CreekSideForge

While I didn't get to fire up my box of dirt, I did clean up the whole place and added a bench to my setup. I'm going to light up tomorrow and stay out there all day.

And this it finished and fired up. It needs a little tweaking, a little smaller in the width I think. But it works! And I need to get used to charcoal also.

That's kitty litter and ash mixed together with some water so that I could compact and shape it better.

Heat treated this little knife while it was going and drew back the spine

Heres the start to my very own box of dirt. Dimensions without the dirt are 2x2 foot by 10" deep. With the dirt, it's 6 inches deep.

I'm going to go with a trench and finish it off tomorrow. Just need the pipe for a tuyere and some cheap kitty litter for some clay. Going to mix some of the clay, sand, and ashes for the firepot.

It's going to burn charcoal and wood at first or until I want to switch to coal which I have on and.

I haven't had any problems yet. I left it pretty rough on both the brass and the wood for good gripping surfaces. I used the five minute epoxy by Loctite, seems to work ok.

Well, here's another one in the works.

Latticino- I tryed turning the blower off and it seems to have a better effect. Thank you for the tips

Ok thanks latticino. I'll look into the band clamps and see if they work and turning the air off to soak the billet.

I'm wiring the billets together and only starting with 3 layers because I don't have a welder. Plus I only have a coal forge to work with so I can't really control the atmosphere all that well. 

I try to do medium light blows to set it. This one had a little delamination but I was able to grind it out thankfully.

Thanks guys. I got a question though.

The 1084 I have is .25" and doesn't want to stick to the 15n20 which is .065". I'm pretty sure Im getting up to welding temp. But they just don't want to be together on the first weld. After I get it together and fold it, it's fine and I can do it just fine. I do grind the mill scale off perpendicular to the bar before stacking too. I guess my question is: should I get some 1084 that's a bit smaller like .125" so that there's a better chance of the metals the same temp all the way through?

This is my first patternwelded blade and my third time doing any kind of forge welding. Made it a paring knife present for my dad.

48 layers of 1084 and 15n20 with curly maple and cocobolo wood and a little bit of brass.

Ok cool, I kinda want one but don't super need one, I just saw that and wondered. 

Hello,

So I was perusing through the harbor freight website and found this. Could this, with a few mods, become a forge press?

20 ton Floor press

Only wire. I don't have a welder

Well heres the first try at forge welding. I stacked four ~4-5 inch by 1 inch pieces of metal and wired them together at two places. I made a cocoon of fire brick around the pot to make it hotter with less air. Pulled it out to flux at red and put it back in until I saw the borax bubbling. Gave it about 3-4 strikes with hammer, refluxed, put it back and hit the same spot to make sure it held. I did that for about have the billet then took the remaining wire off and switched sides.

I think it went fine until I tried hitting the side and delaminated one of the top pieces. Tried to reweld that but it kept coming off. 

Im probably gonna have to make another pair of tongs with taller jaws so I can hold the billet more securely.

Please tell me what you think I did wrong.

Yeah I have a coal forge with a 8" pot, so it's going to take some experimenting to get it right.

Plus, I don't have a welder that I can tak the billet together so I have to wire them together and do it in a few heats.

Alright, I ordered some 15n60 at .065" and 1084 at .250". I'm assuming that when I start doing the actual patternwelding, I should alternate with the 1084 on the outside. Either 3 of 15n60 and 4 of 1084 or 5 of 15n60 and 6 of 1084. Probably 4-6" inches in length.

Thanks got the help Will. I really appreciate it.

Oops, I think I should have specified by saying doing San-Mai welding or sandwiching instead of patternwelding. I was planning to get used mild to mild welding then go to simple layers of low/high/low then into the actual patternwelding. 

From what I understand, having a high carbon core and a soft outside/back is alright with carbon diffusion, right? As long as the core is thick enough, that is.

Yes, I have read throughout this forum and found that 15n60 and 1084/80 were the steels to go with in the beginning. 

Hey guys,

Just wanted to ask where you get your mild/low carbon steels for patternwelding? I've been forging for a while now but it's been mystery steels so far like files and springs. Also, what thickness and/or width should I order the blanks in?

Thanks

Its been awhile because college started, but I did the pipe under the hood thing and it worked great. Definitely permanent. Thank you all for helping.

VID_20170902_121948.mp4

My condolences to your loss. I will definitely look at the super sucker designs and add on some kind of side draft.

Thank you for all of the help and suggestions.

My last chimney was galvanized and I didn't have a problem with it besides that it sucked. I'm just worried about the zinc poisoning, I've read that people have gotten really sick or died from it. I'm just going the "better safe than sorry" route this time.

Anyways, It works great right now, far better than my other forge. I forged out the bigger piece yesterday and then heat treated the other before I shut it down.

Do you think that putting a makeshift side draft pipe that's 8" instead of 10" would just as well? I don't think that there's any 10" pipe where I'm at that's not galvanized.

And how close to the fire should I place it?

Yeah I know. Probably going to do that for the next rebuild in the future. I just left the hood because its there and its kinda breezy where I'm at so it helps as a wind block too. I might put adjustable side shields on it to reduce the ambient air flow.

Well, I got everything all set up and tested it. Tried to do 10" pipe but I had no way to support the weight and its pretty windy where I live so I went with 8" pipe that extends about 2 feet about the roof. During testing, the smoke mostly went up the stack but there was some spill out that I don't think matters because the barn is well vented.

Yes it is at anvil height. Probably just gonna go with a few handfuls of sand. 

Next problem is the chimney stack. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing here. It's in an old metal roofed barn and I don't know what to do. Kinda hoping you guys had examples of what you did or just suggestions on what to do. The pipe on it is 9 and 1/4  inches in diameter.