Laynne

Coal or charcoal? If charcoal go with a side blast tuyere. You will use 2/3s less fuel from my experience.

Not maligning charcoal whatsoever, I enjoy working with it. It is my ability to get the stars to align that was in doubt. It was the 20 mule team laundry detergent, maybe that is Borax not Boraxo. Thanks for the input.

Thanks JLP. I had some Boraxo on hand and used that. Being able to forge weld opens another door for me. I have to say I was a little skeptical using charcoal. Being born and raised in the Show Me state I have to see some things for myself.

I have been at this for a little over a year now. I was working a project that went horribly wrong (I learned from it though). I thought to myself that I'm going to get something positive out of this. I cut the bad end off, flattened both ends, brought them together and made my first forge weld.

Chelonian,

If you haven't yet, read the Mark III jabod thread. Define the fire bowl with bricks and use loose fill around them. I used plain dirt. This gives you flexibility to change bowl size as you figure out what works best for you. Then go with a more rigid design. Personally I like the flexibility.

Laynne

Finished a couple of steak turners/bottle openers for a couple of guys supplying me with materials.

I had to wait until I got to work so I had WiFi.

Here are a couple of pictures of my jabod that I patterned after the Mark III. It's 5X5 inches square and 3 1/2 deep. The tuyere is 3/4" with the center one inch above the floor. I regularly work railroad spikes and have worked the coupling end of sucker rod to  a one inch hardy hole. Just keep changing the bowl size until you find what works for you. Sorry the pictures aren't so good. I guess my upload failed. I will try again tomorrow.

Made a run to the local "have everything" yard. Came home with this.

Glen, I wish I had thought of that, it would probably have stopped leaking.☺️

Das, the blue chunk of steel one step from the forge is my improvised anvil. The old Vulcan is so beat up that I just use it for heavier work.

Thanks for the input, always looking for tips.

Got the hood on this morning. Originally I had it on a cable and pulley to lower it when the smoke was bad.

I couldn't get the roof to stop leaking over my forge and everything thing else so I moved it all to where it's not leaking. I will have to see how long that lasts. Still need to get the hood over the forge.

It took me about a month to get it done but finally got my Grandpa's post vise mounted. It's a Columbian with five and a half inch jaws. The mounting bracket has a 20 on the under side for whatever that is worth. I'm not an expert on threads but these look like they have a lot of life left.

Isn't that the truth. The faces of the hammer are unmarred but he wore the handle out.

ten pound sledgehammer $1

Grandpa's 5 1/2" post vise priceless

Consider the Brazeal die anvil if you decide to change the first one.

Latest experiment. I took a one inch I'd pipe and flattened the delivery end to about a 3/4 inch oval opening. After several days of use I am pleased with it. I didn't try this with the 3/4 pipe so I can't say if the oval shape makes a difference or if it is just a matter of volume. Maybe I will switch back and see.

Laynne

Thanks gents. It will see some more work tomorrow. Where I welded up the hardy was a flange off of the slab about 3/8 inch thick. I clamped some one inch angle iron with one inch stock and welded it up. I got good penetration and a snug fit.

As you can see in the background of the one picture my old Vulcan is in pretty sad shape. My son had two slabs that measured 3.5 x 6.5 x 21.5 inches. I toyed with how to weld them together but decided against it. I had a 3.5 inch diameter slug that I welded on and a piece of angle for a hardy. Total weight 143.6# of mild steel. Any thoughts are appreciated for this work in progress. Three hours of forging this morning and I am pleased with it.

Laynne

As much as I like the jabod I had one thing that was giving me a problem. The heart of the fire was right against the brick I was banking the charcoal to. I went deeper bowl, tue pipe low, one inch up, hard wood charcoal, pine charcoal, mixed the two with no change. This afternoon I removed the rock from under the tue pipe and angled it down to the floor of the bowl. This moved the heart of the fire out about two inches which is the center of the bowl. It is a one inch drop over maybe a foot. Maybe this will help if anyone else is interested.

Laynne

I have both a three and four pounder. They are great for moving hot metal. I grab one of my regular cross peins when using a chisel or punch because the face of the fiskars are a little softer.

I didn't even make an offer on it. The best I could get was 60 percent the length of the face. My beat up ugly Vulcan is 80 percent from the horn to the hardy hole. All I would have gained would have been a prettier anvil. Thanks for the input. Thomas you made me smile with that first response.

I will see what the rebound is and see if they will go for $3/#. Asking$515.

I haven't seen this in person yet just the picture. Is there any reason for what appears to be holes above the waist? I will be doing the ball bearing test on it tomorrow after work. Supposed to be 140 pounds. Thanks in advance.

Laynne

Yesterday I spent four hours at the forge with the blower connected. For my purpose it is the way to go. Six minutes from lighting the paper to glowing horse shoe. I was turning at about 12 rpm or once every five seconds. Heart of the fire was consistent. I also reduced the bowl size. It was originally 6x9 now 4x6. 

Thanks Das.

I am going to adapt my hand cranked blower to it and see if I like it better. I am not planning on being mobile for some time. Still learning.

Charles thanks for the insight.