Latticino

Sorry to have somehow missed this whole thread and not contributed earlier. Lots to process. To start, let me correct some misunderstandings. While I did get a job offer from Corning to work there as an engineer on their process line right out of undergrad, I didn't take that offer. I wanted to stay in the Boston area, and yes there was a woman involved. Years later I got into glassblowing full time, received an MFA from the School for American Craftsmen at RIT, and ran my own glass studio for around 10 years. I have also taken a handful of classes at the Corning Studio with some glass masters, but I was never employed there. I am far from a glass historian, but I do have a bit of practical experience with both glass and steel, mostly separately. I've blown glass with both steel and stainless steel pipes, and the latter are significantly easier to use. Modern glassblowing pipes are usually tubes with a spun, swaged or plastic insert mouthpiece and a welded, drilled, bar stock end for picking up glass. This helps with both heat transfer and weight. The “business end” of the pipe needs to stay hot so thermal shock doesn’t spall the glass right off the end of the pipe, so in use we typically preheat that end to just under red hot before attempting to “gather” glass from the furnace, and keep it at elevated temperatures during the entire process. Needless to say it is important for the end you are holding and blowing into to be cooler. The extra thermal mass at the business end stays hot longer. Thermal shock at the glass/metal interface in this case is a product of the different thermal expansion rates of glass and metal. I’d have to check to be sure, but I can say from experience that copper bonds better to molten soda/lime/silica glass (and causes less thermal stress in the glass after annealing) than steel. Of course each glass formula has slightly different thermal characteristics. In my experience encapsulating steel within molten glass is a recipe for thermal shock and eventual cracking, sometimes violently, of the glass. Of course I have mostly worked with “hard” soda/lime/silica glass, not “soft” borosilicate glass (like torch workers). These days there are different custom glass formulas that bond better with steel, but I haven’t any experience with them. I know that shortly before he closed up his shop, Al Paley was conducting same fairly extensive experiments with Corning to come up with a formula that would be more compatible with his forgings. Side note: I did blow a handful of glass lamp shades for his shop back in the day, but these were cold connected. Please note that no matter how good a glass/steel bond looks it can be very subject to thermal shock down the road. With the glass surrounded by steel it may be better than having the steel surrounded by glass, but in either case very slow annealing after the glass casting would be prudent (8+ hours down from 900 deg. F to room temperature for glass thickness around ¼” is what I remember; a computer controlled annealing oven is a good idea). I’d also remove any sharp corners from the steel that impact on the glass. Ideally I would do a check for stress in the glass after a test full process was done using a polariscope, but those work best with clear glass.

Not only that, but the dispersion of CO will most likely vary quite a bit depending on the temperature of the exhaust stream where it is being created. In the experiment cited it was unclear at what temperature the CO was introduced to the space, but most likely was close to or below room temperature. My expectations for CO generated by our forges it that it would rise rapidly to the shop peak due to the buoyancy effect, then diffuse downwards as the exhaust airstream cools. In many cases this would make it more insidious and potentially dangerous. Still this is only a theory.

Books, articles and videos are all helpful (once you know what you are looking for), but nothing beats taking an in person class. I would definitely look into that before spending anything on tools or equipment. Noise on a small lot is certainly a concern, as is building a forge in a structure attached to your home. Ventilation, code and safety issues will need consideration. Half of a 3 car garage is a great size for a home forge, but whatever else is stored there will get dirty. As far as books go, I would recommend the "Backyard Blacksmith" for beginning general forging and Jim Hrisoulas's books for sword smithing (though you have a long way to go before being ready for the latter). There are also some great articles on this site regarding these topics, but you may have to dig to get the info you want.

I recommend you get Jim Batson's book on building hydraulic presses. It will answer a lot of your questions. Unless you are very good at scrounging expect to spend over $1,500 for the materials and equipment you will need for construction, not including your time and consumables. As the guys have mentioned excellent welding skills are required. One consideration is to be sure you actually need a hydraulic press. There are other options, depending on what you plan on forging. Unlike what you have seen on Forged in Fire, the vast majority of smiths have never used a hydraulic press, much less owned one. I'm not saying they aren't a nice tool, and I wouldn't mind owning one, but they are also expensive, need a significant power source to run, and can be dangerous for the novice user.

Have one and quench once color doesn't show, IF I need to quench. Ideally you should work the drift pretty hot so it doesn't suck the heat out of your stock. I find these really work a bit better as mandrels rather than drifts, but I weld my sockets typically so need to worry about "popping" the weld.

Cross posted with Thomas. Great minds... Hope someone comes up with a better solution, but my advice would be to drill a small hole at the end of the crack to stop it progressing further and braze the rest of it shut. As I understand it, welding cast iron is not a simple process. Did you drop it or hit it with something?

Note: While a kiln wash like Plistix may help with IR re-radiation and a bit of flux resistance, it is unlikely to add any significant strength to the ceramic fiber board walls. This is the major advantage to adding a 1/2" - 3/4" thick layer of cast refractory insulation like the Kastolite 30. In my experience ceramic fiberboard does not stand up at all well to multiple thermal cycles, and sags at higher temperatures depending on the unsupported span. I hope the kiln wash does what you need, but it isn't the direction I would go for a durable forge skin.

Been thinking about trying to market hawks to that crew as well, though might be tough to meet the price point of some commercial suppliers. In my limited experience with throwing I find that I agree with you on the typical point of impact for the top half of the edge. I actually like a bit of an upswept point there for good penetration on impact (see Francisca axes), but a flat top works well also.

Wish I could take credit for that, but I learned it from James Austin

That Wilton Bullet is nice (and I believe fairly collectable). Around here they go for a good dollar.

Cool, a tabletop camelback. Thanks for sharing that's a new one for me.

For power hammers think greater force, lower BPM, lower force, greater BPM. Take a look at the Anyang USA site for details. I have a "34 lb" that hits at 250 BPM when all is running properly; their "178 lb" is only rated for 205 BPM. What I've seen work well is a combination hydraulic press and rolling mill using a hydraulic motor to produce low RPM and high torque...

Yes your forge is likely on the order of twice the size you need right now. I'm a fan of putting a rather healthy layer (3/4" thick minimum) of high alumina castable refractory insulation (like the Kastolite 30 that Glen sells in the IFI store) as an internal protective wall in my forges, but I have some significant lung scarring from exposure to untreated ceramic blanket during my years as a glassblower. Rigidizer will keep down the bulk of the fibers, but it is an extremely thin topcoat layer, if applied correctly, and can be easily damaged (not to mention dissolved by flux). The castable refractory adds some thermal mass, so your forge will heat slower, but also acts as a bit of a "thermal battery" when you put a mass of cold steel into the forge (like a hammer head blank). Mixed and applied correctly it is a very durable surface and will also resist molten flux to a great degree.

How about going full blacksmith and using a wedge system like this:

You have a very distinct style, which I admire greatly.

Manufacturer support is really the key for getting one of these. You will inevitably have to deal with repairs and maintenance at some point, and good support is key. That is certainly one issue with going with an older mechanical, you really need to have the chops to keep it working. The other issue is utility supply and support structure. For hammers the size you are looking at you will need a dedicated poured pad and 3 phase power. Hopefully you have that figured into your cost.

Swage size for consolidating elevator cable into a billet by forge welding wholly depends on the diameter of the cable itself. I have used either half round or 45 degree angled bottom swages for this, both work. You just need to have enough cable sticking up to hit while forge welding and enough width at the top opening not to pinch your cable diameter. You don't even need a swage, but it certainly makes it easier since you are compressing the cable radially (for a half round) or at least in two directions for a V-swage. Personally I think the half round works better, and has more general uses as well for other projects. I believe that JPH has posted one of her excellent videos on how to forge a half round swage that fits in a hardy hole.

Other issues: It is very difficult to accurately control the temperature at the edge of the blade if you are torch-tempering the spine with the blade in air (directly after quenching with no oven temper). You do want it to be tempered to remove some brittleness, but you don't want it to go full soft either. Some folks use the temper colors to determine what temperature the blade edge gets to, but these oxidizing colors can be deceiving (especially if there are any oil deposits on the blade). It can certainly work as a technique, but is more an art than science IMHO. Much easier to do with less critical, thicker, tools like chisels. If you torch temper with the blade in water the edge will never get up to correct temperature to properly temper it. If the blade was properly hardened it will remain brittle. I was taught that "blue-blacking" the spine to make the overall blade more resilient is best done after at least one round of normal oven tempering (almost always done off-screen on shows like Forge in Fire as it is too boring for the audience). You want any remaining austenite to fully convert to avoid later stress (two temper cycles are better for this). If you plan on blue-blacking the spine you can likely do a snap temper at a relatively lower temperature to maintain more hardness on the edge, but that still depends on the eventual use planned for the blade. A wet sand barrier works well for protecting that edge while torching

Hydraulic presses are arguably one of the most dangerous and expensive pieces of equipment that a smith can introduce into a shop. Until you have a lot more experience I strongly recommend that you avoid getting one. Only a very small percentage of smiths have even used a hydraulic press, much less owned one (regardless of what you see on FIF). Also, if you are completely new there are a bunch of other techniques that need to be mastered before you look at cannister, mosaic or other pattern welding. As George N.M mentioned, most of these can also be done without heavy equipment (albeit more slowly and less efficiently).

During active forging you should have an opening in the top of your coal pile (or side if you are going for the "beehive" configuration) that will allow the coal gasses to burn off and prevent collection (use your poker and vent till you see some flame shooting out when cranking). This can be a particular problem if dumping wet coal with a lot of fines on top of your working fire. Add new coal to the perimeter of your existing pile and gradually introduce it to the mix as it dries out and starts to coke up. Vent as required. If you are banking your fire while taking a break, opening the ash dump should keep enough air flowing through your loosely packed coal pile to avoid this buildup.

I've never had much success with ceramic board roofs. In my experience they always seem to sag and crack. This is one of the main reasons I prefer a cylindrical forge body. On heat treat ovens I have used special SS board hanger pins to support this, but the forge temperatures will kill those. The wall cracks aren't a big deal, but the roof cracks are a structural issue. I suppose you could cast an arch inside your forge (Kastolite 30), but you would be giving up some space and the heatup time will increase a little. What do the manufacturer's advise?

Nice trivet. How are pieces joined (MIG)?

Sounds like you are looking for advice on medium scale industrial forgings. We are mostly hobby blacksmiths here and don't necessarily have the background to assist you. For anything on the scale we work with, a press like that would be extreme overkill. I recommend you engage a licensed professional mechanical engineer familiar with industrial forgings to advise you. You will need scale, dimensioned drawings of the expected forgings with all tolerances listed for the final part as well as an indication of what final machining will be used on the forged billet. If all you are doing is forge welding pattern welded billets that machine will likely work well, but the power cost to run it will be outrageous. YOu could crush most blacksmith sized forging presses to a pulp inside your press...

I think New Jersey Steel baron used to offer precut stacks. I'm not sure if they still do.

Wish I could contribute my wife's yarn collection and free up a couple of closets and a guest room... Probably wouldn't make it through the night afterwards though . Seriously, best of luck, it is kind of a tough time to open something up. I'm a big fan of craft stores though, always room for more.