Nick alvorez

So we all swing a hammer, and im sure we all have tried many different types of wood to make a handle. I was clearing brush in my back yard last year and if over grown with mountain lorrel bushes. generally they dont get to big but they are tough. very springy and dence. As i was cutting some down i came across a really big one. the main stalk was 6 inches wide. as i was cutting it down i had a thought if i could find a straight peice ill let it dry and test a handle. its very hard to find one big enough and straight, they dont like to grow straight, but i managed to get a 20 inch section that was straight enought. So a year has past and it was nice n dry to start cutting into a hammer blank. the ends didnt crack bad at all almost no cracking what so ever. it came as a suprise that it was extremely light as well. not much lighter than hickory, but still lighter. I was starting to get a little concerned that it would break on the first swing, iwasnt putting it on a light hammer either, a 4lb brazel style rounding hammer. it has been almost 2 months and its still going strong. i guess i could have made this a bit shorter and my spelling is terrible but i figured maybe someone else can give this a shot. i dont like buying handle i prefer to make em but hickory is scarce were i live, like there everyware but ive only managed to find 3 near my house and boy walking a half mile thru the woods carrying hickory is not fun. great workout tho.

Ye be a groving hammer or a embosing.... one or the other. A fancy ball peen really. Looks ancient.

20181210_234409.mp4 So its been a while from when i said id ost pics. Been busy havent had to mutch time to tinker but ended up making the refractory from scratch. I used 60 alumina 40 zirconium and 10 bentonite. Let cure for 3 days then finished curing by firing the burner( the original one i had put on in the previous photo) then i did the ceramic coating the zirconium and bentonite let cure for 3 days then fired and it poped in the botton of the forge i dont think i let it cure long enought. Still not finished taking longer than id hope but i only get an hour or two a day to tinker. But one question maybe one of you gents could answer or have a knowledgeable opinion. So bentonite is sugested to make a good ceramic coating with zirconium now what about veegum t or hectorite all of wich are smectites. I dont know if one or the other would make to mutch of a difference because of the low % but there all plasticizers and very similar in charactaristics. Anyhoo heres wonderwall...... jk let the show commence!!!

Thanks for the information frosty you just ansered all the questions i was gonna ask all in one post. Im fairly new to all this amd dont know to mutch about the casts and washes. Tho i have been on here reading alot religiously. Everynight befor bed lol. Thanks a bunch. I will be posting to this after i maje the new adjustments im gonna be taking it apart when i get out of work.oh and i am from the us massachusettes Thomas. It is an ajustable one. Ive been doing the same thing playing by eye and ear

I have a 20psi regulator as of now but no guage im gonna try picking one of those us sooner than later and a needle valve as well right now there is a ball valve on it it works but not ideal. Just got back from the hardware store on lunch. Grabbed 1ft of all thread and washers to hold up the keowool and a rubber fitting for the blower. I looked for the valve and the regulator and they didnt have either in stock unfortunately and thanks for the info been a great help that wire u mentioned nichrome. Wcould that be found at a regular hardware store ive never heard of it

Thanks mikey for that. I am gonna be pulling those bricks out and adding another layer of blanket due to the heat loss as of now it does reach a bright orange. I have put a door on sence this photo was taken i have a simple sliding brick door took 3 tries to get it right without the metal warping and the door is lined with keowool(aside the brick) the TEE was used at first cuz my gas air ratio was off. I was using a .030 mig tip and the jet hole was way to small so i bored it out to 5/16 and seems to be working fine. Mind you this is my first blower forge. So the t has been blocked off for now im just using it because im using a hair dryer and the width of the pipe is close to the with of the opening of the hair dryer as the refractory im not sure yet im still playing around with that. The ceiling falling was a consern wireing it up sounds like a good idea.im gonna post a few photos when i get home tonight. Thanks irondragon ill read that as soon as i get a chance look forward to the information on here

First time on here been reading some of these posts for a while now but never signed up, figured i would. So ive recently decided to make a new forge the one im currently using is a Hells forge double venturi burner. It works great and gets to forging temp rather fast.. but its to small. I dont know the exact measurements off the top of my head but a rough guess id say its 20in long 4in hight and 6in wide oval shaped. With 1in thick blanket with 2 4x6 fire brick as a base. Needless to say i can light my ciggarette off the side of it after its been running for 30 mins. The one im in the making is 20in long 11in hight and 11in wide. A box esentially. With 2in blanket all around. With bricks lined the bottom. Still in the works tho. I need to rigidize it and still coat refractory about 1in maybe a half in then i want to do a itc 100 but its out of my price range. I have 5lbs of alumina oxcide 5lbs of zerconium 3lbs of silica sand 2lbs of kaolin clay and a big xxx bag of cat litter with the sodium hydroxide to go with it. Ive heard it can be done with the keolin and zerconium. im guessing the zirconium could work due to its high heat gloss for clays but i dont want to put it on just yet im not sure if its a good idea or not. If anyone could throw me a bone on your thoughts it would be mutch appreciated