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I Forge Iron

SierraBladeAndTool

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Everything posted by SierraBladeAndTool

  1. Did my first newpaper and kindling fire today to warm it up... it did not grenade! So... a few more days of drying and some slip filling... and I'll give it a good burn! The hairdryer stoked it all up fast! Sidenote... blowing ashes are messy... do away from main house!
  2. Why dim it? Try just not fitting it snug to your air supply pipe. This would be 'leaky'... and therefore... cut the push of air...
  3. TP... if I go back and see more scoop teeth... do you want one shipped to you? Assuming they will still be free... you'd just eat the flat rate shipping (assuming it will fit a box.) -Steve And in the interim... I think I'll chisel out a seat in a tree stump... until my welder is replaced. There is no RR rail to be found in my near valleys... these were serviced by stagecoach from Carson!
  4. I guess I can open the main T drill hole to 3/8 or so and maybe pepper a few smaller holes near it... and clay the end pipe holes to centralize it... I am just going to be sure I am cured before I fire it. This morning the F cement is hard... but the clay mix has micro lines forming... and is pressable deeper. So I'll keep waiting and pressing tighter for a few days. Thanks Neil. I prefit the hair drier to the airpipe before I set it in... seems to pump just fine... maybe I got lucky. Anyway... it is set in place for now... so no hardware design changes happening at this point. My Lincoln welder was destroyed in my car crash and roll... otherwise were I able to weld... it would not have been THIS. But... (waiting) time and (settlement) money... this will change later. -Steve
  5. Being in the middle of nowhere in a heavy farming and agricultural community can pay off it seems! Local tractor shop gave me blessing to 'look in the bins and take whatever'.... and since I could not lift the 3" thick engine blocks in there... I settled on some scooper teeth! For little stuff... I think these will suffice for the moment!
  6. Okay so I'm a newbie... so don't flame me too hard. But this is my first go at making a fire pot... and I contemplated different designs... but as it will be primarily for blades and tools under 14" in total length... figured opting to go small best suit me. This was roughly inspired by the Whitlox mini forge I saw when looking at designs... as I have limited supplies or access to things... but scrap wood is plentiful. So this will be a wood cooker. We had a neglected Hibachi... and I worked out how to build it and save the case if I ever wanted it again... so it was a simple pick. I experimented with making a clay liner substance... and it failed... so I changed the formula a bit... and will be using it in a non critical area... behind the firebrick against the metal case. Fire brick and fire side seals are with the Furnace Cement. ("Clay" mix was triple screened: sand/wood ash/cat litter, mixed dry at 20%-30%-50%, roughly, and kneaded together with slow addition of water) The air rail extends out and has a hair drier forced air fitting. The Hib. was pasted first with the clay mix, then pipe and bricks were pressed in... filling the rear gaps as best as possible with more clay mix. Brick edges were mortared together with the furnace cement, and pipe to brick as well was pasted with the F cement. I will let this air cure a few days and if any cracks appear, I'll fill them in with the F cement like a pottery slip paste. Then a week out... I'll stoke a small fire to cure/glaze the F cement (as per instructions). This is not "final"... I will fill the open end gaps with more clay mix (as soon as I mix more)... and then *final* will have an F cement smoothed coating, and the Hib. will be painted IHC Red! So this is first round of pics... stay tuned... share, comment as you like. (Oh... all work will be native made... as I am located near NOTHING... and just had a horrid car crash... so driving 75 miles RT to the nearest store... isn't happening!) :-) -Steve
  7. I have my Hibachi forge currently curing. I did a test mix a few days ago: 1-1-1-1 of fine screened concrete/ wood ash/ sand/ cat litter >>>> It was UGLY! Gobbed and cracked up... no. So... I bought two little containers of Furnace Cement... made another better batch of clay from ash/sand/litter (no cement this time). I lined the metal base and sides with 1" or so clay mix... set in my air pipe, then edge mortared my fire brick with the proper furnace cement... and set into place. Packed it all in hard... pressed into all gaps... and then seam sealed on the fireside with the furnace cement. Going to leave to cure a few days... and any drying cracks I guess I can just make a slip like paste and fill and smooth over right? I'll start a thread on it with pics soon... (figured it out... some pics below) The "burn" was to make my wood ash... and the coffee can is holding my SCREENED combo of litter/sand/ash (50/20/30%s)
  8. Paper beats rock, hammer beats steel, scissor beats clinker?
  9. So in short... 'clinker' = metal slag or sand crystalized into near glass like stuff. (ngls)... right? Now... "Spring Steel".... why is it better than Summer, Fall, or Winter steel?
  10. Again... cool... and thanks. I'll start snapping the build, as I think I have all my parts together... but I'm going to paint the Hibachi "IH RED" first... to bling out my cooker! Pics soon... but in the interim... here was my crash... (And a few of "BLUE" as purchased... then as built... then... urghhhh!!!!!!!)
  11. From working on trucks and welding steel and redoing cabs and floors... I have come to love Phosphoric Acid... so in making blades... as well I do presoaks of old steel in a water/phos solution... and when working steel and getting hot... cooling in water with (less) phos in it as well. I have found that this generally ends the rust process... and at worse... leave a white powder residue of zinc photophate... inert... that is great against the rusting. (An aside re oil... I find oil can get sticky and attract as well... so rather than oils or WD-40.... I like PB Blaster. I used it for all my drilling and cutting... and filing IS cutting... so... makes sense) So... for working tools... absolutely worth the try. I use this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-1-gal-Phosphoric-Prep-and-Etch-GKPA30220/100406369
  12. I don't know Glenn... the flip side of all those "May..."... is surely "Might not". :-) Jumping in the water might drown you... ^_^
  13. As long as you don't do anything for longer than 14 seconds... this seems perfectly reasonable to use!
  14. Welcome to the hyjacked photo thread! Flash made gooder... if using a 'vivitar' type placed on camera flash... get a Fed Ex box... the shipping a shirt sized one. Open it up... line with tin foil. Make rec hole in bottle center to press flash in through... aim flash head UP. Go to large front face of box... open it as desired... circle, rec, sq, or 1" slats... cover new openings from inside with said diffusion type material... best is cheapest white frosty material scrap from fabric shop.... then... go nuts. I used to shoot back stage at the biggest fashion shows in Paris... and some dude always near me had noted set-up... his images were awesome. Simpler than above but easy... frosted plastic 8?oz water cup taped head head of flash aimed at subject. This is a ghetto version of the Wong Super Sphere... or whatever that thing is called. Best bet though... no flash... shoot up in the snow... in the shade of a tree... bring small black card. :-)
  15. Thanks Frosty... good insight! And assuming Bentonite is the clay native to the cat litter... Thanks again. Yeah I did a 4 part 1-1-1-1 test mix, too wet as a sample... filtered concrete down to just the fine cement mix-sand-ash-litter. Mix till movable mud (too wet) and applied to a box, and some concrete cracks outside. Still not hard... but better there than in a kiln bomb!
  16. Yup! :-) (where is the "like" button?!!!)
  17. Why did nobody suggest the Nigerian Hardening Powder? If everyone has run out... I might be able to sell him some. Can someone please market the hardening oil while you are at it... I know one of you is hoarding it all up. And speaking of.... spring steel. I am trying to make stuff now... but can't wait that long... where do I get winter steel? Thanks...
  18. I can't help on the knife question... but I got the photography covered. Get a card... the size of a pizza box. Paint one side mid to dark grey, the other white. When you have the glare... move in the grey side until it knocks it down. Another tip... always diffuse a light source ... ie if shooting outside and it is sunny... move to the shade of a tree's trunk... or a thick branch. Also wearing a dark shirt can help when shooting shiny stuff.
  19. Ahhh... see... now I am smarter! Thanks both... if I ever go this route... I now have a learned trick. I build heavy front and rears on Scouts... so a little info goes far with me. The wedge and fill makes total sense. I was thinking the single center plug would be adequate to remove the air balloon... but the wedge and fill is complete. I had assumed... (yeah yeah) that the 3/4" plate would supply the ping bounce needed. Ask and learn! Thanks all! -SB
  20. Heater core blower from any/all junk yard cars. Off grid forging with a car battery... recharging with a solar trickle. Easy.
  21. Thanks Scott... and others. Yeah it was the cold hammering and internal fractures I was thinking about... so... answered. Thanks. Re annealing... the spikes are just novelty... my main work is done on old tool wrenches... so they go through LOTS of cut-off blades! I tossed a handful in my "I need wood ash" fire last night... they got red... and I left it to burn down and away. Everything now is cool... but where I am is in the 20's° at night... so I doubt the 'wood ash is a good annealing insulator' came into play. Thoughts? Would the super cold make them slow cool too fast? Thanks, -S. (and indeed... they like magnets again!) *oh... clay issues with using the odor stuff?
  22. Newbie thinking outside the box... while my thinking won't create a great piece of art that will appreciate in value like a desired anvil would, it might solve a striking face issue I have seen and been curious about. As one poster noted (HWooldridge) ... something about "Most older anvils had a hardened face that was at least 3/8" thick"... Would one not be able to take a section of say 1/2" or 3/4" plate just slightly larger than face... harden it... invert and seam weld it to existing face... and create something gooder? (gooder is a word in my world.) Just thinking out loud. *FYI... I'd center drill said plate and put a bonding plug weld midway as well so there was no gap/plate bounce.
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