JHCC

Didn’t do anything in my own shop yesterday, but did make a short road trip to meet Kim Thomas, ornamental ironworker and raconteur extraordinaire, and to see his forge.

No offense taken. Leaves are funny, though: they only start fires when you don’t want them to.

Don’t worry, the leaves all get swept out before the forge gets lit. Today was a no-fire-in-the-forge day.

That would go over like a lead balloon.

Make an electromagnet on the same circuit as your shop lights. When you turn off the lights at the end of the day, any fuzzies will drop off, and you’ll get a dramatic reminder if you didn’t put all your tools away.

Armored car leaf spring, probably 5160. Normalized, struck with my WI soft hammer.

Couple of updates: the hood was sitting right on top of the fire, so I added a short section of heavy pipe (actually a piece of scuba tank) to lift it up a bit. Interesting to note that the fire burned a hole in its front, but not the front of the tuyere: a convincing demonstration that the water-cooled tuyere is working nicely. I also just added some pieces of 1” thick chimney tile as a sort of “deck” around the outside. This should alleviate problems with the sand getting mixed into the coal. Also added a deadman switch with safety cover to the blower. It’s just on/off, though, so I’m still using the variac to control the speed. (Another good find from the industrial surplus place.)

So you can fuller lengthwise as well as crosswise.

Made a hair clip as a (slightly belated) Christmas present for my daughter. Also a bottle opener and a few bits and pieces of other as-yet-to-be-completed projects.

Very cool, Judson. I’ve thought of making something similar, but I always balk at the thought of having to go out with a blowtorch and a bending wrench to change it over to Daylight Savings Time.

Here’s the business card holder I made for Lisa for Christmas. The alto clef is because she’s a violist. (Things have been so crazy lately that I haven’t been able to fire up the forge, so this was all cold work and electrolytic etching.)

Just hammer in the beginning of a divot with a ball-peen hammer; working hot leaves in that spot will burn it in the rest of the way.

What John said. The only thing I’d suggest considering would be dressing the side of the mushroomed edge, to minimize the risk of cold-shuts when you’re doing a set-down.

When I make leaves, I bevel both edges of the top surface to create the center ridge and the thin edges, and then I texture the surface with a cross- or straight-peen hammer as the mood strikes me. Then I flip it over and hammer out the “belly” with a ball-peen hammer over a divot in a wooden stump. A little tweaking, and we’re done.

...but requiring more precise aim.

Still disappointed that they cut out all your bad puns.

More precisely, parallel to the line of the cut, not simply parallel to the blade. Some blades drift consistently to one side or the other, and the fence should be clamped to compensate for that.

Are you thinking new stock or salvaged?

Careful, now. Remember, no politics on IFI.

I haven't used one myself, but I recall others here telling about grinder dust getting into the motor and shredding it from the inside. Consider your dust collection system and how you might put the motor in a filtered enclosure.

My cooking really sticks to your ribs.

Welcome to IFI, Søren Hammer. If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! Very cool hammer. I look forward to seeing how it comes together and how it works for you.

One other place I've had very good luck with is my local industrial surplus warehouse, where I've gotten everything from pure mystery metal (the fittings on some old grain silo doors) to jackhammer bits to 42" lengths of 2.5" round 4140 (almost $600 worth for $16).

Yep, anything that sticks and burns is a real pain. Melted plastic, hot glue, caramelizing sugar (in the kitchen), etc, etc. One reason that napalm is so horrifying.

The EU banned borax because lab studies showed possible detrimental impacts on reproductive health (i.e., decreased fertility and increased risk of birth defects).