Hi... I'm Steve. Recently nearly killed in a horrid car crash... (driving a truck, towing a truck... legal speeds... hit by a drunk going 100+... I rolled twice and both trucks destroyed... yadda yadda... not fun, etc.) turned to tooling while in recovery. Wanted to avoid fire... so was cold cutting and shaping some high carbon tool steel...
Then a seller send me a box of RR spikes by mistake... a big box. Urghhh... okay... going towards fire now.
OD'd on youtube vids ad nauseum... so I have the gist... red/orange/stray... got it mostly. The metal codes will never stick... so we'll jump a chapter there please. I get it... 'ding' = higher carbon, 'dong' = mild steel (low carbon)... and the lie in RR is... "HC" was railroad grading... which was actually only .30% carbon... making it actually NOT "high carbon"... compared to buyable stock. Right?.. right.
Okay then...
Weighed some options... mapp/propane power coffee can forge lined with clay, charcoal / coal brake drum forge, and Whitlox V shaped mini forge with the fire brick.
Thinking outside the box... I can make all these and better... but my welder rolled in the crash and it is broken too... scratch that. So then... location.... I'm in the middle of nowhere, near nothing and the ranch... we have lots of open space and scrap wood... so the "Whitlox" version seems most practical. (and I have a spare small travel hair drier... so = SCORE!)
Stopped at a stove store... they gave me 6 small fire bricks. Mom has a cat... so we have new and used cat litter... think I'll use the new, thanks. Ground here is mostly sand/gravel... crushed granite... so
(*) will sifting it for the finest work same as "sand"? (ie beach silica... which is quartz/feldsfar)
(*) can I pound out the cat litter to fine... HOWEVER... it is the ODER additive version, not just clay
(*)... burning down some logs now... so do not have an "ash" question!
So the clay liner = 1-1-1 part of each above... mix into a paste and apply as refractory... right?
OH... my cooker: I found a Hibachi in the pumphouse... this seems perfect. Has sloped sides, and has an air breather slider door already on the lower face.
So... design. (see attached to understand my hybrid thinking.)
Use the Hibachi as vessel core,
take a section of 1/2" pipe with ends capped -place a T in the middle
Drill air feeder holes through out this pipe, lay in center of Hib.
Run T tube out the breather door and enlarge and move away from Hib, connect to hair blower
Clay line the Hib and pipe (but not holes... duh)
Lay firebricks at "V" angle to center, meeting and side edges of air pipe, (clay as mortar to hold?)
Allow to dry... and dry.... and dry.... then test fire with woof chips to bake.
THEN... I'm ready to go right?
======== aside ======
Why does nobody use the double sump oil pan from most V8 truck engines as forge base? Seems perfect, 2 sumps for large/small forging, drain holes below... EASY. Just curious. (this was my other option as I have one here too!)
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The dumb(er) questions now...
I can lazy anneal by setting a hot fire and tossing in the spikes and glowing red cover with embers... and forget. Let the fire burn through... and cool down with spikes or other metal deep in the ashes... (Right?... right.... I think.)
The magnet test works when red.... but when red then slowed down back to natural cool... does magnetism return? (nobody ever asks or talks about this... i googled!)
I know I should hammer when red to shape... and I should anneal to make soft for cutting / filing / grinding... But... will cooled annealed metal... hammer? If you can cut and file when cold... can you not hammer as well... or do you need the internal crystaline structures to be hot and sticky to regroup while slamming them?
Okay... I rambled enough... for now. Insight, options, opinions and other crap relating to the above welcome.
Thanks! -SB
Yeah... language police are nipping at me already. How does one edit post titles?