Strike

I recently traded an old tractor for some 12v 660CCA batteries for DCEN welding and mower blades. I got 21 mower blades and they are fun In the sideblast leafblower jabod coal forge, to practice on. They seem so soft when I beat them, so what can I use these mixed metal alloyed blades for as a softer steel. I spark tested and they have pretty low carbon content if I read the spark test data sheet from this website correctly. What can I do with these softer steel blades other than a "forged in fire" san mai concept? BTW the batteries will be wired in series and used to weld with 6011Electrodes for whatever. Bottom line 21 lawnmower blades might only be useful for sculptures, lol. Any ideas?

I couldn't make an anvil happen, so I got a stump and sawed into a stump as to insert a C-Girder into it so it would work as an 'anvil'. I know this is probably unacceptable to most of yall, , but It's working well with a leaf blower powered jabod charcoal forge, and it works great. I still have no ANGLES to work other than a flat plane, but it was free chunks of C-girders and after hammering them into the stump with a 3lb mini-sledge (or whatever you call it) works great.

frazer - that is beautiful. I am gonna try to private message you. Thank you so much everybody, thanks glenn for the info.

daswulf - I should have been all over that auto body shop but I never had the smithing fever like I do now. Never knew I truly wanted. Now that I do I just can't be a 'leach', but he is my roommate... Frosty - Yeah man, thanks for picking me up when I was bummed, same goes for you Glenn, I wanna thank yall.

yeah man, my buddy at the shop is swamped with business. I would love to get a piece of your pie. I don't know what railswitches do, but if it will allow me to use it as an ASO I would be so grateful. 3 ft will work with me, oh yeah. Can you show me a picture or post one cuz like I said I don't know if it's the curvey part of a railline switch or however the proper terminology works out, anyway, started at Wendy's a couple days ago so I gotta check my schedule.( Don't know how you guys have fulltime jobs and get home and hit the forge.) You mentioned a plate, any way you got another piece I could weld to the rail? Nothing big or industrial, just curious. You're the best Fazer. Lemme know.

thanks for the offer man, you're right up a road a bit, so cool. Anyway, is this something that's gonna have to be torched in half or an angle grinder? I'll see what my buddy at the autobody shop's got for tanks and tools.

Irondragon - Yes Sir, I have and 'thought' I understood it. Daswulf - Thanks again; I DID take the first warning to heart as a G rated site and I like that, because my blind autistic nephew loves to hear me tell him what you guys are saying, so I get that. But my posting in the wrong forum didn't just get moved , which I would be cool with, but I got a reprimand for 'spamming' which was at worst an honest mistake. You guys/gals continue to impress me not just with metal but with integrity has anyone ever told yall that? I guess I need to develop a thicker skin and I will own that as my own fault.

MC Hammer and Buzzkill - thanks for the words of encouragement. I worked all day In the pouring rain handspreading shredded mulch and before I even showered I checked this site and my email to get diminished by a site that I TRULY am into. Thanks again, I was about to go find another of the other forging sites...but I will stick around because I DO believe this site WILL make me what I want to become.

thanks guys. I keep getting warned by moderators for this or that. First was cussing and I corrected it. Second was the stump thing that I put in the anvil forum, then after the rock recommendation I started another thread in what I thought was a more appropriate area like the "help me and we'll try to help you" kinda forum. Dude said I was spamming. So I'm a bit frustrated not only at the shoddy search engine on this site but more than that the strict placement of my questions. I know to shut my mouth until I have searched heavily, but agree or disagree I think these moderators are just a bit impatient, they could warn me instead of giving me penalty points which will eventually boot me. Oh well, just gonna keep reading this convoluted site because other than moderators, I respect and appreciate everything all of you have done for me.

Hey justanotherviking, I had considered that my stump was softer than the metal but I REALLY appreciate the link, i'm still trying to figure out this site ; only a few weeks in. Thank you.

I recently picked up a decent sized stump to use as an 'anvil' and have run into a problem. I was working a piece of 90 degree 1/8" x 1" x 5" shiny mystery steel in my jabod forge (without air pump, that comes tomorrow) and was able to straighten it on my stump with no problems (except crazy lungblowing, cherry red) and when I went to form the profile it just kept driving itself into the wood. I was gonna work on something that resembles a knife...that's my problem and I don't know where to go next. Tomorrow when I get my air hooked up and it get's even hotter I anticipate that it will penetrate the stump even more thus I am stuck until I solve this. Anybody got a cheap $ solution? I do not know what kind of wood it is but it is HARD but a bit moist. oh yeah, I was also beating on a largish 6 inch bolt... thanks for your time ladies and gentlemen.

Love it. Essential to beginners.

Daswulf - Thanks man, I am only weeks into this and quite bashful. Like you said, just ask; what's the worst that can happen they say no? LOL. I got my stump/anvil just by asking. It's my error that there are literally over 20 bodyshops in maybe my 10 mile x 10 mile town. Sometimes I feel like I would hate to impose on their good stuff like leaf springs, suspension, rotors, yada...love the tip to turn NOTHING down because it's not polite for one and may ruin a future source. About beating down a golf club, you are so dead on correct about the shape being weird to work with especially with extremely limited tools, I was using vicegrips after the shaft melted off, and was dreaming of tongs.

Daswulf - I'm with you on all of that. Just lemme say I couldn't find any research on golf club heads or other search engines using the "golf irons" and "iforgeiron"; otherwise I would have posted there. I would love to whip out some other steel but at the moment i'm playing for free, and am actively searching for materials. Honestly I was surprised that no one? has even played with the idea; but I am super new so thanks for all your input.

JHCC that's a darn decent idea.

Thanks JHCC. Makes perfect sense now; still getting used to this site.

Thanks for the input everybody. I rigged up the leafblower to a severed 40 oz Steel Reserve bottle , some duck tape, and used a disassembled bicycle innertube as a flexible attachment to eventually connect to my blower pipe. Love the jabod! I haven't swung a hammer a thousand times yet, nor made anything functional, but i'm happy at how I come closer and closer everyday for free. I still need to add the pipe , which I priced at $6 US today 3' x 1" OD. Don't know what schedule it was but it was some serious feeling stuff (but i'm a newbie). I switched to big chunky charcoal , which took forever to break down / heat up and wasn't able to reach a desirable temperature without additional forced air. Got a nice stump for an anvil for free today and tried to work an 8 iron golf club. MAN THIS IS NO JOKE! This is HARD work by hand with a framing hammer. Got it cherry red but couldn't move the metal very much. Also learning to add 1/8" shaped tool holders to the side of my jabod for hanging tools . Charles R. Stevens, thanks for the tip. Love the innovative idea and it will be done. Frosty, my leafblower can be turned down pretty low, it kinda sucks at blowing leaves but can be adjusted to insanity on the high end. I'm sure the neighbors loved it when I fired it up around 3AM this morning! Daswulf, the little rocks are marble sized and not very numerous at all and haven't killed me so far, but I did some chemistry reading about the whole shebang on the layers of soil and constituents in my region, so I appreciate your concern and response. There wasn't a lot, but even one could be too many if it's got bad mojo. Once I get proper airflow and heat I guess i'll find out but everything is okay so far. And this is my blower rig...hahha so crazy. Maybe i'm the fool but I can live with that. I'm going to continue to try things until I can get past cherry red, or use some steel that I am aware of chemical composition, I researched golf clubs and unfortunately couldn't find what they are, but I guess if I get it hot enough I may be able to move it. Thanks all, I'm trying like heck here to make this happen.

I am poor and have 5 sets of golf clubs that looked pretty good to me. used my side blast jabod box and a bunch of wood (burned to nice coals) and couldn't heat the club without my blower. (I have since bought a bag of charcoal and gave up on the wood). Mouth blowing like crazy I achieved a medium red incandescence. Any tips for golf club heads would be appreciated because at the moment they are my primary source of metal. Got a big stump to beat them on, so any input on this thread would be helpful otherwise I will get my first real forge experience, weather permitting, tomorrow. LLAP.

frosty My dog used to play with pure nitromethane derived from RC race car fuel. Hit it with water to separate the oil, filter it off. Distill the methanol/nitromethane under a chemical vacuum (pulls 0 torr) and beware it's explosive nature, if I remember correctly, it autoignites at 101C and boils at 100C at STP (standard temperature and pressure). Now your cars will go much faster. Or so I read in a patent somewhere... btw what's a 'pinned' post please?

Leafblower (adjustable combustion) or mattress inflator?

what's the deal with boiled linseed oil spontaneously combusting in rags … I heard that way back but never tried the stuff due to the label warning...nice work though!

So I built a JABOD today with northern virginia red clay, moisture within tolerances according to the squish test by frosty or someone big. Nobody ever tells you how heavy these things are. I am poor and unemployed so THE BROOMSTICK IS JUST A PLACEHOLDER FOR NOW for a piece of steel pipe and blower. I intend to use a firebrick to hold up the final pipe. I was going to light a little fire in it to dry but it started to rain. So in the box were a couple of stones and of which I cannot tell you they are made. No idea if they are gonna blow up in my face literally so I was considering a blast shield or facemask, but that was just a thought...love a response. Question: As the clay dries in my garage, when I replace my blower pipe, do I have to prep any dry clay again in the blower tube or anywhere else. I want to add a stabilizing brick to hold the pipe and another question: do I need firebricks to bring this to a proper temperature and/or do I need to worry about igniting the wood, ( i'm sure it's autoignition temperature is high) Anyways, thanks for the help, and I know you guys love pictures but it's the best I can do and NEED yall's pro's and con's. I can't afford anything so I am gonna do pitfires and harvest the coals...I really am that broke. Frosty thanks for your tips

Goolsby7 I'm in the same boat as you. It's time to start and after about an hour or so on this site it seems to be fairly well structured, not to mention the obvious wealth of first-hand experience. In all actuality we could probably get by most of our major difficulties by simply xxxxxxxx (use the xxxxxx search engine). I can tell you now i'm doing campfire with coal separation and a leafblower (use caution hehehee) or matress inflator (more likely). Eventually I'm going for the jabod technique. I'm between jobs so some trashy rebar from lowe's will work as a low carbon steel to just beat the xxxx out of. Once I work out some of the introductory processes and become SAFE and COMFORTABLE I will move on. Up here in Northern Virginia I am thinking there's a lot of potential for outdoor forging (I live in the mountains, very rural). Good luck to you Sir and may you prosper. This message board reminds me of an old and forgotten illegal chemistry discourse site...except on that one nobody wanted to help the 'lessers' . It seems you're in good hands with these folks. Goolsby7 Dude my first name is Brandon also...xxxxxxx weird. Goolsby7 Look at this beauty...i'm sure someone mentioned it in this thread, a JABOD.