junker

So my mother's birthday is really soon and I want to make her a mini-rose and bend the stem around to make a ring... so what is the easiest rose to make (doesn't need a whole lot of detail, going to be small)?

Lol I think I hit a raw nerve on some ppl with this question lol

Lol ok, ok, so I have now been edumacated in what hand- made truly is lol

The way I see it is that a sport is for self improvement, even if you're not the greatest at your sport, you persist at it to keep yourself healthy and in shape. Take for example that I do swimming, surfing, and weightlifting (heavy) I have dislocated my right shoulder (hammer arm) around 8 times... yet you just don't quit... not because I'm the best at it, but because I know it's best for me physically... and it shows at the forge, first day I did any forge work I was able to swing a hammer for hours with minimal tiring... got my dad out there and he was done in less the 30 minutes... so, even if you don't do the sport because you're good, do it because you never know when it'll come in handy.:p

Would "lite 'r' not" work instead of stabilized wood... like, is it the same thing essentially?

Is it possible to do this at home or does it need to be shipped out to be professionally done?

could someone explain to me exactly what stabilized wood or horn is? i have looked it up on google but all i could find were large complicated terms... could someone explain it simply? lol:p

ok so after examining the press in the daylight, MY WELDS ACTUALLY HELD!!! it's just the rest of it that failed... the support rods bent and caused the rack to flex which bent the piece of C-channel i had for the base plate

i went through a 50ibs bag in about 4 hours, but from the way it was burning if you had a hand crank blower that didn't constantly push air and you had a shallower forge made for coal (the hot spot is only about 3-4in up) so you didn't have to pile it up so high and you know how to handle a clumping fuel, i think you could easily make it last 10 straight hours( just a rough estimate from someone who knows nothing about coal, wich it seems to work like)

yes just whole corn, no treatment, i just bought a bag of normal corn... it usually comes in bags for hog feed or for puting in deer feeders (the only problem with deer feeder corn is that sometimes it has additives for attracting or increasing size of deer, essentially deer steroids) it flames up nicely, although it is quite a tall flame, a whole lot taller than charcoal, although i don't know how it compares to coal seeing as i have never used coal. it clumps very well and looks works exactly how i have always heard coal described as working. although when i used it, the hot spot was rather low in the fire (although that could be from my horrible forge) based from what i saw i would suggest a wide rellatively shallow firepot (like an oxygen tank top) to any1 who wants to give it a try. It put 1/2in round stock up to yellow in about 15-30 seconds and it makes an excelent beehive. the only problem i had with it were trouble heating certain portions of the stock(although that was from bad forge design) so all in all i think that corn is a whole lot better option than charcoal for anyone who is willing to give it a try, on that note i would like someone wo is experieced in coal to give it a try ond give us all a side by side comparison.

thats a good idea... ill try that next time... also next time after i draw out the front (i like to use round stock for tongs) im going to hinge it while they're still straight and then bend the curved part around a piece of pipe so that they are even.

i welded up the bottom rack of my forge and just started to use it last night. during using it the rods that support the rack bent and caused the rack to flex and break the welds... anybody have an idea how to fix thiss problem?

ok so i tried out using corn yesterday to make a pair of tongs... i deffinently like corn a whole lot better than charcoal... i would deffinently suggest corn to all the new people out there. that being said... using a fuel that properly clumped showed me that i def need a new forge that actually works properly. but all in all.... GO CORN!! lol :p

ok so since my first pair of tongs broke i decided i had to make a second pair. these are ok, ut im dissapointed with the pin i made... it's too thin and i messed up the peening on the other side... during this i deffinently figgured out a better way im going to try next time.

Oh... and do you have to have a special forge to use corn?

Thanks for the great responses, especially frosty. And you're right, this is more of an ethical question than a practical one... but I think the jist of the responses that I'm getting are this: if there was a human in direct contact with the piece, directly applying his/her skills, no matter the mechanical help applied, the piece should be considered hand- made.

can a piece forged wit the aid of a press or power hammer truly be called hand made? or for those who strive for only hand made things, only use a hammer?

very nice... gotta love the fine detail and the self portrait :p

i have though long and hard about the air over hydaulic jacks... but even from harbor freight they're around a hundred dollars... i don't have that much in the press itself... so the well saught after air over hydraulic jack is going to have to wait while i save for a new forge and FABA membership :(

thanks for the reply... while it hasn't yet been used for forging my dad has been using it for what it was origionally designed for (pressing bearings) GHASP! so it is currently sitting in his shop:p

this is a question for anyone out there with experience with corn forges. have you found corn to be easier or harder to work with than charcoal? is it more efficient? does it reach the same heats? how high up in the pile is the "hot spot"? and anything else anyone can think of.

I was wondering about it for pure curiosity's sake... and thanks for the info to look up wrought iron bloomery... that got me what I wanted with a quick google search... as I have said before this server rocks... if the info isn't known, some1 knows a way to find it lol :p

So I need to build a new forge because my old, brake rotor, forge is to small for what I usually work... I have noticed that for one I am having trouble fitting enough of the stock into the forge to properly heat the pieces I work... another problem other than length is depth... I find that I end up having to build a very large pile to gain enough heat and most of the heat is too high up to properly use without wasting copious amonts of charcoal... so given these few facts... what type of forge would you suggest I build?

I was worried about that too frosty... but how close the top and bottom are together in the pic is on purpose... that un-extended... hoping that by being so close it'll be fast enough :)

I am debating joining FABA... would any current or former members post their thoughts and other general things like how the people where so as to help me decide... thanks