Charles R. Stevens

I think the path traveled has its own rewards. Now you get to improve your setup. Slip a half thickness fire brick in the bottom, fabricate a end cap and a set of legs and be proud of building it yourself. Blacksmithing is usually about "doing it the hard way" at least at first. Then you figure out what is efficient and what is fun. Now go to the steel yard and buy a peice of 1/4 square, and make "s" hooks. And such. Rebar is very inconsistent. Some parts of the country it's low carbon stuff, others high carbon. It makes it hard on a beginner.

That's "demo'n" for the gramerical and spell'n impaired.

I'd go ahead and put it back to gether and oil it. Then crank it with your hand over the outlet, see if it spins easier and with les noise. Like a hvac blower they are designed to work with back pressure. If it is still noisy or draggs ( doesn't free wheel a turn or two after you let off on it) then go back in and look at the bearings.

Hard to get more personal than hand made for some one you love. My first thaught was to put it on a wooden base with a small plaque, but they may be to commertial looking. Adding a bow would be a pta. I think I'd be tempted to give them a nice card and be done with that. May by a small colection of pictures and your production drawings. I'm always a fan of gifts that people use every day. That way they think of you when they use it. If you whant to add anything to this peice of art, it would be something just for him and just for her.

I'm not an expert by any means, bu my experience leads me to balive that it doesn't weeken it. It may work harden and their for induce stress fractures. I have also experienced a perceived softening, such as a bent nail. Now if this do to the nail tempering do to internal friction heating the metal of some thing else I don't know. I would cation you about straitening a bent wheel. It can be done, and their are shops that do it. But it should be at least magnafluxed, and balanced having a wheel fail at 75+ would ruin your, or some one else's day. This said I straitening the outer edge of wheels, and I have beat some truck rims on off road rigs pretty ugly to get them to hold air so I'd wouldnt have to hike out (in AZ and other points west that can be a 100 mile hike) Best bet is to let a pro do it, if it fails catastrficaly at least you have there insurance to CYA.

Francis, the rebar I've Ben getting in my neck of the woods gets way to brittle with just water. I use it mostly for fence building and landscape spikes, but hay I have forge so I have to point and head it right? I do use it for disposable tooling once and a wile and hay, it has a cool texture so I waist time with it some times.

We are nothing if not passionate.

Tommie sticker, uses an intrical cup. There is a tutorial on anvilfire, by bill epps.

Some folk use betanite clay from cat litter (I know I mis spelled it) I don't like it because its to expansive (expends when wet) so it's prone to have large cracks on drying. You can buy fire clay from a masonry supply, or koline from a pottery supply. Otherwise stove cement woks, as dose castable refractory. Some swear by cement mixes. I don't like them because the com rest turns back to cement when you get it real hot.

I had an opertunity to look closely at a five leged IV stand today (my better half's mom is in the hospital)I would have to say that incorporating that in the leg design is a good ideal.

It's certainly not about the quality of the stock, the economy of recycling or such, it's the smile on a persons face when they recognize it was a rr spike, or an old horse shoe or rasp or... Things become cliche for a reason. Just because 100,000,000 hoof picks have been made out of 1/2 a horseshoe dos t mean I'll stop making them. As long as people appreciate then.

Upset, drawdown, weld it up, make it round, make it square, or flat, or .... Welcome to blacksmithing.

Thanks for the heads up Bryan. 3DK, I m actually a fan of Glenn's side blast 55 forge it wouldn't be hard to make it look like an alldays and onions

I'm not advocating the idea, but if one chose to go ahead with it one would need a co/fuel gas monito, a low o2 minister and a fire alarm. I would also recommend fire suppression equipment. I have no idea how much ventilation one would need. If I was intertaining the idea of a forge indoors, I would look at charcoal. Again the same safety and protective gear as above, but fire places and charcoal grills are used in homes and restraints so the nessisary air quality and fire safty issues are easier to address. Forges have been set up in basements, it wasn't uncommon practice in buggy shops. That said. I wouldn't do it. Not in the basement. The fire danger of a stray piece of red hot steel is just to great. Invest in a shed or trailer.

Shop vacc may be to much blast for charcoal. A cheep Walmart hair drier with the heating eliment disconnected might be enough. I've seen an old automotive heater blower in a cutdown coffee can. I added an old flore starter switch and a rheostat you have instant on off (deadman switch) and air control. (I used to be an automotive mechanic before reinventing my self as a farrier)

Look in blue prints under Hofi, he had some long articles on punches and drifts.

I see a possible entry in America's funniest home videos. Personally I try to stead away from customers that are "Cronicly Ignorant" if he really wants a work out bar, let him reperpose the bar out if a weight set. Then I don't feel bad when he hurts himself.

Most of the time the blast blows out a good persetage of the ash. when you start, fish out the cap, open the ash dump and walla. Should clean out the forge before you lay a new fire anyway. Not my idea, but I shamelessly stole it. The first rendition I know of used a 2" solid with a 3/4 hole, then some smart @$$ went to the pipe cap. I've used pipe cap, some kind of fancy pipe fitting from the gas industry (scedual 80, about 8" long male pipe with a domed, closed end) and some god offull thick walled stuff they use in the oil field. 2" with a 5/8 wall. Then I got smart and went side blast ;-)

The real salution is to show mommy and her brat the door like when we were kids. Didn't see brats ridding bikes in K-mart like you see In Wallmart. Little snots. would have had red butts, I know I remember my mom bar owing a mans belt in K-mart. Right in the Ille with the flashing blue light. Not exactly the "blue light special" I was expecting. Little bit of going and cheek, 3'x 2" plate and coil spring (think play ground) then let the little monkey. try climming it.

Popular mechanics did do an article back in the day, they also revisited it just in the last few years. As Tommas points out, your going to have to fill the sink near level, except for a deep bowl in the middle. Make the bowl about 8" deep and about the size of your two fists put to gether. A nice trick is to take a 2" pipe cap, drill a 3/4" hole in it and make your bowl a bit deeper to acomidate it. That way slag runs down beside it and wont pool on top of it. The advantage purported by PM is that a double bowl sink gives you a forge and slack tub in one unit.

I haven't done exactly that, but it comes to mind that in a business space it needs to stand up to just about anything. I would actually consider using a heavy round plate, like the base of a miccraphone stand or flore lamp base. Then add legs as braces and decei decretive elements. (Think 25# weight plate) not unlike the concrete filled base of a mechanics grinder or vice stand.

Well said, Rich. But like everything else, don't discount the non associated, non certified farriers. To use Steve as an example. I certainly would trust him with wiring my home or shop (that's his day job, and he is fully certified) but I would also trust him to make me a knife my life depends on. That's his passion and often the quality work by a passionate hobbiest can exceed a proffesinal.

A-36, like rebar isn't a steel type (ie 10xx) it's an engeniring spec. It can be anything that meets that spec. So sometimes it will be mild steel, other times it will be bordering on medium. As long as it meets spec. The comparison chart looks like its comparing the engineering spec. For different construction grades. I don't know how y'all in Oz define the composition. In the us it's with the 10xx. We're the first two numbers is the alloy (10 being plane old Fe) and the second set being points of carbon (don't remember off hand if its .1 or.01% bit I think it's the latter) then there are some other steels that are defined by the maker or other standards, like H13, S7, O1. Gets confusing and I have to go look it up. Some of the others know it all by heart, but that's not me. I think there's a tutorial around here some where that covers it but my GoogleFoo isn't all that strong. Yes Tommas, you have walked me threw Google sight search, and I still have to go back and refresh my memory as to how you said to do it.

Good question Frank, and I don't know the answer. I was taught the same technick. Certainly sets off your hand made's vs kegs (tho MFC's are shaped like that from the box) and makes for a better fit at the heal with out the rock catching overhang at the commissure. If like me you are always trying to learn, you read old manuals, new manuals, articles and talk to other farriers (especially old timers and vet/farriers) you descover that the old methods are being upheld by new research (often being claimed as something new) when horses stopped being a nessesity we lost a lot of knolege in the horse world. I see way to much "John Wayne did it this way". Sorry for rambling, I think I caught "frostiitis"

Your making a pot, not an insulated kiln. Besides the Portland cement deter images under heat (it turns back to cement) if you insist on a admixture use water glass. Clay and sand, or clay and grog (ground up fired clay) any wear from 70/30% clay to sand to 30/70% clay to sand will work. I'd go with the fat mixture. If your looking for a home brew refractory try http://ezinearticles.com/?Depression-Refractory-Mix-For-The-Backyard-Foundry.&id=85797. But in truth clay and a bit of sand just narly moist. Say dryer than moms cookie do, rammed in with a wooden mallet. I'm getting as bad as Frosty, I should have just just posted, "what Frosty said" and been done with it.