mucduc

thanks yall, Im am certain from the description and that picture i have bitumous. it definitely cokes up and is around dime to nickel size with a hand full of quarter size, but nothing bigger. and it does have a little shine to it like in the picture.

Oh ok. I was using lump charcoal. I got the dimmer on the ground screwed to a piece of wood so I can just step on it to turn it off but an actual pedal swith would be better thou since when i step on it it turns the knob a little so when the air turns back on its at a different speed a little. I'm not sure which type of coal I got. Is it able to be identified by looks?

The galvanizing is gone now. I am kinda liking thr vacuum motor. I can turn it down to pretty much no air movement and able to really crank it up when using coal. I do think the flex is a good idea so I can aim the motor in any direction. So I will probably to that

Grileys huh? Haven't ever heard of them. I will have to look then up. I assume for a coal supply? I'm 30 minutes away fron jacksonville so its no problem heading there. I just used some coal today and it is by far better than the charcoal I was using. This stuff was getting for real hot and quick. I was actually able work the metal. I have read that the charcoal can get that hot, but you will burn thru it fast. I couldn't get it figured out thou.

thanks for the replies. I even called them adjustable wrenches and that's when the guy said they were for twisting square. Standing in front of the bench grinder comment was a bit of a joke. Not saying that I didn't find out the hard way years ago thou haha. That RR track is a little big for me to want to use as a dolly. I have had pretty good luck with the smaller ones when I was working on my mustang. I'm from Camden county, GA. I guess I need to customize my account with more information

hey everyone. I just posted my forge build in the forge section. yesterday afternoon when i finished the forge i realized that i needed some tongs. I had an old pair of pliers that i welded some rebar to the handles to extend them. I soon realized that they werent up to par so i went looking on craigslist. Found some tongs. gave the guy a call and drove south to meet him. turns out he is a member on this forum. I was surprised to find that he was 16 years old and was selling some of his hoard. this are the tools i bought from him. came back with 3 tongs, a small section of RR track, the hammer which i will cut the handle down, couple files, 2 scroll wrenches? i believe they are called. and a cutting wedge kinda hard to see in the picture. I also came back with 10 RR spikes, 5 horse shoes, and 2 5gallon buckets of coal. not sure how long that will last, but i do have a small rotor forge. I also got this hand crank grinding wheel that i absolutely love. its geared to 10.25:1. I have never used a hand crank, but its great. doesnt get anything hot and it slow enough that the wheel isnt trying to rip the metal out of my hand and throw it into my gut like a modern bench grinder. I am going to see if maybe i can find some other wheels with different grits and maybe stack 2 beside each other to get more surface area.

A few changes that I am planning on already. 1. I am going to put the ring of the rotor back on or weld some plate so that i have at least some sort of shelf around the forge itself. I have found why that is useful now 2. I havent fully decided if i want to get a paint can of water to put the down pipe in or make a trap door for it yet. its kinda nice having it open on the bottom. i have found that it helps regulate air to the forge and if i need more air just had to lift the toe of my boot to cover the opening and it will force all the air to the forge. so thats still a working thought. 3. I have added a T fitting to the pvc with a ball valve so if im getting to much air i can open that and let the air flow from it before it even gets to the forge. 4. I am going to add some elbows to the pvc pipe so that it sits on the ground. the pipe is in the way as it sits on the chair like that. Let me know what yall think.

Hey everyone. Just recently started getting into blacksmithing, just to make an oyster knife. I know its not much of an excuse, but I usually dont need much reason to start doing something and I imagine there are many people on this forum that are the same way. After scouring this from the other night i decided when i got off work that morning i was going to build my forge and here it is. pieces from my scrape pile. already had the pipe and the flange was came on it when i found it. (I know its galvanized, I have read many things on galvanized metal years ago when i was teaching myself to weld. I know its bad and will either burn it off with my oxy/propane or use some acid. Im aware of the dangers of the fumes and will take precautions. I am new to blacksmithing, but not to metal working. Just letting everyone know that there isnt replies warning me) for welding i usually just grind it off, but i think burning it was just be faster and easier. Welded the 3 pipes to the bottom of the rotor the pipe is 2.25" I used a 2.25" hole saw to drill into the side of the pipe. I think i should have drilled the hole a little closer to the flange, but if it doesnt work well i will just patch the hole and move the pipe. next I used I think a 2.5" or 2.75" holesaw to cut all the way thru the pipe. this is so that i didnt have to buy a tee and get the pipe threaded. I am just going to weld it up. all welded up. Starting to look like something useful now. These are just some exhaust fittings that i got that fit well inside the pipe and on the outside of the pvc pipe. Simple tack on either side the hole flange and pipe come in thru the top of the rotor. so if I want to remove it i will have to cut this little exhaust fitting so it will pass thru the rotor. started to think i should have bolted the flange to the bottom of the rotor, but i was already on track doing it this way and figured if it doesnt work well then i can always change it. the pvc end fits into the pipe in pretty well and does not need to be clamped so i will be able to just remove air supply pipe as needed for storage. I used a piece of flashing and cut a hole in the middle to fit the flange and cut the outside so it sat inside the rotor this was to cover the holes that the wheel studs went thru. bolted the flange down. just used some large washers on the bottom to catch the edge of the rotor. seems to work well. Im not worried about the bolts rusting or seizing. If I have to redo anything i will just cut them off. no big deal. I used some rebar as a grate. Maybe to much opening. I dont know yet. Again I am aware of the dangers of galvanized metal. My air supply. its a homemade leaf blower that i made out of my neighbors vacuum that he was throwing away. I got off work and saw it sitting there and decided i would take it apart just to see how it worked. found that the motor still ran fine and noticed that I can collect the air so i just put it together. I had no intentions for this to be an air supply. In the picture you can see the receptacle that i put together with a dimmer switch. I have read that the dimmer switch with burn out if used to much in one position, but for $6 i figured i will burn 1 or 2 up before i decide to get something different. At last, FIre. I am using wood charcoal in his picture. I have yet to fine a good supplier of coal locally, but im on the look out. seems to work pretty good so far. Here is my oyster knife. I know its another RR spike deal nothing special, but its what i had and wasnt going to be upset if i ruined it. Im not thrilled with how it came out, but for my first attempt i think its ok. I can do better.

My name is Patrick. I live in southeast georgia. Been a tinkerer for a while now and have been playing with the idea of getting into blacksmithing for the past year or more. I went to an oyster roast last week and decided I was going to make my own oyster knife. That was all the motivation I needed and it was a good enough excuse to build a forge and buy some tools. I will post the build in the solid fuel section here shortly. this is a great site and look forward to learning