easilyconfused

I've always been under the impression they don't make great knives, and at that only the high carbon ones. Don't know how they'd work for chisels but you could always try Push comes to shove, you're only out your labour and a spike. When your skills are upto speed you could weld a higher carbon bit into them but I wouldn't try that until you're much better at forge welding as a failed weld at high RPMs = flying projectiles. Not fun if they are sharp and catch you or anyone else A good source of higher carbon steels are springs, particularily coil, files, and the insides of shocks from cars and trucks to name a few. There are lists of junkyard steels and their common compositions on the site somewhere.

Hofi did a blueprint on a method of attaching drip pans to a taper. BP1019 Candle Holder | Blueprints 1000

I always go through spurts. Usually it's from frustration because I either can't get something to work the way I want to or come up with something new. I leave it be and try something else that I'm inspired on at the moment. It's just a hobby to me no matter how many toys and tools I have in each of the hobbies. Sometimes it means not doing anything for a while, but I eventually come across it again and want to work on it some more. Yes I have many unfinished projects cluttering the appartment and shop up a bit but they do get worked on, if only for a few days a year but I can usually finish one up by the time another inspiration comes along. I think my mother's words can sum this up from when neighbors asked her why she never sold my old guitar when I was younger and not playing, her reply was "He loved it once and he can't pick it back up when he wants to if it's not there". There is such a thing as burn-out and it usually comes from pushing too hard for too much at one thing. My advice, inspiration never happens when you want it. Look at all the TV sitcoms that have horrible episodes every so often. It happens when it happens and, for me, usually when I least expect it. I keep looking at pictures online and in books and around me and keep a sketch book handy for when the inspiration hits me and I then I always thumb through such sketches before I get back to the forge. I also ask my significant other and family and friends if they want anything made and collaberate with them a bit for inspiration. Hope this helps and if you need to take a few months to a year off from coming up with a project, then take the time off and reinvigorate yourself.

Unless we have over 100#, we don't get paid for scraps that we take into our local scrapyard. We just toss them into a metal pail or two (or three or four or five, or the floor if there's no room in the pails and no more room for pails ) More often than not, the pails get dug through and a piece of filler found for a broken feeder or gate or such. We weld most of our feeders, calf sheds, gates and all other things rather than buying them if we can help it and most of that is from scrap iron we've scrounged. Dad worked at a welding shop that went and pulled out of our town so we got all their scrap and most of their full lengths because it was cheaper to buy new than hauling it to their other shop and clean the rust off or haul it to the scrap yard.

From what I recall from my animal nutrition classes, rust is unabsorbed if ingested but I may be wrong.

One of our members has done it. There was a previous thread if you search party trick. YouTube - Stone Cold to White Hot

The link worked for me. No experience with them though.

You could even use a wood fire if you didn't mind the time to make the bed of embers. More radiant heat and smoke though.

Simplest method would be make a fire pit in the ground large enough and run a pipe from your air source to the fire.

Practice, a light hammer and a block of steel near the fire and practice. :)

Looks good. I agree that you should learn to forge weld. All smiths should know how to. However, many of us "cheat" by either tacking the pieces or fully welding them and then working the weld out with heat and hammer. Just remember to get rid of any welding flux and sometimes it's helpful to file sometimes so it blends in where the pieces join in a V since the weld is usually a blob. However, I always try to make the weld work by hand before cheating to get it done when I've ran out of time.

What if you bent the drawn out portion 90 deg before wrapping the roundstock into it? That way you'd be able to weld the whole way upto the edge on a straight line. Then bend back so it sits right. May wind up with the void still though. I agree that it looks like the originals have the voids.

For those who make hoof picks, particularly from horse shoes, do you harden the pick end if it's mild steel, or do you let it bend? I'm at ends, they bend but it takes me more strength than any of the store bought ones but I can't stand selling things that I feel are inferior because they don't 100% hold up. I'm not wanting to do it because a bent hoof pick is less likely to do any harm/damage/horse spooking than a suddenly snapped one. On another note, I'm under the assumption that standard shoes are mild steel from the way it moves and sparks, I'm hoping I'm right?

I've been commisioned to make some things to give away for volunteers for an equine club. 14 to be exact. I have 5 hoof picks from horseshoes and need to make more things. I've been looking around at other ideas for variety but all I seem to come up with are horseshoe hoof picks, "real" horseshoes with horseheads for decoration and the common, weld them into hooks and towel racks. I was wondering if anyone had any good links for ideas. I'm not wanting to follow the run of the mill stuff you can buy at any wannabe western store. Problem is, I have one weekend to make the rest of things so they would have to be quick if I use them. And I have mostly draft shoes with either the caulks left in or the holes for the cauks.

Welcome. Nice weather we've been having eh?

I took the class a few years ago now. It is a great class for beginers and for those self-taught ones to see where they stand. Unfortunately, I don't think it's available at any of the other museums. There maybe some under the table courses but I think it's the only one offered to anyone in sask. If you're in the saskatoon area, you need it to demo at the WDM in 'toon, which I whole-heartedly endorse. There are a couple of guys that spend most of their time helping the new smiths, one of which I believe was a master smith from germany but may be mistaken on. Another person to talk to is Craig Cambell. He used to have a group called Tues. night blacksmiths so that people without access to a forge could get time to forge through the week. Last I heard talking to him, he was thinking of maybe starting it again with time and demand. Ryan

Have you chamfered all sharp edges? Sharp edges are usually a major cause of cold shuts. A round file to clean up sharp edges and radius the corners of the tenon might help. Any more info you could give us on the tools and technique you're using, including photos, would be helpful to isolate the problem.:)

Thanks for the clear up before I made a mistake.

What the rules are for the tailgaiting section? I've noticed it's mostly tools that have been put up but it says forge items. Thanks, Ryan

It all depends on how textured you want it to be. Leaving some facets leaves a more subtle texture while you could make a die with a chisel or the like for the bark texture, set up to accept round stock for a more obvious texturing. I've also heard of people using a mig welder to run some thin beads. You could also use a cutting torch of sorts to cut grooves if you wanted to. For my leaf hooks I wanted to look like a subtle branch I just left the tapers a little rougher with some facets.

If you look at the pictures of the hardy holes, I think he means they aren't perfectly square holes. As lon as they're structurally strong, it just means tayloring your tools for that anvil to fit the hardy hole. Something you have to do with most anyways.

Another cheap alternative to a spoon form is the end of a block of wood, preferably tight ringed hardwood. I've not made a spoon for a while but when you dish leaves, you don't even need to cut a depression, the metal burns into the wood. Just be sure the smoke won't cause any issues because it will smoke. Also, avoid treated lumber.

Gloves generally don't save your hands when you're holding hot metal for extended periods. By the time you realize it's hot, the gloves wind up tight and hard to get off and burn you worse. As well as they insulate to keep the heat out, they keep it in just as well once it gets there. As well, they cause more fatigue as pointed out due to the hammer twisting and sliding. I've also found that they lead to more blisters as they never fit like a 2nd skin and if they do, refer to the first section of my post. I only use my glove on my holding hand at the start of a piece in the winter (cold metal) and when punching due to the radiant heat. Otherwise, try to adjust your technique and try holding the piece/ bending it different while working that piece that gets your hand too hot.

Here I thought you meant it was cold out .