Charles R. Stevens

I always like some kind of "dead man's switch" on electric blowers, just as simple as a air gate you have to hold open will suffice. Nothing like having the fire grow wile your back is turned. On the other side, when you have multiple irons in the fire you need to be able to keep it open unattended.

Also, it's common proactive to start coal fires with a bit if charcoal, it's a cheat but it gets it going easy. That is in the absence of a bit of coke. I don't see wy corn woul be any different.

Rich tends to candy coat things more than Tommas or Steve, but yes he definantly has a finess uncommon to the breed.

Here is an example

I often buy carpenter hammer handles, and reshape them. Tho a hand sledge handle may be the ticket for a 3# hammer. Find a handle that you think is apropriatly meaty and forge a eye drift to match. As to upsetting your stock, you need to deside if you want a stubby fat head or a longer one. Short fat heads have their advantages as to longer ones. Longer heads tent to magnify any cant to the way you hold the heandle. If you have exilent hammer control, yo can strike angled blowers with les exaggeration of your hand, as well as being more confertable at lower anvil heights. The stuby helps minimize of camber strikes and requires more exaggeration to srike anger blowes. Some times a hammer fat around the eye and small on the face has definant advantages as to moving metal also. It's all about compromise and what works best for your style of forging.

As to $60 shops rate, that's what a mechanic, or welder is charging in my neck of the woods, labor, profit and overhead. Yes profit is ontop of labor. Doesn't matter if its a hired hand or your sweat. Occasionally I get hired to help local welders with fabrication projects, I can produce some of the custome hardware faster than they can, so paying me for an hour or two to fabricate gate latches or heavy hinges actually increases there profit margin. Unless you are using exotic steels, I usually chalk up materials and fuel under overhead.

Under pricing can negatively effect sales in some cases. I learned this early on when dealing with horses. Occasionally I acquire a horse, and not being a horse trader I world try to pass it on for what I thaught was fair based on what it was. I'd get no interest in a $500 horse, but if I asked $2500 there would be a lot of interest. I figue that they want to know what's wrong with the horse at $500, wile I just don't have much in it, saint it a good home, and don't want to feed it. The same thing aplies to your hand forged work. It's pride and bragging rights. If it took an hour of your time to build, don't be afraid to ask $60, that said, if the first on took 2 hours and the 10th took 1 hour the 1 hour is probably the fair price.

You'll get it figured out. I still get to messing around and have the coal fire go out. A square chunk of 2x4 stuck in your coal fire when you are letting it idle for a bit will povent that. Can't sleek to corn, as to charcoal, in the same situation it just burns up the fuel when your not looking.

I don't care, but it would be a benefit for the next guy in your position.

Oh yea, it's an industrial pot. It's not the most fuel efficient for small work but its the bomb if your working on 4" stock. You need strikers and a big anvil!

Forging out the bits had an interesting article on temp, BTU per #, cost per # and # of CO per # fuel. Coal wone. Competitive as to charcoal for everything but cost, and beat propane. For temp, and BTU #

Hey, when you build your flue, I've seen old forges that deverted air up the flue to impove draft with smaller flues. So since you have two blowers... Migt be nice to revert some to you in the sommer too!

Lol, you are now officialy on lindas $@!& list. So your looking at a 5' deap fire pot? Big pot, it will be fuel hungry but it will heat big iron. Can you rope the wife and kids into swinging a sledge?! Sight search IFI. There was a descusion on corn heard some where. If you can't find it as again, Some of the old guard has some good Google foo.

Dont feel bad when i first starte playing with charcoal (as an adult) i had to ask and Tommas among others helped me out. Charcoal likes a deaper fire, say 6-8", coal is happy at 5-6". This isn't counting the 2 or 3" mounded up over the steel. So a relitivly shallow pot requires you to pile up more fuel. The issue is getting the O2 all used up to reduce scale. To shallow and you have an oxidizing fire and to deap a carberizing one. Are you building a side or bottom blast?

Didn't know about the silent m, happen to know the name to the rams that pulled his chariot?

It runs a 4.4L 4 cylinder premium block. I picked it up as a privat sale for $6,000 and had to put $2,000 in it. Lot more truck for the money. If you need a 1 ton and don't want to spend $ for a Ford, Dodge or Chevy.

Boot scrapers, especially from draft shoes. Trust me, women will want them.

No harm, Steve isn't the worst offender (have you looked at my posts?). Is it square, and say 5-6" deap or is it round or octagon and 3-4"? The deep square is a big pot, good for general forging and will happily heat big peices ( get a striker or 2) the other one is originaly for shoes and rivets. It burns les fuel, and has to be managed a bit different to get a deap enugh fire and it will generally be smaller (say 6" ball) you will have fuel and ash mounded up to make a 6" deap fire.

As Molinar ( I know I misspelled it, but I believe that's the name of Thor's hammer) suggests, build a duct to adap your blower to the tyre. Might meet an air gate to controls the air. As I understand it, corn will clump as it converts to charcoal, something like coal coking. The smoking, burning corn isn't your fuel, it's being made in to fuel, it's the clean burning coals you want as fuel. So like a coal fire you "coke" the corn, keeping the coals in the middle and bank fresh corn around the fire ball to insulate it and to provide converted fuel. Might need a watering can to keep it to a reasonable size. Sight search burning corn on IFI, I know it's been discussed

You can always flame you took it home for safe keeping...

Forger, As to everyone wimping out and erring on the side of safty. I think there are a few reasons for that, one if I pass on my bad habits and some one looses their house, life or a love ones life I will feel guilt, and regret. Second I don't want a prosses server showing up on my door notifying me I'm being sued for offering patently unsafe advice. Lets explore an example or two, "you don't need safty glasses, just squint that's what eyelashes are for" now I admit to doing this more often than I should (now that I'm older my opptomitrist apritiates the return business to replace my prescriptian eye glasses) but this is woefully bad advice, a case of cronic ignorance if you really believe it and pass I on as good, safe practice. Another would be to advise some one "don't wory about the galvinised steel, the zinc will burn off in the forge" again bad advice, a practice that has cost at least one of our members his life. So, I like many others will continue to "wimp out" I will first give you my take on what is ideal safe practice, then I will show you what I do in its absence. If you think that makes me a "wimp" fine, you come on down here and I'll take you out next time I have to shoe "Milly" the 18 hand Clydsdale mule. I think mule wrastling should be an olimpic sport.

A simple steel duct 10 or 12" works it draws a lot of shop air with the smoke, improves your working conditions a bunch. The side draft, or "super sucker" types are off to the side for when you get something big and unwieldy in the forge.

When you get better hammer control, and have garners mor knowledge either revisit the hammer or make a new one and save that one for students so the don't jack up your anvil.

If you really want to go for heavy fullering bend a peice of 1" over in the hardy and forge and file it to a half round. Now you can stay off he horn and near the waist

B'ugly (the truck) is a 2002 Isuzu NPR. Cost a heck of a lot less than a new 1 ton. Nice truck, very heavy duty, reliable and economical to run. Really get a 4# hammer, and draw a blunt point, then forge it back. I'm not as experienced as Brian so I flatten one side, turn 90, flatten the over side, then turn 45, flatten, then 90... I go from round to 4 sided to 8 then 16 then back to 4 and start again. With a high orange or low yellow and a 4# hammer it's not all that bad. Just hit it with determination. As to the stand, go for sturdy. My traveling anvil sets on 2x stock rivitted to gether, bolted in an angle iron frame w the legs welded to that. The shop anvil has a larger block, (16" high) setting on short stubby legs. It's clamped down tight.