Blacksmith Jim

Sounds really interesting. Got any pictures or a more detailed explanation of how it's burning the waste veggie oil?

Propane is heavier then air. It is not advised to use it in low spaces like basements, where a leak, or unburned gas could gather, causing a potentially explosive situation.

Also, welcome aboard :)

Looks pretty set up! Plus its a side blast, so it gets an extra thumbs up from me :)

Hmmm.... I was thinking about making a slot punch the other day.... Maybe I'll do that with one.

Do some tapers and scrolls and hooks. Look for a post vise as your next tool purchase. After you get comfortable doing tapers and scrolls and hooks, etc, then look at some blue prints that you want to do. If you don't have the tools to do them, then start making the tools.

Have fun

Oh, some people aren't a fan of the anvil you purchased, others are OK with it. I think it will be better then a rail or a random hunk o' something, but I think down the road you will want an upgrade. Nothing wrong with all that.

Congrats and Welcome :)

Glad to hear the favorable report. I picked up a few pieces last week, and might pick up more later. I've been making tools out of coil spring, but figured this would be fun to try. Now I just need to figure out what tools I need to make from it...

Heck, it looked like he couldn't even afford a hammer handle! :o

Glenn, I noticed the wiki appear a while back, and haven't seen much happening with it yet. One thing I thought it might work well for would be rough drafts of blue prints. In case people don't have a good place of their own to work on them. Just thought I might throw that out there. My apologies for thread hi-jacking..

It made me want to start trading my work for goats.. I wonder where I could find an interested party...

The bags they came in and in 6 gallon plastic buckets. Some coal I get from friends big coal piles, and I've found I need to clean that. So I drilled holes in a bucket, and I fill it a bit, then run a bunch of water through to clean it, then dump the clean coal in a different bucket. Some stuff I've bought is pretty clean though and I don't need to worry about it, so I leave it in the bag..

Nice find, thanks :)

I wish they put the pictures on line Our newspaper doesn't either..

There was a small swage block there when I was there this weekend. I took a second look at it There were also a lot of anvils. All JHM I think.. Anyway, if those end up at 40% off, there might be some real good deals for brand new anvils..

If I get back up there again, I think I'll snag a flatter. I haven't burned any of the Elkhorn yet, but it looks nice.

Yea, I was sad I had only just gone to it. I knew it was there and had driven by it several times, but hadn't set aside the time to go. Mr. Turkington sure was an interesting fellow. And at 80, I don't blame him for retiring. Although he looked like he was still relatively full of xxxx and vinegar He said that he had more stuff to keep up with then time, and wanted to spend more time with his wife. Can't blame him.

I think it sounds pretty interesting! Take lots of pictures :)

UPDATE:

John Turkingtons store Farrier supply in Monroe Oregon is NOT closing. The shop is alive still and is open 8-5 mon-sat There is Plenty of coal and Coke and Blacksmith supplies to be had even anvils.  The family has taken over the business, and his granddaughter is working in the shop,

I thought I would post since I know a few other Oregonians post here. If you haven't heard, Monroe Farrier Supplies is closing shop. They are selling out their inventory at around 40% off now (except coal). I went there this weekend and picked up a rounding hammer, butchers brushes, some H13 blanks, and a little coal.

I think the owner still plans to sell coal (not on sale) and was talking about having classes in the future. I was a little sad to find out they are closing. It was really the first time I had gone up there.

Looks great

What method of welding did you use to attach the bailing wire to the sheet?

Yeah, thats what mine looks like, except it doesn't have the middle piece. Boy I wish I had more of it. I found a link at the scrap yard once.. Mine is probably an inch and a half in diameter..

A good friend of mine recently converted his forge to a side blast by simply making a wall of fire bricks on one side and sticking a 1" or 1.5" diameter pipe out from the wall. Easy to replace if it happens to burn off. So far, after several weeks it is still doing fine. It works great and it is easy for 2 or 3 or 4 smiths to have an iron in the fire and not get in each others way too much.

Why not make a side blast forge and then you don't even need a clinker breaker!! :)

Is that formula testing for carbon content or something? I have an old chain link I am pretty sure is wrought. I can see clear grain patterns in the rust, and under the paint. I'd be curious to try it.

Congrats :)

I have a Wilton that was purchased from a big box store a few years ago. It's not as nice as these older Wiltons, but I like it a lot. The jaws swivel around if I need to clamp something at a weird angle, and there are pipe clamp jaws underneath the regular jaws. It looks more like Mende's tho then the other Wiltons.

I wouldn't think the tolerances would make that big of a deal in the application I am thinking about. Dodge, didn't you just build a belt grinder? Did you use hot rolled or cold?

Howdy,

I recently stumbled across some plans for building a 2x72 inch belt grinder. Basically a KMG clone. The material list for the machine specifies cold roll material. It is decidedly easier for me to find scrap hot roll. Will using hot roll instead of cold roll really make a difference? I did some initial research, and it kind of seems like I should be fine with hot roll, but I thought I would ask. I know cold roll should be a little harder, or more rigid, but will it make that much of difference? I thought another reason they say cold roll might just be the appearance..

Thanks!