redd1981

Well hey at least your the type to let nature takes its course. I once refused to replace rotten and missing facial boards because there were nests. I told him for moral reasons I cant just board up baby birds to die alone from thirst or heat.Then he said well cant you just take them out. I said no it doesnt work like that and he wasnt very happy with me. lost the job.

Ok is there anyway way to prevent this? Just had another big one about 2 minutes ago Its a brake rotor forge whith the basic 2" "T" configuration with a blow dryer. I live in the county and dont want my neighbors thinking Im shooting skeet in the backyard.

Hey guys my forge seems to be backfire sometimes a few seconds after I turn the air supply off. Does anyone know what is causing this? Im guessing it has to with excess water dripping down in it and causing steam to build pressure until there is enough to get through the grate. Its not so much force that blows my charcoal out or anything and its usually not very loud but the last one was so loud the ol' lady came out to see if I was ok lol.

So ya,,,,,,listen to arkie its too early in the morning for me to think. About anything.

A half turn would result in two opposing flat sides. A quarter turn would put the two sides diagonal. Unless MY geometry is also off.

ianinsa I only use salt on small wounds that are annoying and wont stop bleeding all over everything when Im trying to work on my hobbies and Im usually having some beers anyway so Im going frequently already. If its a serious cut I will just stop and and keep pressure with paper towels. And a small piece of folded up paper towel and some electrical tape works way better than any bandaid .CharlesI try to stay away from super glue as alot of time a big or deep cut needs to drain. I prefer to let it scab over on its own and give it plenty of fresh air. And as for a tetnas booster I think it been exactly 20 years. I dont remember getting one after I had to get one when I was 13 to start jr high. I was just asking my boss the other day if walgreens offers them. I know they do a few vaccinations but now that Im gonna be digging through piles of rusty metal I should probably get one. And as for for horses I had alot of experience with them when I was younger. my sister has been training horses since I was pretty young and I would always go out on the weekends and make a little money cleaning stalls and that sort of thing and when I was around 17 or 18 she started a non profit abused and neglected animal shelter so I moved into the the ranch and worked for her for a year or two. It was crazy how she could take the most unruly horses that noone wanted anymore,train them ,and make a nice profit at the auctions. I remember this particular Tennessee walker who was crazy and I was the only one tall enough to fit my arms around his neck to hold him still to get a a harness on him and I was trying get him in the trailer and he stepped on my foot and rolled over the steel toe. I was hobbling around for about a week lol. Holy run-on sentences batman!!!

Oh I understand a little salt packed in the wound stops the bleeding if its not stitch needing.

wow a chisel?? I bet that felt AWSOME!!

No Thomas but you have peaked my curiosity can you please elaborate? Iv just been getting the smaller ones from walmart for for a little over 6. Ill go see what the weight is. It is royal oak brand 8.8 lbs

Haha you guys and that chisel I just put it there for the picture.I almost always go out of my way to make sure Im being safe and try to think ahead of possible scenarios. but that doesnt keep me from trying to catch hot things as they drop. I learned the lesson on trying to catch sharp thing a long time ago,If I drop a knife Im working on my hands instinctively fly up in the air and I jump back in case the point misses my steel toes and decides to pay my foot a visit. and we all know if you drop a knife it always seems to land point down and screw it up forcing you to have to re-profile it. Unfortunately I will probably burn myself a couple more times before I learn that lesson about hot stuff. And yes the first heat or two my teeth were clenched and I was super tense and trying too hard. after that I started to relax and let the hammer do the work like you said.I have decent hammer skill from work when I was younger and am one of the few people I know who can drive nails and never (well to be honest "rarely is a better word) bend them but this was completely different from driving nails home so I was nervous,anxious,and excited all at the same time. What I really didnt like was that I had only bought one bag of charcoal so once I was comfortable with the hammering and I finally figured out how to tend the fire and how my piece should be positioned in it to get back to heat a.s.a.p. I was pretty much out of fuel. I have been buying a bag every evening after work so this weekend I should be able to go until I get tired. Surprisingly I wasnt the least bit sore the next morning. Thanks again you guys are great and dont be afraid to keep the advice coming.

wow thank you I was going to ask you if it was ok to make a paste or something with the flux since it would just fall off with the steel being cold.. Also wont the steel wire melt before the spikes get to yellow because of how thin it is? And yes I have seen how well he is able to do this. He is probably the only one I see doing it on youtube.

Joe I just wanted to apologize for hijacking your thread. I had subscribed to your youtube channel before I even joined I forge. and I will never forget you pointing to me and telling me I didnt need to use flux either haha. Im just so curious about things I forget to start a new thread about it.

Thanks for the tips. when you say shine them up flux and wire are you referring to doing these steps while cold and then letting slowly soak to yellow?

Frosty are you talking about forge welding? I Know nothing about welding with a welder. and all I know about forge welding is what I have read and watched on youtube I havent tried it yet. I did buy some borax for flux but was wanting to wait until I had a little more control before I tried it. But the way I want to make a poker would require forge welding anyway so maybe I will give it a shot the next weekend.

Sorry I meant fireplace poker.

Do you think there is enough material to draw out and make a fire poker with a single spike?

I was just thinking the same thing, if you have pliers but you cant grab the work out of the fire you can use your tongs to grab it from the forge and then grab it with your pliers to work the piece.

Do you have a HF nearby? if you look at my recent post I bought some hose pliers that are easily modified using only a leather glove to handle. With a little tweaking they may work for you. I bought them to use as tongs until I am confident enough to make my own. They arent perfect but they sure do work for the time being.

what shape of stock are you trying to hold?

ok well I got a couple hours in on that bag of charcoal, most of it was spent pouring water on the fire to think about what it is I am supposed to be doing. The first 5-10 minutes were kind of sketchy but after I saw what was beginning to happen under my hammer,it was exhilarating and turned out to be one of the most gratifying experiences I have ever had. I now understand why people are so passionate about this craft. I started out making the fire rake,then I put the 3 pair of hose pliers to 90 deg so I could twist the stock easier,then made the hook and then went to make a second hook and realized I had limited fuel left so I decided to spend the rest on drawing out and tapering. There is a nail next to the long one for reference. A few things I learned today: You guys make it look easy. Black steel will still burn the xxxx out of your hands. The 3lb hammer was not as heavy when my adrenaline was pumping. The blow dryer even on low is a bit too much air. You can drench a charcoal fire and not worry about it going out. the fire is simply just waiting patiently in the bottom of the firepot for you to figure out what to do and turn the air flow back on and bring it back to life. Small hammers work better for the smaller stuff, DUH!! This a great arm and shoulder workout. I should have bought the on/off foot pedal while I was at HF. I could go on but I will stop there. One question for now..when I started drawing out the second nail I noticed some yellow smoke and it turn my coals yellow....were these nails galvanized? I pulled them out of a burn pile and figured any zinc would have burned off but maybe they didn't get hot enough? the wind was at my back pretty much the whole day and I feel fine but has anyone had this happen?

Yes I brought out the brass hammer for exactly that. I just finished and I will post some pictures and talk about a few things I learned later after I settle down,have a shower and a few proper drinks.

​HEY!! I resemble that remark.

Thanks again for the advice everyone. I have been to both HF locations near me and the 3 lb is all I have seen.Im thinking a 2 lb German pattern maybe in my future, Also I have all the safety gear I need. I have been doing stock removal for a few years now. and have been doing lawncare and landscaping for about 14 yrs, I ALWAYS have safety glasses on and hearing protection when needed.

wow your advice is coming faster that I can post replies to everyone. The mud I used was just a bag of top soil I had and some water. Totally free and totally removable and re-doable until I find what works for me and then maybe I can get a better type of cement/mortar. Also I plan on using the broken hose head I have to deliver a steady trickle to a local drenching as needed. I found it works great when trying to slow smoke pork and keep your fire under control. BUT that is with briquettes so I plan on being plenty busy!

Thanks for the advice. That 3lb cross pein actually feels heavy and awkward could I maybe try wrapping the handle with scrap leather or something? the handle just seems too skinny. The 2 1/2lb drilling hammer with the fatter handle seems just about right for me.