lochness

Another strange question: I live 'bout 100-plus miles from the nearest Wal-Mart, movie theater, hospital, etc, and some folks here want to start a recycling program. Well, it involves hauling, which is expensive. As a confirmed scrounger, I said, "why don't we keep the resources close to home? Let's melt down our own steel cans, aluminum cans, etc, and use the resource for ourselves, instead of paying someone to haul away a valuable resource." Of course, I don't have the slightest idea about how to build a furnace that could melt these things. It'd have to burn coal or wood- the gas would be as expensive as hauling the stuff outta town. Any ideas?

HI all, New here, I've been hitting hot metal for a couple of years- just got the urge, and did it, which means I don't know jack, 'cep I can get the metal hot enough to whack with a hammer... Anyway, I found this forum, and have maybe a stupid question... does anyone make their own coke? I mean, in an oven, separate from what makes itself in the forge. I live in Utah, and we have real good coal here, easy to come by. I heat my shop with coal, and find hot coke in my coal stove most mornings when I come in for work. I'm tempted to just use my stove to make coke for the forge, but wondered if anyone has messed around with making coke in any quantity, tips for doing so, etc. Don't bother googling "how to make coke", unless you want to learn how to make drugs. Sheesh...!

Hello, I'm new here, and appreciate such an informative and friendly forum. I have been banging on metal for a couple of years now, but I have done it in isolation, and I don't really know anything 'cep what I've taught myself. Kinda like being raised by wolves. Anyway, I look forward to learning a lot from you guys. As for the forge blower... I scrounged a heater blower out of a junk truck, and hooked it up to the rheoststat on the headlight switch- scrounged from the same wreck- the one that dims your instrument panel lights. That plus an old plumbing valve for an air gate works great for regulating the flow of air into the tuyere. I run the blower either by hooking it directly to my car battery, or by an old 12v battery charger set on the high amp (12 amps?) setting. One-a these days, I'll get a solar panel, and run it that way. Cost for the whole setup? Free.