WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith

Glenn that is a good story, but, geese are grazers as well as insect eaters. If he had regularly turned a goose or geese loose in the greenhouse he would have come back to bare ground. Grey Solders ( guinea hens) and peafowl make alarms but not very good watch dogs. They make a bunch of noise if someone comes around but just stay up in the trees and holler LOOK, LOOK, LOOK!!!!!. Now geese can be a whole different story. Yesterday on the news there was a story of where a bald eagle got to close to Canada Goose nests. The knocked him out or the air and he was found in the lake with a broken wing. He is at UT (University of Tennessee Animal Care Facility). My dogs go out and lay up on the over look of the pond but don't get close. I guess they have learned their lessons or it is genetically breed into them.

There are monthly meetings at Fiddler's Grove at the fair grounds in Lebanon and at Canonsboro in Murphysboro. Check out the aacb website for contact info. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Another one, again not really a blacksmithing myth, As a kid when we would get ready to take a trip Daddy would always say right before we left, "Does anybody need to go pee pee?" Several years ago my brother and I were getting ready to go on a backpacking trip into the Guadalupe National park. Just as we were getting into the truck my brother said, "Does anybody need to go pee pee? If ya do ya better go now 'cause we ant stoppin' 'til we get there." Here we have two grown men in their 50's and he sounded just like John Wayne.

In Columbia two blacksmiths are Steve Williamson and Steven Feinstein, both fine fellows and excellent blacksmiths. I am about 150 miles from Columbia but you are invited to come visit. Just call ahead of time. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

I had one student that was about 15 that would go to conferences or meetings with me. When I would pick him up I always would ask him, "Do you have clean underwear on?" He always had a funny look on his face when he would answer, "Yes." I don't think that was something that his parents would ask him but when I was a kid (many,,,many years ago) that was a common question. The concept was, "What if you were in an accident and were taken to the hospital?" Having been raised in southeastern New Mexico where it could be comfortable, or even hot in the day but cold when the sun went down I was frequently asked, "Have you got a coat with you?" I still always carry a coat if I am leaving home in the evening. Wayne

I always tell students that if they forge black metal they will pee in bed tonight. That sure gets the younger ones to quit that and the older ones get a good laugh. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Where in Kentucky? I am on the south end of Big South Fork.

Keith, now when are you going to come back and learn to make tongs, etc. I have demonstrated 3 different ways to make tongs so maybe you will be all set up. Let me know how I can help you. Wayne

Well JHCC, what did you do with it? Mulch the plants or was it really hay and you fed it to the horses?

Thus the reason for the flame to swirl around in the forge. Scale is formed when oxygen contacts red hot metal. If the forge is running rich so that all of the fuel is not burned due to lack of oxygen scale is not formed, until the metal is taken from the forge. That is the reason that I can weld Damascus billets without flux. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

as Jhcc said but also the face of the anvil should be at wrist height so that you stand up straight and avoid back pain. For dressing the edges of an anvil I place a straight edge along the edge from 0" to about 3.8" and use a grinder to radius to the line. I do this for both edges so that they are the same on both sides. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne.

Did you know that if you will lock down the breaks on an expressway to pick up a piece of scrap iron you are a real blacksmith, and if you get caught they will charge you with possession of lost or stolen property. I was dumbfounded when I was sitting in the attorney's gallery and the judge read off the charges. I thought that was just cleaning up litter, at least that is what my client or I would have used as a defense. The guy should have gotten an accommodation. I don't know how many times I have stopped and picked up tools that had fallen off of a truck. One day in Knoxville I saw a couple of tools on Kingston Pike. I stopped to pick them up, then walking back to my truck another driver rolled down his window and said, "Hay Buddy, there are a few more back up the road." So I kept walking up the road gathering tools. Never did find the tool box though.

You will get a hot spot where the flame hits the other side. I would place it more nearly level so that the flame runs along the top of the casting and swirls around the inside causing a more nearly even flame. If you have already welded the burner bracket you would have to cut it loose to change the angle of the flame. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Have you read the attachment Build a Gas Forge on the Forge Supplies page of www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com? I would lower the angle of the burner to where it enters at a tangent so that the flame swirls around inside the forge, that is unless you want a hot spot. It would have been better to use the top collar off the tank for a templet for the size of the openings, then the ends of the tank could protect the ceramic blanket and the casting. If you had used the collar you would also have wound up with a D shaped opening and a flat floor. I don't know anything about that burner but it seems overly large for a 20# Propane bottle forge and an overly large orifice Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Well, no I have never had my anvil tip over but then, it does weigh 500#. I also have a 100# anvil on a 3 legged stand and have never tipped it either, matter of fact I have never even heard of anyone tipping an anvil over. I even forge or the side of the anvil if the task lends its self to it. I angle the legs out about 17 degrees. Let me know if I can help you.

Check out the attachment Build a Gas Forge on the Forge Supplies page at www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com for instructions on how I like to build a gas forge. ITC-100 is about $75.00 a pint here in the US, Plistix is about $15.00 a pint and Metrikote about $20.00 a pint. They all do the same job Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

For raising it you might consider padding up the legs. For the one you are going to build I strongly suggest that you build a 3 legged stand with a thick plate for the top. Use silicon calk to stick your anvil to the stand. It will help deaden the ring and make the anvil and stand one piece, giving the effect of a heavier anvil. With the 3 legged stand it is always stable and you can stand up closer to the anvil. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

A bench grinder/buffer will wait until about the time you get a knife good and sharp then jerk it out of your hand,,,,,and then throw it at you. Wayne

great find, I personally like the three leged stands made so that the face of the anvil is at wrist height but if I got one like that I would adjust the height and use it. If you will use silicone calk between the anvil and the top you should be in good shape. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

In my reply I was assuming that he already had the board. As Mikey said it is no better than ceramic blanket and costs more so unless I had already picked up the board I would just use all blanket with a casting about 1/2" thick over that and then a coating of Plistix or Metrikote. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

ITC-100 costs about $75.00 a pint, Plistix is $15.00 a pint and Metrikote is $20.00 a pint. I have used all three and all three work. I have not done any side by side tests but in the uses that I have experienced they all work about the same. What shape is the forge you are building, do you have any other products that you are planning to use? Have you read the attachment Build a Gas Forge on the Forge Supplies page at www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com? If you are building a round forge I would cut the fiber board to size for the floor with a small piece underneath to fill in the void, then wrap the upper portion with Inswool, cast over all of that with Kast-0-Lite then after that has cured paint over it with a coat of Plistix or Metrikote. The Kast-0-Lite is resistant to flux and will give you a good tough, strong, long lasting forge. The Plistix or Metrikote will reflect the IR back into the forge increasing the efficiency. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Have you ever seen where someone tried to cast a thin coat of concrete over an old slab? It will flake off because there is no adhesion between the two layers. Same thing happens here. Just do a 1/2" thick casting and use the proper product. I like Kast-0-Lite. It is a light weight, insolating, flux resistant castable refractory specifically made for this purpose and better than Santanite. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

Nub, you would not know if there were fibers floating around. They are so small you can't see them, just like people didn't see asbestos particles floating around. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne

In the first post he said that he was building a "None Aspirated Ribbon Burner" that would be that there was no aspiration and that really would not work. Just my attempt at a chuckle. I am surprised that Frosty did not jump on that one.

Attend some Alex Bealer meetings. Web=site is www.alexbealer.org. They meet the third Saturday of each month. I will be demonstrating in April. You will meet a lot of blacksmiths and will probably be able to find equipment through them. I will have 3 post vises with me in April. Also plan to go to the SBA conference in Madison, Ga. (http://www.sbaconference.com/) the 3rd weekend in May. Plan to get there Wednesday even though the conference does not start until Friday. There will be lots of tail gate sales then. You can camp on the grounds. Let me know if I can help you. Wayne