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I Forge Iron

jsurgeson

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Everything posted by jsurgeson

  1. Hi Oz Yeah I made it myself, see link below for images Topic on help tuning my home made gas forge
  2. Hi Oz You and me both, still looking for a "real" anvil myself, cant find any here in KZN, or at least none that are available for sale. I am currently using a anvil made from a section of railway line. It was made by a old school artisan many years ago and has a bit of horn that has been ground down on one end. Not ideal but at least I can get small work done on it. I found that and large engineering ball hammers and tongs at second hand tool and machinery shops in and around Durban. You have to just keep going back again and again. I am running a gas forge, neighbors not too happy with coal Where are you guys her in KZN? you should edit your account to reflect your location :D
  3. Dave you are 100% right, folding is not the way to go under most circumstance, besides the copper / copper, the surfaces will never be flat and clean, which you generally need for a successful weld. As you say "cut and stack" is the way to go. You live and learn
  4. Hi Nelson Thanks for the comment about the knife, but to correct you it was first mokume, not knife. I would have been very happy if my first knife turned out like that. I still have a lot to learn when compared to some of the "bladesmiths" on this forum, I still regard myself as a "knifemaker" as I only started "warming" up to steel recently. But as with you the interest in what is achievable with heat and a hammer, is irresistible. I think you might be talking about bronze cable damascus, check this tutorial out. Bronze Cable Damascus Tutorial I would love to able to make some of that :D
  5. Ken Makes sense, and I think that is where my problem lies, I think that I miscalculated originally the conversion from gauge to millimeter, ans worked out that #58 - #60 was about 0.6mm, how I got this I don't know. Talking to some of the other knowledgeable guys on the forum and reading posts, it would appear that 0.8mm for 3/4" tube and 1.2mm for 1" tube appears to be the norm. This also appears to backup what you are saying. Thanks for the reply, I am going to remake my burners using one of the other designs, I am looking to machine the combustion chamber to improve performance.
  6. Thanks guys, all I need now is to learn how to make some of that pattern welded steel you blokes knock out in abundance on this forum, then I can put some color in my blades. Then I will be happy as a pig in xxxxx :cool:
  7. Well here it is as promised, faulty mokume and all I managed to hide most of the bad welds, ending up grinding a lot away.
  8. Wish I could get $20 for my first knife, mine serves as a tin opener ;)
  9. John, I will check my local price of 15n20 out as I can get 1 meter lengths. Dodge, Thats awesome for a first knife, I certainly could not show my first knife publicly :D
  10. Couple times I have hardened a blade and by accident left out one of the holes needed for something or other. Drilling a hardened piece of N690 is all but impossible, did not have any fancy special bits, so did this. Took a standard masonry bit with tungsten insert of the correct diameter, ground a edge as close to a standard edge as I could, and used that. No good for very accurate drilling but with semi decent edge, correct pressure, right speed, you will drill it and it wont burn out, might do a bit of screaming but it will work.
  11. Hi John Thanks will give that a try, can get my hands on lots of strapping, just not as wide or as thick, but should be a good starting point. Also need to find a source of old blades. I buy my blade stock from Bohler Steel which I think is owned by Udderholm, N690
  12. Steve, thanks for all that info, enough to keep me busy for a while, at least till I screw up again and come back for more. Dodge, took about 3 heats to complete the fold and 3 more to weld (which did not work) In fact 40% of the weld did work, only the open side of the fold did not weld. I have cut it in such a way as to hide most of the bad weld to use as bolsters in a hunter I am making. There is more than enough strength in the rest of the weld. I will post an image when it done, should be by this weekend. Frosty, no chance on making a mistake with the silver, "TIA" not too much silver available Thanks for the advice.
  13. John Whow! that is sick I would be more than happy with myself if I knocked that out. Awesome work mate. What do you use in your billet in term of different steels? Could you suggest what I use as contrasting steels to practice with? I would prefer not to use high quality steels as it is very expensive here in SA. And I am sure I will botch more than a few Also some links to any reading matter on patten welding like what you do would be great! Justin, thanks for that. I was only etching for a few minutes, but that was 100% strength feCL. What is your feCL / H2O ratio?
  14. Steve Yeah again this is due to inexperience, I used the normal stuff, borax. :confused: I have since learn't that the trick is just VERY CLEAN flat, matching surfaces, correct temp, just enough pressure, and you will get a good weld. NO FLUX necessary. A question though, after welding I would want to distort the perfect layered pattern to create something a bit more attractive. after successful welding, can I then forge the billet as you would any other billet? What is the best way to achieve this?
  15. Yeah thats for sure! I am definitely rebuilding from scratch, forge with easier access, and t burners :D
  16. Thanks Steve, will give it a try, just have to remember to drill any pin holes etc before hardening :D
  17. Well thats my problem, as you can see in the image all the layers are perfectly welded except the center one. The billet consisted of 4 perfectly flat brass & copper sheet, I did clean it very very well, steel wool, #2000 paper, IPA. Then bound without touching surface again. After first successful weld, I then made the mistake of flattening it quite a bit, and then trying to fold the flattened billet in half, this all at weld temp, however the surfaces were now not so flat and dirty, and even though I fluxed it still did not weld. What I should have done is after first weld, cooled, then cut billet in half, mechanically, then re-cleaned weld surfaces, and re-welded as before. I did do this weld by hammer as apposed to plate clamp, it did work but I need to get the clamp way working so I can maintain a flat surface. No, I only re-tightened clamp once at weld temp (or what I thought was weld temp) , I also did not soak (need to learn how to control the heat in my forge) and then removed clamp before it was cool. Weld failed! Well I think you pointed out enough errors in my method to justify why it failed. Thanks, the next one will be perfect :D
  18. Pity, as I only wanted to make decorative pieces, bolsters/guards etc I would not have hardened it for use as a blade. Think I need to look at cable with brass infusion. next project John by the way checked your site out, some really nice blades, I am jealous :-D
  19. To be honest. after reading all I could on making mokume I tried the "clamp between two plates" but the weld failed. I think this is mostly due to my inexperience, but I could not judge the temp as I could not see the billet. On second try I just wired together, heated and welded section by section as you would cable. I then folded down the middle, this is the bad weld. This is more than likely not the correct way to make copper/brass mokume, but it is the only way I have managed to get it sort of correct.
  20. Hi John Thanks for that, yes without a doubt I am working too cold. I invested in a 25kg bag of borax (Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate) as small quantities are very expensive in comparison, which should last me a while I am not shy when using it. I lack patience, and forget that you guys have been doing it for years and I for 1 month. So I need to just practice. :D
  21. Hi My first attempt at mokume using copper/brass, welded ok except there is a bad weld when I folded. In order to fix this can I just reheat to weld temp and give it a smack to re-weld? Or do I have to live with it. Sorry for the basic questions but I am only 1 month into blacksmithing. Any help/pointers on how to fix and prevent in future would be appreciated.
  22. Spoke too soon :mad: It was actually the good burner that was slightly offset, so that was not the problem. Just going to live with it till I can make up side or t burners, not prepared to waste anymore time on this as i have a few knife order waiting to be done. Thanks for all the help :)
  23. Hi Brian Thanks will do, yes I have a small shop and was outside but ran into problems with wind interfering with burners, so moved it inside but would like to be able to forge outside. What is your take on judging color in daylight as apposed to shop light? I mostly temper blades and one - 1" burner deals with that but battled to weld with just one, so went to 2 - 1" to be able to weld. I think it is more than capable of getting to welding temp but what I found was it tends to be very localized and on larger pieces more difficult. I must say i wish someone would show me how to weld with only one as gas is very expensive for me, about $30 / 39lb bottle Brian meant to ask before, how come when I try look at your profile it says you are not registered?
  24. Hi Brian Thanks I know the feeling I think you have probably hit the nail on the head with regards the bad performance of the one burner, and as it turns out, the only thing I can find different. :confused: The jet, although centered to eject gas so it exits the burner centrally, is in fact not centrally located in the throat. This happened due to the threading not being 100% straight, so i had to offset slightly to get it to exit centrally. So in fact it starts off exiting the jet from a off center position in the the throat of the tube and exiting centrally. I will correct this tomorrow and see how it improves it, will let you know. I think the flare I will add to improve performance one I have them both working the same and stable. I think in the long run I am going to look at a modified side burner, which I think allows for greater adjustment of jet position, but needs perfect construction. I also think that I am going to machine up intake reducer's as apposed to off shelf fitting as I thing that they are not 100% ideal. Thanks again for the great info, much appreciated.
  25. jsurgeson

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