son_of_bluegrass

It looks like there are 2 thoughts running here. One on pressure tanks the other on "cistern" type tanks. Can you say which your's is? ron

As he is in KC, he is probably closer to Missouri or maybe Nebraska. It is about a 3 hour drive from KC to Wichita where the Ks chapter of ABANA is. ron

As a matter of fact, the Central States Metal Artisans (formerly Great Plains Blacksmith Assn) meets the first sat of the month usually at the Haysville shop. However the Aug meeting is at Goessel and is a public demo for the Threshing Days. Typically on Mon eve the shop is open for members to use (feel free to stop by). They have a website Great Plains Blacksmith Association The site is a couple months behind but I think the link to the newsletter is up to date. I see you list Moran as your location which is about 130 miles to Haysville ron

But if you sell to someone within your state the state will want you to collect and remit sales tax. That will require a state license for sales tax. And the feds (and state if applicable) will want it reported as income for collecting income tax; if you don't make enough money, this is often not worth the effort for them to try to track down everybody so if it is a few hundred a year or less you may get away with it. And some states will require a license regardless (and will charge a fee for it). Some states put a lot of information on a website. ron

Welcome I don't know if it has been mentioned yet but look up ABANA (Artist Blacksmith Assn of North America) and find the closest local chapter. Then go to a meeting and introduce yourself. While these forums are great, many thing are easier to learn working with someone. ron

I'm aware of 3 ways to attach a handle to something like this. Bore a hole, drift a hole or lash a split handle on. If you can provide more detail of what you want to do and pictures from the top and bottom (to see if there is enough room to bore or drift a hole) you'll get better answers. ron

Archie If you really are a blacksmith you'll find a way to adapt them to whatever you need them to do. I don't know how many time I've modified some tool. It is now to the point I don't go looking for a tool or whatever I need; I look for raw materials or a tool I can modify to what I need. ron

You need a fairly large volume of air moving through the shop if you don't have a chimney. There is more to burning fuel than smoke. The is carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide both of which will kill you if built up to enough concentration. And the carbon monoxide will bind to the hemiglobin in your blood and reduce the amount of oxygen your body recieves for hours or days. There are other products of incomplete combustion (such as if you have a reducing fire) that are harmfull. If you've ever got dizzy or a headache when forging you may be getting poisoned from the fuel burning (other possibilities are heat exhaustion or dehydration). And many of these products are colorless and odorless, you don't know you're breathing them untill you get sick or die. ron edited to add: Frosty you beat me to it :)

Steel type matters. Viscosity matters. The size of the chisel matters. Many things matter. The more detail you can provide the better answers you'll get. As for oil, I use vegetable oil heated to around 120 degrees F. ron

Yes I meant charcoal. ron

Coal and charcoal have nearly the same BTU value per pound (my pocket reference lists 24.74 million BTU/ton for coal and 25 million BTU/ton for charcoal). However charcoal is much less dense so you will be feeding the fire more often and use a greater volume of charcoal. They both have an upper limit of around 4000 degrees F which is much hotter than anything you would normally need. Coal puts out more smoke when is cokes off (charcoal is already "coked"). Charcoal needs much less air to get hot and really works better with side blast and good insulation. I use coal for 3 reasons. 1 I can make it myself so cost is time invested, 2 my current set up won't adequetly vent the coal smoke without a fan and 3 goo coal can be a real bear to find 'round these parts. ron

Depending on how much ambient light there was, the "black heat" may have been above critical. When I forge in full sunlight, non-magnetic is still well below any hint of glowing. ron

My first ones were just set on the oven's rack. After checking with a thermometer and see how much above the set temp the oven could get, I started putting the knives in an old dutch oven full of sand. The sand acts as a thermal mass and helps to regulate the temp. ron

pants pockets 2 single blade slipjoints made by me, keys, foam earplugs, handkerchief, sawdust, belt, zippo lighter, fixed blade made by me, swisstool, schrade tough tool, camillus sailor's knife, buckle big and heavy enough to brain a horse shirt pocket cross pen/pencil set (always upsetting as my 0.9 mm pencil has a worn out clip and no longer stays in the pocket and I can't find them anymore ) ron

Gas or solid fuel (coal, charcoal)? Solid fuel is very simple to build, gas has less of a learning curve to learn fire management. ron

Don't bother with the wood glue, it doesn't stick to metal. I made one spear head and it pressure fit the shaft so well I didn't use any other method to hold it in place. It would take a beig hammer or a fire to remove the head. Hang on a sec and I'll look and see if I have pics. Found it. Now let's see if I can get it attached. ron

What type of folder? Slipjoint, liner-lock, lock-back? I have made a few slipjoints. The only resource I used is "The Complete Book of Pocketknife Repair" by Ben Kelly Jr. It has the parts laid out in pictures and drawings that show how things work. That was all the start I needed. ron

Nope, never done it. I don't have any use for the gods. There are a few I might get along with but don't expect me to worship any of them. ron

Does the saw have carbide teeth? If so the body could be almost anything. If not then it will probably heat treat like L-6. If you are familiar with spark testing, that can give you an idea as to what you're working with. Otherwise make some samples from the blade, something around 8-10 mm by 3-4 in (hey, if you can mix units so can I), to try different heat treat methods on. Keep enough records of what you did to each sample so you can do that to the blade. ron

I would not recommend charcoal in that style of forge. It is just too open, I have a forge similar to that and it works with blacksmiths coal but loses heat too fast for charcoal. To get enough heat with charcoal I found I had to keep about 15 pounds of charcoal in the pot. You can built a charcoal forge easily enough. The one I currently use with charcoal was a Weber grill in a past life. I lined it with wood ashes to hold the heat in the pit and run a pipe in the side from the blower. If you just run the pipe in from the side, consider the pipe expendable as it will slowly burn up. ron

Pictures of your set-up would help. If there is a lot of clinker then there is a good possibility you have a dirty coal that will give you problems. Where are you (city, state)? Have you looked on the ABANA site for a local blacksmithing chapter? ron

You don't accually need rust. I've used the same mix for wood dye (black on some woods, brown on others). Just put a piece of steel wool in a jar of vineager for a day or three, filter the mix and use the liquid. The mix changes some as it ages. I don't know how the age affects its leather dyeing but new stuff reacts different than old stuff on some woods. ron

You might be able to sell tickets if you wore the tutu. ron

The second from the right looks to me like a welders chipping hammer. I would guess the next 2 are handles cutting tools. ron

Of course it is, fiction has to make sense.