SJeane

lightning hit a tree about 15-20 feet from my house and bounced and hit my room. it discharged from an outlet and set my bed on fire. long story short. everything is gone 3 guitars, my pc, all my clothes. everything. gone. just bought me a new laptop hopefully the insurance on it will come through. combined posts i tried posting this a little over a month ago, but i guess it had an error because i cant find it at all. so here it goes. lightning hit a tree right next to my house and bounced and hit my room. I was at work, my grandmaw was there but she tried taking my matress out (it and the box spring is what had caught on fire when the lightning discharged out an outlet) she got the matress out, but that was it. then she was too panicked to call some1 for help but she called my aunt and in turn she called 911. but they got there too late and nothing is left on the inside. pictures will be posted soon.

LOL 100% right about the scrap pile. i already have a pile of Steel wound cables , any idea for these? my cousin just gave me some leaf springs off an old junker he has, i've picked up a bag full or steel or iron (havent heated them yet) bolts a little less than 1" and a few railroad spikes. my anvil atm is a peace of railroad, but GOOD NEWS! in my uncles old shed i found an old rusty lookin anvil, im guessin its anywhere from 50# to 75# the only word i can read on it is "Multi *blank" Co." then it has some numbers after that. but im gunna ask what he wants for it, since hes family hopefully free! lol but getting back to the charcoal. i picked up a 20lbs. bag of hardwood lump charcoal it does pretty well. think i will tyr to find some cheaper than $9.50 without tax.

yes, i suppose i should have said charcoal on what i was trying to make, but i guess thats just like saying "gas" for gasoline and diesel or propane ect. as well as the louisianians (lol) say "Coke" refering to any carbonated drink other than beer.

thanks for the confidence booster there rmcpb Frosty: Obsidian/glass is very fun(but sharp) to work with, its nice when you put a 6" Diameter x 10" long chunk in a slab saw, then you leav your nice perfect slabs of out of state rock in a bucket to have a relative throw away because she thinks its trash....... I am still aching over that i will have to post some pic's of a few points i have made.

for my first Temp forge i used a bucket and smeared some fireplace mortar in it. i used a ceramic thermometer and with using just pieces of wood i was able to get it to 1637F degrees. i threw an old Fat screw driver in there and made a crude looking butter knife,(but it took a while, was it the wood?) i would post picks but i dont want to until i have something worth looking at lol. im thinking about ordering some Coal, Pocahantas #3 from WV it has a reasonable price can anyone recommend it? said to burn at a little over 15,000 BTU's. but before i get to ordering it i am going to try to make my own, from the BP using the drum. ATM im extremely excited, i cant wait to get some coal, and my table setup so i can really get to work!

Thanks for all the info I sent you one more email just to straighten things out.

that is def. something worth checking out. its about a 2 hour drive for me but i think it will be worth it. who knows i might could talk to some of the guys/girls and find one closer to my area. i would like to find a place that wasnt as far to travel, but with my luck it isnt looking very good.

i have read several reviews and everyone i read prefer Tung oil. no first hand experience though

just read Ted's post on his story, i would be in a very well ventilated area but i think i will just stay away lol

looks very interesting, would be a nice getaway for some of those Millionairs lol, i personally hope the buyer leaves it a village. sites like these are dwendelling down to nothing. nearly any timber'd land is owned by mills and what they sell is turned into cities, subdevisions, ect.

well i have been poking around the site for a few days, looking at material/prints and i never made a proper introduction. I'm Scotty, i've lived in Central louisiana all my life. i used to follow flint knapping circles(making arrowheads), my first glimpse at smithing was at a Knap-in (meeting) there was an indian vs white man reinactment, and as i walked around the soldiers camp i came across a man beating on some metal, but it hasnt hit me 'till nearly 2 years later that, i might want to try it. so here i am, building my forge and looking forward to great times and something to take up my free time Scotty

unsure of what they are made of, they must be pretty strong though, anyone ever forge anything with them? edit: just read somewhere that most are galv. wire, still forgeable? or too hazardous?

Working in construction, is very helpfull, this past week i've came home with 4, 10' Steel cables varied between 10-16foot were all in trash piles :P

Nice twist on the rrspike. nice twists on them all but i like the spike best :)

Thanks alot for your information. i'll get to writing that email.

Louisiana Metalsmith assc. or something? it is supposedly a branch of ABANA but i have checked out their site and it doesnt seem active.... on their meeting list it is on april of 2004 i beleive...

well i just had my first attempt at making the forge. my weekdays are pretty well shot when i get in from work, so on the way in i stopped at a Stines and picked up an Alluminum? bucket. the description didnt say, and it was fairly easy to bend, but i picked it up from the painting section, then i picked up a few tubes of Fire Mud, or something of the sort. it is safe up to 2000F degrees, i had an old steel pipe in the back of my truck from somewhere, anywho. i only put the pipe in one side and not go all the way through for the first test run. i plan on hooking it to a hairdryer (this should work huh?) since i am just starting i dont plan to be working on anything too big. in my bucket, looks about the size of a coffee can. i built it up about 2" on the botton and then about 1/2" on the sides. i will try to test burn it tomorrow if its fully dry, instructions say to build a very small fire in it and make sure its the same size for 1-2 hours and then crank the heat to 1200F degrees and then it will be properly cured. if it seems too hot i will reinforce the walls with a little clay. but this stuff is supposed to work as good as fire bricks >.< so do you guys think it will work as is? or do you think i will need some clay? but no Thomas i havent checked that yet. i will do that now.

the only smith i know in my area is Jim Daffin, which is my stepmoms stepdad. he has traveled to a few different festivals blacksmithing and i would want to ask for his help but his forge hasn't seen coal in a few years i beleive.

thanks alot for the greeting!, i havent even thought of editing my profile, i will get right on that. thanks for your input/information.

I am looking into building my first forge and this is what i have come up with. my forge is going to be in an iron oval bucket, i am going to run a pipe into it from the longest bottom side, i intend to drill holes into the pipe and then pack Clay into the bottom and up the sides and only leaving the top of the pipe exposed, i have seen this build looking around other sites and it seems like it would work well, my other choice in heat reinforcement would be furnace cement but i would have to order it off the net being that my local lowes/stines doesn't carry anything. will clay get the job done? and my main question is what kind of pipe should i use to supply the air with? i am worried about it melting, and also if someone could list their supplier of the type of pipe i need. thanks for any help.