Goods

There is the possibility that the cylinder ports are to small for the desired flow rate also. It not uncommon for us to drill out cylinders port to improve machine cycle times at work. (Usually pneumatic cylinders thought.) Anyone ever consider putting an accumulator in the system. You could size the accumulator to the same size as the cylinder and pump GPM would be almost meaningless. Just need enough time to recharge the accumulator between cycles. David

I used a tall 8” stump/limb for mine. Cut a slot in the bottom for a 2x4, then used 2-2x4s as diagonal braces down to the base 2x4. Lag bolted everything to a 4’x4’ sheet of 3/4 plywood. Very stable, except in the direction perpendicular to the jaws.

Threads not done yet. It’s still laying on the ground!

I could take a lot of effort to get that running “good”, even if the motor is the only part that needs replaced. It looks like some of the previous repairs are not the best. Also on the resale market, I wouldn’t expect much more than half the original price, so be careful about putting much cash into it. That price may not be too far off through, depends how well it runs and how fast you want to move it. Not trying to scare you off, just make sure you know what you could be getting into. David

I would make the trip to look at it for two reasons. First, the anvil cost bubble hasn’t burst yet, so 3/# is not bad. Second, if this happens to be an estate sale from a blacksmith, you never know what else could sweeten the deal. David

These are not built particularly stout, our logistics group is always tearing them up. (Not that they’re easy on any equipment!) Power hammer is definitely out of the question. It could be a good steel resource, but you may be able to get some cash on the resale market if you can get it running well at a low cost. That’s if it worth you time. Just my two cents, David (looks like Thomas types faster than me)

Jennifer, are you referring to the tool rest on the grinder or the actual guard. Too much gap on a tool rest is dangerous, and removing it can be much safer if it is not needed. The guard well that’s another story. (not trying to comment on your actions, but meant for the general reader, and I agree about personal responsibility completely.) On the bench grinder note, I managed to take a large portion of flesh of my finger Sunday. It was a momentary lapse of attention. Got distracted and reached to the switch to turn off the grinder while not looking and fed my finger straight into the stone. Completely my fault... Always know where you hands are around any type of powered equipment! I got lucky, could have been worse. David

You may want to look a the thread “Justin’s Smithing Progression”. He just came across similar weights and the was some discussion on uses. If you have two, with some work, you could end up with both an anvil and a rotary swage. David

Are those steel or cast iron? I may have missed it somewhere...

In one of Joey van der Steeg’s videos, he setup up to punch and drift a hole near the end of a bar by first folding the end over and forge welding it. That gave him a continuous fiber flow around the end of the bar. It seems like a wrapped eye done out of order, but it seemed to work. Anyone know if this was common practice with wrought iron in the past? David

Chris, my flatter was a cheap 1.5# lump hammer which I upset one face. It ended up being a slightly rounded 2” square face that I forged as flat as I could the filed dead flat. The I put about a 1/16” deep by 1/2” wide shallow bevel/radius around to face and a 1/8” radius on the edges. The eye ended up pretty wonky, but it’s only a flatter and I made the handle from ash to fit it. It’s probably a bit heavy for a flatter, but it works pretty well. It was one of the first tools I made and I’ll replace it with a better one in the future when it becomes a priority. A little determination can go a long way when funding is low... Use the flatter you made a see if it work you, if not try something else. That’s one thing I loves about this craft, lots of different ways to get things done. David

I’ve used a lot of aluminum cookware in my time and I’m fine. Really, I’m fine... we’ll maybe ok...

Rebound is listed in %. 70~80% is ok, 80~90% is good, above that is excellent. Usually tested with a large 1/2”~1” ball bearing dropped from 10”, measuring the return with a scale. If you are looking for information on a specific topic search with google adding “site:iforgeiron.com”, the built in search tool is useless. I learned my lesson early on about rebound while leaning over the anvil doing some final finishing. I missed on a fairly hard blow and got lucky I didn’t break my nose with how the hammer returned...

(Of course, if your wife is still unhappy with it, I’ll be heading your direction in a couple weeks and could help you with the problem. I’m sure I can find room in the van for it...)

My sons hammer has a rubber grip on it and I can stand it, but will certainly move metal around. He used to love it, but won’t use it anymore either. Says it’s to “sticky”. Your not an odd ball, just re-handle it and you’ll probably love it.

Now that is a thing of beauty! I hope you’ve read up on not letting a grinder touch it. If you have to clean any rust off, just wire brush it. How’s the ring and rebound? You may know this already, but find something better for a stand. Those blocks are not a good idea. A good stout stump or heavy welded stand will serve you much better, and a bead of silicone caulk between the stand and anvil will go a long way in deadening the ring of the anvil. Build a JABOD, find a good hammer and put it to work. When you have questions, there will be someone here who can help. Enjoy, David

I watched it yesterday as well and throughly enjoyed it. Very inspirational, adding more to my long list of ideas... Just need more time in the forge.

I love the pattern welded face and peen, it goes very well and with the wrought body. What steels did you use in them? David

I’m not sure if I can reasonably get much more power than that to the building, but I’ll look into it. Master shut off for the shop, got it. Getting water would be pretty easy, getting waste water out, would not. Is the idea of in-floor heating a good option? I’m not familiar with that type of system or it requirements. I would also assume I would need to put insulation underneath the pad to help with efficiency there, wouldn’t that weaken the whole pad? Natural gas heat of some sort would probably work out best. I was thinking of radiant natural gas units, but those would introduce even more moisture. Ventilation, shop side will have a large man door, 9’x7’ roll up, and a window on the front and two windows on the back. Then a solid wall by the forge. Garage side 9’x16’ roll up, two windows on the opposite wall, and one window and another large man door on the remaining wall. Of course I will have a tall stack for the forge and figure out how to get a good second vent in. (I don’t want to loose all the heat in the winter.) David

The main reason for the rebar and spacing of it is for the tooling grid (2 1/2” - 1/4” wall square tube welded to the rebar intersections vertically, to give fixed rigid mounting points in the floor. I believe Frosty has this in his shop...) The purpose of using a curtain between the garage side and the shop side so I can open it up for any projects that would need more space and provide space for hammer-in in the future. I’ll have to put more thought into the 6” concrete, that could very well be overkill. Thanks for taking the time to share you thoughts, David

I’m finally getting around to replacing a falling down garage and have the opportunity to build it back with an attached shop. As it stands now, it will be a 22’x22’ garage with a 20’x20’ shop (outside dimensions), both with 10’ ceiling height. Planning on 4” concrete floor for the garage and 6” concrete floor in the shop. I’m including a 2’ rebar grid with 2 1/2” - 1/4” wall sq rude at the intersections for tooling attachment points. Separating the shop from the garage, I plan on using a curtain of heat/flame resistant material (same stuff we’ve started to use on robot weld cells are roll-up weld shutters at work) with a 2”x6” along the ceiling to cover the gap from the curtain rod and loop. I’m going to setup the buffalo forge I have with a 10” side draft stack. (Not wanting to jump into a bricked forge yet, work be difficult to reconfigure if I don’t like the setup after a year or two...) I’m think a 60amp 220v single phase electrical service. Walls insulated with foam, but not sure yet if I’m going to insulate the ceiling or the rafters. Long term I work like to have actually power equipment (drill press, band saw, 2x72 grinder, power hammer... wish list you know) I know others here have a tool grid in the floor and I thought I saw a name for it, but haven’t been able to find the name. I was planning on having 1/4” plate caps for the tube flush with the concrete, but talking with some they brought up a concern about the exposed concrete edge cast around the edge chipping/spilling away in use. Has this happened to anyone or was the edge around the cap “lined”? Anything I’m over looking or over doing? I would prefer to do this right the first time. Thanks, David

It’s funny, I was just reviewing a design standard today due to a quality issue at work and one of the materials listed for an 8.8 bolt was 1017. I was quite surprised a how long the list of acceptable material was. I was particularly looking for specs on a 11.9 bolt, and that grade was more exclusive. It’s not all in the material for making the bolt strength/toughness, much of it is in the processing. (I specifically used 8.8 and 11.9 here, because this is not a specialty of mine and was dealing with metric fasteners. Maybe a different grade standard?)

Might go over the face and horn with a wire wheel and see how it cleans up. It looks pretty rough from the pictures, but maybe it will clean up better than I think. Just make sure to use full PPE. Though wires can get you in a hurry! David

Out of curiosity, are these for personal use or are you setting up a business? From the pic they look like sellable items. Very impressed with your progression, David

Just a note of caution. What psi he is running at may not relate to how much fuel you are using at the same psi now. If you are using a much smaller diameter gas jet, your psi will have to be larger for the same gas flow. (From thermodynamics to fluid dynamics, I love this forum...)