Charles R. Stevens

Go with a side blast like the like the 55 forge, it can be an old wash tub or sink for that mater. A brick pile iOS nice to start playing with so you can get working fast, a cheep Walmart hairdryer and about 10min worth of surgery disable the heating eliment so it will live longer. After you get an idea how, then you can build somthing more.... ... Eye apealing.

Nope, it makes a cleaner hole in thick stock, the flat ended ones work in thin stock. And if their masproduced then they need to be dresses like a new hamer, anvil, chisel etc. I bet some one can guide you to the link where Brian talked about it. I'll try and find it but my google foo isn't so good.

We have had 3" in the last hour, and the storms keep back building. After the last 3 years it can "rain 40 days and 40 nights, and wait for the sewers to back up"

First get some air space underneath the forge, then place a sheet of aluminum on top of the table. The aluminum reflects 98-99% of radiant heat, so that and a small air gap sould help.

If I may inter a few things for you to consider in making your choice, and as your life may depend on it it is your choice. I would choose a design that, would be easyer to replace in the field, if you were to break it. As to shafts, what grows in your forests that are readaly a avalable? Bamboo and rattan are both good , light and strong, and I believe readily available in your part of the world. As to bamboo, drill a small hole in to each joint to prevent heat from spitting the shaft. I would chose a shape that can be readily used as a knife if it is broken off the shaft, as well as having A butt cap, preferably of a 3 or 4 sided long point. I wouldn't make it longer than your arm span and as already said, conferrable to grip.

Naw, Frosty I ment it in jest, or atleast good humor. I have all the respect in the world for you good sir :-D

I'll own that, and a well deserved chastisement Frosty.

I'm certainly not a welder ( or weldor as some manuals say to delink ate between the machine and the operator). But these are my thoughts ( fully expecting the prows to laugh me out of town). Mig's are by far the easiest to learn to use. Once you have it dialed in just point and shoot. But since you are talking about aloy steels, you have to match the filler to the steel being welded. If you change aloy then you have to change wire. Much easier and eccanomical with a stick or tig to change filler as you are using rod. I have used all three, and between stic and tig I prefer tig, but only because I learned to gas weld first, and holding the arc at a set distance, and feeding in the filler is more natural to me. Econamicaly the stick probbably makes more sence, as you can pick up reversable AC-DC 220 units fairly cheaply then store the rods in an old fridge with a desiccant bag. I like the hxxxx out of my mig, and it's the go to for most mild steels I grab the stick for heavy stuff, or when the Oklahoma wind is trying to blow away my shield gas, lastly the tig or good old fashion gas torch depending on what I'm working on. I know all I've done is mudy the waters, and I can hear laughter and some naw shiny of teath from the pro's

Just thinking out loud... ...a hardy tool base, with a square punched hole indexing a square shaft with a shoulder and a light spring, just enugh to lift the punch so you can move the material in place... But hey what you have works, and it's certainly not an emarasmant to look at ( don't see any "fleas and mange") but it dose inspire others.

There isn't a diferance, but for some reason the math types chose to express it that way. Besides that's how I remember it, and after raising two daughters being able to remember anything is a miricle! If the math hurts your head, no problem as my old shop teacher was fond of story boards, use a piece of string around the outside to gage the pully, double the distance around reduces the RPM of the driven by 1/2 As to a jack shaft being less expensive than a larger pully. Maybe, maybe not. You have to by two pullys, and two pilowblocks and the shaft. Unles you scrounge them up. That said, two big evap cooler pulys as driven pullys, and two evap driven pulys with a jack shaft should get you a significant degree of slow. If you use somthing like a salvaged treadmill motor, they are stepper motors and use a controler. Just dial it in to the speed you want.

In rail line welding, the thermite reaction was carried out in a large crucible, designed for the job. The two sections of rail were set with in a prescribed distance of one another and a casting flask was built around them. The super heated molten iron was pored in to the flask, melting the rail and forming the weld. Pay up you insurance and get your affaires in order befor playing with the stuff. Do your research as to safe handling, both of the thermite and the resulting molten metal. The reaction produces a melt of much higher temp. Than is usually in countered in smelting and casting, so it takes extra care. Don't work with this stuff on concrete. If the crucible or flask fail the resulting explosion from the Spaulding concrete will be desasterus.

Nice work, clear instructions. Professional job. Be proud of yourself.

In a indirect fired retort you burn about 1/3 of the wood in fuel under the barrel.

Sweeps are long gentle bends in plumbing pipe as apposed to abrupt turnes. Bends restrict air flow, sweeps less so.

Might have to relive on or the other. A one inch impact socket is built to a much closer tolerance than other your typical hardy hole or hardy tool How big is the socket? If its large enugh a large peice of whitled down to fit or a peice of pipe might work with out welding.

Try looking at the black powder forums, some of them have very fancy retorts, one used a double barel stove kit, and mounted a 30g clamp top inside the top drum as a retort. Those guys are after very high quality charcoal. I found reams of stuff by googling charcoal retort, and checking out the images. Can't beat Frosty for simple, effective and quality. Rarely do you need to trim the hair off his advice to work for that mater.

As for another alternitive insulation that may work for the original question, is either papercreat or straw/slip infill. Both should be able to aplied directly to the inside of a steel building.

Descusion wouldn't light a fuse, it should lubricate the thinking gears. The use of wood shavings for bedding, and the use of short stemed weat has let to farmers just leaving the straw on the ground. Raising the price for erosion control, gardening or crazy new wave building. If you can keep its feet dry with a damp corse of some kind, and put a good hat over it it holds up real well. The usual recommendation for slab on grade is to raise the bails 4 to 8 inches above the flore, that way when the plumming breaks the bale wall doesn't get wet. I've seen that done either with foam insulation on the slab, or block insulated with foam, It should work here in Oklahoma. it has worked in Australia, Georgia, nebraska, arizona, newmexico...To name a few places. Acualy have less problems because of the earth scratchcoat and lime plaster than with convininal construction as condinsation is less of an issue. I'd recomend the use of a rap around porch in oklihoma. To keep rain from blowing in and eroding the plaster of the walls. That said, their have been fantastic failes to, not installing a damp corse, not protecting the top of the wall from water infiltration from a roof leak, water line leaks (run lines under the wall or threw conduit) misuse if stucco and vapors barriers. Not taking settling in to acount for structural bale walls.... The big hitch is labor costs, and the way contractors bid on things. Standard bidding based on square footage will screw you on any "alternitive" construction method. As will "contractor shortcuts" For the DIY croud it's not a bad material.

I think Nebraska Started the straw bale thing. It was either that or sod out their. As of 20 years ago their where straw bale houses over a 100 years old still standing. The trick with bales is to get them off the ground. A lot of things have ben used to do that, encapulation is the answer to rodent/ insect problems. Lastly under all costs protect the walls from water. No moisture, no rot, no termites and no ants. As insurance a solution of borax and boric acid are often sprayed on the bales

What kind of forge? Gas, solid fuel or? The basics of braising, heat the parts to cherry (for steel) brush clean of scale , add brass or copper place the parts back on the heat and wait for the brass or copper to melt. In practice it's usually best to clean the parts very well cold, put a thin bit of copper or brass between the parts and wire them together with stainless wire. Flux to exclude air, I use a commercial flux but any of the home brew will work. Again heat until the brass/ copper flows. Master turley is faster on the keyboard and a much letter teacher than I am.

Wouldn't the used tire turned gambion baskit work as a wall? The "Earth ships" built in New Mexico used tires filed with famed earth, then stuccoed. If you use steel columns, then just I file with tire filled with gravel on a rubble trench. Have a roofing contractor spray it with fome and then stuckoe it. The loos gravel should give you the sound abatement. I would suggest using the big ties on the bottom, and the small ones on top ;-) Just thinking, still a lot of labor, and you have to cover it for fire protection.

A couple of the smithes have also forged what is esencialy a peice of truck spring to fit diagonally in the hardy hole. Start with a peice wide enuch to shoulder, the profile the citing edge. One of the foreign extension services teaches smiths to build hot and cold sets in a similar maner, taper the nerrow sides on one end to form a striking surface, fuller the same sides to form a waist to rap 1/4" rod around to form a handle and profile the cutting edge on the other end.

Some of us are google chalanged, heck I still go round and round with the IFI surch engine. I envy your google foo

For a jack shaft, use a big pully on the side coming dom the motor, and a small one on the side going to the drum. If you want to get snazy put a 3 in one cone pully on the driven side. Then hange the motor so it's weight tensions the belt. That way you will have a three speed tumbler.

Turn it on end and go to town. Bed it in a stump and you can get more work out of it. It's a small serface but the mass is under the hammer. Get sneaky and you can mount it in different positions and use it as kind of a poor mans swage block. I have one mounted upside down like a saw horse I use to chisel on.