Latticino

Just recall that thermal shock can also be reduced by reducing the thickness of your casting, taking care with the geometry to avoid rapid changes in thickness and crack initiation points, and allowing the burner head to warm up and cool relatively slowly. This is why I prefer the Joppa style cast burner heads over the Pine Ridge style that everyone seems to be using these days.

Cross-post with the OP. What I found when googling "Farm Cylinder Bars" was some form of combine part. To me they look like flat stock with numerous holes and chopped up edges. I suspect they are some form of steel that is tough, but doesn't necessarily get very hard (like lawnmower blades), but that is just a guess. May not be what the OP had in mind, but is suspect it is. Personally I lean towards using known steel for making blades these days as the steel cost is only a small fraction of the investment (unless you are using something exotic), certainly in comparison to your time and proper abrasives. Here is a photo and drawing:

They better be the gold standard. Their website lists their linesmen's boot starting at $650 and peaking at $810. Don't get me wrong, they look fantastic, but I can't see spending that kind of money on boots. I struggled with $160 for my last pair of OXO boots, and that was just because I wear size 14...

Kastolite 30 is an insulating castable refractory. Greencast 97 is a castable refractory. It will hold up quite well to flux, but can be prone to thermal shock, so be careful rapidly heating or cooling to avoid cracks. As cast it has very limited insulating value (compared to ceramic blanket, Kastolite 30, or even soft firebricks).

I can't imagine a scenario where you could make an effective blade replacement for under $80 if you factor in the materials, time, losses due to learning the correct heat treatment, saw setting tool you need to properly set the teeth... Also I'm not sure specifically what size replacement blade you are looking for as google searches show the simple type selling for the $20 range, even from fairly expensive vendors like Peck Tools. Of course if you want one with a Japanese style tooth layout they get up in price, but I sincerely doubt you can match that configuration without some serious tooling and a major time investment:

How did you determine the bearings weren't 52100? Even if they are a "plain" carbon steel hopefully they have enough carbon to properly harden to make a quality blade. I suspect even 52100 will experience some carbon migration, and even loss, being forge welded in a canister due to the time at elevated temperature required. That is a very nice drop point hunter design with what appears from the photo to be a nice grind and fitup. You even included a pin and bolster. I think you did a great job.

John, I agree, with the clarification that I believe it is a function of both temperature and time that determines grain growth. As I understand it once you exceed the phase change temperature for the steel involved (different for each type of steel, per Cashen for 5160 blades this temperature should be approximately 1525 deg. F) austinite begins to form. Initially these austenite grains (sections of austenite aligned in a matrix with each other with defined boundaries separating other similar austenite matrixes aligned in different directions) should be fairly small, but with time and temperature will start to align with each other and combine into larger grains. At least that is how I picture what is happening. Higher temperatures make this alignment happen faster, longer soak times make more grains align and combine.

I have had good success with the following heat treatment process: After forging is complete and before any grinding I first normalize the grain by heating to above the austentizing temperature (after the phase change that is visible by decalescence) and holding it there for a few minutes. Typically this is a bright orange, almost yellow color. Grain will grow, but it will even out in size. Note that for all cycles the goal is to have your entire blade be at relatively equal temperature. Let cool down to black slowly in air (should be magnetic again), don't leave on a heat sink. Heat up to just below austentizing temperature (around 1400 deg. F), and not above that to reduce the grain size. This is a red-orange color. There should be no phase change and the blade should not go non-magnetic. Hold at this temperature only long enough to equalize the temperature throughout. Let cool down to black slowly in air Heat to around 1200 deg. F for stress relief (sub-critical anneal). This is just barely glowing in a dark room. For thin stock I sometimes just use the dragons breath from my forge for this. Let cool slowly to room temperature. Grind surfaces to 120 grit (unless very thin kitchen knives, then I grind after hardening and tempering). I haven't made a fillet knife, but flexibility is more of a function of blade thickness than it is of hardness. Ability to spring back to the original straight form is a function of correct heat treatment and the balance between toughness and hardness that you achieve with proper cycles and material selection, particularly tempering (as George mentioned). For blades that get a lot of stock removal I may do a second stress relief cycle after this to help minimize warping. Heat to austentizing temperature and quickly quench in proper quenchant. 5160 is a deep hardening steel and can be quenched in a relatively slow oil like Parks AAA, McMaster 11 second, or even canola at no more than 120 deg. F. Temper for 2 separate one hour cycles at temperature selected for your steel to achieve the desired edge hardness and toughness.

A couple of inches of dragon's breath exiting the forge is standard. I wouldn't be concerned until it gets past 8" in a darkish room.

Get yourself a free copy of the Heat Treating app and look up forging temperature ranges for the steels in question. There are a lot of different steel alloys and each has a characteristic "working" range. Wrought iron can be effectively forged almost white hot, but splits at lower temperatures you can still work mild steel. Simple 10XX series Medium and high carbon steels have general working ranges that typically work for those types, but once you get into exotic alloys you need to be more careful. Unfortunately I've not played with wootz, so don't have an answer there.

Based on the proposed size of your operation I don't see a lot of practical reasons behind casting iron other than for small sculptures. Even if your goal is short runs of replacement cast parts for manufacture, the energy burden and clean up requirements may make it more reasonable to just fabricate out of steel. From all accounts it is an order of magnitude more difficult to cast iron safely and effectively than making simple ingots of aluminum or copper. I strongly urge you to take a casting class with an experienced iron caster to get a handle on this prior to trying it on your own. We are talking maiming or life threatening levels of safety concerns.

That's a very large melter, and going to need a powerful burner. I made a Glory hole for glassblowing out of a 55 gallon drum with pleated refractory blanket insulation around 3" thick. Used a multiport burner head rated at around 250 MBH and at full bore it never got to steel melting temperatures. Won't go into all the safety issues about casting steel, since presumably you already know about those, but please get the right PPE and be extremely careful. Not sure exactly what you plan on accomplishing here. Just recycling steel? Making sculpture? Attempting to batch out some kind of interesting blister steel or wootz? I think it gets kind of tricky maintaining the right carbon content to be successful. Might be tough to maintain the correct atmosphere with an oil burner.

Mine came with the press and is fairly heavy cast iron. I still bolted it down to the slab. An immobile fly press support system of some kind is an essential part of having your press perform correctly in my opinion. If nothing else I would go with removable bolts down to lags in the floor.

Some VFD will also accomplish the phase shift. I know the two I have plug directly into 240V single phase and have outputs to 3 phase electric motors. You should have a wiring diagram that details this.

As you probably know this is a London pattern style anvil and the numeric markings are likely in English hundredweight (132 lbs). Can't make out the logo or manufacturer's name from the photos, but I expect it will have plenty of working years in it.

Sorry you lost your family anvil. Hope it sold for a decent price, at least, though I suspect from your story that someone else got the deal you are currently looking for. This one should be fine for your purposes, though working cold steel on it will likely continue to scar it up a bit. Fishers are well known for their lack of ring, and was a selling feature at one time. It is a byproduct of the method of manufacturer, and not a defect. For me definitely a plus as my shop is in a residential area, and my Fisher is likely all the anvil I will ever need (though I have to admit a German double horn would be helpful at times, and those antique church window anvils are so lovely...). Wire brush and coating of boiled linseed oil (BLO) is often recommended, but certainly not required for a "user" anvil.

Glad that you didn't go to one of those to buy an anvil then. The eagle badge on yours looks quite different from mine, or the ones I'm used to seeing, but it could easily be an earlier style. As noted, Josh will likely have more info. I think that the number on the base is usually the weight in "10's" of pounds (i.e. 70 lbs.). Your anvil has plenty of life left, if you plan on using it, but has had a bit of use already as witnessed by the scarred edges and face. Value around here would be closer to 3 $/#, but that is typically location specific.

If you are going to build a solid fuel brick forge you might as well build it out of conventional clay brick for the bulk of the structure and chimney. A top layer of high temperature furnace brick for the forge pan with a steel or cast iron fire pot should hold up quite well. I don't see any need for dirt or concrete, and the high temperature mortar only for it's intended purpose of marrying bricks together (though likely not necessary for the bulk of the construction, if at all, if you use conventional mortar for most of the brick). I'm sure there are numerous sets of plans out there for these in archived books as they were pretty common at one time. Sometimes it is better not to reinvent the wheel, particularly if you don't have a lot of experience with the craft. Seemingly minor design decisions like the size and depth of firepot, or the height of the sides of your forge can have a pretty significant effect on how useful your construction is in the end.

Strongly recommend you be specific on whether you want "hard" or "insulating" furnace brick when you make you inquiries. Also, Ceramic supply houses are good sources for insulating fire bricks, even online... Google search for "insulating fire brick for sale" should get you some good hits, but be sure to use at least 2600 or 2800 degree selections. Surprisingly even Walmart appears to carry them in boxes of (6) with refractory cement for joints.

I would expect a Vulcan in that condition, in Texas, should sell easily at 2 or 3 $/LB to a smith that wants to use it (as long as that is dirt, not Bondo or a weld on the top surface in the "sweet spot"). You could always list it for 4 $/LB, and hope for the best. Anything above that and you will likely have to wait or get lucky. Note that Vulcans are typically viewed as one of the lower tier manufacturers. Would sell for more (particularly in that excellent condition) if a Fisher, Peter Wright, Arm and Hammer, Trenton, Brooks, or Hay Budden (just to name a few of the more desirable common anvils here in the States).

All depends on your build. I'm a fan of a removable "face plate" that allows both initial forge insulation and inevitable relining. My process is to put in full circumference of 2" thick 6 or 8 # density refractory blanket on the shell. If you want more insulation thickness for added efficiency you can pleat this and get even thicker insulation. Then I spray the surface of the insulation with a solution of fumed silica to stabilize it and keep it from crushing during the casting step. Set vertically with the front opening up and prepare removable forms for the inner cavity (sonotube or rolled vinyl) and burner opening (pool noodle, plastic cup...). Then I mix up the castable refractory insulation and cast the back wall. While that is starting to set I place the inner form and pack in the walls. I think 1/2" thickness is a little hard to achieve, but 3/4" works well enough. Use the rest of your mix to cast a face plate with a door opening, front and rear doors (you prepared frames for those, right?), and if any is left over cast some 1" thick tiles that can be placed in the forge as removable floors for when you forge weld with flux (cardboard forms are fine for this). Wrap castable sections in plastic so they dry slowly. Follow manufacturer's directions for drying and slowly heating the new liner.

Only downside I know of for CI firepots (aside from cost) is that you need to be careful not to heat shock them and crack them. As long as you don't pour a bunch of water directly on it while it has been heated up it should last a lifetime.

Make sure your casting is completely dry before firing. Cure time is pretty long. Can accelerate a little by putting an incandescent light inside forge body and letting run for a day or so (first with the door full open then mostly closed). Watch for moisture boil off during initial firing, and go slow at first.

Umm, now you are saying your spine is thicker than 3/4" and edge is over 1/4" thick?

That type of oven control is typically ON/OFF, not proportional. Not only will you need to be concerned about overshoot, that kind of controller typically relies on having an effective pilot light. If you are going to use an oven controller, you may need to use the entire gas train hookup, including pilot safety system.