ryancrowe92

question what do i need my torch set on for heating metal with cutting adapter the regular cutting flame or the oxidizing flame

7 hours ago, Frosty said:

If you have a welder and know how to use it a proper 2" x 72" belt grinder is pretty easy to build. For improvised anvils I'm a fan of truck axles mounted flange up. A little cleaning up with a grinder and they make very effective anvils.

Frosty The Lucky.

hey frosty that's what i wanted to do and i watched some videos on it like making it extreme and some other ones and i  don't have a metal lathe to cut the rollers and i have looked at it and this 1 x 30 should do me until i can well get a better one.but for right now im gonna stick to small and medium knives so i don't overload it..

54 minutes ago, John McPherson said:

Yep, you are right! You ARE in the middle of nowhere, and there are NO blacksmiths and NO blacksmith groups near you. EXCEPT FOR:

The group that does museum demos in Greenville.

The group that meets monthly east of Greenville.

And the other group that meets monthly east of Greenville.

And the NC chapter subgroup that meets monthly in Murphy. At the John C. Campbell Folk School shop.

And the other NC chapter subgroup that meets monthly in Mooresville. At the shop of a commercial blacksmith.

And the SC state group that meets once a year in Westminster. In your county. At the home of a blacksmith.

If you are serious about this craft, "local" means within one tank of gas, and not staying overnight. And asking politely for help, because someone always has more and better information than you possess.

 

my 85 Chevy gets about 8-12 miles a gallon with a 30 gallon tank if im not carrying a 5 gallon Jerry can which can get me a little extra but tell me more about this thing in Westminster cause that's where my brother lives. but i would have to get a ride to there but i have only been to north Carolina and Georgia only a few times in my life time and i only have a permit so getting someone who has a license it going to be tough and i don't want to be caught dead in Grenville

OK Friday's pay day and since its 22:38 at night here im just gonna say tomorrow is when i get it but take a look at this cheap belt grinder that i am going to buy and some other stuff that is free on the sale they are having at harbor freight this weekend for memorial day. like a free tape measure and a tarp plus a 25% off coupon which is rare and i don't  know if it will work and i just looked at it and i can only use it Monday but i can still use the 20% off one,

right now I am going to start making knives and i will make a thread at the appropriate form topic/ subtopic and show my work to the world or create a new YouTube account and start filming, now can any knife maker give me some advice on what grit belt i need cause it comes with an 80 grit belt. and the anvil problem is kind of fixed for right now since i have one on my vise. but my next investment will be on a drill press or some more gas for the torch cause ill need that before i start

2 hours ago, WNC Goater said:

You mention melting for selling and melting for projects like rings, etc.  (?)

If that's what you're wanting to do, you don't need a forge.  Get a melting dish with handle attachment, a couple of cast iron ingot molds. You mention welding equipment.  An oxy-acetylene torch will melt any of those metals and they can be poured from the crucible/melting dish into an ingot.  Take that ingot and hammer away.  I would suggest a different melting dish for the different metals to avoid contamination. 

But if you're just wanting to melt metal as mentioned in the OP to resell   ("...and be used to heat metal and melt it in a crucible if I want to sell some aluminum or gold, silver, etc.") Then there is no need to melt. In fact as mentioned, most of that aluminum a buyer would want to see what they are buying.  Also, gold or silver is usually stamped as to purity, which will define what anyone is willing to pay (based on that purity). That would be selling to a buyer.   Most precious metals however, would be sent to a refiner,(that's what a buyer will do with it) who would do a melt and assay and then pay out based on the amount and purity. 

So I'm not sure if you want to sell metal (no melting necessary)  or melt gold, bronze, silver for making things like rings (melt with crucible & torch).  Either way, a 3000° furnace or forge is unnecessary.

actually i just came up with that idea for the torch; but the 3000F was using fire brick and cement, but decided to use brake drum for right now; and im considering this but i am low on gas so ill have to get them filled

1 minute ago, Glenn said:

 With a junk yard and a welder and you should be able to make most anything you need. 

While at the junk yard look for heavy metal objects that can be used as an anvil.

While at the junk yard, DO NOT look for things by name, look for things that can be used. Things like old hydraulic cylinders, any heavy plate steel, anything solid with mass.

i have an old broken one (hydraulic,cylinder), and i will get some stuff at the junkyard if it's free but i may have to carry some money with me and i dont know how much i have right now but Fridays pay day and that should get me somewhere. and what can i use a hydraulic cylinder for its off of an old log splitter

i got to go to the doctor today and i may think about dropping by the junkyard for a brake drum or rotor for that brake drum forge cause it looks so easy to make. and i have been looking at a home made power hammer, but like i said i am still getting started and with as much as i already know and what i want to learn but Friday is the last day of school for me so yay the summer is here more welding and going to harbor freight to buy tools for me.

guys i have a quick question can i just use my torch for heating metal instead of furnace

i have been looking at the man at arms YouTube channel that my brother showed my and these guys know how to turn raw iron into swords and stuff they are pretty good at it.im thinking about getting a belt grinder next but i still need an anvil so i kind of don't want the cheap harbor freight cast iron one so i may find an I beam at the junk yard or an old car that i can salvage stuff from.but i got a lot on my list and most of it is safety equipment.

i went through 2 other forms and the seem like ghost towns

thanks glen

that's why i watch a wide variety of videos and use some common sense because i have seen some of the most stupidest things out there on the internet and you just have to be cautious.and i will check those videos out so thanks for the videos and can some one point me in the way of like an anvil, or the TPAAT

14 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

That does seem odd for a library card; all my kids have had one since they were in grade school all the places we have lived.

Now I could understand not allowing you the knifemaking books under 18 but the Complete Modern Blacksmith and Backyard blacksmith shouldn't cause a problem *AND* be much more what you need at this stage as you need to learn how to forge before you worry about forging blades---just as one needs to learn how to drive a car before one worries about running races in one.

Again, if the library is fussy having a parent get the book is suggested, (or buying it!)

oh its not that im not allowed im allowed to im allowed to do anything except stuff that would get me in trouble, i mostly watch YouTube for stuff like this. and i have been driving since i was a kid from atv's to my 85 Chevy which was a hand me down from my other grandpa

14 hours ago, Frosty said:

Ryan: You're going to hear this till you're sick of hearing it, I did as did everybody else reading this. We know you're 16 and immortal but you don't have any idea what you're talking about. You THINK you know enough to cast metal, THINK you can use a forge as a metal melter too. Some of us can but we've been doing this a long time.

Think about it, you don't even know what questions to ask. What you have is an idea but no plan. Asking what kind of forge you need for a vague notion of smithing and casting jewelry isn't something that can be answered as asked. Casting jewelry isn't done using a furnace unless you're casting gang molds worth. A ring or two at a time has been done with an oil lamp, charcoal, etc. and a blow pipe since before history was invented.

Take a jewelry class or maybe a casting class and at least learn how to do it reasonably safely. At your age you're going to take short cuts even if you know how to do it safely, it goes with the age. Doesn't make you a bad guy, it's normal as it gets, we were all there and luckily survived the teen years. 

Frosty The Lucky.

OK here is the thing getting help from some one and getting certified is two different things, me personally i hate school well the English an literature i hate it i don't see why you need it after elementary school cause as long as you can read and write you should be able to do about anything, the math, science, and engineering is important, but unfortunately i am not invincible i wished to god i was but im not and this is Salem the only thing we have in this town is a school,library,rescue station,and a dollar general, and a couple of general stores i seem to like this brake drum forge so im gonna start with that it seems to be reasonable enough.and its not the jewelry that i want to do i hope to do some of the big stuff and the safety comes natural its just a thing i have gloves, sleeves, apron, helmet, goggles, etc, and god knows how many times Ive been burnt before but i rarely ever not use safety equipment unless like i just need to torch off a piece of metal something like that but i know what im doing cause i have been doing that before i started welding, and the wiring a plugin is just an example as long as you know what you are doing you can don anything but you can always get hurt no matter how experienced you are that never changes.

and i know about the galvanized steel part ive known that since i started welding

14 hours ago, John in Oly, WA said:

That's exactly it - the Thomas Powers' Applied Anvil Acquisition Technique. Did you read about it? Sometimes even works for forges, hammers, vises and other sundry blacksmithing effects.

Can't get what til you're 18? A library? A town hall? A library card? If it's the card, maybe have one of your parents get one.

i fount a forum page by the moderator but can you send me a link

i don't have a lot of money to get started, the melting is only for like projects for like rings and stuff when i have to have gold or bronze something like that and we take safety precautions but their is no need to get certified i don't even know if i can right now im only 16 why get certified for something you already know how to do, like with wiring a plugin you don't need to be a qualified electrician to install an outlet i done that when i was 14. and yes i have seen grant Thompson's videos but only the one for the microwave arc welder which i wanna make, and Thomas powers i do think your right with melting i want to be able to use it as a forge and to be able to melt as well to make my own alloys and stuff like that. and i have no idea what a brake drum forge is. like i said im kinda new the most Ive done is torching and welding here and there but more now than ever.

57 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

I'm 60 and I don't get $75 a week to spend on my vices (and vises)!  You have an embarrassment of riches! First try to save as much of it as possible to fund large purchases. (One of the cardinal rules on trying to get stuff cheap is having the money to hand when a deal appears!)

 Second look up the TPAAAT for a good method of finding stuff on the cheap. I bought my first powerhammer, a 25# little giant, for US$75 and while that was a while ago it was still way under "current prices".

Do you have a library card?  Go ask the main desk how to ILL "$50 Knife Shop", "The Complete Modern Blacksmith", "Backyard Blacksmith", "Introduction to Knifemaking"; etc. (You may need Parental approval to order knifemaking books...)

Find the local Blacksmithing group, (you might check the ABANA Affiliate listings) and attend meetings   *knowledge* is far more important than tools, (and just knowing what tools are mandatory vs helpful vs not really needed is a massive savings.)

If you search here you will find several listings on how I once made a complete beginner's set up: Forge, blower, anvil and basic tools for under US$25---and I used that forge to weld damascus billets for several years!

that's how i got my welder, and i looked up the tpaat and all i fount was a forum post for Thomas powers applied anvil acquisition technique, and i live in Salem, SC and we have a library at the town hall but i cant get one till im 18.and we don't have a local blacksmithing group we are lucky to have a dollar general store. and a harbor freight in Seneca

I am a beginner and I don't have a lot of money but I get about $75 a week and I want to build a forge that can withstand 3000F and be used to heat metal and melt it in a crucible if I want to sell some aluminum or gold, silver, etc. so the only ways I have found how to do this is by fire brick and refractory mortar / cement and I want it so I can put the metal in and take it out and put it on the anvil and start hammering at it.  

Me:(Ryan); and my brother:(Bryan); have decided to go into blacksmithing because of our love of fire and wish to learn more but were on a fixed budget of $75 a week and have a crappy shop we have to fix and we have bought most of the equipment to get started like our Mig welder, vise, torch but still have a few things that I will post in another thread. we live in Oconee county in south Carolina we don't have much but we can start by getting more equipment like the next two thing on our list is a Forge and an anvil. we are 16 and still go to high school as we are rising juniors, but we will be getting more stuff soon and I'm not that good at introductions so I will wrap this up so anyway we hope to learn from this an my brother a little more than be because he has been sheltered all of his life, so I know more about the tools but he can pull his own weight, so I'm not that worried about him, so anyway that's it for this intro