BillyBones

No idea how fast propane is burning. I have ran it about 3 hours total and from just the weight of carrying the tank in and out i would guess at least 3/4 left. Oh just a standard BBQ size tank. Also it has been in the upper 30's low 40's and i have had no freeze up. From what i know about running gas, i do not think it is running to fast. From my experience the faster it runs the faster you get freeze up. But i do not claim to be an expert on the subject. I need to invest in a gauge to let me know when i get low i guess. Frosty, ya made my day. Getting a thumbs up from you is a huge boost to my ego. No worries about spilling beer, i am a professional drinker. I tried to get pics with the burner installed and up to heat. From what i understand that all effects performance. I know it burns different in a vice on the bench than installed. It being winter the sunsets early and i have a day job so most of the time i am at the anvil at night right now. But today i did not have to work ad was able to get out at a decent time. so i got better pics. Just after lighting and just before coming to temp. Ad the burner itself. Again please dont pick on my box or my welds, not a good representation of my work.

Great thread, yall should take this on the road. I laughed till i cried with yall and the blood and urine quench thing.

Ok first please do not pick on my box. It is what i had on hand to make it. Ok, it is something i was trying a while back ago when i was not so much informed. What i am looking for is burner critique. So, it is basically a Reil design. 3/4" tube 8' long with a flared end (can not remeber length, it is what his design said) The flare is how he suggested 1/8" wider that i did with a torch and a tube. Heated red hot and used a circular motion to spread. My only difference is a reducer for the bell to the 3/4 pipe is hard to find and i had to use a piece between. And my jet is an adjustable valve with a .030" orifice. The jet is set approx. 1/16" below opening of bell. The brick is 1 1/4" thick, burner set approx. 1/8' into brick. The box is just 8 hard bricks stacked. About 400 cubic. 2 on top 2 on bottom and one on each side, then 1 on each end. Oh its at around 9 psi running after heat up. Took about 10 mins to heat those bricks to red. Tried a piece of 52100 and in 5 mins was able to move it like butter. All right, let me have it. How stupid am i? Where am i an idiot at? Give me your worst, my skin is thick i can take it. I tried to get pic of flame, but just way to bright to come out.

I stuck the socket on it to show how i used it as a slide hammer. It was for removing the front pump out of a transmission. You do not need a lot of force just a few good taps. This is how my mind works though, adapt, improvise, and overcome.I did exagerate a bit more like 8 or maybe 10 inches longer. That is a head bolt from a Mazda i think.

12 bravo, combat engineer? My dad ,who is also retired Army, was a combat engineer in Vietnam. He retired as self propelled artillery though. The vice grips i use are kind of modified. Couple years ago i needed a slide hammer. I welded a 12 inch bolt with a 30mm socket over it onto the adjusting screw of an old pair of vice grips. i cut the head off the bolt to remove the socket and now have a set of vice grips that have 12 inches more reach. They actually work pretty nice. I can clamp them on and the extension stays cool enough to hold.

"Elizabeth loves octopuses ( octopi?)" A little off subject but technically both are correct, and both are wrong. The octopus is a very solitary creature and is very, very rarely seen in a pair, much less a group. They are so rare that there is no word for octopus in the plural sense. Nice octopus though.

I am new to this but it was to keep me occupied. After a couple deployments i came home with PTSD pretty bad, I served on an M1 tank if anyone cares. After a few years of drug abuse and alcoholism i finally got some help. My therapist suggested a hobby. It is not so much for my PTSD it is to keep me from going back to a life of debauchery. I used to be quite the accomplished artist and sculptor, however one of my injuries i lost a lot of finer motor skills in my hands. I can no longer do pen and ink drawings. So i am an auto tech by trade and i can use hand tools and the like. Then i was watching a series about a guy in KY that was a blacksmith. He smithed all sorts of things but did a lot of gun work. Then of course i have seen the forged in fire show. Then i learned just how simple building a forge is. I also grew up on a farm and my grandpa would use a forge in the barn to repair tools and the like. The first time i ever forged something was in high school where i made a cold chisel and a screwdriver in metal shop class. We also melted and poured metals and learned to weld. One thing led to another and now i hammer on metal. I do sometimes have to use vice grips to hold my pieces with sometimes because of my hands, but a hammer fits just fine.

I am most likely not the first to ask this but a look through the forums even a google search with the iforgeiron tag did not get me an answer so here goes. I had a friend give me a bunch of 1/2 square bar stock. It is all zinc plated. Can i : A) just grind a couple .001s off to get to good steel.? B)use a chemical stripper? (I aint scared of using acids, been doing it a long time)(and if so any suggestions?) C) just take it to the scrap yard and get some decent steel in trade? Also sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, just seemed the most logical. actually the most logical is the section for zinc and coatings. I will relocate it

(Thought i just had to high light the part i wanted to quote) 383, not a huge beast but a nice pass. It is however just a friday night hot rod. So a limited guarantee.

Ausfire, that looks like beads on it. Really cool. Yes that is snow. Thats why i said finally able to get out. We had 2 weeks of single digits temps, and about 8 inches of snow. When finally got a little warmer got muddy. Now we are about 40 - 50 daily. I havent been able to heat the forge up in over a month.

Ah, finally a day to get out and and play with fire and steel. Keep in mind i am no where near the skill of many of yall. This my first bottle opener, or as i have always called it a church key. It is also my first twist or any where near a scroll. Started out as just a piece of 3/8 key stock. Please tell me what you think and please dont hold back. Not pretty but functional.

Thanks yall, this is what i have learned : It provably does not make that much of a difference.

Snap-on tools are made from a variety of metals. For instance impact sockets are made from a different alloy than sockets for a hand ratchet. (impact is actually softer steel) They do not use the same steel for all their tools. Depends on the tools use as to what it is made from. By the way MAC is much cheaper, just as good, and same warranty.

I have a wrench that broke on me about 10 yrs ago. I grabbed the cutting torch and brazed, yes brazed with a brazing rod, and have been using it since.

I got a question. does anyone know what a kolene heat treat does? From what i understand it is heat treating in molten salt. Why i ask is that today i got a set of steels for a TH 400 that were kolene treated and my customer asked if it were worth the extra money he spent on them. I do not know how they will preform but it seems to me that they may be too hard. Looking on my motor headin forums gets me mixed reviews on how they preform but nothing as to specs on differences. If they are too hard i am afraid that the clutches will not grab them and will slip, burning up my unit. If they are not hard enough they will just wear out. Standard steels are high carbon hardened steel. From what i understand they are a 4150 steel. (i may be mistaken) The difference is just the heat treating.

I bought the 20v impact/drill combo back a couple years ago. One of the best investments i ever made. However the rubber does not like oil very much. I have had mine repaired about 3 times now. Fortumatly i bought it from a MAC tools distributor which means that repairs were free. But for $200 cant beat the deal. I had to replace one battery that cost me $75. You can buy the drill or impact alone with 2 batteries and charger for $100 now. Also the new batteries come with voltage indicators built in. ( i am sure batteries are cheaper now, that was when they first came out.) I have since gone to using the MAC version of said tool, about 3x the cost though. But you get more torque, my 3/8 impact will remove lug nuts, and my occupation has me covered in oil constantly and these stand up to the oil. The MAC ones also use the DeWalt batteries. I also could not even tell you if the torque setting on mine work. Never moved off of 3. After time you get trigger control where you use the trigger like a dimmer switch to provide the power. The more you squeeze the more power you get. Just like any tool you get a feel of how to work it.

Instead of cat litter can you use floor dry? That stuff us mechanics use to soak up oil. It is made of clay also, not sure what kind, and is usually cheaper and comes in much bigger bags than cat litter. Just wonderin.

So, i have not posted much becuase all my questions so far have been asked several times. Yall got a whole bunch o' information here and for that i say thank you very much. It is very kind of you guys that have been doing this for years to share your wisdom and knowledge. Even the new guys who make their mistakes and get corrected i have learned from. But if i learn half of what many of yall have forgotten i will be well on my way. A special thanks to Frosty for just a small side comment. Went something like " i have one burner design i wish would be removed from the internet" It was the one with the lamp screw thingy for adjustment. It has been cold and nasty here, week before last below 0 last week in the 50's but muddy and rainy, so i have been stuck inside. I decided to try and build a propane burner and was going to try the one with the lamp thingy. Glad i read the comment before my build. But thanks to everyone i now have a proficient burner that just needs a good box. That will come this week i think, cold, snow, ice, i may not be out side to much this week. Need something to do other than drink beer. Also thanks for no politics, cant stand how all my favorite sites have been highjacked by politics. Again, thank yall, stay safe, stay warm and may the good Lord bless you.

This is not just about smithing, but about many things we do in life. Saturday was a fairly nice day so i went out to do a little work. I am trying to improve my forge and needed to cut a piece of angle iron. Just 1 cut on a 1" by 1/4" piece. I get my tools out, get it clamped down,plug in the angle grinder, and can not find my safety glasses. So i look, the old lady says they may be in my range bag, i look but to no avail. So after a few minutes i figure dang it i would have had it cut by now. So what do i do? I just start cutting. About half way through the cut i felt a sudden stinging, burning sensation in my eye. I tried but could not get it out. So off to the ER i go. After about 4 hours there i finally get home. Find my safety glasses in of all places my tool box, yeah who would think to look there, and Sunday finished my cut. I have worked with my hands all my life. I used to be a machinist, and i am currently a mechanic. I was on an M1 Abrams in the Army. I have used and been around many dangerous tools and equipment. And i know better. Do not short cut safety. It does not matter if that cut would take me 5 minutes or 5 hours. You can lose an eye in a split second. Complacency kills. So old timers i do not care if you have done it a million times or not be safe. Younger guys, take heed those words of safety from the old timers. Knowledge comes from a book, wisdom comes with learning from those around you and your own mistakes and not repeating them. Learn from my mistake, i sure did.

Thank yall for the warm welcome. I started my profile, but couldnt figure out how to put in a profile pic and forgot to hit the save for just the info. (i am not very computer savvy) I have also been reading Charles's post on the side blast charcoal forge for improvements. Thanks for the charts and info above. My vice anvil is getting me started yes, but i need something better. I am off work today so if i want to brave the cold maybe a trip to the scrap yard. My old vice that i showed in the other post, well it is mounted on a bench in my basement by 2 small bolts. I really dont use it much and had just hung it there this past summer as a 3rd hand to hold the input drum of my cousins TH350 so i could stack the clutches. But looks as if i will try and clean it up and get some new life into it. Oh and properly mount it. I did however learn a very important lesson on my very first time out. Like i said i am a mechanic by trade and being a mechanic guess what i have gallons of just sitting around, and heating the shop. Thats right used motor oil. Stinks to high heaven and way to flammable. Sorry i took a minute to respond back but like i say i am not really a computer guy. Just use it to look up info from time to time. Ok off to put profile info in and find information.

New here but been reading yall's posts for a while. I would like to say first and foremost thank you old guys for the wisdom you put forth here. I just started my journey of the smith. I am an Army vet and my therapist says that a good hobby will keep my mental problems at bay. I grew up on a farm in KY and we had a small forge in the barn that my grandpa would repair tools and the like with. I have been around a forge but never learned to work steel. Until now. I have made a few stakes, tongs and 1 knife (just to see if i could). But just mostly am working on bending, shaping, twisting and of course my techniques. I use an old cast iron grill with a blower attached for a coal/charcoal forge. And an old vice that the jaws broke off of but the anvil side is still intact for my anvil. Yeah i know not ideal but i didnt want to shell out a bunch of money just to find out i either dont like it or aint no good at it. I am pushing 50 and have lived through the age of bullheaded stubbornness. Which means i will now own up to my mistakes, take criticism well, and have learned to follow direction.

Just signed up here recently, have not even sent a hello yet. (cant figure out how to get profile pic up) But this is my first post so Hi yall. This is a vice i still use. Do not know the age or who made it but i do know that my grandpa used it n the barn when i was a kid. The one you found looks eerily similar. Ok on to my introductory post.