Jackdawg

I would use a dedicated container, and I wouldn't do it in my cooking oven, or in my house, Borax is classed as a hazardous substance, a class 5 poison,  and you should be reviewing a safety data sheet before using any chemical to know what the risks are and how to handle it safely.

Here is a link to an Australian SDS.

http://www.safesalt.com.au/boraxmsds.pdf

Reading through it, heating it and breathing the fumes off it is not a good idea. If you must cook it out, do it in a well ventilated area.

cheers fella's.

Bit nervous about getting stuck in to it with a grinder until I work out how to swing it, but yes it is quite a sharp pein. It will need some attention!

Slowly putting together some tools, a cross pein hammer has been near the top of my "giveme" list for a while. Like hens teeth around here.

Anyway, saw a hammer advertised at a local tool suppliers that looked right up my alley, 2lb cross pein, 40cm handle, Price exceptional for around here.

Anyway got myself down to the shop on the way to work yesterday morning to have a look. Vaughan brand. Got "Hebron Illinois" on it under the brand name. Well I figure you yanks might make a good hammer, but then I noticed the tiny little tag on the bottom - made in India

Not greatly impressed with that!, but then the cheapskate in me kicked in, and the voice started whispering $19! who cares where it was made, only thing bigger than a 4oz car body hammer vaguely resembling a cross pein you have even seen in a shop,......

So I gave in - Might end up making up a new acronym - HSO (Hammer shaped object) - but for $19 I decided to bring it home with me. 

Now I have it home, it actually looks like a reasonable tool. Time will no doubt tell.

My advice at this point would be to pull down the picture and ask the mods to delete this thread until after the case has been through the legal process.

There are a few of us on here. I'm from SE Qld.

cheers for the advice, I will go with a bilge blower, knock up a bleed system for it, and just have a go!.

So I have a piece of string how long is it?

sort of one of those questions, so I will try and be as descriptive as possible.

I am slowly building my forge.

Fuel source will be charcoal.

I have built the fire pot. usual inverted pyramid type shape.

Bottom is about 5 inches square

Depth is about 5 inches front and back, but sides are about 7 inches high (is designed to be 7 inches deep all round, but hedging my bets and going to see how it performs before adding the extra metal)

airflow will be through the bottom, not sure of final opening, as I am thinking about building a drop in piece to go in to the opening, so it may end up smaller than the current 3 inch square tube, or then again I may just weld bars over the end of the tube, thinking about it.

After doing some research and see what is available locally my choice is the good old hair dryer, or probably a boat bilge blower. Can get either for around the $30 - $40 mark. A Ducted bathroom exhaust fan starts at around $60, so being a cheapskate that immediately ruled that out

So my question is how much air am I going to need for a charcoal fire? I have seen a few posts which indicate charcoal needs a "gentler" air flow, less air.

No idea how much air a hair dryer puts out, been quite a few years since I have needed the services of a barber, or other hair grooming implement

But the 3" boat bilge blowers (smallest size available) appear to produce somewhere between 90 and 135 cfm. They do not have a high air speed, relying more on aperture size than velocity.

Now that sounds like a lot of air to me, but I have no idea. Obviously bleeding off air if you have to much is easily done, not so easy to fix if you dont have enough air.!

So my my question is, would a 90cfm air delivery be enough? (Bearing in mind that rating would be an unrestricted flow rate, it would be less with the back pressure of having to push it through the pipe, bends and the bed of charcoal) Or is it so far over the top I should just raid the wife's side of the bathroom and make her hair dryer disappear?

,

after just getting home from a 12 hour day, all I can say is FFS, and shake my head!

Looks like part of a harness set for a horse pulling a plough.

dunnoh about the others, but the two in the middle definitely look like wing wong's for a gooses bridle 

he who dies with the most tools wins.....

I usually use lanox or inox (spray can and got a bit more solvent in it than lanox), both lanolin based, use it on my boat a lot as well, never any rust issues.

I made a bench out of old scrap the other day, had a bottle of liquid WD40 given to me, thought I would try that, rather than the inox, which is $15 a pressure can (yes I am a cheap skate!)

Rusty within 24 hours, so despite WD40's claim to protect from rust, it wont be getting used for anything but lubrication from now on!

Will probably chase the moths out of the wallet and Inox the bench this weekend!

Got a reminder the other day, ankle boots make great catchers for dross from the oxy. Not only does it get in the top even when done up, it immediately works its way right down to the top of the foot, and you just stand there feeling it burn in knowing there is no use undoing the laces and pulling the boot off, it will take to long to do any good!

- One of those "cant be bothered going up to the house and putting on my trousers, its only a 2 inch cut" moments. (Was just tinkering about in the shed with other stuff in my shorts when I got the bright idea)

At least welding the handle on like they did makes it an easy removal.

scary stuff Frosty, hope all goes well.

Should have grabbed a nikko and wrote it back in, that is pure xxxxxxxx.

So is blowing anvils up some sort of independence day tradition?

That video looks a very smart and simple way to make a touch mark! You could even get very artistic with a dremel tool or similar and make a very complex design doing it that way.

Just goes to show, do it smart, and do it simple! You could even keep the "mould" so that if you lost the one you made, wore it out etc, 2 minute job to replace it.

11 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Well it does date way way back and is being run by a company small enough to avoid OSHA visits I'd guess.  Sounds like they have a range of tooling for it too for doing different sized bits.

 I've heard apocryphal stories about businesses where critical equipment gets downchecked by OSHA and so someone "retires" with it as a retirement gift and does the job freelance in a shop now below the mandatory inspection size... 

 

And the bloke who "retires" and sets up shop probably thinks he is on a good wicket because he is earning 2 bucks an hour more as an "independent contractor" not realising he has just taken on all the risk for a lousy $2 an hour.....

That Bucyrus-erie setup is one evil looking bit of kit.

WH&S would have kittens over that here.

Cheers fellas, the motor is only very light, maybe 3kg, only 18lb thrust, so wont be a lot of vibration / strain on what ever I make.

It will definately be a suck it and see show when I get around to it, and if the aluminum doesn't work out my fall back is stainless steel.

I've two 30cm lengths of 50kg brand new track sitting in my shed I scrounged a while back from the new rail line they are putting through town. I cleaned the rust and scale off and oiled them to keep them in good nick and tossed them in the back of the shed while I thought about it for a while.

Think I have just found some inspiration on what to do with them!

Ta Frosty. Will do.

These followed me home the other day. Oil refinery we work next to is being closed down. They reckon it is cheaper to stick them on a pallet in the parking lot with a "free" sign on them than pay to dispose of them. Hundreds of them going.

Had six when I bought them home, but friends and family........

Can't have to many of these around the workshop !.

cheers Doug.

mostly fresh, but probably the odd salt water use, so will keep that in mind.