louspinuso

Just found this thread and figured I'd post my improvised anvil. It's a 2 inch thick piece of steel I picked up from the scrap yard for $38 bucks. It weighed in at 110 lbs and my brother in law welded it to a piece of railroad I had. Seems to work pretty nice. I'm going to try cutting a hardy hole on one end. And here's a rebound test in case anyone is wondering. Wish me luck!

No, the price in eBay was the price I paid, including shipping

Not sure if you're asking me or eventlessbox but at this time I don't know how another forge should work so I'm happy with how it heats. I haven't tried forge welding yet as I'm a total newb and I don't feel I'm there yet. Soon I'll be going to visit my brother in law who is a farrier and he said he'd teach me a few things on his forge, then I'll have something to compare it to. (Might pack up my forge and bring that also so I can do side by side comp).

good luck Rocket Scientist. If I had the space and cash for it I would've called the guy myself. I've been eyeing it since he had it listed for $700. Let me know how it goes.

I had a 386DX-20 that I overclocked to 40 Mhz. I still remember my first computer, the Tandy Color Computer II. Taught me more about programming at 12 than I would learn until I hit college (and I took every computer class I could find in High School). Now I spend my days working on networks and dreaming of having enough money to spend my days in the shop.

How much do you have? I'm asking because you may want to just experiment with it. The fact that it contains a cement product implies to me that this is a curing product so you would have to keep it moist and let it cure. The application doesn't sound much different than how concrete (gunite? shotcrete?) is applied to forms to make pools and I know you can lay concrete by hand. Also, when working with any concrete/mortar mixes, if you don't have exact directions on volumes of water (or other liquid) to dry powder, always err on the side of too little and add water sparingly (like drops or teaspoon fulls) and mix again. You'd be surprised how little water can get you from "almost perfect" to "soup".

bzrkr, I know you said you emailed Vesuvius, but where did you get that product? I'm pretty sure that re sellers in the US need to be able to provide certain safety and data sheets for material they carry and it might be quicker to get an answer from that source.

Maybe someone on the board has used it and can give you instructions, but your best resource for getting that information is to contact the manufacturer. I tried looking on their website but I can't seem to find the MSDS for that product.

This is me on any given day when dealing with most of the younger IT guys. I used to think that if I didn't keep up the younger guys would eat me alive as I got older. Turns out companies and other people have made networks/servers/OS's and pretty much every other technical thing I deal with on a daily basis so much easier to use, that the new guys very rarely learn the basics and can't understand where something is failing along the chain in the network. But getting back to forges, seriously, trust those two. They are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The experience they're willing to share here is a blessing and if they tell you something is a bad idea, I'd definitely avoid it. Good luck in your journey from the Gulf side.

Eventless, looking good. I wish I'd have more time on my forge these last few weeks, but now that we are short at work and my wife has me on some other home projects, it'll be another week or two before I get back to the forge. If I didn't live in a community, I'd just beat on steel at 11 pm, but the neighbors are all trying to sleep at that time.

Looks good Eventless. I can't wait to see the progress you make with this guy.

Mikey, I'll have a look at that sticky. TBH, I thought the only way to get hotter is to dump more fuel (increase the psi on the propane) and give it more air. If there's a cheaper and more energy efficient alternative, I'm all for it. Thanks. Eventless, That looks really nice. I can't wait to see it all fired up and heating metal. Also, I'm not sure why my replies all keep getting "merged" instead of being separate replies

Ok, I think this will be my last post in this thread, but just to make sure it's complete, I present to you the final video where the burners are hooked up to propane and then inserted into the forge itself. The audio is terrible, I apologize. I wanted this video to be narrated as I went so I could show all the steps involved in putting the burners together. In the future I'll either make sure I have a good mic or I'll just narrate them as I did the previous videos. Anyway, thank you all for your encouragement and help. I now need to practice my hammer blows and temperature management. Then I can try to make useful things. Here's the video if you're interested.

ok, so looks like the pics I thought I took don't exist. The only pic that I do have is a piece of 1/2 inch rebar that I was beating on for probably about 15 minutes, just flattening a 2 inch section at the tip. The lines in the end there are because on my last heat, as I was losing temperature, I decided to try to use the cut edge of my railroad track anvil to try to put a crease in it. It didn't occur to me until after everything cooled off that instead of holding it at a 45 to the corner and hitting it from the side, I should've just placed it flat on the track with part of it hanging over the edge and try to bend it that way. Live and learn, I guess. Right now I've only got a 32 oz. ball pein (peen?) and a 3 lb. sledge. I know I need to get some more tools, but first I want to practice hammer strikes. I'm not sure how much more useful this thread can become now that the forge is firing and running and I'm heating steel so I guess anything more should result in a new thread with my practice work. To that end, I was looking for the right forum for beginner help (tips, tricks, useful practice excercises, etc.) and I couldn't seem to find one easily. Any suggestions where something like that would belong? Thanks for all the support, you guys really are the best.

Looks like my hands are getting soft. The outside temp is about 345 on the side at the mid level and a little over 410 on the top and about 360 on the bottom (Fahrenheit). At about 5 psi it seems to operate great to get me to a bright orange with the intake open only about 1/4 inch. I'm going to edit some photos down to size and past then soon