Irondragon Forge ClayWorks

One of our local churches sent over lunch for the whole department the other day. They went to a deli and had roast beef, turkey, and ham sliced and individual bag's in sacks with bread,chips fruit and desert in every bag along with condiments. They sent more bags than we have officers, I happened to drop by the department to check up on everyone and was invited to take a bag home for my wife & myself. I can tell you that gesture was greatly appreciated by all. They included this note in each lunch sack.

I have some hickory that I split up with a shingle froe after they have dried for a year or so. Then chuck em up in the wood lathe and turn them down to a close size and finish up on the belt sander.

Don't over look machine shops. Many times they scrap steel that gets rusty, easier for them to do that than clean it up. I explained that I was a hobby blacksmith and offered to pay them the scrap price of what was in the dumpster and the manager said just take what you want. I got 6 1/4 in round, 6 3/8 in round 20 foot long pieces and about 50 pounds of short 1/2 in square stock all about 12 in long. They all still had the end marking paint on them.

I'm Nearly Normal in a lot of ways.

Pictures... we want pictures (weather permitting).

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. We won't remember your location once leaving this post, hence the suggestion to put it in your profile. READ THIS FIRST

Welcome from the Ozark mountains.

Welcome from the Ozark mountains.

When I joined the police force, I had the hardest time switching to the police phonetic alphabet from the military one. I took a lot of ribbing from the dispatchers over that.

True however Pearl Harbor and 9-11 were acts of war with the enemy attacking us.

I'm already in the hills. Just too far south to see the "Northern Lights" darn. I think the coronal discharge started this afternoon, our satellite internet has been jacked so bad nothing would load.

Hi T Savage, welcome from the Ozark mountains. If you put your general location in your profile, you may be surprised how many members are near enough to visit, once the pandemic abates. If you have any pictures of your set up, we love pictures. Sounds like not much holds ya back, I love your attitude. The Read This First thread is full of tips on getting the best out of the forum.

Exactly... or try and find a friend with a welder or check with most autobody shops have welders. JB weld won't hold with the hammering.

It is once the light bulb goes on and a lot of practice.

Depends upon what it is made out of. Machinist's bench vise's are usually made primarily of cast iron. They are not made to take any heavy hammering like a blacksmith leg vise made from wrought iron is. Still a very useful vise for twisting and light hammer work though. In our shop we have one machinist bench vise and three blacksmith leg vises. A couple of pictures will help with answers from other folks.

A cover over the slack tub takes care of this and the pieces that inevitably jump from the anvil into it.

I would recommend not doing any arc welding inside the house due to fumes and fire danger (sparks pretty much go everywhere). If possible make an extension cord for the welder to get it outside. Of course not knowing the setup it may not be feasible to do that and long cord's get expensive. If I remember mine a 50 footer for the welders was around $120 just for the cord & plugs.

Pure wool anything is great, unless you are allergic to it. When I had to wear my dress blues, I would itch for days afterwards. Don't know for sure if it was the wool, or the chemicals the dry cleaners used to clean them.

I like George N.M.s idea for a touchmark.

TNIW True North Iron Works might make a good touch mark. OOPS... just googled that and it returned That Night In Williamsburg. Oh well.

Wearing a respirator while forging (not a mask) will help but like others have said take it easy and rest often. If you could fabricate a hood & stack will be the best for staying out of the smoke. Have a look through the Chimneys, Hoods and Stacks forum for ideas.

Yep... should have mentioned that.

I think you are brushing at black heat. When I hand brush at red right out of the forge (coal or propane) all of the scale comes off.

You might look into some of the folding aluminum camping tables (Cabela's & Bass Pro carry them among others) do a search for roll top table. My wife has several and they are very sturdy and light weight.

Another thing about the forum is every member can contribute to moderation, by clicking on the report button. Doing that brings the post to one of the moderators attention to review. I've used that feature several times myself. Being a past sailor and retired police officer, I'm no stranger to fussin, cussin, bad mouthing and fighting but don't like it on a forum.