vaporlock

Hi All, Yeah, I think it was a case of overheating before quenching, possibly forging too cold. quenching (selective) was done in veg oil . Thanks all for the comments, It gives me a few things to look at when trying to make the same without the crack :-) Vaporlock

Hi Dodge, yes, normalised it for about an hour and a half right after forging. vaporlock

Hi All, I forged my third knife last weekend. First time i used XC90. Pretty happy with the forging result, However , I think i made a mistake finishing the bevel before tempering . Somehow the bevel cracked . Could also be insufficient heating before selective quenching I imagine it could have been avoided if I would have tempered it straight after quenching. In which case I could have tempered at a lower temperature. Any thoughts? Vaporlock

Turbo7, Yes, I was thinking of making a rectangular grate1-2 inches above the original tuyere ( i do not feel like changing/drilling the original one) of which I can close and open different patterns of holes. the "bucket" in which the tuyere is places should be deep enough. one question, Can the total surface of the holes in the grate surpass (slightly) the surface of the one hole in the tuyere or should i keep the surface one for one. I imagine more surface reduces airpressure through the grate. However if i would need more air I could add a small blower to the manual bellows via the "compressed air valve" as seen in the second pic of post #7. Lots of possibilities.

SHE BLOWS, Yes, the "kangaroo" valves work perfectly. minimal air spillage. The gasket sealer does the job as well. now all I have to do is find some clay in this region of mine. Pics will follow

Hi Frosty, the kangeroo leather was the only leather supple enough to "hinge" properly. No kangeroo's in France and when i was working in north australia, we only ate wallaby, the kangeroo was for the krokodile farm . How is the leather of those big animals? I would imagine it to be very thick and stiff. kangeroo is about 0.7mm extremely tear resistant, pliable and super soft (think gloves and high end motorcycle leathers) vaporlock

Loneronin, your vise looks almost the same than my 7" post vise. I bought it second hand a few years back but gave it the good once over recently. I do not have a "before" pic but the cleaned up version is quite nice to look at and bonus: it does work without too much play or jaw offset. I have one question though: the inner diameter of the "donut" between crankbar and front jaw, is quite a bit larger than the outer diameter of the "screw". How much play should the "donut" really have?

Hi All, Small update, I have rebuilt the valvehousing using the original valve weights/plates and using some kangeroo leather. This was the most supple and durable leather I had at hand. I think i could have used denim but that would have meant adding a type of sealant (silicon) between denim and valve opening. I hope the leather is sufficient. before : after: before: after: before: After: Need to clean up a few more bits and then the trials and see if it all works. vaporlock

This thread just stopped my search for a second hand compressor dead in its track. I will find someone who can water pressure test these first, add the cost of that to the price of a compressor and see if it is still worth it.

Hi Frosty, All good advise. I didn't think about head gasket sealer. At least it will remain flexible. I agree with the need to play with it to get it right. I try and do some pictures progressively. Thank for the help, There really isn't a lot of information available on these. Too common in the days i suppose. vaporlock

Ok, I put some pictures of the valve housing up in the thread mentioned above. vaporlock

Right, the valve housing to be restored. top removed, anti return valves. reasonable condition intake valves? bad condition. I'll take all ideas on materials to use:-) vaporlock PS; I love the "compressed air" tap.

Hi Frosty, Thanks for the welcome. Yeah, I did manage to clean everything out, I opened a separate topic for the restoration related questions under ">solid fuel forges". I will post pics of the valve housing as soon as. vaporlock

Bonjour yves I live about 2.5 hours away from Toulouse direction montpellier. I bought this forge because they are becoming rather rare in this condition and you can not buy these new anymore. They occasionally pop up on leboncoin. I think it will be easier to find a forge with a handcranked blower. Honestly I do not even know how efficient the forge will be but she is worth restoring. Will you move to bretagne or a holiday house? nice project, Bretagne would be great for a holiday of beach and forge. vaporlock

Thanks swedefiddle, Would you cover the tuyere? the way I got it, the top of the tuyere is completely exposed and even-though it is a heavy cast-iron piece, I wonder if it is meant to be like that or is it safer to protect it a bit from the heat. I can not find any documentation on this type of forge.

Hi All, I purchased a working bellow forge which looks to have been a type of rivet forge built somewhere around 1900-1930 i have not found identification on it. and I can not find any info on this type of forge except an old belgian hardware catalogue but they only had sideblast forges. the bellows work on the up and the down stroke but air was limited. It was spilling air at the return valves so at least the valve housing would need a complete rebuild. next was the tuyere which was clogged with debris and a few nice sized chunks of aluminum/aluminium and lead. I did manage to get them out without any major hassle. Since the bellows seem to be working I will leave them alone and I am thinking of using leather for the "valve flaps" (looks like originally they used some kind of tissue). however, I have no idea which sealant to use for the joints between the different pipes from the bellows exit to the tuyere. most high temp joint material hardens and i do not know if they will act as a glue or just simple sealant and the tuyere from the top. Another question is, the table was lined with bricks can anyone tell me how these forges where originally lined? I would say bricks but the tuyere is quite a bit above the bricks. Any and all info is more than welcome. Vaporlock I apologise for the dodgy pictures, it was very sunny.

Hi Gergely, Thanks for the welcome, Yeah, I thought she looked good. yes I tried her but i felt there was insufficient air coming out. the bellows work fine on the up and the down stroke. upon further inspection, the valve housing loses a lot of air so it needs to be redone. I took everything apart and indeed, the intake valves are barely hangning on. however, the tuyere was also pretty clogged up with molten lead and aluminum. This is why I need to set up a threat, I need advise on what to use for joints and valve material. regards vaporlock and yes, the tuyere has a single hole

Thanks Steve, Good to know. The forum is an information rich environment, the fun is already there:-)

Hi All, I was looking for a forum where I would be able to read up on blacksmithing and some answers to questions relating to the restoration of my forge. I found a few good fora but " I Forge Iron" looks like a nice active forum with a lot of "old" knowledge present. After years of stifling my interest in, banging on hot metal and getting it to go where I want it to, and only reading about it, I found a way to apprentice to a bladesmith. It is very irregular due to a time consuming job but man it is good to spend a day at the forge. I found a small forge to work on and another which I thought was to good looking to pass up but I will post it elsewhere. I need some advise on its restoration. Thanks to you all