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I Forge Iron

Beatsy' s Forge

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    New Boston, Michigan
  • Interests
    Oilpainting, fishing,hunting, knives, guns, good music, shooting my bow ,the out doors.

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  1. In my post below I revealed all I know about were it came from. It is from a Conrail multi level aluminum car hauler. The steel is non magnetic. I hope this helps me get closer to the type and what I can use it for. If need be I can bring a piece to my scrap yard and see if they will test it for me. But I hope you good people here on IFI can eliminate the drive to the yard and possibly not get any help from them. Thanks any help will be great. Martin
  2. To answer the question of were the steel was from all I know is it is a portion of a door I'm assuming we're it can be locked. The kind of rail car it came from is called a multi level car hauler. Brand name Conrail R/R. This is all I know about the steel and were it is used. It is non magnetic. Hope this gets me a bit closer to my question. If all else fails I could go to the scrap yard and see if they can test it.. Thank you very much for any help it is greatly appreciated. Martin
  3. I have access to all the stainless I want on a bi weekly basis. among otherthing like the pins that hold the cars together at the knuckle. but my question is is about the stainless I have. I have been trying to research what type it is to see if it would be a good alternative to tooling,knives or other things. it is 1.5 in in dia and over five ft long. can anyone here tell me the type. I'm speculating it is some sort of structural type stainless. any info would be great. i have added a couple pics so you can see what i have.they do not have any numbers or nothing for identification. hope these pics help you to help me.. Thanks, Martin
  4. Thank you fellas this is what I was thinking , Rather than cut the FC with water can I use vinegar or should I use the water and just keep it warm somehow . Either in the house or frige/light Hey got another idea how about a low voltage aquarium heater I have one that wont go above 78 degrees F . Put the ferric chloride in a PVC tube at the top drill a hole were the cap is insert the heater then seal the heater cord using silicone caulk. This way when I need to use it just unplug the heater pop the lid and insert blade.. Is this a good idea? Thanks for the great replys Slag and T. Powers
  5. Hey all I was wondering if someone can help me. I live in southern Michigan and our winter is here. Can someone tell me if Ferric Chloride freezes and if it does what can be done to not let this happen other than keeping a warm shop. I have not brought it out to the shop yet and I am not wanting to keep it in the house any longer. Thank you all and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Martin
  6. Mr. Powers, Thank you very much for your share of knowledge and you taking your time to answer the many complex questions that I had. Along with any warning notes that have been noted . Thank you for your time, Martin
  7. Mr Powers, ThomasPowers, In an earlier statement you had mentioned keeping the face plate in a pan of water to help keep it cool while I weld on the horn. I asked this question earlier in a conversation so I will as you , on account it was not recommended . I am assuming you said this because I would be welding the horn on after HT keeping in mind to mount the horn low enough to not overheat the faceplate when welding.. If this is so I figured it should be fine due to the fact that I would be in essence tempering the body down while welding.. I'm I correct ? If this will work is IYO I should be able to HT only the face, Having the body already assembled Place the faceplate in said water weld the faceplate to the body without HT ing the entire piece Leaving the body softer than the faceplate. Then as noted above weld on the horn. I could set up the water tray with a pump to circulate the water from a larger source to enabe the water to stay cool while welding.. If this is a good idea It will save a lot of time and my back.. Let me know your thoughts on yhis or if I misunderstood and should abandon my thoughts as mentioned in this post and just HT the entire piece as planed then weld the horn on and so on using the previous mentioned method. Be safe at work and get back with me at your convenience, Martin
  8. the company Well son of a ..... Sound like what I retired from. The company I worked for contracted work to our local and National steel mills. My hours were on call 24/7 and you guessed it when we were working there were so many hrs. you didn't now when you would be home I learned a lot and ran work for 13 years, seen things like ladle pores into a Blastfurnace, molting metals/iron and much more. The kind of stuff the average joe only sees on the TV. Unfortunatly I had to take a medical retirement. on the bright side though at least I know were I'm going and how long I will be there now. Plus (this is the best part) I get to spend time with my kids (3 boys) 19,14,3. the older ones remember me gone all the time for days it seemed like. I worked so much I didn't know what day it was. Its kind od sad though, when I first retired my older boys didn't no what to do, how to act and such. Well hell neither did I . Now over the years we seemed to have adjusted and I found a few things to keep me content like , Bladesmithing, oh, I paint to mostly abstract but , The things I now do have driven my creative self into a direction I would have never had the opportunity to even find if life had keeped me working like that but anyways.. All is good now and to be real honest at 41 I feel very fortunate to have retired now that I look at it . I get to enjoy many things now that I was not.. Martin
  9. Mr. Powers, I thank you for your assistance in this . I was unaware you were working. Man what a bother I am lol. After I get every thing together I will stay in touch.
  10. Mr. Powers, I would have to say that I know not to weld chrome and thank you again for adding this. Depending on what sort of work we as Blacksmiths call light or heavy work depends on the smith I suppose, Since you said light work on a horn that can be so called removable would be ok. You pretty much made my decision for me . Considering that the weight of the anvil will be 200 or so lbs. I think I should weld the horn on due to the fact you never know when you may need to put the horn threw its paces as the say. Thanks for the great comments and the interest in influencing me to do a bit more research . It has been fun going back and forth on this and I appreciate you putting up with my questions With this said I want to pry a bit more since you didn't answer lol. As I mentioned the pin is already hardened do you think I can get away with welding it on after HT? I know it probably wont work and my better judgment is telling me to HT the whole thing soooooo? I also Have 3 Kilns that I think are large enough to put the piece in and get an accurate temp. prior to HT. Do you think this is a better option than a coal fire that I can not accurately hold a temp and possibly over heat the face. Actually I just got the Kilns today so this is why I didn't ask earlier in this posting session. I really don't think I need 3 Kilns . I live in southern Michigan and am willing to part with one if you know anyone. Also I think I should cycle the anvil a few times to normalize her prior to HT in my opinion this should help releave any stress put on the steel while welding and get rid of any hard spots created while welding. How can I keep the preheating to around 300 degrees F. so I can get good penetration and strong welds. Do you think if I heated it once to my desired temp that welding on it should keep it heated enough or should I use a weed burner or the kiln to keep the heat as even as possible. I ask because I would think that an even heat threw the entire process improves the success of the project. OK one more question and I am gonna call it a night just kidding lol, I forgot what I was gonna ask lol.(brain fart). Martin
  11. ThomasPowers, Thank you for the ASO correction lol. As far as shape it really didn't matter much to me buuuuuuuut if I had my choice (like I do lol) I would like to shape it similar in fashion to a German double horn. But even if I do not shape it and it is just a block with a Hardy hole and possibly a pictrill Hole It would be a satisfying feat. On a different note. The horn I have a large bucket pin its about 4in in dia. I was wanting to have my friend turn it to a point and cut a 45 to the large end. It unfortunately or fortunate it is already hardened. I am not entirely sure but the way my machinist explained it , it was several different hardenings . Including a chrome alloy of some kind on the outer most layer. On the other hand I really do not recall his direct words, so anyway. Also I was thinking of not only welding on the horn but there is a threaded hole in the one end were it gets bolted to the bucket. I was considering utilizing the threads by welding a threaded post on the anvil and so on. The thought I had by doing this was to strengthen the horn. Perhaps a little over thinking. What do you think? Also since it is already hardened do you think I may be able to get away with just welding on a section of (something with some shear strength) threaded stock and screwing the horn onto the anvil after HT. ummmmmmm???? Just thought of that one lol. What are you thoughts on this. Again thank you for your sharing your wealth of knowledge with me. I very much appreciate it, You can bet I will do some final research before the HT . When I am ready I will be posting some images. Oh yea now that I have you. What are your thoughts on electrodes my thought was just use 7018 for the body. The shear strength is good not to mention I really do not have any shearing points except for the horn. I guess if I can utilize the threads I would not need to worry about the shearing lbs. of the electrodes. Just to let you know I am going to be using a brand new 2017 Hobart stick welder. Not that it matters but I thought id mention it. I mean who don't like NEW TOYs..... OH and whats wrong with using Plaster and sand for a forge lining lol,lol,lol,lol.... That's pretty funny but you are very right there are loads of people that are misinformed so I thank you for expressing the danger of my earlier post. I would hate to here of someone who tried something mentioned by myself and had a catastrophic failure of worse. Looking forward to your reply, Martin
  12. Mr,Powers, I was trying to avoid oil all together due to the danger. This is actually why I have posted the advice post. I honestly am not sure that it is 4140 it was a somewhat educated guess. From what I have read the forks I have and am going to be useing are 4140 but ummmmmm. You never know I got them from a Catapilar loader if this means any thing. I can however not have someone test it for me. My funds are low. I could however cut a piece heat and quench it in water just to getan idea on if I can get it hard enough to be a decent ASO. My idea of using the local VFD holds strong and this is how it will be done. I will look into your suggestion in the mentioned research. Thank you for the literature and were to find it. I never thought of the steel not being something other than 4140 but on the other hand I can see how 5160 would work great. I however could not find any thing on Catapilar forks as to what steel they are. Perhaps someone here can chime in and let us know. I will keep you in the loope so to speak. After I do some home testing I will post the results . I knowthis will not tell mewhatkind of steel it is but at least it will let me know if it will harden enough to use as an ASO. I will quench in water chamfer the edges to help reduce cracking and see what happens.In the meantime I will try and find out what type (types) of steel Catapilar uses for these forks but I am hoping that on account they are made in the USA Ican only hope it will produce something rewarding. If there is anything else you can help me or direct me with I would be more than happy with your response. Along with anyone else who has some great info for this project. Again thank youlooking forward to your help and reply. Martin
  13. Thomas Powers, Let me start by saying thank you for commenting. To your recollection does the book Country Blacksmith reveal his success using the local VFD. I am aware of the steam jacket though. In your professional opinion will the local VFD be successful at the HT? I was concidering another quench using a large trough similar to the ones used for watering cattle. Using a super quench formula of salt water, dish soap, a large water pump for circulation. I am however concerned with the steam jacket in either procedure but if a super quench is used does the soap, and saltwater mixture help limit the steam jacket effect? Or I have another possibility I could get a large amount of Motor oil and transmission fluid mixture say 50 gal. Although I realize this is a flammable quench but if one had a way to extinguish the flames would this be a better option due to the steam jacket effect? I live in a country setting and the my neighbors are not the kind of people that will call the local PD if one farted to loud lol. So I guess what I am getting at is if there is a smoke cloud it will go unnoticed. On the other hand one would still need to move the piece when quenching so this is why my thoughts were with using a water quench. In case you missed it I will be using fork lift forks (4140) isn't that a high alloy modern steel? Not intended to belittle you in anymeans I was just woundering if you may have missed that in previous postings. I look forward to your reply and your knowledge is also welcome so please if there is any thing you could recommend on this issue or help put me in the wright direction it would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime I will take a look at the book you mentioned if I can find it for free (download) on the inter web. Again Thank you, Martin
  14. Beaver, lol yea those guys would handle I'm sure. I think they are thirsty every day say right. Your heat treating idea is a great idea and I would like to try it sometime. Thanks for the great idea and images of the procedure. Cheesr back at ya, Martin
  15. This is interesting thank you for you comment. I really didn't give a shallow harding any thought but I did thibk of heating it. I have about 600 lbs of coal and 10 more yards available so other than not having a torch heating is no issue. My thoughts on hardening were I will heat the top plate until she reaches critical temps wether the body is heated does not really matter to me, I think. I was thinking of the fire hydrant for the sure volume of water but the only way I could access it is with the local FD. I am sure they would be game, I live in a small town and they don't have much to do sooooooo. The other thought was to use the local river were there is 2 waterfalls 1 I could get in with waders but it could be a bit dangerous thinking a bit more about it. So I think I could use the FD or just go for it and DIY the whole thing use a garden hose a high pressure water pump for agitation and see what happens. Fingers will be crossed and but will be water tight. lol Cheers back at ya,Martin
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