Rainbows

trying to find a way to get the top tool off now. looks like it could have flared a leather rivet

What did you use for insulation? On youtube some had no lining and others used cement (which I believe will crack under any amount of heat). The plan was to have a solid fuel based furnace so I guess the crucible or lining has to be smaller to compensate for space taken up by coke. Also how big should the hole in the top be? My air pipe is ~25mm dia and the hole in the top is 18mm dia and some will probably vent out the sides where the two parts meet (gonna try and get a sheet metal lip welding on the lid to create a better seal). I suppose the hot air will expand so the outlet needs to be >25mm but at the same time less hole means more insulation I suppose.

Another mystery tool, picked it up at a car boot sale. Seller didn't know what it did either. A bit worse for wear but it still moves and has some spring to send it back up. doesn't have any makers mark. Total height is 25cm

Black and Decker, 350w and something in it fits 0-13mm. Has a rubber back wheel and using a screw you can attach a metal disc with abrasive glued to the front. It is probably quite old. Anyone have the actual name for such a tool?

Making the hole for the airpipe and so far no disastrous explosions. fudged the angle grinding the top off a bit so their is some gaps between the lid and base. Scrap yards didn't have anything for crucibles though I might be overly playing it on the safe side for wanting 5mm thick walls on tubes.

apparently the local scrapyard doesn't like stocking them too much, got a nearly empty one for £2. Vented the gas, got the valve off and it is now on its second fill of water and it can soak with fairy liquid in for the night. For that money I thought I might as well have a go at making one. Hope 27L is big enough

Seen on youtube of people taking old propane or butane bottles, cutting the top off, drilling a hole for an air pipe and using the shell for a furnace. Has anyone made one of these and are they any good? There are videos of melting aluminium in them but I was wondering about the longevity of them and how quickly and efficiently they melt. Also when is it safe to start taking grinding disks to the bottle? Will getting the valve off a filling it with water suffice to get rid of the fuel?

Do I then risk melting my furnace? I didn't plan to melt iron or steel but will I have to make a furnace capable of withstanding such temperatures?

Just to note I don't plan to do casting in the immediate future, just poking about to see what is possible. I was wondering whether coke or coal is suitable for melting metals up to aluminium, I have seen charcoal powered furnaces but as far as I can see no one has coal or coke furnaces going around and since coal is cheaper than various gas fuels (which I don't have any idea on making burners for) and charcoal (I don't own any woodland to make my own) I was wondering whether it is just unfashionable or whether there is a problem with it.

going to try some off of a tumble drier, fans are plastic but bigger than the original one and the motor is the size where power starts getting measured in HP or Kw rather than watts (though I don't know its actual power). Only problem is I have to make the casing for it. Looking on ebay I think the last fan was from a boiler, though it had been in a seaside scrapyard for an unknown time so maybe that is why it didn't last long in use after all that briney air.

I found the video and rather than overnight it appears he had 3 months of making Japanese blades for practice and had made his own dies for making the bevels which probably makes the learning curve much shallower.

Anyone know what to use as a replacement blower? the last blower appears to be permanently dead and the hair drier overheats if you limit the airflow with the valve so I need something new and preferably cheap that doesn't have any heating coils attached.

I believe I can add the water tank to the side which might help the pipe but making the two section water jacket will probably require yet another swap around. Based the tuyere off a rivet forge that had seen better days, it had a thick solid tuyere and no water tank so I thought I might be able to get away without water too.

To replace the wok and gaffa tape forge here is a new forge, still no welding involved thought it is more permanent. Materials are used here are 1mm sheet steel, 5mm nuts and bolts, 25mm angle iron sections (3mm thick), an old pallet, some dirt/clay, some bricks, 25mm pipe (first half), hair dryer (first half), 50mm pipe with valve (2nd half) and some sort of snail fan (2nd half). Tools were a drill, a pillar drill (because my drill can hardly manage 1mm thick steel), 5mm drill bit, gaffa tape, chisel and a spanner. Here's the business bit Put it on unmortared bricks to raise it off the ground. Put a stone slab in the middle where most the fire is supposed to go and filled it with clay-ish soil from Staffordshire. Emptied the coal left in my old forge into it. Air is controlled by changing the proximity of the hair drier and the end of the tuyere. I then went to wales for a week so the forge hardly got touched in its current state while at Wales I found a nice scrap yard (all the local ones are automobile based) which had 3 200-300lb anvils (two were double horn one was london pattern), two post vices,ones hell of a pillar drill and if you felt like it a vintage crane but due to transport restrictions I only got a piece of piping and two fan motors (despite the brine-y air both worked). Valve is much more convenient than moving around the fan and the new fan is quieter than the hair drier for the same output, not as strong as I hoped it would be. In hindsight I should probably make some sort of chimney with all this smoke. Not sure if 5cm is too large a tuyere but I could screw a cap on and drill a smaller hole in that if needs be. I have practically no knowledge using sideblast forges but it seems to work atleast as fast as the last one. In hindsight I could of made it in a much easier fashion with some bending but it's done now. I forgot to post this so it has been sitting on my browser ready to post for a few hours, since taking the last picture the motor on the fan appeared to overheat and the fan cut out while emitting smoke which probably reduced my lifespan a bit. No amount of heat noticeable to the hand has passed up the tuyere as far as the valve and is only slightly warm closer to the fire so it must be the electrics on the motor, I suppose I can gaffa tape the hairdryer to it.

If the Mexican files are soft then what are the Brazilian made ones like? In England the new Nicholson files are made in Brazil.

Picked this up from a garage sale in Wales. "C.K GERMAN MAKE", the handle looks like it should have a small file or rasp wedged in it. The saw has larger teeth on one side and smaller, finer teeth on the other. There appear to be 4 separate saws in the pattern. I picked it out of a bin full of metal files so I guess it could be blacksmith related, can anyone give a purpose or backstory to it?

The liquid inside should disperse enough heat that quenching stuff won't vaporize the zinc (but the galvanized bucket I use is more of a barrel size so might not be accurate). However if it is too near the fire then it might be heated from there and start causing problems but I don't have any experience in whether that could be a realistic danger. If you can get a stainless steel bucket it would have a longer life and have fewer dangers compared to galvanized.

Sounds expensive, could I avoid that spot and use other parts of the anvil (I would prefer to spread out the cost of buying and restoring the anvil over some time) or would the shock travel through the entire anvil and break it off anyway? Also is there a way to stop this happening elsewhere on the anvil or is it just something that will happen with age? Thanks for the information so far.

I knew about the crack but what does it mean to have the top delaminating and how do I fix that? I know of a welder who could at least fix the crack.

Fresh off ebay, haven't yet picked it up yet. £50, estimated 35-45 kg by the seller with the dimensions of 16.5x4.25x8".

Pretty certain it is stainless, that doesn't have any dangers under heat does it?

I was going to post a picture of it in action but my lighter ran out of fuel, the blower wouldn't run fast (that's what happens when you get poundland batteries)and a bit latter it starting to rain a bit so today is just not a good day for fires. Found this sitting in the grass in an industrial park and I thought it might do as a fire pot. The walls are thicker than the wok and it hasn't rusted being outside but I don't think it's galvanized. It's 18cm across with two big 4.5cm diameter pipes sticking out each end and it is about 7.5 cm deep. If I ground out the center ring and blocked the left pipe would this make a decent fire pot? It has a convenient lip so I planned mount it on some thick-ish sheet metal that's been bolted to an old table to make a forge that doesn't involve dirtying the knees.

I felt I should have at least one post on this account so I shall show my current forge. In a fine example of frugality this set up cost no money and only needed a drill. Made from the inside bit of a car wheel (found by the road, someone had set it on fire so the tire part was gone already), some pipe (fell off the local scrap mans van I think), an air pump that is designed for air beds (already owned that), a paint can and a later edition was part of a wok ( found abandoned with a broken handle on the street). The original set up didn't have the wok and instead the lid of a paint can with holes drilled in was placed on the big hole in the middle of the wheel but it took a lot of coal to just fill the wheel so I replaced it with a wok which has a smaller capacity. The paint can is under the wheel and acts as an elbow between the pipe and the wheel. I could probably get rid of the wheel now but its gaffa taped to the paint can and moving it might get coal everywhere.