Hefty

Hi All, I posted a while back in the Intro forum and about my JABOD but I thought it was about time I joined the list here! I'm from the southside of Brisbane (actually, technically in Logan), in Daisy Hill. Just starting out. My original plan was to jump straight into knife making but I took some of the advice I read on here and I'm building up my basic blacksmithing skills first. I'm really glad I did, I'm loving it!!! I just need one of the following, either: 1. a more efficient way to burn charcoal in my JABOD (going through too much, too quickly) 2. coke instead of charcoal (with a taller fire bowl and a smaller fire ball I gather it will use less fuel) or 3. to build a gas forge (I WILL do this but it will be a little more long term) SOO much to learn! Anyone else in south east QLD that I can bother? Cheers, Jono.

Yep, I've started reading them. My current stump may be too high to mount it in so I'll have to see what I can come up with.

Yeah, it was given to me by a friend who wasn't using it so I made use of it. I've recently had another friend offer me some rail road track, but I'm not sure how large a gauge it is or how long a piece so I've got some research to do.

Hi everyone, I joined recently, originally looking for info on gas burners and having stumbled across Frosty's T burner in a google search. Wow, what a eye-opening click that was. I posted in the introduction section today about how awesome I have already found this forum to be and promised I'd post some pictures of my J.A.B.O.D.D.U. (Just a box of dirt Down Under!) I started with a dodgy bottom blast made from half of an old gas bottle But a little reading on here made me think this was not a great design (I may re-purpose the outer bottle section as a fire pot for something bigger in the future) so I started my JABODDU. It's cut up pallet timber and the legs are 4 pieces of packing timber from a delivery to the school where I work as a Design Technology teacher. Here it is half filled. The tuyere is 22mm ID (7/8") held in place by the holes in two half bricks. I drilled the hole in the box frame slightly higher than the holes in the bricks which gives the tuyere a slight down-angle. It is galvanised but I stood 3" of the hot end in vinegar (it was as deep as I could cover. I hope it's enough!) overnight and scrubbed it off. What you can't see is that I put 10-15mm (about 1/2") of dirt in, then put a square of fibre cement sheet that I had from an old project in then added another 10-15mm of dirt before the bottom of the fire bowl/trench, which I moulded around a brick. The tuyere comes in about 25mm (1") above the bottom of the trench. (You can also see my little Record Anvil in the corner of the pic) And here was the first lighting. (I did add more charcoal once it was going!) Then I added a brick to bank against and had an extra one ready because I wasn't sure how I might want to configure things. You can see some tong jaws I had already started shaping in my other forge, at the bottom left of the above photo. I finished them off during the day. They are ugly but they work! This is a pic of me heating them. Oh, and this is my air supply (for now): All in all, a great day was had. I shaped a fire tool, re-worked the jaws of my first set of tongs and drew out the reins a little and then drilled and riveted them (don't have a finished pic yet), practised drawing and made a hook/ring with my 12y.o. son, flattened some 6mm (1/4") rod with my almost 10y.o. daughter and then forged and drew out the bevel on a blank for a knife from a piece cut from an old leaf spring. Oh, I also got adventurous and looked at trying some forge welding...until I held the rod in the wrong part of the fire and burnt the end (the edges were parallel when it went in!) You probably all think I'm weird but I was so excited to hook out my first clinker! (I think it was mostly just vitrified sand) I want to thank Charles R Stevens for this elegantly simple approach that got me forging fast! Cheers, Jono.

G'day everyone, My name's Jono and I'm from Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. I'll be honest and say I initially came to IFI as one of those needy, greedy users who just get what they need and go. I was looking for some info on gas forge burners for knife making. But, I found such a wealth of information and such welcoming members that I decided to stay and learn. I'm a member of a lot of different forums for different subjects and I've found you can tell pretty easily when a forum is a genuine community, and I've found that pretty quickly here. I've noted some of the advice on here and stepped back from knife making to start with the basics of blacksmithing first (well, maybe at the same time!) so I've studied as many JABOD threads as I can and Friday afternoon and yesterday I finally made and started using mine! I'm loving it but I'll start a separate thread to share photos and ask some advice. I'm sure I'll have heaps of noob questions in the next little while! Cheers, Jono

Yeah, that makes sense. It's also great news that you meant 1/4" flare to 1/4" flare to the T because I can find them in those sizes much more easily. It also means I can test ID with my existing fittings before buying something that doesn't fit. Cheers, Jono.

The mig tips I have access to are 0.6mm, 0.8mm and 0.9mm. The 0.9mm has an M6 or very close to 1/4" thread but I wasn't sure if the ID of a 1/4" flare would give enough metal to tap the thread into.

So, I've done a a little more research and I can only find a 1/8" flare to 1/8" flare union in one place, and they are out of stock. I have some 1/4" flare fittings and tube left over from a camper trailer gas install that was removed that could get me from a regulator, through a ball valve to a tee to send two 3/4" burners into a old gas bottle (propane tank) forge. But, what sort of fitting would I need to use to get from 1/8" flare going into the burner to 1/4" flare for the copper tube? I haven't found unequal flare unions. Does that even make sense? I'm reasonably new to all the thread and fitting standards. Cheers, Jono.

Thanks Lou and Frosty. I've been shopping in Bunnings which is our main big box hardware supplier but even then they only have gal fittings that I would have to vinegar soak and scrub. My closest plumbing supplier mainly stocks crimp pipe connectors and gal fittings (but no gal Ts!!!). I found one black pipe 3/4 x 1" T online, and price and shipping were a lot more than I originally expected. I'm thinking I might have to go with this one anyway. Otherwise, if I can tune with a smaller mig tip, then yes I might do that. Frosty: re the 1/8" flare to 1/8" flare, do you mean he taps the T to receive the 1/8" flare instead of the compression nut and then taps the inside of the flare for the mig tip? Oh and one more question: would a 20psi adjustable reg be sufficient for a 3/4"? if so, what about two? (Not sure if I'm going to make 2 yet, pending some forge plan decisions) Cheers, Jono.

Hi, I'm new to the forum and I'm from Australia. I've been looking for parts over here to make a 3/4" T burner and I can only find equal tee couplers (Don't get me started on all the metric conversions I have to do for all these fittings!). I have manged to find 1" male to 3/4" female reducing hex fitting (looks like someone drilled and tapped a 3/4" hole through a 1" male threaded hex plug) will this work to create a reducing T from a 1" equal T, or would this type of thing cause turbulence issues? OR, would a 3/4" equal T be better (though not as efficient as the intended design)? Any help greatly appreciated! Jono (Hefty).