Kozzy

Handrails get complicated engineering-wise but in the USA, that double bolt system would not generally be strong enough unless nearby posts were taking most of the load rather than the joint. Rails here need to take a 200 pound point load in any direction without failing (or more than superficial distortion) and are typically proof-tested to 500 pounds to quantify that they "pass". Unless those 2 bolts are quite large, they would be prone to failure due the huge leverage in a scarf joint as the rail flexes (again, unless the posts provide the strength to that section). You really do need to weld this--or create some sort of strong sleeve joint that is near/at a post so the load is transferred there instead of into your joint. Beware "hanging" end loops because they can also be a creator of HUGE leverage at the nearest mounting point--take as an example an open end loop that sticks out 12 inches beyond the last post---and 2 bolts holding the rail to the last post spaced about 1" apart. A fat guy like me slips and puts a couple of hundred pound load on that end loop...and that translates to about a 2000 lb load between the post bolts. The math is way over simplified in this example...because it's just for an example...but do beware areas that create excess leverage prying the mounting points. It's those hanging ends that fail most often due to under-engineering.

Rehashing an old comment but on my build I did a clamp-on edge made from angle iron. Tough in the case of the round forge above but for a straight edge, I've found that it worked out darned well. Totally flexible in terms of placing an "opening" where you want one and completely removable in 10 seconds if you need. Or you can go taller/shorter on a whim assuming your scrap pile has the material. Although the chosen "paper" clamps seem cheesy, they've also worked out remarkably well for this. The skirts haven't moved at all on me, even when bumped pretty good.

I had originally thought that tool to the front and right of the hammer was a bar shear---because we have the large one from this shop in the museum and it looks quite similar. However, looking more closely, the thing is a bit weird--rack and pinion to move the lower jaw up and doesn't look like it's designed to shear at all. More of a forming tool of some sort. Could use guesses on that one. As to the tool in the back, the main wheel looks more like a "ships wheel"--and searching on large tire rollers I find that most of the really big ones also had that configuration to the wheel. Wish the resolution of the original photo was high enough to read the writing on the casting base. Found several photos yesterday that showed the style but can't find them today at all. FYI, wagon wheel tires around here tended to be at least 1/2" thick with most even thicker. Hauling wheat down the 2500 foot grades to the Snake River meant your tires heated up a LOT and you needed the extra mass to act as a thermal sink. Without that, the tires would expand and pop off. In many cases, they actually double-tired wagon wheels to add even more mass and prevent popping off the rims.

General farm service shop so yes, lots of sharpening plowshares and constructing farm equipment in general. The owner even patented several small engine designs and started a company to make those although it never got beyond the financing stage. The engines were a nightmare (IMO) with cylinders that needed both internal and external rings so they could use both sides as combustion chambers. As to that wooden building you see: Eventually, they built a block building envelope around the wooden one-while still operating daily- and then tore down the wooden one once the block building was finished. It still stands.

I scanned this photo at high res to see if any detail would show up. hopefully, clicking on it will bring up the higher res version. In my test, you had to click twice to get to a version that'd zoom completely. It's the old Krause Machine shop from my little podunk town. Since we are "sort of" trying to pay homage to this shop in our Ag museum, I was hoping someone might be able to ID the power hammer in the photo. If you can't pin down a maker--guess at the weight rating? Looks pretty light to me. Also, if you can figure out what that machine behind and to the left of the hammer is it would help. My guess is a tire roller but it'd be awfully heavy and fancy compared to the tire rollers I have seen. Anything else you might spot and can ID would help. For example, those saw-like hooked things hanging high on the wall behind the hammer. Thanks---consider it the "where's waldo" of the smithing world

It's a feature, not a bug. Now you have a nice little straightening bridge area to work with. A portable hole is so easy and actually has it's own benefits---I wouldn't touch that beautiful anvil as even the best repair simply wouldn't be a benefit large enough to make the process desirable or of value. Risk vs reward--and the risk is high here for a very low reward.

Blowers can be a tough search...the good ones tend to be expensive and the bad ones...well, are pretty bad. There are some surplus sources on the web that often have remarkably cheap blowers if you want to spend time digging. I hesitate to add any direct references but there is a "surplus center" that comes up easily when searched for and has hundreds of blowers...mostly wrong but a few potential candidates. I have the 112 cfm model from blacksmithdepot and it's a darned nice blower. Not cheap any more--but the value is still there if you have enough in your change jar. The reason I even mention it is that 112 cfm from that one is waaaaay more air than I generally need ( using tractor supply nut coal). I have to keep it choked down to maybe 10% for general forging and if I want the blazes of the underworld, maybe 30% open. Just thought it might help put a number on the CFM for your searching--and of course your mileage may vary a LOT.

My vote would be for flatware handles. It's a devil to try and find photos of the *backs* of older flatware but here is one which is a more modern copy of an older design and made in the 40's. I have seen the same design in many minor variations from the"handmade" days---basically that cheshire cat smile on the underside. Obviously...it's still a guess.

Jim Coke: You might be on track about the table saw idea. Could be that the "arrowhead" was forced between basically 2 pins/similar to spread them and raise the blade...or something similar on a different machine. I have to think about the burlap sack thing. Most of the wheat sacks around here were burlap but they were sewn (usually by hand right on the early combines) rather than tied off. Sewer was basically second low man on the totem pole and the job went to the kid about 14 years old..who also had to move the 120 pound sacks onto the discharge slide after sewing. Bag filler wasn't fun either because your face was in the dust and went to the lowest man on the totem pole. You can see the sewing at about 37 seconds in and then from a distance later.

Another couple of oddball items came into the Agricultural museum and landed on my desk to try and figure out. These don't ring a bell at all so are a bit of a longshot. Tool 1 is some sort of extension screw. The wear patterns imply that the arrowhead shape was pushed into something-but it's not sharp in any way nor shaped like it would go inside anything round. Tool 2 is just a spring wire of some sort. Squeezing what looks like a "handle" moves the loops across each other but doesn't spread them apart. They sort of get hooked together so I'm not even sure the handle part is supposed to be a handle: You can make it act that way but you have to tweak the other end to free it before the loops move. Every seen anything like these? Guesses to narrow down a search? Thanks

Old school forging often used silica sand rather than borax to exclude oxygen from the joints. Assuming that borax actually isn't available (it probably is...just dig deeper), I'm sure there are powdered ceramic glazes you can get in India which are basically clean and graded silica. I've never tried the sand method...because borax is common as dirt...but the point is, borax isn't the only option for keeping oxygen out in forge welding. Commercially, the typical furnace has what's called a "disassociated ammonia" atmosphere. They pump ammonia into a hot furnace which disassociates into nitrogen and hydrogen (mostly nitrogen). The hydrogen grabs the excess oxygen and the nitrogen simply bulks out the gas volume with something that's mostly inert at those temperatures. Some places just pump in straight nitrogen a little like one would use argon in welding processes. These are gas fired furnaces and they spend a LOT of time properly adjusting the burners correctly in the first place so they aren't pumping in too much oxygen for the job. anyway...Don't reinvent the wheel. Borax really is common in the world. It might be called something else in India (not just translation, but they might actually call it something different) so do some digging. As an example of that, you won't find "Monosodium glutamate (MSG)" as a food additive in China even though it's common. They often simply call it "wonder powder", an old brand name that's become the common name. Ask in the store for MSG, and they'll tell you they don't have it even if it's sitting on the shelf right next to the clerk.

You might want to re-think this project. Not that it can't be done, but it'd take a lot more than you think to make it suitable as a generalized "freeform" forging press. It's designed to work completely differently than the typical freeform forge press or power hammer---fixed stroke (after setting) with no give. REALLY bad things happen if you block that fixed stroke. Resetting the stroke bottom point requires wrenches and fiddling. By the time you get some sort of "spring" system in there to prevent the press from exploding when it hits hard material, you have about as much work into it as simply scrapping the crank and flywheel and fabbing in a hydraulic cylinder. Now if you were using exactly the same die all the time on exactly the same material to do exactly the same forging, that might be different... It's up to you of course...sometimes people like fiddly projects and proving out a theory. Not trying to bust your balloon here---Just suggesting you take a look at the various hand forging presses and hammers to see what features you will need to "make happen" in a punch press like this one before you commit to the project.

The colors are caused by the interference of light waves bouncing off both front and back surface of the oxide layer that forms when tempering. It's similar in nature to the colors you see in a soap bubble or oil slick and requires very thin layers to happen (on the order of light wavelengths). To keep that you would not only have to protect that surface from ANY further oxidation but also from any physical abrasion that would change or remove the very thin oxide layer. That's a tough row to hoe. I'd instead look to other ways to create a colored surface as many have said here. Don't waste your time on battles you know you will lose in the end.

I recently picked up a cheap piece of 1-1/4" dia round bar of 4130 chrome moly steel to make some tools. What you'll find is that it takes a lot of force to move it when it is in thick sections, even when heated to the limits. In my case, I had to get out the true sledge to make decent progress--The 3 pound hammer was not getting me anywhere but the 2-handed 12 pound sledge got it moving at a reasonable rate but still not "fast". So..my advice for large sections is to get a friend as a helper to do the primary moving with a big sledge (assuming you don't have a power hammer or hydraulic press). Once most of the big moving is done you can switch to the one-man hammer and do the finish work. Will save you a LOT of time and frustration.

Those burner holders are zinc plated. Not likely a great idea there. They may or may not get so hot that it causes problems but it's best to avoid the risk. Strip the galv before the final assembly. You don't want zinc poisoning sneaking up on you when you do some long hot forging. Or I might be missing the point if they're just "placeholders" for something else later.

Do the KISS version of a refurb, just bringing it up to a reasonable and workable order. There is no such thing as perfect, even in a side blast forge, so instead of worrying about that right now, fiddle with what you make from this one. It'll give you a MUCH better handle on what you want later when you start looking toward improvements and this one would probably be pretty good to sell later to someone who wanted to use coal so there is no loss in bringing it back from the dead. Heck, you might even find a good source for workable coal and change your direction once you start poking around. Don't get hung up on getting/making the Ferrari of forges until you drive the family truckster for a while and decide what you really need/want in your final forge. It's all a never ending learning process anyway and even imperfection can teach you things.

I'd re-think things and only use the current valve set-up for spare parts. It appears to me that you have a pressure and return port so you should theoretically be able to use a standard 3 position, 4-way valve and have power to both stroke directions. You should also find a way to get a filter into the system on the return line. You can buy standard 4 way solenoid actuated electric valves either in higher voltage or as low voltage units (or manual, of course like a log splitter uses). You can also get standard electric foot pedal controls (or roll your own). Although others might have different reasoning, I would say a bypass center position is safer--take your foot/hand off the switches for move/retract and the automatic spring center position is pressureless on the cylinder lines and oil free flowing so there is a chance you could get your hand out. Using a blocked center position will hold the ram in place and it aint moving without someone hitting the retract switch. If you wanted, you could add an adjustable flow restrictor to the pressure stroke and slow movement down. I'm not sure that would ever be used on a forging press but it can help for things like pressing out bearings or if a small metal brake feature is added to the system to bend bar and such. There are lots of sites on the web which help explain what those complex hydraulic valve diagrams actually mean so I suggest you take the time to read up. It's not that hard after you start getting the hang of reading the gobbledegook in those diagrams. Once it starts making sense, you will start to notice examples of what a standard system for what you intend to do looks like in diagram form and can design around that standard.

I have been pondering making a ball stake for the hardy myself. Other than the initial ball cost, everything is quite easy and it would generally be no more than an easy afternoon's project (depending on whether you go as far as installing a slot for a wedge). The question that kind of leaves me in the dark is "how high?". I can guess but since I've never had one to use, I can't anticipate how high the ball should be set to cover the oddball project that comes up *next* year (decade). Anyone have suggestions from experience on just how tall is convenient without becoming a bit annoyingly tall? For the sake of argument, figure a 1" hardy hole and and unhardened stem. Is there a benefit of taller that one "discovers" down the road?

On a side note, at pawn shops and sometimes "school" surplus auctions, one can often pick up adjustable music stands cheap as dirt. Also, there are sometimes the articulating stands used for things like the cymbals on drum kits. All can be very handy to convert to helpers for such things. Once you open your eyes to those, you start seeing them all over.

Ted is making an important point about keeping only what you are actually likely to use. It's really easy with metal-working to become a bit of a hoarder---grabbing and saving every piece of scrap iron that you might "someday" need. The piles and bins can quickly becomes a hinderance to your work rather than a help. Keep the best, scrap the rest. And as a corollary to the scrap everyone tends to hoard--it's often also a negative to go the the scrap bin vs chasing the right piece of metal for the job. Sure, going to the scrap bin is fast and cheap but that often becomes one of those "penny wise, pound foolish" things. You can end up wasting more time and money scabbing "not quite right" scrap into a project than simply putting the time and shekels toward getting the right material and size for the job at hand. Obviously the above are not "all or nothing"--just advice to choose wisely. More is not always better.

I second this recommendation. The cost of stainless exhaust flex hose (the heavy-walled stuff) is a bit of a turn-off but it'll be a one-time buy you will never have to revisit or regret. Just make sure you like the location of the blower relative to the forge before buying and cutting the good stuff--so maybe temporarily go with ultra cheap dryer hose until you get a feel for where you like the crank sitting relative to the forge.

Heavy use of those dryer sheets will also leave a flammable surface to clothes. My ex used to love tossing in 4 sheets per dryer load so I've been "burning man" more than once. Welding helmet on and welding away--starts to feel weirdly warm--lift helmet and see that a blue flame is creeping up the whole front and back of your shirt. The flame doesn't burn particularly aggressively but it is enough to make one need an underwear change metaphorically.

Just clarifying some chemistry. Ethylene is a pretty simple molecule which can chain together and give you all sorts of goodies. It's generally 2 carbons molecules and 4 hydrogen but the basic building block is a carbon and 2 hydrogen. Put 3 of those building blocks together and you get propane. Put 4 together and you get butane. Put about 31 together and you get...paraffin wax. But it gets better. Put about 300,000 together in a jumble and you get low density polyethylene (milk jugs). Do the same in an organized fashion and you get high density polyethylene (the caps on soda and milk jugs). Put about 4 million together and you get UHMW polyethylene, a super tough plastic used for all sorts of things including "warm" ice rinks and liners for artificial joints. Darned useful stuff all from one simple molecule. Note that in some areas of the world they call Kerosene (US nomenclature) "paraffin" and that's not the same--so there is a nomenclature difference that can get in the way sometimes. Also, Polythene and polyethylene are different nomenclatures between the US and other areas that can cause some web-search issues. So basically, microcrystalline polyethylene [polythene] wax is just a bit of a jumble of the molecule of paraffin wax which encourages very small crystal structures. You can actually make oil/wax blends to play with pretty easily. Grate wax (bee's or paraffin) and melt in a microwave carefully--then drizzle in a little of your oil of choice while vigorously stirring. By varying the amount of oil, you can vary the final thickness of the product from soft "stick" to lotion. Bee's wax and a good olive oil make great lip balm when you get the mix the right consistency (add a drop of mint or camphor if you like). Paraffin and a drying oil like boiled linseed can make a great metal coating akin to some of the expensive stuff you buy in the store. Whip air into the thinner versions with a stick blender and you get a lotion that would be easy to apply to complex areas and wipe excess off (or use bee's and olive/avocado/cocoanut oil plus a little bit of essential oil scent and amaze your wife with a gift of a far better hand lotion than one can generally buy at the store.) Anyway---just tossing out there that one can experiment to make their own favorite metal-protecting witches-brew pretty easily. Winter is coming in the Northern Hemisphere so it might make a good rainy day experiment.

Just accept it's foibles and start pounding. People make amazing stuff with a lot worse. Sure, there will be times when the wear gets frustrating but it won't take long before you learn to work around the worst of that without thinking. Heck, it was free which is a better deal than most people ever run across. It's a bit like your first car--for most it had 3 different brands of balding tires, worn out seats with a spring poking you in the exact wrong place, and a cantankerous engine that always seemed to need tweaking-- but people still have fond memories of that first car and what it gave to them. By the time you fix everything that needs "fixing", you'd be into it as much cost and labor as chasing something better. And better WILL eventually come around on it's own if you keep your feelers out.

That's the way to go. A pizza oven is quite a different animal than a forge--you want the brick enclosure to absorb heat and get hot as heck to radiate out to cook the pizza where a forge wants an air induced confined fire without a bunch of structure to steal that heat away. Going with a separate "coverable" pot in the same general structure for a forge sounds like a good compromise. Since they are basically the same construction, you might want to make sure that pizza oven is large enough in volume to handle bread also. Bread from a wood fired oven is wonderful. Lots of good plans on the internet. Just don't let your wife know that you are also using it for tempering metalwork