Irondragon Forge ClayWorks

3 hours ago, JHCC said:

See, I went for clever, and Frosty went for scatological. That tells you something right there.

See, I told everyone, we can learn something new here every day...

Don't know about that. Without the blacksmith, the stone cutters would not have the tools to cut the stones.

Just thinking out loud here but wonder if for some reason the factory failed to weld the steel plate on it. Something like when most steel was going to the war time effort in WWII.

I thought she was wearing the sweater so whoever was wearing those house slippers wouldn't feel bad.

When my grandfather passed away, I wound up with all his tools and used them all the time even though they were "old". Then one day some miscreant broke into my van and stole all of them except for his 2lb cross peen hammer, which I still have and use. Another 60 years of use and the handle gave up last month. I re-handled it but it just doesn't feel the same. Every time I used that hammer, I felt connected to my grandfather and his wisdom and knowledge.

An expert is someone who studies more and more about less and less, until they know everything about nothing... Me.

Trailer hitch ball's as domed anvil hardies.

Good score on your first anvil. Quite an ingenious anvil stand, I love it however you will find it gives some when forging steel. I would suggest making a stand that is more solid, a tree stump or 4x4's banded together. Another suggestion for searching the forum is use google with a search like this ("iforgeiron" anvil stands) without the brackets, the search function of the forum leaves a lot to be desired.

On 4/26/2017 at 8:36 AM, jlpservicesinc said:

CV joint from a car as a hardie dishing tool.. 

Thought I was the only one to use them.

Einstein obviously forgot to calculate Mercury going into retrograde.

Yep, my poor choice of terms. Clean up the threads would be more appropriate.

I would carefully cut the weld and re-thread the stud.

4 hours ago, UkonVasara said:

Picked up a decent 190lbs Mouse Hole Anvil with a fairly flat face for just over $300 from an antique shop in Rome GA. Decent rebound and not bad for a starter Anvil. I'm sure a few years down the road I might want a nicer one, but for a backyard blacksmith I think this'll do nicely for now.

I can almost assure you that the Mouse Hole will outlast you and I combined. Pictures... we love pictures,.

On 4/20/2017 at 5:41 PM, setlab said:

Haven't spark tested it yet. 

Spark testing still will not tell you what type of steel beyond carbon content. Found that out the hard way. Scroll up one post...

The search function on the forum lacks a lot. The best way to search is put iforgeiron in quotes like this "iforgeiron" then your search on Google. You will be surprised the number of threads that come up.

Another thing that may surprise you is if you put your location in your profile, there may be quite a few Smiths that are within visiting distance to you.

With Damascus the etching is usually done after shaping/machining.

1 hour ago, New axe maker said:

I was thinking flexible aluminum dryer vent hose. If I can find it small enough. 

Doubt you will find dryer hose that small. Just cut up a coffee can, wrap it around overlapping it and secure with radiator hose clamps, call it good.

Mystery steel… gotta love it.

Today I decided to make a “hoop” to hang a very large caldron. I had a half circle ½ inch round bar that would fit the bill so I began drawing out the ends and putting hooks on them. I finished the first one and quenched it in water so I could work on the other. While drawing the second end a piece of the first snapped off.

I thought ok high carbon spring steel that doesn’t like water quench. I reformed the end and let both cool in air. I then began to heat the center with both ends up, planing to swage a hump for the chain and when the metal got to orange heat it fell apart.

A spark test showed it is high carbon steel and it has a very fine grain and rings like a bell.

Any ideas? Never had metal just fall apart while heating it.

Photos were lost in a forum up date.

Do a Google search like this "iforgeiron"jhm anvil plenty to read about.

That anvil is in almost pristine condition, not beat up at all.

I had a Mark V back in the day. Primarily a woodworking tool but the sander and drill press would come in handy in metal work. Wish I still had mine it was built like a tank if I recall.

Make sure you check the fan blades on the impeller. I had one that two of the blades were missing and the impeller was out of balance. Easy to rivet on new blades copied from the existing ones. The other identical blower had one piece blades with a lot of crud on them, a good cleaning solved the out of balance problem.

Another thing I noticed on my blowers is which direction they like to be turned. One runs smooth turning it clockwise but chatters when turned counter clockwise the other is the exact opposite running smooth when turned counterclockwise. I figure that after decades of use the gears get a set depending on the rotation the blower was used.

That's a shield to keep trash out of the motor.

Wait... I resemble that remark.

Depending on how tall you are but 31 to 34 inches seem to be the standard. I like mine to be waist high.

2 hours ago, Michael Cochran said:

Please tell me it was a brand new propane tank that never had fuel in it. If not you're giving other people the impression it's safe to use fire to open containers with flammable residue in it.

No it was a used old outdated tank, that had the valve removed and flushed with water and bleach. No residue at all, not even a smell or woof when cut.