SmeltingFish

1 hour ago, Tubalcain2 said:

hey Ray. welcome to the forum. if you have any questions whatsoever, just ask....anyone but me 'cause i won't know the answer.

Well that made me laugh.

Just taking a second to introduce myself. These always feel awkward so I'll just pretend I walked into a barn and twelve 65 year old blacksmiths with beards turn and say, "What?"

"Well hi there. I just heard the hammering, could smell the coal in the air and wanted to see what was going on."

"Uh huh," one of them says brushing off the huge anvil they are standing around.

"Are you guys making anything today?" I ask feeling way out of my element but compelled to stay.

"Bit of this and that," said one of the smiths smiling. "You're welcome to hang out and watch if you like," he says pointing to stump sitting off to the side.

"Great. Thank you," I say. I'm way out of my league here but it's a great chance to learn.

The guy that smiled walked over, "What's your name?"

"I'm Ray. I just started making blades. I have a railroad track anvil and wood forge for now but I'm having fun," I say stopping myself before I blather on.

"If you're having fun, then you're off to a great start," he says.

22 hours ago, JHCC said:

My pleasure. Welcome to IFI! Now, go put a new entry on the Introduce Yourself page, but be sure to read this first!

 

Yup. Should have read that first :-)

2 hours ago, BlackMetalViking said:

 

Hope that helps! Shoot me a PM if you need anything.

Viking

That's awesome of you to look up for me. Much appreciated. As soon as I run out of wood, I'll have to go this route. Looks like about $100 worth of kit and I'll be good to go. Still looking for scrape rebar to forge some tongs out of. I lose a lot of heat switching from BBQ tongs to my vise grips! lol Thanks again.

2 hours ago, JHCC said:

I use a shop vac on blow as well, although I'm burning rice coal (anthracite). Here's what you need to remember:

Thank you JHCC. I did not know about the less air thing. I've been hammering the wood (after it turns to charcoal) on full blast. I'll cut back and see how it works in my fire pit. I did stumble across some info and starting cutting my wood into 1 inch thick pieces. Takes a bit but to cut but turns to charcoal quicker once I piled it in. I get the spike to yellow this way and get about an hours worth of hammering from two garbage pails of chopped wood. Thank you.

On 10/31/2016 at 2:42 PM, BlackMetalViking said:

If you want to go with a Bernzo, check out the TS4000 or TS7000. They are designed very similar to an NA burner, and I've been using mine for months with great success. 

Good Luck

Viking

Awesome. We're in the same area, so I know I can get these materials. Thanks for posting. I've been using a shop vac on blow and wood as fuel. It worked for mower blades but now it's getting to be useless. When you switched to the 20LB tank, where did you get the hose and attachments if I may ask?