moya034

I haven't tried Kroil yet... but everyone I talked to who has; always has seemingly unbelievable stories about how well it works. I must get some of this stuff, where can I buy it?

You beat me to it! I just thought of that idea and was coming into the thread to reply with it! LOL If you don't have any luck, let me know. I don't have the ability to cast copper yet, but I know people who do. Edit: Oh, and about your copper quilt. You could do butt joints with welding or braze welding. If you do brazing or soldering, you MUST use lap joints in order to gain a suitable surface for capillary action to take place.

It's near where the 2 curved portions of the anvil feet meet. I'm trying to find a friend who has a bathroom scale so I can weigh this thing.

For your copper quilt, braze welding sounds much better then soldering or brazing. You don't have much place for capillary action to take place. Real welding sounds even better to tell you the truth. I don't think the copper pipe will do a good job for a copper knife. I would search the internet for a piece of stock to use, or call up some local metal suppliers for ideas. You could also stop by your local scrap yard and see what pieces of copper they have lying around. Having a backyard foundry, my first thought would be to melt down some copper scrap, and cast a knife blank that you can then finish up by grinding.

I bought an anvil yesterday. I had placed a wanted ad on craigslist, and got a response the same day! It is made by the "Trenton" company, which is stamped on the anvil. It also has the words "solid wrought", so I assume this is a forged wrought iron anvil. I haven't had a chance to weigh it yet, but I think it's somewhere between 110-140 lbs. The only number I can find on it is "95" but I'm sure it weights more then that. I picked this bad boy up for $50. I'm quite happy.

Yes, I'm talking round. I was actually planning on lining the entire forge with the VERSAFLOW 60 castable refractory over the INSWOOL. That particular refractory is good up to 3100F. I'll then put a coating of ITC100 over that. Speaking of ITC100, I've spoken to the owner of the company who happens to be a ceramic engineer. Long story short, he told me his industrial customers report a fuel savings of 30-50%. ITC products are used by the US military, just about every car manufacturer, and most of the steel producers.

You should be able to braze copper with an air-acetylene, or air-MAPP torch. Oxy-acetylene will make it easier, but it's not necessary for most small items you'll want to braze. So far, I've only used silver brazing alloy and have only used my air-acetylene for it so far. Do you want to braze, or braze weld? The difference is that brazing uses capillary action to deposit the filler alloy, where as braze welding does not. Braze welding is more like standard welding, except you are not melting the base metals. Brazing (using capillary action) is much like soldering, however the temperatures are much higher. Any brazing alloy melts at temps above 800 F. Just like soldering, proper cleaning and flux application is very critical. I'm still confused as to what your actual application for the copper is. Solder might work, but brazing or braze welding is much stronger.

Another Delaware guy here too. I've been into metal casting but caught the blacksmith bug. Highlander and I have already met in person. Now we'll have to bring hdwarner into the picture!

Greetings all! I'm new to this site. I'm into hobby metalcasting, but am getting the blacksmith/bladesmith disease as well. I realized the only cure known to mankind is to actually go out and do it! In my garage I got a 25' roll of 1" thick 8# density INSWOOL, and a 55# bag of VERSAFLOW 60 PLUS. I got the materials for the construction of a new crucible furnace, however, I will have plenty of materials left over for making a forge. I'm mostly interested in bladesmithing, however I'd like to be able to do some more general blacksmithing work too. I'm planning on making a typical horizontal forge, fired with either propane, natural gas, or used motor oil. I've looked at a variety of forges online, but I still have some questions, I'm sure there will be more to come: 1. If I were to make my forge 1 foot long on the inside, about how wide should I make it? 2. Where is the best place to install the burner on the forge to promote the best heating efficiency? 3. Instead of a firebrick floor, I'm thinking of just using the VERSAFLOW 60 castable and a kiln shelf, how's that sound? 4. How important is it to have a door on the forge, or can I leave the working end wide open? Do I need a vent on the other end? Thanks in advance for any help :D

Greetings! I learned to weld by reading books and the internet. I started with an O/A rig, and an AC stick welder. I'm actually changing careers into welding. I start school on Aug 25th.