Dave Hammer

Each die is a single piece of steel... I cut a division line between the flat and fuller sides of the dies. It made using a belt sander easier on the fuller side. Agressive fullering dies on any hammer are suprisingly useful.....

Try different heights to see what suits you best for whatever you are doing. I make the height of my smaller propane forges adjustable, using a pipe-in-a-pipe slide with holes drilled for stops. I use a round base myself, so the forge is easily moved. You could fasten a pipe (with holes drilled in it) to the side of your table and accomplish the same.

Super swisher......

In most cases, the tanks you buy are just exchanged when you go in for a refill (even if you have an "owned" tank). There ARE some cases where they will not exchange (nor fill) the tank (if you didn't purchase the tank from that particular business), but it is not the norm anymore. In fact, I used to have a large ACET tank that I would drop off and pick it up a couple weeks later, but most places (nowadays) will not fill any tank they do not exchange. I ended up scrapping that tank. I bought the tanks I currently use from Tractor Supply Co (TSC), and there is no question it saves me money in the long term. The alternative to buying is usually leasing. I haven't checked in a while, but the average purchase price used to be well less than five years of the cost of leasing. If you buy a tank from someone other than a business that fills them, be sure you get a receipt AND that you can find a dealer that will exchange or fill it before you buy it. In general, the largest tanks are only availabe via lease (although I have a 250 CF oxygen tank from TSC).

Actually... My suggestion was based upon experience. Although I used a different acid for etching, my wrought iron piece literally transformed to a rust appearance when I cleaned it and blew it dry with forced air. The piece was BROWN. All I did was brush it with lemon juice and the rust color disappeared (the piece was then silver).

Abeck said.... "Recently descaled some real wrought iron with a vinegar bath. Worked well on the glasslike forge scale, however the piece looked silver under the vinegar but when washed off and exposed to air it turned brown almost immediately. Is there a way to preserve the raw iron grey look? " I suggest brush on some lemon juice (immediately after cleaning up after the vinegar), then dry and spray with a clear finish.

A good crank blower is easily worth about $100-$125, maybe even more, depending upon location and availability. Ones that need a little TLC are worth less (down to about $50). You can, indeed, if you are patient and frequent tailgating and yard sales, find an electric blower from $10 to $30 that will work with a reostat. New electric blowers sold explicitly for use with forges will run from $100 up. A new blower (that will work) from a supplier like Graingers will cost a little over $50 or so.

I have made several different burner types, all with fairly good success. I would think your version should work OK if you get it tuned properly. .8MM for an orfice is a small size, but should work OK. That is between drill bit sizes 67 and 68. Drill bit size 60, which is a little over 10MM, is a generally recommened size for burners. I have used drill bit sizes from 60 to 70 with success. You can find a table online to tell you the sizes of each numbered drill bit (Google). I agree with Phil for you to confirm that your orfice is centered down the pipe. If the orfice doesn't squirt the propane down the center, the results will be unsatisfactory. Second, if you can plumb in a good (industrial quality, not the hardware store types) needle valve near the end of the burner, you can control the propane volume, and vary the needle valve position to get the best consistant flame (also, it will be easier than using the regulator to increase or decrease the heat from the burner). Third.... play a little with the position of the flare. If the flare is not in a fairly optimal position, the burner may not behave well. 12 degrees is supposed to optimal (according to someone anyway), but it certainly is not critical. One last thought.... If you can't get your burner to behave with these (and those from other members) suggestions, cover the set of holes nearest the input end of your burner, you may have too much opening for an optimum mixture with your size orfice. Some burner designs have a sliding cover so the amount of air coming in can be tuned also. I made a video, describing how to make a burner similar to this (orfice mount slightly different than yours). If you are interested in viewing it, use this link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxzdqcPzXj8&feature=channel Good luck....

Good luck to you John.

I would recommend you study gas forges that are available for purchase (to see how others have solved the "air source" issues (and uses).

Blacksmith's Primer...

What is your goal for the air you intend to put into the forge from a compressor?

I haven't tried a single hole with a slitter like Brian uses, but another blacksmith I know (for hammer handle holes) drills two 1/4 inch holes 3/4 inch apart (centers) and uses a flat oblong punch (1/4 by 3/4 end) to punch out a slug from between the holes (punch from both sides). Following that, use a drift to the size hole you want, then flatten the cheeks with the drift in place. Works perfectly for me every time.

If you use the Yellow Pages website and specify you are looking for "steel supplier" in the Dallas, TX area, you will have 74 business's to consider....

It might have been "The Blacksmith's Cookbook", written by Francis Whitaker. I don't know when the cookbook was first published, but if it is the book you are referring to, you can buy a modern version at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=blacksmith's+cookbook&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Ablacksmith's+cookbook&ajr=0

Just make a saddle for your current die setup and and use a spring swage (fullering) with it. It only takes a few seconds to add or remove it.

There is a fee for camping at Quad States...

Look in the Yellow Pages for a business that does spring work on trucks. Take a trinket you've made (hook, key fob, leaf....or ?), offer it, asking if you can peruse their drops or dumpster, looking for new spring cut-offs. Tell them you are learning to be a blacksmith. Large pins from the same source make GREAT hammers and tools if you have the where-with-all to work with them.

You could send him an email through his website.

"Not many junkards around here".... Are you kidding? The grand PU-PAW of junkyards in that area is Joseph Fazzio's .... They have a yard in South Jersey somewhere, within 45 minutes of Wilmington, DE. I don't have a number for their New Jersey location, but they have a satellite location in New Castle, DE (302) 322-9960. Call them and get a phone number and directions to the New Jersey location. I buy steel from the Delaware location frequently. I don't know what the New Jersey location has, but they used to have lots of steel also. Their prices are a lot higher than they used to be, but are probably still significantly lower than retail.

Plane-crazzy..... Sorry I didn't see your question before now... I use soft bricks for two reasons. First of all, they are easy to cut to allow them to slide in the C-channel. Secondly, as stated by others here, they allow the forge to heat up quickly. I had used soft brick for doors for years without any reflective coating. I started using coatings on them last year with even better results. I'm confident that ITC-100 would work well as a reflective coating on them (increasing effiency)... just be sure that, when you cut the bricks to size and shape, there will be enough room to put on the coating without affecting your ability to slide them easily (if you use C-channel). Also, be sure you have removed all dust from cutting before you put on the coating (I blow it off, but be careful not to breathe the dust). You can also just stack bricks in front of the ends of a forge. I use the C-channel because I want the foot print of the forge to be small... and I want to be able to move the forge easily. I know smiths that use hard brick for doors, but it takes significantly longer to get to forging heat. Also, cutting the hard brick to fit the C-channel I use would be difficult. It could be done though, using masonary blades in a saw...(like for ceramic tile cutting). A wet saw would be best, but I have cut hard bricks with a dry masonary blade (wear a mask while cutting).

3/8th square bar will make a nice flux spoon. This one is about 18# long. I didn't measure the amount of stock I used, but I would guess about 12 inches.

During the video, I say to put the end of the mig tip at the center of the bottom hole, which will work fine. That would be 1/4 inch above the bottom of the lower hole. This placement is not necessarily critical..... I've also run the burner with an orfice further back.

I have no current intentions of taking the video down from YouTube. If you copy the link from your browser URL line (while it's running), then save it in a file somewhere (paste), you can run the video anytime.

James Johnson, USA dealer for Anyang hammers, has a fully reconditioned 50# Little Giant (rebuilt by Sid), with multiple sets of dies for $4,000. He lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.