JHCC

An insufficiency.

As we used to say in the furniture business, there’s no such thing as too many books, just not enough bookshelves! (And anvils don’t come in harems. They come in taverns, because that’s where you go to get hammered!)

I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

Finished adding refractory to the gasser. Now, we cure.

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!

That's not an image I needed in my head.

stressless said: So if I'm reading correctly, it's IFB inside kaowool, not the other way round.

The Cleveland Museum of Art has digitized a sizable portion of its collection and made it available online for free. Lots of good design inspiration, from Arms & Armor to sculpture to architectural ironwork. http://www.clevelandart.org/art/collection/search

More Kastolite has arrived, courtesy of Lou L. Looking forward to finishing the lining on the gasser!

That was the setup in the shop where I first studied (where, incidentally, Samuel Yellin had taught more than half a century earlier). Who gets by on so little coffee?

I was just looking at the manufacturer's website. They've got a whole range of products for gluing railroads together.

0. Get more forges.

Impressive. Interested to see how it holds up. A number of us (self included) secure our anvils to their stands with silicone caulk, which has the similar effect of dampening the ring. (Nice anvil, by the way.)

Interesting. Still, the specs given on that sheet still disqualify that rebar from making decent knives. Frankly, the only projects that I think are good for rebar are structural (e.g., bracing the legs of my striking anvil) or decorative (e.g., rebar bottle openers for contractors who supply me with scrap A36).

Man, you can use Bag Balm for anything.

And this one sold as well before I had a chance to check the finances. Ah, well.

Let's pause for a moment to consider that there's a big difference between "proven science" and "manufacturing decisions". In the science of metallurgy, there are things that work and things that don't. Atoms of iron, carbon, chromium, nickel, etc will behave in certain ways under certain conditions with different results. Heating to a specific temperature, holding for a certain length of time, cooling at a certain rate, reheating to a certain temperature, lowering to a certain (very, very cold) temperature at a certain rate -- all of these things will have specific and predictable effects, depending on the order in which they are done and the state of the steel before each procedure (for example, tempering before hardening is a waste of time, and annealing after tempering will ruin your previous heat treatment). It doesn't matter whether or not you think they will have such effects: they will. Now, manufacturing decisions are where judgment starts coming into the picture. Any piece we make is going to have an ideal set of properties, some of which are critical and some of which are not. The decision of which properties are critical and which aren't is central to the choice of steel, whether to forge or do stock removal (or a combination), how to heat treat, and so on. Budgetary considerations come into play: Can I afford this kind of steel or this piece of equipment? Logistical concerns also become relevant: Can I accomplish procedure X with the equipment I have on hand? Do I have the skill and experience necessary to properly heat-treat [notoriously finicky steel X], or will a properly executed blade in [more forgiving steel Y] have properties I consider acceptable? It's also worth noting that many of these manufacturing decisions involve a cost/benefit analysis. For example, a certain steel may be perfectly acceptable with a standard heat-treatment, but benefits in certain ways from an additional cryogenic treatment. Is the additional benefit worth the additional manufacturing cost in time and material? Can that additional cost be recouped through a higher price to the customer? The point is not whether or not fancy heat treatments or temperature-controlled ovens work. They do. The question is not whether or not you can produce a durable and completely acceptable knife with a more low-tech approach. You can. The question is What you want to accomplish, how you choose to accomplish it, and (assuming you're selling your work) is there someone willing to pay a price that adequately reflects everything (by which I also mean your aesthetic sense and knifemaking skills) that went into it?

My own ribbon burner has some metal mesh welded to the plenum and extending into the block, but that's a different kind of thing. (This was as-welded; I ended up trimming it back before casting the block.)

No, it’s just the cylinder and the base; there are photos on the warehouse’s website. There is another one for sale that has controls and at least some of the hydraulic works, but its cylinder has only a 2” bore. If my math is right, then that’s only 2/3 the oomph of what’s already on the small side. (Update: just checked the site, and that one has sold.)

Steel oxidizes as it heats, and that changes the apparent color of the surface. So, yes: this is an indication that your tuyere is getting hot. Yellow is around 400F; blue is a couple hundred degrees hotter. If you read the information about heat treating, you can see how smiths use these colors as an indication of temperature during certain parts of heat treating.

Lisa drives a Honda Fit -- this probably weighs more than the car!

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!

And only $3K!

Of course, they do have this one as well, but I think it might exceed the electrical capacity of the wiring in my garage (not to mention the height of the ceiling, the extent of my budget, and the patience of my wife :)

2-1/2" bore.