Les L

Alex, you never cease to amaze or inspire me with your work

The newer ones have the lever. When I got mine it only had the belt on for high speed and the knurled knob, to change the speed, had been pushed up against the pulley preventing it from switching to the gear box. I downloaded a copy of the manual, figured out how the machine had "previously been fixed" undid all that, got the proper size belts and set everything up properly

The one in the checkered shirt is Mark Ling, thelittleblacksmith, that started this thread in 2017.

Being able to change from 3000 fpm to 85 fpm just pulling one knob is nice. I can set the slow speed from 40-115 fpm by moving the belt to different pulleys

What I like about this bandsaw is I can change from high speed wood cutting to slow speed metal just by pulling or pushing this lovejoy clutch. You adjust the metal cut speed with the lower set of pulleys

Frosty, I have to agree with you on that one. I’ll head to the shop with big plans of what I’m going to do, then go inside several hours later and when the wife asks what I did I say “nothing”

Jenn, Danny Arnold, (Old n Rusty), used a threading machine, a lot smaller than yours, to twist square bar cold. He mounted a chain link pipe vise on a post in the center of his shop at the proper height and would twist 20 ft sections at a time. I don’t know how big he could work, but here’s a piece of 5/8 he did.

JHCC, This was Mark’s 3rd visit to our meetings this year , he took a roundabout way way through Tennessee and Kentucky visiting shops on his way to us this time. I asked about his next road trip and he said Quad State and will be looking for all of you. We didn’t have a lot of time to talk, because around 40 others had questions, but he looking forward to meeting everyone on here that shows up.

We had our club meeting yesterday and our demonstrator was "The Little Blacksmith" and one of his friends. The made a trivet, among other items. We were also doing an iron smelt at the meeting and they helped process the bloom. Great guys, we enjoyed having them at our meeting. I asked why he hasn't been on here lately and he said he just haven't taken the time.

I picked up a Rockwell 6x48 grinder and a Delta 28-303-14 inch band saw last week. Both were not working properly. Paid $100 plus a small 1.5 hr welding job, $48 in parts and both are now operating properly. We had our club meeting and I purchased a diagonal peen, made by "The Little Blacksmith" and won a bending fork in our iron in hat.

You will not see the silver pencil at heat above dull red. I have been told that a white charcoal pencil is visible at heat, but I have not tried one yet. I usually punch, or notch, and feel for it it at heat

I have been “unfortunate” enough to spend the last 45 years of my life depending on a welding machine and grinders to support my family. I will only go to a welding supply store and purchase high quality grinding wheels, this includes al types(grinding, flap, pipeliner, cutting, etc) for two reasons. #1: Safety, you will get a much better quality product that has less chance of blowing up on you. If you haven’t seen this, just believe that you don’t want to be a witness! #2: the quality Of the wheel will out perform the “inexpensive “ wheel in amount of work and time using it every time saving you more money and time than you tried to save with the inexpensive brand

JHCC, No, I haven’t been following that thread, but I will look for it. I use both types of brazing tips on a regular basis, for heating metal and silver soldering, I prefer the a/o tips because I have a much wider range of adjustment with each size tip. I can use my #4 a/o to do the same work of having to swap between #2-#4 propane tips. I would not try to braze thick metal using the a/o tip with propane, but it’s fine for brazing thin metal and heating for twists and bends.

JHCC, I use a #4 brazing tip to spot heat items like that, you can concentrate your heat in a smaller area and it uses a lot less gas and oxygen than the rose bud, a little slower heating the metal, but I find it works better for me.

I would use part of them to make a couple of striking anvils.

Arteus, I agree with Glenn and if I had read this advise first I would have built a temporary stand for my anvil, used it and made adjustments to get the proper height then built the permanent one. I built my first stand knuckle high, started using it and couldn't hardly walk the next day because my bad back was hurting so much. After adding a 3 inch spacer to the legs I have no back problem now, but my nice looking stand now looks like I pieced junk together to make it. I'll go back later and splice in the proper material to clean it up, but it would have been much easier to just trim a little at a time. My next stand will be for a smaller anvil I will be using for lighter, more detailed work so it will be made taller, then after using it I can cut it down to the height I want.

I have a butcher block brush and an elevator rail brush to to get into tight spaces, its narrow with stiff bristles and works well.

Thank you

CGL, The copper colored frame is the one I made, The roses were from a piece of 1/8 x 1 flat bar, everything else is made from 1/2 square. The plastic piece in this picture is the original frame.

I've been busy ans haven't taken the time to post much recently, been trying to keep up using my phone while I'm on the run, but I hate trying to post from the phone because I make too many mistakes hitting the wrong thing with my big fingers. Made this last Friday getting ready for our Blacksmith club's conference next month. My wife said she would have "confiscated" it if I hadn't made her one last November for our anniversary. My cousin found this picture of her mother from when she was in her 20's, she's 102 now, and asked me to make a replica of the original plastic frame ,that had scrolls on each end, which was broken. They gave me my uncles forge and blower when I started blacksmithing a couple years ago so this was a special project for me.

You won’t be decreasing the pressure by increasing the diameter of the pipe, you will be increasing the volume of gas available. The same amount of pressure will be used to fill the larger pipe. Larger volume is able to supply more gas at the same pressure for an appliance needing a large amount of gas. if you can get the pounds regulator installed at no cost do it, you will not regret it, but the larger supply line to your forge will help you more than the increased pressure. I do not know what you’re calling a pressure reducing valve, are you talking about a regulator, like the one installed before the meter at your house? If you’re gas company installs the 2# regulator you will have to install a 6”WC regulator between the gas meter and your house. You can branch off before your house regulator to your forge and supply the 2# to your forge without a regulator and use the needle valve to control it at the forge, just install a cut off valve before the needle valve.

Joman295, I forgot to include that I agree with the others that you aren’t getting enough gas to the forge and your not regulating the air properly, my recommendations to improve the gas supply/performance are based on 37years working in the NG gas industry

Joman295, you don’t have large enough pipe starting at your meter, I would recommend running 1 1/4 as close to the forge as possible, then connect with as large of fittings as possible , keep everything as close to the forge as possible. You don’t need a regulator between the meter and forge, the needle valve will replace it. Every extra thing you place in the line creates a restriction. Every 90% fitting equals 10ft of pipe on a UP system. You’re only working with 6” water column (1/4lb) at this time, you don’t have pressure so you need volume. If you switch to a pounds regulator at the meter this will still apply for the forge, but you will have to install a 6” WC regulator before the house piping.

My neighbor was working on a welding project , a couple weeks ago, and asked what I thought about it. I told him that a grinder wasn't going to help him, but by the end of the project he would either be a better welder or a better fitter. Then I spent the next four hours teaching him both.

Iron Dragon it may have been caused by the quality of gas we purchase these days. I recommend using a dedicated can and adding a stabilizer to your gas for that type of tool each time you fill the can. Another problem that comes up with this type of equipment is the exhaust spark arrester gets plugged and shuts it down. Remove the cover and clean the screen and see if I works