or you're gonna find your drum full of coals dropping unceremoniously on the ground and might result in some personal burns as well. Poking around in your firepot could bring that thing down like a flaming house of cards.

If you are considering obtaining a battery charger in the future for your electrolysis projects, keep in mind that you will need a "manual" charger. Old ones are usually manual. The newer "automatic" chargers have sensing circuitry that checks (1) to see if you are indeed connected to a battery and (2) if the battery is low and needs a charge. When you connect to the electrolysis setup, the newer automatic chargers don't detect a battery and won't work properly with electrolysis. Some of the newer chargers have both a manual AND automatic mode, so just use the manual mode.

I searched Uvex's website regarding the Horizon flip-up glasses and nowhere did it specify they were for both UV and IR protection. The shade 3 and shade 5 glasses for welders are for UV, the main radiation from welding. Maybe you can point me to a specification showing they are for IR. The flip-ups would be nice.

It's a hook for hanging pots, etc. over a fire. Adjusts for height by moving from hole to hole.

ausfire, nice job on the hardie. Just curious, if you were able to weld the plate on first, then the bar, why not just weld the square bar directly to the tooth and skip welding on the plate?

Das and ausfire, you guys have inspired me....I gotta go out and make some spider yard art!!!!!

Charles, didn't you have a thread with pictures showing how you made and anvil and tools from RRT? Maybe post the link?

Ivan's recommendation is good. Be sure to put some cross bracing on the legs, maybe near the bottom to stabilize them. Something like 1/2" or larger rod/bar would be fine. That will reduce the stress on your legs-to-plate welds as well.

EJ, do a bit of searching around for blacksmith clubs or organizations in your area. There are quite a few blacksmiths in Missouri. You can get a ton of great and free information from those guys. We have a group in northern and central Arkansas, but that's a minimum of two hours away or further from your location.

Suggest you put in an air gate/blast gate that will slide back and forth to adjust the airflow.

Nice hammer, good video. You will enjoy using the hammer, for sure.

This may be insensitive to some (BTW, I plan on being cremated, for the record). Just the other day on the news they reported that a funeral home caught fire and burned. I wonder if that would qualify for a free cremation?

Too much trouble in my situation to dump and refill. No water outlet near the shop...I carry mine to it in 5 gal. buckets. I dropped an 80 watt bird bath heater in mine. So far, as low as 11 deg. F. the water has NO ice. The thing is designed to come on only when the temp drops below a certain level (probably around freezing).

Spanky, thanks for the info on the IR glasses.

Spanky, do you recall where you purchased your IR glasses, or did you just do a web search? I wear prescription glasses, so I guess goggles would be in order. I have already had to buy two sets of prescription glasses recently, so getting some of those in IR resistant is out of the budget.

When it gets cold, I don't forge....I just come in the house and READ IFI !!!!!!!!!!!!! (sucking up to Glenn, now....)

Ya never know what might be in the water, either!!! (think Flint, Michigan....... )

That would require some EXTRA LONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG tongs!!!

To uncoil a spring, I usually just measure around/along the spring for the length I need, cut it off and straighten that piece out...much easier!

You might consider sending your ophthalmologist a copy(ies) of your findings........

Ausfire, good that you are saving your wrench. Check further on your Coes wrench. There was a patent infringement lawsuit involving Coes and Collins in 1889 wherein their wrench designs were almost identical. Google either name and you will find some links describing the history of both and other info (too many links to post here). Regarding your pictures with the two wrenches, looks like there were several manufacturers making wrenches with that pattern. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/130/56/case.html

Culver, your tool-making is coming along nicely. BTW, that Collins monkey wrench you used for your twisting wrench is in some places a collector's item (google and research the Collins monkey wrenches). I recently picked up one at a flea market for $17.50 in mint condition. Checked up on the value and they had been selling for anywhere from $65 to $130. If you cut off the welded-on handle now and ground it smooth, it would loose any extra value, so just continue to use it as it. That large size wrench will be good for large stock. If anyone else runs across a mint condition Collins wrench, check it out before you weld on it.