Justin Topp

Yea I think the biggest issue is when it shifts from 30 to 75 in a few days and not gradually. It’s supposed to cool back down to the mid 50s so pretty good weather. Still gonna have my fan on when forging though

Weird hook thing to hang my twisting wrench from my vise stand

Bear in mind I prefer the winter over summer. And I’m still used to winter weather. This is laughable to you all I’m sure but it was not Much wind. no clouds so super sunny and 75 degrees. Hot to me. And considering the snow last week it felt hot. And my forge is up wind (Of the small amount there was) so the heat all went directly at me.

Too hot for me to comfortably forge today so I added a rack and some walls to my vise stand to hold tongs and prevent punches and stuff from rolling away between heats

It sits inside and has no rust. Although I’d probably just lockout the aluminum ones before I started. Don’t gonna attempt it for now but eventually it could be a fun challenge

I might give lathe shavings a try. I know a guy with one. A bucket full of spirals a few feet long. Hardest part is sorting the aluminum from the steel. Though I suppose once it’s up to temp the aluminum will have melted away

I post pretty much everything here! Once it’s summer I’ll be attempting a bog iron smelt with some ore I was given!

Thanks. The jacket didn’t harden much but the file core hardened nicely. I definitely lost more carbon than I gained. Fairly shallow anthracite fire and all. Trying different Things is one of my favorite aspects of this craft. I am 16 as of April 28th I started getting serious in November 2018. Perfect timing considering I had to deal with a consistent freezing temperatures and snow haha

Ya I know it’s not a bloom. Just saying it acts a lot like one in how you process it! Thanks

Finished the knife and I’m very happy with how it turned out. Nicholson file core. The jacket is a lot lighter/whiter than expected so I think it was either pure iron at that point or very close to it. Either way cool pattern.

Here is the knife as forged. Etched pictures will come later

Thanks CGL! Also Chris your advise was great. Etching knife now and it’s phenomenal

Thanks. Also made a little 0.75 lb hammer for my neighbor. Will get a hackberry handle.

I’ve got an old file I could use I suppose. No other use for it really.

Fair! I guess this is damascus ?

Haha. Except it’s much too small for an 8/3s hole. Well unless we are measuring with some obscure unit

Found some steel I had badly very burnt at one point basically into a iron bloom. So I treated it like one and worked it into a bar of useable stock. Forge welding and consolidating with sand as a flux. It worked and it still is steel so I suppose it could be called “wrought steel?”

Oops haha yes I meant forklift forks. First I made a pair of bolt tongs to hold 1/2 inch stock and I made a Bolster plate for 3/8” holes and I may or may not have forgotten you have to orientate stamps correctly

Thanks everyone! And are hammers and stuff from the bigger pallet. Top tools and hardy tools from the smaller!

So it was recently my birthday and my dad got me some pallet forks for forging and 1000lbs of coal! Also won a giveaway and got some high quality flap disks and wire wheels along with 4 large block brushes so I’m set for a long time! Now to forge a hammer!

JLP that bit of equipment has so much reforging potential. Lots of really nice sized bar stock and the axel I imagine would make some great tools like fullers or hammers. If it’s medium carbon that is. Thomas I know what your talking about but those are not really around here because there’s towns close enough that people just haul it grit stuff to town to dispose of it. I wish I could find some cheap wheels Or other sources of WI easier. But unfortunately there isn’t much really old equipment around here. And what there is usually gets scrapped or used for display. I’ve been unable to find a scrap yard that lets me buy from them directly. I always look out at auctions for old wrought iron stuff like the horse shoes I got. It’s around I just have trouble finding it. I’ll keep an eye out this summer if there are auctions again. Assuming the virus settles down

Hmm that’s a great use for spokes. Not the strongest I’m sure but better than throwing them away! Thanks

Ok thanks Frosty and Irondragon F&C. I’m asking because it’s cheap and worst case scenario I resell it at the same cost. Or just use the mild steel. My mistake. I’m not great with terminology. I had suspected it would likely be all wrought but if it wasn’t no big deal. I’ve fallen in love with wrought after messing with it.

I found this wagon wheel and axel cheaply and I planned on buying it for a potential source of wrought iron and I was wondering if any of the other metal bits Besides the main rim are Likely wrought? Such as the bolts or the little loops around the hub. And generally the other bits of metal? Thanks

A simple hook