Daswulf

Ripley, I know a local blacksmith who last year was flooded and he was not able to get anything out in time. He spent a lot of time cleaning up afterwards and I can imagine the devastation. Glad you are back up and forging. That is a nice twist on that opener.

Welcome DARRIN, If you put your general location in your profile you might be amazed at how many blacksmiths are in your area. You have found the best online resource for blacksmithing info online which is IFI. There is a wealth of vetted info here to get you started. There may be blacksmithing groups near you as well to visit/join, and learn from. Please have fun, Pack a lunch and a cold drink, as they say, and start reading through this forum in the sections that interest you/him and go from there. From what I have heard there have been younger blacksmiths on here so you should be fine. There are also many other parents teaching their kids the skills on here and they would be a wealth of knowledge to learn from.

You are in my prayers Brazer. I can't imagine how horrible that could be. Hang on to your stuff if you have the determination to try to forge again. I met a guy at a blacksmithing meet that had explained that he had had a stroke years ago and he was up around that age. His hand shake grip before he had told me was impressive. He explained that his determination led him to try every day to get his hand and arm cooridination back by constantly working at hammering nails into boards. He said he was all over the place at first but kept at it and now is able to forge again. Im not the best story teller but that was the gist of what he told me with other therapy of course as well. I don't know the extent of the loss of your mobility but I would say to not give up and have determination. I pray for your strength health and recovery.

Sorry can't help on the maker or make. Perhapse someone might recognize it. As far as a motor, since you are starting from scratch maybe search for a variable speed motor so you will be able to control the amount of air to the forge. Other then that, as Thomas had mentioned it will probably need a slower motor to run it and you could always use different sized belt pulleys or an air gate to control the amount of air to the forge. Glad you didn't have to pick out a mouse nest from it. And your English is fine.

I agree, Well said.

What kinda steel? Looks good.

You guys keep stringing this along. Theo That's a Nice knife with or without the lanyard hole. Don't let these guys drill you too much. They can tend to get tied up and loopy.

Frosty, I just dismantled a lesser treadmill. I forget now exactly what the motor was but I think it was under 1hp. This one was fairly simple and I'll have to figure something to do with it. I had a Much better treadmill but gave it away to a friend that wanted to use it. I hate running on the things myself. I told my friend if he goes to get rid of it I want it back for parts lol. Today in the shop, as all week, I have been cleaning and reorganizing. I've been working around "stuff" in there that had no point being in there so just today I removed 3 engines and 2 transmissions. I'm starting to see floor space.

Gives you things to pay attention to next time. And it still turned out great.

Ooh, that's a beauty Rashelle. Love the look of that dagger.

Aus, that's exactly what I had in mind. The ones that Alan made are innovative if not awe inspiring but these are what I picture. Darned if he didn't upset my mind on what a bench can be haha. Think it'll be a few years before I could even attempt something like that. Aus, you could make those benches like the one you did and have them out therefor people to "try out" as you could have a piece tag on em for people to buy. Or just do wheel park with a play spot for kids with all the different wheels used in slides and walkways and swings/ springy rideable things and more... My mind is in overload. I'll stop there lol

My "feelings " are if its a part design element and I can make it my own then it's ok. If I copy a piece I feel it's wrong. Lol. I love looking at scrap sculptures or other art but wow how many times I realize "why didn't I think of that" and pass because I don't want to seem like a copy cat. To each their own ( and maybe I'm missing out) but I try to keep to my own spin. Funny enough some forged items I will use the design but 1 I won't cut in on local/ probably Internet sales and 2 it's my take on it. Maybe I am wrong. What are other thoughts on this?

That's it. That or a chain wrench. What does a tool cost versus burning your hands? Heck a log peavey couldn't be that hard to Make or retrofit to turn that drill.

I was thinking more of the likes of a log turner or something instead of grabbing that red hot drill with cheap gloves on his hands to rotate it to work the opposite edge. Looked unnecessarily painful.

For something like a bike frame you will want an automotive or industrial equipment clearcoat. I would personally use epoxy. Yes as Tommy mentioned a matt finish. I used the term flat as I commonly use the term but perhapse the proper term might be a matt finish. As in Not shiny or glossy. That way it almost does not look clear coated. But it is to protect the look.

The nice thing about getting something to surface rust is that if you don't get the desired look you can sand it down and try something else. If I have the idea right, I would uniformly sand the whole frame down probably to a 320 grit or close. Then degrease it. Then I would first try saturating a clean lint free cloth with hydrogen peroxide and coat the frame evenly but not runny. Then keep the frame somewhere out of the rain but still humid enough to rust. Then wait. If that didn't achieve the desired look then there are other things you could try. Just sand off what's there and try something else or add to what is already there. Once you do get the desired look then a good automotive clearcoat should seal it in. Personally I would use a flattening agent in the clearcoat so it isn't shiny.

That's a sweet blade. I like how you the patterns laid out.

That's a great design Alan. Wow Nice functional works of art.

I have seen that simply elegant sculpture before. It is a simple yet brilliant piece. I want to make one but feel that I shouldn't.

You'd think that just maybe they could find a better way to rotate that drill.

I can't say if it would make a decent knife as I havnt tried, but you could test one and see if it hardens. If you go the bottle opener route here is one style I have made that people seem to like. If possible forge the less commonly used size and forge the oddball size. That way it could still be used for wrenching Most of my wrenches like that now are reserved to scrap metal sculpture tho.

You did a whole lot of organizing there. Barely a bare spot on the wall and wow that's a lot to look at. Awesome job. Even looks like you oiled all the tools.

Look at'em all! Have you ever seen park benches made with old wagon wheels as the ends? Some of those made into benches would probably look great around the museum I bet. I have a couple steel wagon wheels I've been wanting to make into benches. In my opinion some of those would be way better.

No problem. You can still edit it within an hour of posting.

Thoughts and tips; 1, watch the language. 2, Do some reading on the site in the forges section.( and other sections of interest) You will find that your forge design should be changed, no matter what fuel you are using. You will also find many common beginner questions have been answered.