Xaiver

I shave my upper lip / soul patch and the bottom of my neck.... I can't stand the whiskers poking my lip. The neck bit is because it catches on my clothes and pulls.

I don't get a ton of time in the forge, which leads me to spending more time reading about it than doing it. Which leaves me with lots of questions. So using a heavier stock to make a scroll, you then can just wrap hot metal around the former... Does this work for other shapes? Barring probably some funky 180 degree turns, iI suppose?

Thank you for the help. The other thread was feeling a bit hostile and condescending. I'm not a fan of either of those features of communication. Had lots of school teachers that were that way, which iI learned nothing from. I often wonder why it is so hard for some people to not assume the worst. Anyhow, now I've got a couple more things to do. Then I'll try to figure out how to keep the anvil from dancing away from me when I'm working.

Forbidden To to Google and search pile of bricks forge. First link should be back here

Thank you. That makes sense. I'll see if the propane shop here in town has a gauge that will work. Otherwise I'll grab one from amazon. My forge has a 0-20 regulator on it, Mr heater, iI think... I got it at Menards (like home depot for the Midwest) when iI was getting the burner together. I'm wondering if that is a huge bottleneck for me. Would it be better to have a better one? One that goes to 30 or 40 psi? Also... I don't usually leave my metal to soak in the forge for very long... If it's longer than a few inches outside the box it just wants to fall out when it gets hot. I had been debating rigging up something to hold it there so iI can work on other stuff in the mean time, do you have any suggestions on that?

I must have gone astray here somewhere. I started this thread with one question. I'm not asking you to do the work for me. I'm not expecting any of this to be easy. I'm sorry that you get a lot of newbies asking the same questions and iI have tried very hard not to be one of them. You are welcomed to peek through my history and see how many newbie questions I've asked.

Well, that's my point though. Not relying on a Guage will train my ears much faster than also using a Guage. I use a 40# tank. It's a good balance of cost and duration. If I'm in the forge every day for an hour or two, it'll last me about two weeks.

My reasoning for skipping the Guage was to try and learn it by feel. I prefer to be able to tell by my senses than a number, and honestly, i haven't encountered anything that the Guage would really help with. Also, my last attempt at forge welding was with an empty tank.

I've got a frosty t burner that's generally working fantastic, it doesn't burn through fuel like there is no tomorrow, but iI keep wondering... When iI made it, iI got a 0-20 psi regulator. I also skipped the pressure Guage. I was just searching around in amazon and saw that iI could get a 0-30 or 40 reg for fairly cheap. Now, I'm not suggesting that my forge doesn't get hot, but I've been having some trouble learning to weld with it. Would a better regulator help with that? Right now, iI can get the steel up to an almost yellow glow at wide open.

Lol my father in law did it with a little 110 mig. I wanted to be able to use them by hand too, hence the long reins. But they also had to put up with the torque, so he piled the weld on like crazy. I had meant to level them off in the forge but iI haven't got to it yet. And iI might trim the tips so that two will fit in the vise together

I was looking in to those a few days ago and I just haven't done it yet. The rounded taper intimidates me a bit. My riveting has improved a ton since my first one. I'll put that on my to do list... But iI did just get a ring mandrel from amazon that I'm dying to play around with.

It isn't anything fancy, iI just wanted something that would let me bend stuff without leaving tool marks from the pliers.

That was what I thought of after iI finished these. I had already had the ends split though, so iI continuedwith what iI had. That will probably be the next version.

I seem to have trouble making the same thing twice. I'm hoping that is just lack of practice at the same piece. Either way, my father in law had his mig welder in one day and we made a few Bending tools. I clamped one of them into the vise and made a bit of a snake like curve for the base. Still playing with the double headed holders. Made from 1/4 hot rolled a36. Warm finished with trewax and the tips are sprayed with plasti dip.

That's about how it looks, iI had writeup bookmarked and might even have the pictures saved on my computer.

The one that I use is called the frosty t burner. I think that a Google search should show something? (iI would help more, but it's tough on mobile)

So... I've been beating on this 1" solid bar when iu could have used a tube?!.... Ugh

Thanks for all of the feedback guys. I did spend quite a bit of time watching Jody on welding tips and tricks. I was practicing laying a bead on some old rotors...they're thick enough that I won't punch a hole with 1/8th inch 6011s. I'll be getting some thinner rod for when I'm more comfortable with the thing.

I got a couple barrels at the low price of free. I needed them for water and oil for quenching. Asked my father in law how best to get the top off... He suggested a hammer and chisel.... Did that, then thetops wouldn't fit... Oops. So iI took some 1/8 inch flat stock and made braces and cold bent some handles. My first ever attempt at stick welding in my 31 years of life. What do you think? Go easy on me.

I'll be remaking the wire today after work. Thanks for the help once again.

Bleh... I was afraid of something like that. It's very stiff. Could I merge it to another wire somewhere in the middle, or do I have to redo the plugs? Or could I maybe have the romex laid down as a non moving section?

Okay... New phone, so I can take pictures now. I got an auto darkening helmet... Man that thing is cool. Then I was playing around with scraps top learn how this thing worked. I took a scrap of pipe and tacked a giant washer thing to it... It's ugly, but I hit it with a 3 pound hammer a few times and it won't budge. AndI took a bunch of short scraps and welded them together, then pounded them flat ish.... Was racing the sun. I needed somewhere to put my welder cord that wasn't all over the floor. The welds on the scraps moved very nicely when they got hot.

So, update here : I went to fleet farm and made myself am extension cord. My garage wasn't wired for anything that takes more power than a garage door opener and a light.... I'm surprised that I can run the lights with the grinder on. I had to made some adaptations. Lots of reading on that particular problem... My dryer outlet is thy closest 230... Actually, it's the only 230. Which is a 4 prong outlet. The welder has an old 3 prong... Looks like an oversized plug. So I got the ends and a 50 foot cord. Hooked it all together and plugged it in. I only tapped the welder a couple times to make sure it worked, and it does. I only tested the DC setting, which goes up to 140 amps. This welder also had an up to 180 and up to 230 amp setting. One days low voltage, high amps. The other days high voltage, low amps, both ac. I'll test those tomorrow. I've been up since 3 this morning, so I'm feeling ready for bed. Also, my phone is on the fritz, so pictures will be after I get this thing replaced or fixed. Thank you all for the very helpful replies!

I just picked up an old century welder, tri star ac/dc 230 is what is called. Okay, one question, actually. Actually it's not really a question, more of a "aI thinking this through correctly?" If I were to take and weld a couple sticks of steel together and then heat then up. The weld should hold, right? Enough that I could reshape it a bit and clean it up? or I have to save the welding for last? I tried to Google this question and only found forge welding info. And I'm running on 3 hours of sleep, long work weekend, so please forgive me if my question is silly.

We've got a place here called Northern Tool and Equipment. I don't know if they're a big place, or if they're around your parts... Anyhow, I went in there and got a 4" angle grinder for 20 bucks. 1/16th inch metal cutoff wheels are 1-2 dollars each. Probably my favorite tool so far. It's helped me quite a lot. I get my steel from the steel yard in town...it's a pain to try and hold a 10' (cut in half already to transport) piece of metal in the forge.