Irondragon Forge ClayWorks

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.

No it was a used old outdated tank, that had the valve removed and flushed with water and bleach.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.

If you were in Miami Florida and said that the police would be knocking on your door, looking for your stash of coke.

Great find and chain because one can never have enough chain.

We took the propane tank that we are making a forge out of to a friends and my wife used their Miller plasma cutter to open it up. She said we gotta get one of those. Soooo a trip to Welsco and a Victor Cutmaster 42 with an SL60 torch + accessories followed us home. Used it to cut up a bunch of material into more easily handled pieces in about 2 hours (would have taken all day with the O/A cutting torch) and cut up the metal for our pack forge retro fire pot & hearth. It's like a hot knife through butter, probably never fire up the O/A torch again.

If you put your location in your profile, you may be surprised how many Smiths are near enough to visit. You are right about learning here. I have been at this for 30 years and I learn-relearn stuff just about every time I visit here.

Should work fine. One guy I know built a dirt box forge using 5/8 crushed lime stone with a lot of fine dust in it. He used it for years with lump charcoal.

Without a doubt it's a good looking and should do anything asked of it. Had to chuckle about the ash dump plug because when I built my forge decades ago I too planned to replace the plug with an ash dump door. I'm still unscrewing that sucker after all those years.

If it were me, in my area, I would offer him $300 unless the blower works well, then $350 would be a good price even though it needs some work. If he sends more pictures look for any cracks in the table or ask him about that.

This is the tuyere plate the fire pot sits on. The brackets that the tuyere & blower attach to. Everything except the retro fire pot fit neatly inside. Ready to go traveling. The underside of the retro fit. That was my thought too, dirt or river clay. Anyplace I would set up dirt or clay is not usually available so I would have to haul it too. The raised hearth & fire pot works well, not any heat is transferred to the bottom sheet metal. I'll just transport the retro fit separately. The retrofit handles are a good idea, that way if the fire pot is still hot it will speed up breaking down.

The hearth table already had the hole cut. It was 1/4 inch scrap from another project and odd shaped that had to have scrap fillers welded in. The picture just before the retro fit fire pot is how I received it. The tuyere is held in by a plate and brackets underneath but doesn't protect the box bottom which is thinner from the heat of the fire and without a fire pot it would take a huge pile of coal to get a decent fire. The fire pot itself is a reclaimed wheelbarrow wheel with the hub cut out and it sits on the tuyere plate. To remove the retro fit, I shovel any coal from the hearth and the ash & coke fall out when it's lifted then swept up. I'll take some more pictures of the underside.

About a decade ago I picked up this pack forge. I had never put a fire in it until today. It is in good shape and the Champion blower puts out great air and runs smooth. The reason I hadn't lit it up was there was no fire pot with it and I couldn't find much information about it or if they even had fire pots. Today I decided to fabricate a fire pot and table that's removable and it sure will maintain a nice hot fire. Now we have a self contained forge to take anywhere. If anyone has information or pictures of these pack forges I would love to see them. http://i68.tinypic.com/2125ymo.jpg Note photos added at the last page.

Poor fitting tongs. While at a monthly BOA meeting my wife was working on a knife blade with a borrowed pair of tongs that did not grip the work very well. Of course it popped out of the tongs and landed in the pocket of the members apron who was working next to her. Luck was with them because most of the heat had cooled and no damage done but the dance was amusing to watch.

I have been very fortunate in the forge, no serious injuries to speak of. Minor ones include holes poked in hands & elbows from sharp metal (Bandaid types) and one burn when a very hot piece of slag while welding burned through the top of my tennis shoe (leather boots from then on).

When I'm making something for myself, I usually settle for good enough, It'll work. When making for someone else, I try to make it to the best of my ability.

Good job cleaning and seasoning those old cast iron pans. The one that is shaped like a platter would be perfect for baking fresh trout in. Yummm

If you go to the forges and fires sticky, the first post shows the ideal fire and how to maintain it.

The trade item at the BOA meeting tomorrow is something made from a horse shoe. Thought I would kill two birds with one hammering. Made this from a small pony shoe this afternoon.