GottMitUns

Its a good starting place!

I think the one I built used 1-1/4" pipe but that was because I had 1-1/4" pipe.

Russell

Maine,

   IMHO there is no such thing as a perfect forge.Go find what you can from the scrap yard and build a forge, knowing that you will more than likely rebuild it in the near future when you gain some first hand knowledge of how this stuff works. Glenn's side draft 55 forge with a clay bottom can be made in about 2-3 hours with basic tools out of one 55gal drum and 2ft of 1-1/2" pipe. Run it for a week and then build another one that you think will work better for you.

Russell 

If you have no hot cuts at all and a hack saw didn't work try and find someone with a AO torch. should take about 1 minute per cut at the longest. the AO cut will leave slag and burnt metal that needs to be ground away and that will take more time that the cutting.

since you have found yourself in this position I think the first thing you need to make IS a hardie hot cut! look up the videos of Brian Brazil making them.  I made one out of a axel and used it in Nicaragua along with a wood burning forge to cut up another axel to make a drift pin out of, and cut a lot of leaf spring with it.

Russell

Looking GOOD Lawman! 

Well since Frosty and Thomas jacked this post I will add the following

 3-3-15 1204.MOV

Our Church stew, chili, chicken and dumplings pot. 

We did have leftovers on this cook but a local shelter took them off our hands.

Russell

Thank you J.W.S. I am going to give your formula a try as soon as I get all my PPE together!!

Thanks Charlotte!

Not having a chemical background, or a Radio Shack anymore, I'm wondering were to find Ferric Chloride in South Texas.  Is this a item best ordered off the web or is it common to a off the shelf product like Boric acid/Roach Proof, (Thanks Thomas)

Thank You

Russell

Everything Frosty said and more!  My first Gas forge was way to big and took 3 burners to get close to heat and would freeze a bottle off in no time!  The only thing it did well was hook me on forging! My current forge uses one 3/4" Frosty Tee and works great.  My advice would be to start with a smaller single burner forge and learn a bit about tuning YOUR BURNER in YOUR SHOP with YOUR WORK HABITS.  If you decide to go bigger after that you will have a lot more knowledge about what you really want and what you will need to make it.

Russell

I have used Bees wax to leave a "clear" finish and several coats of corn oil burnt on for a black finish,like seasoning a cast iron frying pan.

I think there is a thread on almost accidents here some were but couldn't find it, Glenn please move this if you see fit.

I had one OOPS! moment in Nicaragua last week

I needed a stump to mount a post vice to so a couple of the Nicas (that's what they refer to themselves as) grabbed a chain saw and headed out. 2 hours later I had a "stump"

We set it about 2ft in the ground and set out to mount the vice to it. I made some long spikes out of 3/8 rebar and decided to drive them in while they were at a black heat. (some of you wiser Gents are beginning to giggle now I know) Holding the spike with a set of tong I gave it a good whack,,something didn't feel right,,another good whack,,that didn't feel right either. one more whack,,that felt better. in the time it took me to release my grip on the tongs it dawned on me why the first 2 whacks hadn't felt right.  A split second latter the friction bite my spike had in the freshly cut, and very wet tree trunk was overcome by the steam pressure it had created.  POW.  The spike went about 15ft straight up and landed on top of the sea container next to us.

Russell

Thank you very much guy, but I will give the glory to God. All I did was light a fire and blow on it.

Thomas,  I had every Jeffe in the camp watching me and Nestor at one point or another during the week.  I think when we repointed a jackhammer bitt in front of them is when it really sank in what they could do with a forge. I actually had the top dog holding the bitt over the anvil while I worked on it with a sledge hammer.

Thanks Guys, I wanted to make sure I had my terms right! We never had a chance to forge weld anything on this trip but I talked them thru the basics of it.

I built and ran a side draft forge this week burning construction scrap in Nicaragua.  I am used to burning charcoal and expected to have to burn a lot more wood than charcoal by volume but I didn't expect this.

 IMG_1978.MOV

I had to rake out about a baseball size chunk of this stuff every hour to keep the tweir pipe open.

the construction scraps were growing tree 2-3 weeks before and all of it was coated with a thin layer of mud/dirt

Every so often I would get some on the steel I was working and it acted like hot glass.

So is it clinker, or is that term only for coal and coke?

Thank for everyone on IFI the prayed for us and helped out with info last week! I am happy to report there is a side draft 55 forge up and running in Jinotega Nicaragua!

Day one started with our group traveling from Victoria Texas to Managua Nicaragua

Home

Loading up in Managua

Day 2 started with a church service on a coffee hacienda at a church we helped fund last year.

Day 3

breakfast at 7:00am

and unpack what I brought up with me in my luggage.

and moving the anvil to its new home. the young man moving the anvil is Nestor and was my student for the week

Here is our basic set up by the middle of the day.

by the morning of day 3 we had everything in place and I was ready to start teaching,

I had planned on making some simple S hooks to start with until the camp construction manager came to me that morning and explained that they really needed 12 piquetes next week to keep work moving along. A piquetes looks like a hatchet made from a leaf spring that has been cut off about 4" from the shackle eye and then had a wooden handle put into the shackle. They are used to chip a texture into concrete beams before a final coat of concrete is smeared on like stucco. Since we only had one leaf spring with eyes on it we had to bend 10 more.  I figured the easiest way to do this was to bend a ruff eye into it over the anvils edge and then drive a drift thru it and true it up so off to town we headed to get a truck axel for a drift.

   4 hours later we made it back to camp with a old Toyoda axel, 5 gals of burnt motor oil for quenching and a pint of gear oil for the blower.

Since my Spanish and my helper Nestor's English were about on par with each other there was a lot of pointing and grunting going on as I made a drift out of the axel and 3 piquetes then Nestor made the remaining 7.

By the end of the day Nestor could make one in about 15 minutes

The next day we heat treated the heads and made wedges for all the handles for them that another team made with a draw knife and then set the wedges.

Along the way that day we also made a tool out of a coil spring to bend rebar with, a cold chisel from a coil spring for another project, repointed a 7' chipping bar and 2 jackhammer bits.

The last project for the last afternoon was a Fredrick's Cross that I hands off instructed Nestor to make for his mother.  I believe he showed it off to worker in the camp and when asked how he made it he would respond it was a blacksmiths secret.

I left 4 of the most commonly referred to blacksmith books with them and the address to IFI and instruction to email me with any questions they had and I would try to help out all I could.

Thanks to all of you for the info you have shared with me over the last few years, and if anyone wants to go to Nica on a blacksmithing trip let me know!

Russell Doerr

my morning reading!

on the way to Matagalpa to scrounge up a axle and some oil for the blower. 

Thanks guy!

I Made it down and things are going good!

shop is real close to set up and we have our first job in the morning. Noe I have a heat treat question to throw at yall. 

I have to build some hatchets for dressing concrete with. They will be made from leaf spring rolled around a mandrel 

I have water or motor oil to quench in I'm thinking about leaving them normalized. What do yall think? If I do quinch them, what in and what color do I draw them back to.

i will get back on the web in the morning as Internet is limited

thank you

russell

Well I'm just about packed up

Of the 190 pounds of luggage I think 20 pounds of it is clothes, sleeping bag and toiletries.   The rest is blacksmithing gear and books, there is a Champion blower, 4" post vice and a Victor cutting rig complete with hose and regulators in amongst that stuff.. 

I had to balance the 40.00 per bag verses the time it would take to recreate what in the bags given my limited 5 day window.

We are flying out of Houston at 12:30 on Saturday.

We have 9 other people going down so everybody gets to check one of their bags and one of mine!

Thanks

Russell

Thanks Frosty and Lawman

Thanks Charles and Glenn.  I will send as many pictures as I can and I will defiantly show them the IFI web sight.

Russell

To the whole IFI gang.

   I would like to ask for your prayers and a little grace for the next 2 weeks if I ask simple newbie questions that are easily researched.

  I do short term missionary work every year thru my church, and this year have been asked to set up a black smith shop in Nicaragua at a Young Life or Vida Jovian camp there.   I have been on the phone with Glenn and have a plan for getting a 55 forge up and running and there is already a anvil on hand down there that I saw on my last trip but not much else.

  I have 2 duffel bags stuffed to the weight limit with reference books and time consuming start up tools that I'm taking with me, and they have been scrounging up axles, springs, barrels, buckets, pipe and clay. 

   What I am going to be the shortest on is time and knowledge and certainty.  I would know if I have 110volt 12volt or 0volt, or if I will have a tin roof, thatched roof or no roof over the shop area until I get there. Once I am there I will have about 5 working days to setup and teach what I can from my limited knowledge base to someone who may of may not understand my brand of tex/mex Spanglish.

 I should be able to get on the web at night and early in the morning, if I can I will try and post pictures of what things look like and the progress that gets made.

Thank you for your support!

Russell Doerr

Nothing like that wide open, new shop space!

Get after it!

The one in the video is made of 1" pipe. I do not know how big frosty has taken these.

Where are you at in Texas.

RWD