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Well I am a relativly new member of ABANA, 3rd year IIRC, as far as the current publications `Hammer blow' is a great teaching and tip publication IMHO. With `Anvil Ring' maybe 1/3 of the stuff showcased there has been abstract. Most of the stuff I have seen in AR, I could be glossing over the weird stuff, has been nature and geometric based shapes and scenes, basically stuff I would tolerate living with up to stuff I would love to have. I think it may just be how the art field moves, in the 80's when my sister was taking art classes in college, from what I saw, it seemed like abstract was the `IN' thing to teach, now stuff has swung back to nature. Just my 2cents, Rich C.

How about welding plates on the main support near the pivot, so the plates extends above the arm behind the pivot. Then all you need to do is add a pull pin that goes through the plates and prevents the arm from falling. On the other hand with the over arm idea, how about just running the chain up to a ceiling joist? Just some ideas, Rich C.

Joe, Just noticed that the Army Portable forge you show is actually the later version. On e-bay about a year ago there was one of the earlier that had a side mounted crank blower instead of the electric one shown above. There was only 1 box on the earlier one, that everything packed into and was covered by a lid (no lower box). I forget if the one I saw was a Buffalo or Champion built one (or at least the blower, air pipe and Tuyere the components looked to be the same as the ones used in the rivet forges. The one that was on e-bay probably would have been Turn of the Century to The Great War (WW1) since it was all stampings, and your diagram might be WW1 to modern times. The reason I say modern is that a fellow blacksmith in Ct told me how his son amazed his fellow Army Men or Reservists when he fired up the portable forge, and started using it. Apparently the portable forge is still part of the standard kit for the remote Bases or the Maintenance Battalion. IIRC this was during Desert Storm. Wish I had the cash at the time for the one on ebay. Rich C

On this topic, you will get many opinions. Personally I prefer TIG when welding overlapping patches and butt weld patches with minimal gaps, but if there are many finger sized gaps (i.e. when repairing hand cut Oxygen/Acetylene holes) I prefer flux core MIG. As I don't do this for a business, I rarely have to worry about welding in the wind or foul weather, and a TIG with a gas lens has worked good for me even in a mild breeze and in the summer with a fan. To me one of the best advantages of TIG over MIG is that you can use less heat to weld the same metal, while not ideal for most situations it works when needed. Then there is also the fact that TIG produces almost no sparks and no splatter when working correctly. Rich C.

From what I have seen, you are going to be hard pressed to get the right look, short of recycling wrought iron or using pure iron. Wrought ages completely different from steel. Whereas steel rust through after a `short life' of exposure, wrought seems to create a different type of rust that helps to protect itself and will last longer. This is based on sunken ships, where archeologists exploring Spanish galleons can bring up to the surface iron fittings that are still 80-90 percent complete, yet modern steel ships rot to structural frame members in decades. So I am not sure what you can do, since this is more of a metallurgical problem then a maintenance problem. Regards, Rich C.

Here are the photos of the impeller and a better shot of the gearing. As you can see one of the blades is still original. For some reason I thought the fit was a whole lot tighter between the impeller and the case, must have been thinking of the Champion 400. Hope all this info helps. Take care, Rich C.

Dave, Here are my forges. The pump handle is a Buffalo Forge, with an oval pan, roughly 20x28. If you can find one these are great to run because Buffalo used a ball socket for the handle mount, so the smith can pump while standing on either the narrow or wide side of the forge and stay out of the smoke. The pump handle is a replacement I found growing next to the river, and had that great bend. Oh I forgot that the blower is actually driven through a second drive gear as you can see. Both drive wheels are 16" diameter and the gear between the 2 is 1.5". Tonight I will pull the blower apart and get you photos of the impeller. The other one is a Champion 400, which I rebuilt about 1.5 years ago, full cleaning with new bearings. The original pan was totally rotted out and was only a 14 ga ring welded to a 14 ga disk that was to be filled with cement. As I knew I would be traveling with it, I knew that would not last so I started looking for a worn Cast Iron Skillet, but the only ones available were either too good to wreck or they wanted too much for a skillet that was usable for filtration duty. About that time Cabela opened their new store in Hartford, Ct and I stumbled across their 20" CI Skillet (20" just happened to be the size of the original 400 pans) and it fit perfect. Best part of it was that the remaining handle made it easier to carry the forge, one hand on the skillet handle and the other on the frame below the blower. Also it makes a convenient place to hang the fire tools. Something that I stumbled across that works great for forge restoration is the heat shrink tube used for underground/underwater splices. The stuff is about 1/16-1/8 thick and adhesive lined. If you look at the feet of the Champion 400 you will see them there, the ends of the tube was totally rotted. One thing to keep in mind as you shrink the tube, stop about 6" from the tip and leave the tube about 3/4" beyond the end of the legs, now start shrinking the tube from the tip and push the end back into the shrink tube (inside out) and you will get a nice stiff finished end that won't rot or scrape off as you transport it. Rich C.

Dave, I'll see if I can get some photos of my forges to give you a few ideas, maybe clarify any questions, you didn't ask. Rich C.

Hope to see you guys there. Not sure which forge I will be using, but you will know me by the flag painted Trenton anvil. Such sweet music those forged anvils sing... Rich C.

Dave, Looks a lot like the blower under by Buffalo Rivet forge. I also had to replace the blades on mine. I just used duct work tin, both sides were folded back about 1/2 inch and the tip was cut curved to within about 1/4 inch of the case. The folded wings goes towards the direction of rotation to cup the air. I mounted mine with small bolts with stop nuts (the ones with the nylon insert). You will not be able to spin the blower fast enough with a handle on the shaft. My blower has a ~26" diameter drive wheel that the flat belt goes around. The drive wheel spins slow enough to be matched to a handle, even though mine is pawl driven off the pump handle. This drive wheel could be a solid disk of metal or a cast iron wheel from a work cart. With the housing, one end gets a slide gate to catch the ash and clinker, and the other sided gets connected to the forge pan (a cast iron skillet makes a great rivet forge pan, and Cabella sells up to 20" brand new, this is what I used on my Champion 400 to replace the sheet metal pan) Your second photo has it in the right orientation, with the pan above and the ash trap below. This is why there is that cast angle iron on one edge of the blower casting (for a bolt through the pan) Take care, Rich C.

Roscoe, Come on down to the `Bring a friend Blacksmith Day' at the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum in Willimantic, Ct, on Sat. Nov 7th. There you can talk with other blacksmiths, see how it is done (cave, valley and bridge fires), and if a forge is open, try it yourself (and/or bring your forge and anvil if you can). The Bring a Friend day is an annual event we hold, after the museum season ends, for the smiths in the area. It originally started as an CBG/NEB (Connecticut Blacksmith Guild/New England Blacksmiths) event, but is open to anyone. Basically a day of smacking metal, BS-ing with other blacksmiths, and introducing interested people to the community of smithing. Fires tend to start about 9:30, and some of us don't leave the museum till dusk, even though `officially' the day is 10-2. If this was 2 weeks ago, I would have said come on down to the Brooklyn (Ct) Fair, as we have a 2 forge shop and were demonstrating all 4 days. Usually when I am running a firepot forge, I build a bridge of coke. Basically start the fire, pile the coal on till it is about 5-6 inches above the deck. Sprinkle water down the left and right side and across the center (from left to right). When the bridge area starts smoking again, you repeat the water. When you start to see a glow through the coal pieces on the side(s) that you didn't water, then you start to pick coal/coke pieces out to form the cave. Now you can start to work the ends of your piece. By the time you have worked a couple of points the cave should have grown across the pot and you can pick out pieces from the other side and form the tunnel. As the fire burns the coal/coke, you pop new coke off the interior wall of the cave to feed the fire and new coal goes on top of the bridge and gets watered. Most of the coal I use is dust to 3/4" across. If you use larger pieces, it will be harder to maintain the bridge. With a little practice, you will even be able to pull the dragon turds out of the bottom of the pot without disturbing the bridge. If I am using my Rivet forge (flat bottom forge) I will usually build a valley fire, which is built the came way except the coal is piled on either side and is pushed towards the Tuyere as the coke is burnt. Top of the pile is 5-8 inches off the pan with 2-3 inches of burning coke over the tuyere and the walls are 2-3" apart where the metal goes. A valley fire works almost as good as a bridge fire for heating long or heavy pieces. Take care, Rich Cizik MoW Foreman Blacksmith Shop Co-Head Ct Eastern RR Museum Willimantic, Ct 06226 Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum Rich Cizik Website Maintainer Connecticut Blacksmith Guild CONNECTICUT BLACKSMITH GUILD : ABANA (Artist Blacksmith Association of North America) affiliate.

Best solution for ground bees I have found has always been gasoline after dusk. Just pour about 1/2 a 1lb coffee can full down the entrance, wait about 30 seconds and follow it with a match and watch the fireworks. Just make sure you don't stand over the backdoor of the next, as you will have a few of the backdoor guards fly up your backside quickly followed by a blowtorch. One thing to keep in mind with anything that lives under ground they always have a second exit to their nest. Have fun, Rich C.

Recently rebuilt mine, full tear down and new bearings. The bearings need only a little Lithium grease and the gears only need a couple drops of oil when you go to use it. Best to use either Gear oil or Way oil, as they are tacky and will stay with the gears longer and both lubes are meant for sliding applications. You can also use SAE30, just be careful not to use too much as you will thin out the grease in the shaft bearings. All you need is enough to wet the gears. I normally take the top cover off each time I use it to add oil, as the oil hole, in the cover, only drops oil on the worm drive gear and not the spur gear connected to the handle. Take care, Rich C.

One tip to keep in mind with stick. You will know when you have the amperage at the right level when the slag caterpillars, this works with at least 7018 rod. Caterpillaring (at least that is what the guy called it) is when as the slag cools, it lifts off the weld in one solid piece by itself. You can be almost perfect and see it start to do it in places, but when the flux over most of the bead does it, then you know you have it perfect. Is 7018 the only rod that will do this or will it do it with other rods? Personally I avoid 60 series rod, but that could be because I have only used it with an underpowered 110 volt POS Buzz box. It was almost impossible to start the arc. By the time I got 3 or 4 good beads the area around the weld looked like a cleared mine field from dragging the tip to start the arc. I have always had good luck with 7018 DC positive electrode rod. I especially like the Lincoln Excaliber rod, it seems to cut deeper, run smoother then regular 7018 rod, and the slag is easier to remove. Rich C.

A 4 wire 220 single phase is not too uncommon for high amp connections. A large amount of generator welders that produce 50 amp 220 single phase have a 4 wire outlet. The wire connection would be Black (hot [breaker side] 1), red (hot [breaker side] 2), white (common), and green (ground). In an amount of homes the ground and the common are the same wire. Inside the case, the black, red and white should be tied to the transformer and the green would be connected to the chassis/case, this is for your safety, to minimize the possibility of taking a 50 amp AC shock though the case when you go to shut it off. Rich C.

Another trick for something too large for the forge was to create a ground fire pit, with an air pipe that goes under the pit to provide the forced air. This way the fire can be made as large as needed. So what you do is create the fire pit, get it going hot with coal, heat the metal on top of the coal fire, then just bury it under dry sand. Make sure you stopper the air pipe completely. You want zero air coming down the pipe, it would be better if your pipe is 2 pieces, where it will separate under ground so you can pull the above ground pipe out then collapse and fill the tunnel left by the air pipe. Also you could create a wood fire pit, place the block in the middle with the surfaced side up, and rosebud the top surface to yellow hot. After the body is red and the work surface is yellow, just bury it in sand for an hour or two. Just some ideas, Rich C.

Avadon, You could probably use an old Blacksmith technique, pre-heat to dark red (just below where it will start to glow[~1200 degrees F]), then heat the metal to orange/lemon yellow [~1725/~1825 degrees F] with a rosebud or coal fire and bury it in dry sand or vermiculite for 1-1.5 hours. As you will loose some heat to the sand particles, I would suggest the extra time for grain growth. Dry sand or Vermiculite will act as a insulation barrier and keep the metal near the temp ****Sand must be completely dry****. You could also use Kaol wool blankets, but sand is easier to get. I would suggest using a metal container big enough to give you 1 foot of sand on all sides of the part. For the 150 degrees you will need to either guestimate, use a temp probe or non contact thermometer. Probably a good guestimate for 150 is shortly after a drop of water no longer boils when dropped onto the steel. When you raise the temp to lemon yellow, be careful, the next step is white hot where the part will turn into a sparkler, as you start to burn off metal. Bright lemon yellow as blacksmiths will know is forge welding temp. One thing you might want to do, is to bring it up to yellow and hammer on the piece to smooth the welds. For color to temp chart, see: steel identification, color, steel, identify, temperature Take care, Rich C.

Will this TIG rule of thumb work for MIG? Since I did a little stick welding before jumping to TIG, one rule of thumb that I was told for TIG was that you knew you had good penetration in steel if the backside of the cap plate of a T weld (piece that continues past the weld) showed a continuous layer of scale flaking, and on a butt weld where beads shows up on the backside of the joint. The line of scale told you that the metal was heated above the welding temp and the width of the scale told you how good the penetration was (a thin scale line [smaller than the bead] was risking a cold shunt, whereas a scale path 1.5-2.5 times the width of your bead told you you had good penetration) I think the rule also worked with stick welding. Rich C.

Unicorn, For the extended near future I am the renovation head of this car. The floor is in too good of a condition and the side walls are built on top of the floor. Rich C.

Dave, Total removal of the part is not a practical option, since the oak tongue & groove floor would also need to be removed to access the top of the bolt. Welding could be carefully done under the car, after wetting the surrounding wood, installing spark shields (tin suspended from the underside of the floor) and heat absorbent gel, as the cut could be made about 2-3 inches off the wood Here is what the piece looks like (inside the blue line), I figure it can be cut in the area of the twist, either above or below with a porta-band, but welding it back together was the head scratcher. I was leaning towards TIG, since it sparks less and the heat can be controlled better. What are your opinions? Rich C.

Figured you guys might be able to answer this question. Which works best for welding early steel or Wrought Iron? Also which alloy filler or welding rod works best? I am in the middle of moving a coach for the Railroad Museum in Willimantic, Ct. We may have to cut off a brake hanger from the car so it can sit low enough on the trailer, to clear wires and such. Unfortunately the hanger is held on with long square head bolts that are socketed into the wood beams under the floor, so if they start to spin or jam, the floor would have to be removed to access them. Since the plan is to return the car to service, the weld needs to be near the strength of the original material. The bracket is about 1/4-5/16 thick by 3 inches wide and when made was bent 90 degrees the hard way (square interior corner with 3" radius on the outer corner), or at least it doesn't look cut or machined from plate. The coach was built in 1902, by Osgood-Bradley car works in Worcester, Ma. After looking at the part, I don't see any grain pattern in the bend area, but it could have been smoothed after they bent the part, so I am not sure if it was made out of early steel or wrought iron. Thanks, Rich Cizik MoW Foreman Blacksmith Shop Co-Head Ct Eastern RR Museum Willimantic, Ct 06226 Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum

Personally, I would not want to risk the house if an accident happens. I mentioned a similar item to a friend that was OA & arc welding in his basement. After the 3rd time he had to hunt for the source of a tendril of smoke coming from under or behind something on the other side of the room, he finally decided to do the welding outside, while he saving up money for a garage/barn. I would also stress caution of wood working and forging in the same building for similar reasons. Wood dust will burn, just like coal dust, flour dust, etc... when it gets airborne. Just think how many silos & mines have popped off due to airborne dust and a stray spark... If you woodwork upstairs and forge downstairs, the hammering on the anvil can shake the upper floor enough to shake sawdust between the floor boards. Hopefully if you do this you don't plan on getting a power hammer... If anything woodwork in your current basement (if you have any room) and forge in a separate structure. Just my opinion for what it is worth. Rich C>

There was an article in Hammer Blow (Artist Blacksmith Association of America's magazine) about adding glass to ironwork, IIRC about 1 year ago. I will try and see if I can find it. Rich C.

double posted, Sorry, Rich C.

Since I am usually out demonstrating when I forge, I have found setting up in a 135-180 degree arc works the best for me and my Champion 400. Not sure how I would set up my shop when I find a spot. Usually I set up with the forge to my left, anvil between me and the public and the vise to the right. This seems to work the best for me since I am always turning the same direction to get to the work surface. Though with my other forge, a ratchet pawl oblong buffalo, then usually the forge was up front with the anvil to one side and the vise to the other, but that was just because everyone was mesmerized with the working of the forge. The problem I had with the Buffalo setup was that I would catch myself acting like a sprinkler when I needed to use the vise (start to turn one way and then remember the vise was on the other side) The other thing I disliked with this setup was that if I needed to straighten a twist against the stump, I would have to spin further to finish it, where as my current method the stump is along the path back to the fire. Just an opinion for what it is worth. Rich C.