pnut

That screw looks to be about the same size as the screw in a lally jack post. One of the jacks you see in old basements supporting the floor joists above. You may be able to scavenge the parts there. I'd look into it. Pnut(Mike)

Lucky you. I groped around the internet for a week or two before I came across this forum. Once you see how easy to construct and how well they work you'll be amazed at the jabod style forge. Not only are they easy to build, cheap,and work well they are versatile. You can change the depth, width, etc as needed. It's as simple as getting out the trowel or rearranging a couple bricks. It'll let you figure out what works best for you before fabricating a more permanent set up. When I make a more permanent set up it's probably still going to be a clay firepot forge. If you really do want to build a gas forge I'd still build a jabod. As Charles R. Stevens said above, "Build it on Friday forge on Saturday." , but a gas forge takesa lot of tinkering to tune the burner and get everything dialed in. There's lots of waiting on drying and curing etc. With a jabod you can be forging while you are waiting for the refractory to dry and supplies to arrive and so on. Good luck. Pnut (Mike) OH and to answer your question about the jabod getting hot enough the answer is yes. You can burn steel in it If you're not paying attention. You can do everything with a jabod you can do with any other similar sized forge, weld, forge, burn up stock into a sparking mess. It'll do it all ;-)

Does anyone remember the Amiga 1000 In the early eighties my uncle had a Western Union location. They were using teletype machines at that point. Load"*",8,1

They look very well made. I'm using my phone so I can't see them so well but the bosses look excellent. Almost like they were made with a swage. Good score for twenty bucks. I'd have snatched em up with the quickness. Pnut (Mike)

Remember you can change them to what you do need. They look well made. The bits and reins can be modified. Pnut (Mike)

Simple is best. I've only been at this about five months and everything I've tried that has been simple has worked great. Everything complicated.....not so much. Oh that hold fast doesn't need to be motorcycle chain any appropriate sized chain will work, motorcycle chain just lays flat. Pnut (Mike) Good luck and have fun.

That's a good idea Glenn, I don't know why that never occurred to me. Ring on the end of the chain or just stepping on the end of it is what I thought. I like the pedal type tensioner. Pnut (Mike)

A chain hold fast is anchored on one side of the anvil you put your work on the anvil face put the chain over it and keep tension on the loose end of the chain with your foot freeing up your tong hand to hold the chisel. Pnut (Mike)

Have you ever seen a motorcycle chain holdfast? One of those and a chisel profiled for hot cutting and your in business. You did mention nerve damage so this is assuming you can hold a chisel. Pnut (Mike) I cut smallish stock on the unprofiled 90 degree flange on my RR track anvil.

Makes sense. People do love things that used to be other things. That's why people buy RRspike knives and wrench bottle openers ;-) Pnut (Mike)

BillyBones, thats near paint Creek and cabin Creek where the mine wars took place back in the 1920's isn't it. I have family in Perry and Letcher Co's. Pnut (Mike) The national guard dropped artillery shells From biplanes on the miners striking against J.H. Blair. The only time the US military bombed US citizens on purpose. Pnut (Mike) It ended on Blair mountain West Virginia

You usually need a few inches of fuel on top. I'm by no means an expert but that would be the first thing I'd try. Pnut (Mike)

Do you have the bricks along the nine inch side of the trench? A brick on either side of the trench lets you pile fuel on top of the work. I believe a trench works better for charcoal. What are you using for your air supply? Pnut (Mike)

I think a glove on my hammer hand is uncomfortable. In the video it made it harder to see the hammer pivot between his thumb and index finger. Pnut (Mike)

Frosty, I wasn't a fan of the gloved hammer hand either but seeing what was meant was much easier for me to get than reading it. seeing it I knew exactly how to do it. Reading about it I thought I knew how to do it. Pnut (Mike)

I would try to make the dies out of easily accessible stock size. It will make it harder in the future if you have to have an odd size of stock to make more tooling. Glad to see you're thinking ahead. Pnut (Mike)

BillyBones, I'm a Reds fan also. You gotta be a glutton for punishment to love the Reds. The life of a Reds fan can be rough. I don't personally know the guy from Christ centered ironworks but I can look past the foibles you pointed out because he does good work. I seen a video by Josh Greenwood from Greenwood ironworks that explained holding a hammer correctly better than any other I'd seen iirc it is called a beginner. It's a few minutes into it but I found it the easiest to understand explanation of proper hammer technique so far. Pnut (Mike) Cannoncocker that's a pretty simple stitch to learn If your wife would rather stitch white leather instead of skinning baseballs.

Not much different than my setup. Side blast jabod RR track anvil but I don't have a shelter. That shop would be a step up. Pnut (Mike)

BJ, the link Glenn posted is the one I was thinking of. Pnut(Mike)

BEJ431, black bear forge is a good source. There's a section here with some recommended videos. You really do have to be careful in the beginning what and who you're listening to. As frosty said a lot of them their only qualifications are a camera and an internet connection. Starting out it's hard to discern good advice from bad advice. A lot of youtubers have no more experience than you. IFI will keep you on track. Good luck. Pnut (Mike)

Let me once again say I'm not a very experienced smith but If I were standing in front of that forge I would heap coal above the top of the firepot and see if that fixes it. If that doesn't work I would increase the blast with coal piled up. It looks like you have to add more coal anyway. You need a few inches of coal above the work. That would be how I would troubleshoot the problem. It's going to take some experimenting to dial in your forge. Each one is different. You're going to have to find out how your forge works best for you. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful but what I said above is exactly how I figured out how to get the fireball where I want it in my forge. Good luck I'm sure you'll sort it out directly. Pnut (Mike) If neither of those things work then maybe raise the grate.

Slag, I debated mentioning it's use in the mining industry but decided against it. It's used in milkshakes too. Pnut (Mike) The brand name of the product I found most easily is cabosil. It may be a hyphenated word but I can't remember. It's sold for marine repair. iirc it's fairly inexpensive.

Charles R. Stevens, you've made me a full on clay filled forge convert. Pnut (Mike)

X-ray florescence or optical emission spectrometry would give the most accurate analysis but like frosty said who knows how much money that might cost. Pnut (Mike)

I agree Steve. A gas chromatograph mass spectrometry test would be the best way to find out exactly what it is and what percentage of each compound or element it contains. No guesswork involved. Pnut (Mike)