son_of_bluegrass

Glad I could help. My blower has no gasket at all. It will still push more air up than is needed. I really should put some bushing on the fan axle where it rests on the housing. As it is it works and I tend to not use it much. My fan is also out of balance and it rattles and shakes when I pump it too fast. ron

Finally got around to cleaning mine up and got a few pictures. Here are the parts of the mechanism that drives the blower taken mostly apart showing the connection from the handle. Simple. Here are the other parts laid out. The washers I added for spacers where I thought they were needed. This shows the mechanism the handle attaches to back in place. Notice the washer (red arrow). Not really needed but it helps keep it away from the ash dump (green circle). Poor design put the wheel on one side of the dump and this on the other, both closer than I would like. This series shows re-assembly of the gearing and wheel. Notice the green circle that shows the pawls aren't symmetrical. I don't know if it was designed that way or wore that way. But it works in that configuration. Also you mentioned springs, notice no springs and very simple. It still works. And finally, back together. Notice the green arrows. The 3 washers on the right are for spacing to like the wheel with the blower. The one on the left is because I like a washer between parts that move. There are holes to give access to the moving parts in mine that I drop a bit of light oil into once in a while. I first tried grease but that held too much dirt and grime. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Or maybe you've already got yours up and running, in which case, maybe this will help someone else. I didn't take the blower itself apart this time. But that is a simple fan in a housing. To attach the belt, I wrapped the cotton webbing around both parts and made a mark where they met up. Cut long for some overlap and sewed a bit shorter than the mark (maybe a quarter inch). The cotton will stretch a bit but you don't want it too tight. ron

You can still get raw linseed oil without the dries. The boiled linseed oil does have driers in it already. ron

For scale, I soak in vinegar overnight. Besides removing scale, it makes me take a break so I don't work tired. I do have a sen that I made from a half round file. I did find the angle it's sharpened it makes a big difference in how it works. ron

That looks a lot like mine. Except mine has 3 legs. Maybe next week I'll have some time, I want to clean mine up anyway. If I get to it I'll take pictures. I've had mine completely apart when I first got it and added some washers as spacers and made adjustments. Unless someone else provides the help you need first. I used 1 inch cotton webbing instead of leather. I tried leather first and it would get hot and brittle. Synthetics shrink when they get hot. The remains of the belt that was on mine was cotton, so when the leather gave me problems I went back to cotton. That worked. ron

I had no problems taking the assembly completely apart. It worked fine afterwards. It has sat for a while as I prefer the crack blower I also have. I'm rather busy for the next week or three, but if you post pics and a more complete description of what problems you're having, I may be able to give a pointer or two. ron

Depending on where the charcoal has been sitting for the last two years, it may well have picked up enough dirt and other crud to be the source of the clinker. If so, you may solve your problem by washing the charcoal. ron

If you can line the tang so the galvanization doesn't burn off, it can be used for a forge. The problem (such as it is) comes from the fumes of burning the zinc off. ron

So far as the wood type, anything that resist splitting is what you're going for. That generally means straight grain although some species resist splitting whether it is straight grain or not (some elms here in the states for example). I personally prefer a fatter handle, I tend to squeeze thinner handles too hard. ron

If you can find fire brick, can you use that to build up around your fire pot (or something else to build up with) ? If so that will let your change the size and maybe shape of your fire pot until you find what work well for you, then if you still want to weld up a fire pot you'll know the size and shape and between now and then you can be on the look out for materials. ron

I recall seeing a news story some time back about a proposal to ban the ownership of swords in some part of the UK. So while it might not be a knife crime, it might not be legal either. Cool story. ron

My thoughts on pricing You can set the price where ever you want. If the customer wants the item, he will decide on what is "fair" (based on too many variable to lists, assuming all are known). If you have a "fair" price, the customer buys. If you are a bit above "fair", the customer may buy, may try to haggle or may walk away. If you are a lot above "fair" the customer will likely walk away. If you are a bit below "fair" the customer will probably buy and think he got a deal. If you are a lot below "fair" the customer may buy and think he got a steal OR he may walk away thinking there must be a problem of some sort at that price. So the trick is to find a price the customer will buy at without selling yourself short. Some of that depends on marketing (emphasizing the uniqueness of the piece for example). And for me, this is the hardest part of making money at this. ron

I think a side blast is much easier to make. Take any metal container, drill a 2 or 3 inch hole in the side, pass a pipe into it, stopping short of the center, line with ashes or kitty litter (the cheapest clay stuff) so the bottom is a couple inches below the pipe, attach air source to the other end (make sure the pipe is long enough that if you use something plastic for the air it won't melt/burn) and Voila forge. That describes my first one that if the legs hadn't rusted to nothing i'd still be using. ron

Glad you had fun. I think I'm going to steel that tool rack idea. I did a demo this weekend as well (maybe, no pictures: no pictures? didn't happen ). ron

So, I did run the file over it some more. After 4 or 5 strokes it started skating like I'm used to. Therefore I'm concluding, in it absence of other evidence it suffered decarb. It's going through the final tempering cycle now. If I don't get too busy, sometime next week I'll know if it'll make a good knife, right now I think so. But next week is looking busy. When done I'll put pics up. I have a regulator for the forge and I open doors and windows when working, so far no indications of CO poisoning. It wouldn't surprise me if I'm running lean. I haven't had as much time to play with settings as I'd like. Thank you for all the information you've provided. ron

I've made a few knives before using coal/charcoal for the forging and heat treat. After the quenching a new file would skate nicely. Some time ago, the club I belong to had a gas forge build that I got into. I've attempted 2 knives recently in the gas forge. In neither case has a file skated after quenching. On the first one, I kept getting a little hotter and a little hotter until I ended up with about a bazillion pieces and huge grain. The one I just quenched, I tested with a magnet. So I'm wondering why the file doesn't skate the same and the only thing I can come up with is I get more decarb. in the gas forge than working with solid fuels. Thoughts? For the record I'm using 1095 I ordered from Jantz a couple years ago and it was also what I used in the coal/charcoal fire. I've used both vegetable oil and water for quenching depending on my mood and the knife. Thanks for any thoughts you have on the matter. ron

Straight, tight grain and properly dried trumps species. If the pith is still in the handle, it is more likely to split. Air dried may be better than kiln dried (some will argue that point). Whatever is local that is used for tool handles should work. Fruit and nut trees are frequently good if you can get straight grain. Anything used for bows is good. If you give your general location, you will likely get better answers. ron

In the last couple of pictures, it looks to me like the pattern is there, just a bit finer and more visible where the light catches it. It might be worthwhile to have a sample analyzed for composition, there may be trace elements that account for the banding. ron

Oddly enough, I have one that works with a pump handle. The only problem with it is one of the mounts for the blower is broke (I have all the pieces and may have a line on a repair). I really prefer the crank style. Too bad we aren't closer or we could trade. ron

I too am interested. I'll have to have rebuilt a couple 18 volt batteries for my cordless kit and would prefer to have as much knowledge as possible when I get it done. Thank you for the offer. ron

You can minimize the thermal swing in ovens by adding thermal mass. I bought a used dutch oven at a pawn shop for a couple of dollars and filled that with sand. If you bury the blade in the sand it will heat up slower if the oven cycles hot and it will hold the heat when the oven cycles cool. But there are lots of ways to skin this cat. ron

I have always heard that HC means high carbon or higher carbon. Not in the sense of a high carbon steel but higher carbon than other spikes. Since you claim it does not, would you care to enlighten us with what it does mean? I don't want to continue false information and am occasionally asked about it, I'd like to impart the truth. ron

Instead of "sloppy stick weld" etc. call it "rustic" or "primitive". You can convey that it isn't what someone with more experience would produce without reducing it's value. ron

You'll use a greater volume of charcoal than coal because charcoal is less dense than coal. You should use about the same mass. You will feed the fire more often than with coal as well. If you don't need to heat as long a section of steel as you currently are heating, you can cut the length back some. I typically used 4 X 4 X 5 inches deep for most forging when I was using charcoal on a regular basis. I did go longer (up to 8 inches) when heat treating. If your air is on constantly, shutting that down when not heating a piece will help. Or if you are pushing too much air through, then cutting the air back will help. Having a well insulated forge will help. Or what you describe may be the best you'll get. A lot of people go by volume (easy to look at a pile and estimate how big it is, hard to estimate the weight of said pile) and if you are judging how much used by volume then you'll think you're using a lot more than and equivalent amount of coal. ron

I've heard and read that largely depends on the charger with newer / more sophisticated chargers not creating a memory. I had one set of batteries that I discharged all the way and they didn't last as long as a set I just charged when needed without ensuring they were completely dead. From my research, heat kills batteries faster than anything else (including storing someplace hot, using hot and charging hot). ron, by NO means a battery expert.