JHCC

Carnuba is a specific kind of wax. In its natural state, it's REALLY hard; hence, for most applications, it's mixed with some kind of solvent to make it more pliable while it's being applied. Once the solvent evaporates, the wax remains.

Paste waxes are mixtures of wax (usually some combination of carnuba and beeswax, sometimes synthetic waxes) and solvent (usually mineral spirits). Butcher's Wax is one name brand; Trewax is another. Minwax makes some good versions. Both carnuba and beeswax are food safe; the solvent isn't, but evaporates out.

One little detail: most "clear" paste waxes are actually white or slightly pinkish. Not really a problem, unless you get some little flecks in the corners where it's hard to rub out. This is why I'd recommend the Dark Brown version of the Minwax Paste Finishing Wax; any excess won't stand out against the metal. (We used tons of the stuff on furniture in every wood shop I've ever worked in, as well as on metalwork in the art restoration studio.)

With all of these, you wipe on as thin a coat as you can, let dry for a minute (fill the time with patter, if you're selling straight from the forge), then buff with a soft cloth (old t-shirt, for example). The second buffing smooths out the surface of the wax and brings up the shine.

ADDENDUM: Beeswax is a lot softer than carnuba, so it's not quite as durable and doesn't have quite as hard a shine. However, it's much less expensive, so that's why it gets blended with carnuba in some of the less pricey paste waxes.

They make an amphibious Unimog?

And here is the new duck's nest, rammed in place and drying nicely. I had more clay than I needed, so I decided to line the shield as well. Probably overkill, but what the heck.

And here's another view. The duck's nest is about 6" deep, grate to rim.

Which is why I passed on these two pairs ($26 & $29), useful and lovely though they were:

Well, I moved the shield and reclayed the pot with rammed earth (the local clay with some sand and wood ashes mixed in). I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.

Not a single hit, although it does offer (as its top suggestion) the symbol for the Euro. Apparently, I'm going to do well in the Eurozone.

Thanks, folks!

Thinking of this for a touchmark. It's a variation of a mongram I've been using since fourth grade, an intertwining of the "J" and the "C" of my initials. In this particular configuration, it hints at the middle "H" as well, plus it reads essentially the same right-side-up and upside-down. Thoughts?

Well, I know that, but the question is if the shield (which will not be in direct contact with the fire) will be close enough to the heat to generate ZnO fumes.

It is. Now I feel sheepish....

It is indeed Nash, and the original third line was "It makes the peas taste funny"; see this article.

This lamb would be a good meal for an anemic: it's high in iron.

Took the shield off this morning to look at alternative placements (and to roll the raw edge). Should I be worried that it appears to be galvanized?

Hey, I didn't say I had time!

However, here is an in-progress photo of a small hot-cut hardie that we're making from an old jackhammer bit. Should be big enough to cut truck axle for a properly sized one.

I've just been restarting my blacksmithing hobby after a twenty-some year hiatus. The one that got away? Except for two hammers and my anvil (which I've been lugging from apartment to apartment to the great distress of my wife; just couldn't let it go), my old forge and all my old tools -- hammers, chisels, punches,hardies, post vise, salvaged wrought iron stock from my neighbor's old farm in Vermont, etc, etc, etc. Left it all behind when I moved to the city. There was this one six pound (or thereabouts) sledge that I would use one-handed for stock reduction, which I now realize was essentially a double-ended rounding hammer --really missing that one right now.

On the other hand, this very morning, I found a lovely crescent of broken coil spring on my street while I was out walking the dogs. It got me thinking: I've got my anvil, a couple of hammers, a decent little rivet forge, some vice grips, access to scrap tool steel (courtesy of the shop that takes care of my van and my wife's car), a few other tools that have come my way, and an enthusiastic (if unskilled) striker in the form of my twelve-year-old son. I've got my old skills (rusty and limited though they be), my brain, and resources like my old books and IFI. I have everything I need to find, buy, or make everything I want.

I just got these from an antique store in Maryland. They were somewhat more than I would have liked to spend (~$34), but with the 2" opening, I figured that they'll be useful for forging anvil tools. Good, solid bits of iron.

(There were a couple more pairs at the store that probably would have beenbeen more useful day-to-day, but at practically the same price.)

It was foul, whatever it was.

Saint Clement and Saint Dunstan, pray for us!

I don't I think I want to rotate the ducks nest a full 90 degrees, as longer stock would then interfere with the lever for the blower. After I get back from vacation, I'll take a look at rotating it may be 45 degrees clockwise and shifting the attached shield a little bit counterclockwise.

 Not Portland cement -- it will degrade and spall at forging temperatures.

One of the quirks of this particular forge is that the blower runs very smoothly at low speed, but if you crank it too hard, it starts rattling like a possessed thing. Perfect for charcoal.

If your soil is like mine, you've probably got a layer of topsoil that's a mixture of clay, silt or sand, and organic material, over a subsoil that's more pure clay. Go for the pure clay subsoil if you have it.

Entirely agree about the thickness of the duck's nest. Another advantage of where I live in Ohio is that our soil is heavy clay, so materials won't be a problem.

What a coincidence; I just got one of these yesterday, too!

After a couple of abortive attempts to make a coffee can gas forge and a charcoal bucket forge, I decided to make a Tim Lively-style washbasin charcoal forge. Stopping at a local antique/junk shop to see if they had any old washbasins, I was rather surprised to find an old rivet forge that they had recently bought from a local farmer. It had apparently been buried under a pile of junk; judging from the combination of rat's nest and nameless filth (smelling suspiciously like raw sewage) that was clogging the blower, I can well believe it. The leather belt was not in great shape and snapped when I was looking at it in the store. $125 as-is.

Since I’m burning charcoal, I made up a deeper firebox with ash and some fragments of adobe from one of the earlier forges.

 I made a new belt out of some nylon webbing I had lying around.

And here we are, ready to go.

On the first firing, it did a good job of heating both some 3/8” round mild steel and a smaller-size jackhammer bit that I’m turning into a small hot-cut hardie. I will definitely be redoing the firebox, to make something more Lively-like, both to be more durable (since I have to move the forge in, out of, and around the garage) and to hold the fire at the right size and the right place.

I met my wife in 8th grade and started blacksmithing in 10th grade. This is the decorative fork I made for her for her Sweet Sixteen, just over 30 years ago.

You want me to live, right? Ain't no way I could get away with that!

(Although, if you add up how much we've spent on my wife's china collection....)

I've got it pretty well cleaned up and ready to go. I don't know what the heck had collected inside the blower, but it looked and smelled like raw sewage. Fashioned a belt (at least temporarily) from a piece of strapping I had hanging around, and built up a charcoal-type firebox from rubble, ash, and the adobe top of the bucket forge. Here's hoping!