arkie

Frosty, thanks for all the info on the goats. Pretty interesting. Maybe the goat at my place did come from the herd up the road after all...being a goat dairy farm. Sounds like you might have raised goats at one time. :)

Got it...thanks. Some really intricate work with those.

Are the Nigerian Dwarf goats there wild or domesticated? If domesticated, used for milk or meat? Most of the goats around us are a bit more slender. We have a goat milk farm just up the road from us, but they aren't as big as this one was. Yeah, they are pretty relaxed around strangers. I almost couldn't get this one to go away :(

I have a couple of Q & D tongs...good quality, I enjoy using them.

Got me on that one!!! :P I would use regular smithing-type rivets, but I haven't figured out how to get the hood into the firepot to heat the rivets in place....besides, I'd burn a 3-4" hole where the rivet WAS supposed to go. :unsure:

Bob, I have a brake drum forge similar to yours. I'm about to fab a hood for it, but planned on fitting it on the end of the forge near the firepot, but on the end of the table not outside of it. Your idea of mounting the hood on the outside would give me more accessible room on the table and might work out best for me. How does it draw with the piece sticking out over the firepot? Does much smoke flow out around the hood?

I didn't have a flatter and needed one in a hurry one day...no time to try to forge one. As David mentioned the "one man band", and Francis' comment as well, I made one with a piece of axle, 3/8" plate and a handle of 1/2" bar with a pineapple twist. Wish I would have had some 1/2" plate instead of the thinner 3/8", but so far it's holding up well. This one is not a hammer but is a struck tool. I did preheat the axle and plate with a propane torch for a considerable time prior to welding. The welds look like Fido's B*tt, but they have held up well. Some day I'll make a real flatter.

Ray, to add a comment to the excellent ones from DSW, if you have a 4 1/2" angle grinder you can cut the metal with a 1/16" cutoff wheel. Just slowly move it along your cut line, but be careful and don't get the wheel in a bind...not pretty. I need to build a hood for my brake drum forge; just need to take the time to scrounge up the sheet metal. Here is one that was posted on the forum a while back and probably will be how I build mine. You might be able to modify the measurements and also change it from an upright to a side draft with some imagination. I'll probably just fab mine with pop rivets and sheet metal screws.

I've never used it on a handle...did finish a gun stock with 12 coats once...came out beautiful! On my handles, I use a 50-50 mix of boiled linseed oil and turpentine, well rubbed in. Later, after it dries a bit, I wipe it off. Don't like a sticky handle.

Looks like you and Frosty are spot-on with the goat ID. "She" jumped up on every big rock, table, cart...all around the shop and house. That made the goat VERY unwelcome VERY fast. Glad it moved on.

Well, I'm no goat expert to say the least. I figured the rams had horns and the does didn't, but again, what do I know? I really didn't notice if "it" was carrying juevos or not. When it started down my driveway, it stopped suddenly, listened, then took off in a hurry. Probably heard someone calling for it. If that's a dwarf, I'd hate to see the full size one. Here's another couple of pics. Maybe you can zoom in and see if it has a package...I couldn't tell.

Billy goat! He just wandered up to the shop and invited himself inside. Walked all over the shop, checked out the shelves, then decided he'd seen enough and left. Must have been a pet belonging to someone near our house.

Got mine at the local HD also.

DSW, Here are some pics of the blast gate you were referring to :) You recalled the way I made it...very good memory!! In the beginning, I used a 1/16" cutoff wheel on an angle grinder to start the slot, then used a sawzall to fine tune it to the thickness of the scrap sheet metal I used for the gate. Pop rivets keep the gate in the pipe fitting. I just slide it back and forth with a rod handle. I use a fart fan and attached it with a piece of aluminum flashing and big hose clamps. Interestingly, most of my forging on the brake drum forge is with the gate only about 1/4 open. I only crank it open more with thick steel. Clint, good luck with the forge...enjoy it!!

If one were to use angle iron or square tubing, I would think the square tubing would be better. If the angle iron is split and folded over, the hardy tool would rest on the angle iron with a gap/space on the opposing corner...might not be very solid footing.

Nice job! Did you remove the old rivet in order to reshape the jaws, then make a new rivet?

Those are pretty novel! I see what you mean about two hammer blows...and the potential problem with the kiddos. UGH Maybe those can be used for "blacksmithing acupuncture" :wacko:

Best thing I like about using the nails is that you don't have to futz around making the first head. I'd like to see your mini knives!!!

This may seem a minor thing, but yesterday I needed some small rivets in a hurry, about 1/8" diameter or so. Looked around and found some 3" duplex 16 penny nails just the right size (they are actually 3/16"). I didn't want to loose a small piece of thin rod in the firepot or burn it up, so I decided to use them. They have a thicker end-head than most nails, really suitable for one "ready-made" head on a rivet. Just quickly grind or file off the extra "head" on the shank, cut to length, insert in the workpiece and hammer the cut end for the second head. I heated mine, but some may just hammer it cold. Worked like a charm!

Neat contraption! BTW, in the mining industry, those are called "jaw crushers", not shredders.

Very nice patch knives!! (I am referring to the ones with the antler handles and holes in the blades.) For a patch knife you don't need a strong blade, just a sharp one... :) You got me thinking now; I need to make a patch knife for my muzzleloaders!

If some don't fit your hardy hole due to being smaller, you can build them up with angle iron. I have a 1" hardy hole on my H-B and someone gave me some hardy tools that had 3/4" stubs. I welded a piece of 1/4" thick x 1" wide angle iron to one corner of the 3/4" stubs, making the new size 1" across. If you have some other size hole or stubs, just weld the appropriate thickness iron to two sides of the stub. Great find, BTW. A little rust removal and wire wheel cleanup and you're good to go!!

Dodge, I really like the idea of the plastic buckets racked up like that. I've got a bazillion short pieces of metal as well as some anvil tools that are not used often and the buckets with lids would allow me to store them outside. Now, I just need to find someone with a lot of cats!!!!

And, I have seen some "smiths" turn out some crappy work with new tools as well... The tools don't determine how the work will come out, the person with the hammer will do that. My first tongs consisted of an old pair of slip-joint pliers with rods welded on for reins. Pretty crappy, I'd say, but they worked marvelously until I got other tongs...not new, but used. They worked fine, too.

For AC welding with 7018 rods, you'll have better results if you use "7018AC". The "regular" 7018 rods are designed for DC welding.