WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith

Ward fittings are primarily used in the fire sprinkler industry. www.hightemptools.com sell them. Tell Wayne that Wayne Coe sent you.

My phone number is in the signature of every post. I saw your message and have replied. What are you doing up at 1:48 in the morning. It's a good thing that you didn't think that you had my number.

Seth it is still happening. I was going to mention it when you call. Ronald L Claiborne 2918 Ellistown Rd, Knoxville, TN 37924

Seth, I am in north Morgan County, not to far from you. If you want to come by for a visit give me a call.

I always get there in early afternoon on Wednesday. Gives me time to get set up and start visiting. Ready to go on Thursday morning when folks really start showing up.

Read the tutorial on my Forge Supplies page on my web-site. Contact me if you need more help.

I have a vanity stool that I made over 10 years ago with Kudzu leaves that got heat colored (temper colored, though I feel that temper is not a correct term because tempering is the drawing down of the brittle hardness to toughness after hardening. Since my piece was never hardened I choose to call it "heat coloring" ) to straw and blue. I waxed the piece back then. It sits in our bathroom and still has the colors.

Jim, my theory about hardening hot work tools is that if you use them "as forged" they are actually normalized (as soft as it gets except for annealing. If it has been hardened then tempered and then used to a temperature above the tempering temperature it is still going to be tougher than a normalized too. Also the hardening and tempering refines the grain structure. The hardening and tempering is relatively quick and easy and if it improves the tool to any extent it is worth the effort.

If Larry is not filling orders now contact me. I spent time visiting with him at Quad State last year. He was not selling there last year.

There are several Seaton's yards in Athens, Tn. Not to far from Atlanta. Don't go to one of the Seaton's and mention that you went to one of the others. Family feud. Athens is about 50 miles east of Chattanooga.

Last year when I went to Sandusky they were very low on salvage stock. Dave and Rusty Anchor, how is the salvage yard now? That was the worst salvage stock that I had seen there. Hopefully they are getting more now. I have always paid $.25 a pound there. If they have a good supply I'm about ready to go again.

Come by my canopy at the large horse trailer with living quarters on the main drag. There will be a Knife Dogs banner on one of my tables. Jim will be somewhere around close.

Wow! lots of replies from ABBA members in a short time. Good to see that so many are on IFI and interested in their group and new forgers.

Plan to look into the Alex Bealer Blacksmith Association at www.alexbealer.org. They meet the third Saturday of each month in shops around the Atlanta Area. You will meet many blacksmiths, see a good demonstration and probably get lunch.

I used marbles to inlay in the handle of a knife. I used the gas forge, wire a piece of thin sheet aluminum to retain the glass when it melts. If you don't use the aluminum the glass will stick to what ever is below the item. Watch the glass as it slumps into the void and turn the forge off and block all openings with fire brick to retain the heat and allow it to cool slowly. When you get ready remove the aluminum you will find that it has burned away. Instructions for making Mokumé say to paint "white out" to act as a release. I have not tried this but it might work.

Will do. Maybe this would be a good time for you to come down to the sunny south and visit with others who frequent IFI.

Bowie's Hammer-in has been scheduled for October 11, 12 and 13th, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bowie has informed me that I will be the first demonstrator on Friday morning starting at 8:00 sharp. Some of you know that I won the "Best Rail Road Spike Knife" at the Batson Blade Symposium and Knife Show in 2012 for my "Steak Knife" and in 2013 for the "American Eagle". I will be demonstrating how I make these knives. There is no attendance fee, however, you are encouraged to bring something to donate to Iron In The Hat and to buy tickets. Iron In The Hat is how this event is funded. There is primitive camping on the grounds and there are hotels and motels close.

I got an e-mail from Rod today in which he stated that his e-mail account had been hacked and he had to change it to: nielsendisc@gmail.com. Some of you may not know Rod is the inventor and manufacturer of the Nielsen Interchangeable Disk System. Rod lives and works in Canada so, because of the expense of shipping these from Canada to the USA, he has engaged my services to sell these systems in the USA. You can look at my video on my web-site on the Grinders page

I believe that touch marks (symbols) are good for you being able to identify your own work, even some other Blacksmiths may know who uses that symbol. Last year at the Blade Show a maker had bought a knife from a Pawn shop. He showed it to me and asked if I knew whose touch mark it was. I recognized it as a hammer in a halo, the mark of Ryan Johnson of Chattanooga, Tn. I then took him over to Ryan's booth and introduced them. It is fortunate that he asked me and not almost anyone else there and I knew only because is a friend and mentor. We had discussed his touchmark about 13 years before. My touchmark is: Wayne Coe. Now is anyone sees it they will know whose mark that is or can at least do a search for Wayne Coe on the internet. I also make my mark deep and on the face of the item. "Craftsmen sign their work on the back, Artists sign their work on the front." Darrel Nelson tells of making a set of Bear Heads for another blacksmith to use on a set of andirons he was making for a customer. Darrel made the bears and put his touchmark on them. He later saw the andirons and the maker had ground off his touchmark. Therefore, I make my mark deep and on the face. If anyone wants to grind off my mark they will destroy the piece. Moral of the story, "Don't try to steal my work."

Castable Refractory is not Cement. Kast-0-Lite is a light weight, insulating castable refractory. Check out my web-site for more information.

If you want to build a grinder with out welding look into the NWG (No Weld Grinder) plans at www.usaknifemaker.com. I have copies of the plans for sale for $25.00. You could look at the GIB (Grinder In a Box) at www.polarbearforge.com. The NWG uses step pulleys for "adjustable" speed, not true "variable" speed. The GIB is a direct drive machine and with a VFD for variable speed is a great machine. I supply motors and VFDs for both of these machines. Let me know if I can help you further.

You should cast over the ceramic blanket with a castable refractory such as Kast-0-Lite. This will give you a good tough, long lasting interior that you can then paint with an Infrared Reflective product such as Plistix, Metrikote or ITC-100.

Yup, take a course. I recently got a multi process machine and am very happy with it. Everlast also has a forum that can be helpful, just as IFI is. They have a mig, stick, tig machine. They were by far the least expensive machine I found and have good support. They are built of parts that can be gotten off the shelf and are not proprietary. I read a lot of reviews, some folks had some problems with new machines but support walked them through them. These are inverter machines and there is a lot of adjustments available. I would recommend them. But take a course. When I took a course at Appalachian Tech in Jasper, Georgia (on the Hope Grant, read free) the first class was oxy/ac. So I right quick bought a torch and bottles, then took a couple of quarters of stick and right quick bought a stick machine, then took a couple of quarters of Mig and etc. The oxy/ac unit is the only one of the original that I now use but for heating and cutting I now use ox/propane. The new inverter replaces almost all of the other machines that I have bought and now sold, well I still have a huge 350 amp Miller Shopmaster with a wire feed that I need to sell. I'll be at the Alex Bealer Blacksmith (www.alexbealer.org) meeting in June. Come to the meeting and we can visit.

Coat the interior of the forge with an Infrared Reflective product. I have Plistix at $10.00 a pint or Metrikote at $15.00 a pint. I don't sell ITC-100. It is about $55.00 a pint. The air gap is good also. I weld three 3/4" connectors on the bottom of my frame and screw in 3/4" pipes long enough to have the mouth of the forge about chin high. Then I can look in at the metal without having to squat down.

Billy, I'm from Lovington, New Mexico so even though I now live in Tennessee you can consider that you are buying local, well sort of. My brother still lives in Lovington and has one of my forges. He thought that he was going to get into blacksmithing so I built a forge for him. Now he would sell it and he is in Lubbock from time to time so he might be able to deliver it to you. If you are interested I will check with him about the price and when he could bring it over or you could come pick it up. This is a complete unit with the forge, Z-Burner, hose, stand, and regulator. If that is not what you are interested in I ship supplies all over the country all the time.