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I Forge Iron

Lee188

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Everything posted by Lee188

  1. How much lighting is too much what's probably not enough? Not a fan of a real dark shop as it's harder to see tools, forging in the sunlight also not fun as colors look weird. So what does everyone else do? Do you use any lighting? What level of brightness do you like?
  2. From what I have found all the old stone and brick forges where jbod forges. Colonial Williamsburg uses brick but it's just a box,I believe they are filled with ash. If you're plan was to use the blocks to make a jbod then you can use just about whatever you want as the fire is far enough away from the block. If you are wanting to build something small or have the fire right on the block listen to the other guys, no sense hurting yourself or others with spalls blowing off or doing all that work and have it not look how you plan answer a couple months.
  3. Hello all, I hope I all parting this in the right place. I have been wanting to make a set of great bellows for a while to reduce the number of power cords around the forge. I can find all kinds of info on length and width, I have seen info that says the top should be twice the size of the bottom and some saying the bottom should be twice the size of the top.... What I can see to find is how much they should open. I'm looking to make them 3'-4' wide and roughly 5' long. But how wide should they open? Any help and info would be greatly appreciated.
  4. Your best bet on information if you are still looking is to search online for the code book for your location, you will be looking for residential code not out building or forge or anything else since we are a anomaly within the system, if you adhere to the residential code and permit it so one has a right to complain if you just adhere to the residential code you should be safe then take the advice of these other gentlemen and increase size accordingly to make it work right. If you lived in my area I could help more with code especially over lunch, also the local library should carry building code books, they are hard to read and find the right info so good luck
  5. Long story short, the wife doesn't like my 10x10 workspace on the side of the house and wants me to get rid of the forge set up ( not happening) or move it indoors. My indoor space I get is a 10x12 shed with only 3' walls before the barn roof starts sloping, oh and a wood floor. Due to a lack of storage space in general this space gets to include, forge, anvil and a post vice....... And 3 saddles+ tack, table saw, chop saw, and a good amount of handheld tools, a dozen fishing poles and archery equipment. I am going to try to get rid of everything else in the shed if that's where I have to move my work area. Building another shed is out of the question at the moment. If course I am going to try to talk her out of it, putting a 2000° fire, and hot metal in a wooden building that small right next to another wooden building full of the family stuff is in my opinion a really bad idea but I do have to live with her. ( Debating that one) I need to rebuild my forge, currently a large wooden jbod thinking of making another jbod from a semi brake drum and a sheet metal table as the current one is too big for the space, and sitting out in the weather has caused some deterioration in the structural integrity of the forge. Ventilation isn't much of a problem, that I can do for little or no cost, everything else has to be done an a budget of about $10. Average material size to be worked is ⅜ with the occasional ¾ up to 2" for tooling.Any other suggestions, ideas, thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
  6. Lee188

    Recommended tongs

    Thankfully I don't get frustrated to easily and tend to work on a problem until I win. I figured it will be a bit of a chore to make a set but not nearly as bad as trying to make hardi tools out of 2" tool steel, at least I don't imagine they would use mild steel to as pump motor shaft. I picked up some ¾" cold rolled today would that be thick enough or I have some coil spring about that size as well if you think it would be better.
  7. Lee188

    Recommended tongs

    Thinking of trying to make some hardi tools with some 1 15/16 in motor shaft what kind of tongs would you all recommend so I can make those first.
  8. I was looking at that earlier and wondered if I should grind down any questionable areas and repair the whole edge
  9. Wile at work a couple weeks ago I came across a very generous individual who sent me home with an anvil and stand. Hopefully I can get out and use it today, if I can get my forge rebuilt.
  10. Is there a reason the coal won't burn? I know the people who owned the home passed away recently so the place was sold kinda as is. The new owner doesn't want to burn the coal in the furnace and plans on just using the fireplace instead. I may install a grate at the bottom of a large tube and insert something like a asphalt tamper in there too keep things contained and maybe let it fall into a bucket from there. Just looking for ideas
  11. Growing old is mandatory Growing up is an option. Grandma
  12. It looks great! You installing those for others for free;)
  13. Read a few pages here yesterday and thought I take some advice from you guys. Saw a yard sale at a old barn getting set up thought I would stop and check if there was anything they didn't want to move, I'm looking for another forge something better than railroad rail for an anvil and I need a good vice none of that unfortunately but I did find a pile of coal for $35 and she wants to pay me to reinstall a fireplace in the barn so it should work out to free or I get a few bucks to haul off the coal. The lady buys up estate sales regularly and said she'll keep a look out for the other stuff as she just sold the 120lb anvil for under a buck a lb
  14. Just found a nice deal, roughly 1000 lbs of coal for $35 some of it is usable as is some pieces are bigger than my head. Most of the coal I have been able to buy is fist size and I have been breaking it all up with a hammer in a bucket. Any ideas on a better method? I normally can buy it 100lbs for $15 so I want to use all I can.
  15. Newbielike if I read things correctly it's taken you some time to gather materials to make this forge and it's going to be one of if not your first forge? If this is the case may I suggest making it from wood or something cheap first according to your design. The jbod seems to be a great and inexpensive method, then you could move the pot and fences around as well as play with sizes of pot and work area over the course of a couple weeks. Then you could essentially test your plan and tweak it accordingly before you commit the material you saved so long for to something you may or may not be totally happy with. Just a suggestion as I am myself working on forge number 6 as of tonight. Good luck.
  16. Tonight in about an hour we developed a pretty good sized chunk which was good to show the boys that where getting a little taste of beating on some hot metal. After it was all over however we had a bit of a accident. My forging space is limited to my driveway and my wife wanted her truck back in it before I came in. My son and I picked the forge up as we had done before and started to carry it to the back and one side of the stand gave way dropping the whole thing to the ground busting the forge apart. Will start the rebuild with the original pieces, any suggestions on reinforcements. Thinking of planning 2 1/4" x 2" straps underneath and a band around the top so I can put some handles on it so I can lift the box off the base. Any thoughts.
  17. That's kinda what I figured but thought I'd ask. It is a side blast and quite literally a box of dirt, I seem to have very little issues with klinkers or I am not finding it then all of a sudden my airflow goes way down and the pot is full of what seems like glass. I'll just have to try cleaning it more often
  18. Built a new jbod a week ago and fired it up Saturday to check it out as there are some scouts coming to use it this week. I followed instructions or tried to follow them from the jbod discussions going on and it worked great. One thing I noticed is in the 6 or 7 hours I had it running It built up slag over top of the pipe bringing the air in. It didn't seem to fall below at all. Is there something I'm not doing right? could it be my coal? The coal I am using is somewhere between powder and nut sized +/- I have to break it up from roughly fist sized chunks and need a better way to do that. The dirt I had was pretty powdery, it held a good pot at first but when I tore it down the pot wasn't well defined after talking another big chunk of slag out.
  19. I would second the feed store and farrier supply, also some hearing companies or fire wood suppliers have coal though it's warm enough where you are that may be a long shot. You could talk with another Smith in the area and if they have to travel to get there's all of they will pick some up for you as well and throw in an extra $10 for them to grab lunch on there trip. St George is closer but if you ever head north the twin falls Idaho area still has a supplier or two left.
  20. Thank you everyone for your replies,I was able to talk them back a bit. They will still be doing knives as a part of it but those will come from an old saw blade, nothing fancy but they will think they conquered the world. They did help build a new jbod and I tested it out Saturday and it worked great, they will be coming back to try some forging and start there knives so far it's been a fun activity for them and a good excuse to try out a forge.
  21. Would relatively thin sheet metal work for the box of only supported toward the ends? Thinking of different boxes I could use, there is a bunch of different work we are throwing out at work and a few furnace boxes that are a little thicker sheet metal. If it was my group and I had say in what was done and how I would definitely start them out with simpler projects, I am thinking of a way to do some hooks or something that are much easier to get them started and maybe let them convince them selves that knives are more than they wish to tackle but if it's what they want to do I'll do my best to teach them. We have a couple dozen medium to large ball peen hammers and I have a half dozen 2 to 3lb sledge or cross peen hammers, leather gloves and safety glasses, no aprons yet but I plan on having people on hand just for safety and coming up with a way to rope of the areas so there are only ever 2 people inside a given area one with a hammer and one with the tongs
  22. I am located in the twin falls area in southern Idaho. Under qualified I am, have I qualified for the metalwork merit badge yes and I have told them I'm not very qualified, they still want to go forward so we might as well go for it, dealing with multiple teens and hot objects I am use to, and have felt with for years a well as burns cuts and smashes so that part I am ok with I will also have 3 other adults there that I plan on putting with the boys to keep an eye on them for safety reasons. I have a parking lot I planned on doing it in,I was reading about the dirt box forge but was unsure of how well it will transport as I plan on it being a multiple day project unless they choose to do it on a Saturday. The knives will likely be done with rail spikes, will they be high quality? No. The plan is to get them started, to explore new Hobby's and gain some knowledge. I am not a complete novice but I am still a novice, I think I have done fairly well teaching myself and on a budget of 0.00 for the last 10 years. Unfortunately my budget hasn't changed neither has my shop situation and my wood shop is no better other than tools I have inherited stop get to haul them out of a little shed so I can get something done. I'll look up those videos and try to keep my posts shorter.
  23. I am a fair weather weekend Smith at best. I am in my 3rd forge and trying to improve this one again, my shop (I chuckle at the term) is my driveway so is open to the elements. I have been working my way out of stone age blacksmithing starting with a rock for an anvil and a fire pit with no blower for a forge. Currently working on building the told necessary to do better work with fewer burns and hair loss. I have agreed to teach a group of scouts how to forge knives, dumb on my part but it will be fun. For this I need to come up with 5 forges on the cheep and they have to be portable as I can't leave them onsite and my driveway may not be the best place to do it with the slope. I have two blowers I can use but have been wondering how much air I should be providing as I struggle with that myself. I use inducer motors from gas furnaces currently and was wondering how many cfm of airflow i should have so I can tune what I have and get the other 4 or 5 forges working when I get them built any suggestions would be greatly appreciated thanks P.s. I will be working with a group of 10 to 12 boys ages 14 to 16 and was thinking of putting them in pairs maybe with a couple just to tend fires and rotate them through so they each get to learn to tend fire and don't have to hold there work as there learning to use the hammer again any tips or thoughts are appreciated.
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