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I Forge Iron

bluerooster

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Everything posted by bluerooster

  1. A couple pics of the project. End yet to be welded And what appears to be a cold shut at the end of the low carbon center. Also looks like a small issue at the very end, but I think that will be gone when it's finished.
  2. Got the "hot dog" welded to the "bun", all but one end. Took several heats, but it's stuck together. Was going to finish up that not welded end, but decided to clean up the fire first. pulled it apart, reached in with the hook and pulled. Fire fell out the ash dump, and grate turned up on end. Clinker had stuck it's self to the grate and when I pulled, grate, clinker, and all came out. Lost the fire, and need to re-install the grate. So, I'll do that tomorrow. Need another bag of coal anyway. Once I get the last bit welded, I'll work on drawing and shaping at, or very near welding heat, for the first couple of trips down the blade. Question for ya'll: When working a long bar, is it best to work from heel to toe, or toe to heel? (heel being the part you're holding) Or doesn't matter as long as the outcome is the same. I can only work about 3 inches at a time at welding heat. Something I didn't consider when I started this project is the loss due to scale on the outside. I'll continue to completion, but I'm afraid it may not work out as planned. The thought was that the outer layer is 1/4" high carbon steel, folded to make 1/2" (1/4 on each side) so the low carbon that I put in the middle, I made about 3/8" thick, at the spine, tapering to about 1/8" to fit the fold. As I was welding it together, I found that the outer layer seems to be getting thinner, while the inner is staying about the same. First time doing this, so I'll learn what not to do as I go. Anyway, I managed to get some hammer time in, and pulled enough clinker to pave the driveway. Borax makes lots of clinker.
  3. Didn't get any forge time in yesterday. Had to work on cars, so I could get to work today. So it will be the weekend before I get back to the forge project.
  4. I've repaired many hammer handles that way while on the job.
  5. I've been working cold steel since 1982, in the autobody repair business. I'd gotten to the point that I can usually make sheet metal do what I want it to with hammer and dolly. After watching an episode or two of FIF, I figured that I can do that. After all, I've been moving cold steel for near 40 years, hot steel moves easier, right? That's when I started to learn. I fabricated a "forge". Bottom blast trench, to burn charcoal. My anvil was a couple of stacked plates of 1/2" steel. I was able to heat metal, and beat metal, but, not what I wanted. Burned a lot of charcoal, to get very little done. My first welding attempt turned into a splat of sparks, and nothing left. (hit too hard) I had a little metallurgical knowledge gleaned from one of the shops where I worked. We did a lot of restoration work on old cars. With a motto of "That which can't be had, can be made". Our machine shop came straight from the turn of the century, (late 1800's/early 1900's) We had a lath, bandsaw, and shaper. All run from flat belt on overhead shaft. We also had, upstairs, a home made surfacing machine, and Souix valve grind machine. I was handed a copy of The Machinery Handbook From 1948, and was told "this is your bible". I learned a lot reading that book. Anyway, back to the forge. My charcoal forge wasn't very efficient and lump charcoal being cheap per bag, but expensive in the number of bags required. I decided to build a coal forge, and did. While it wasn't the very best to be had, it worked well, with a hairdryer for a blower. My first coal fire was, well, I'm glad the neighbors aren't close. Green coal smokes, a lot! But the forge worked quite well. But was not well designed, and rather thin material. I used it for quite some time, but decided to build another, of better design. I don't recall why I built the third design, but it's the best of them all. While we "trust in rust", The rust flakes from an overhead hood cause clinker, and lots of it. I built a side draft which works surprisingly well as long as the wind doesn't blow too much. I've learned lots of things blacksmithing. from IFI, Jennifers videos, and Black Bear Forge, and that guy from Europe that doesn't talk much. I built a decent anvil from a five foot long 250 pound piece of steel, and am still using it today. The majority of smithing has been making tools to work with. Tongs, chisels, punches, hardy tools, post vise, etc. I learned how to make fire pokers, thumb latches, hinges, hooks, tried a few leaves, bottle openers, church keys (which require a special punch), Gas keys (another special punch), dragon heads, Very few blades, which is why I started smithing. But that's OK. I did make a dagger, and a drawknife, a couple of letter openers, and some junk blades. Lot's of junk blades. The beautiful, and varied work shown here is what keeps me going to try new (to me) things. I've yet to find a blacksmith within a days drive from here, but I can buy smithing coal local. go figure. Lots of farriers around, and I guess enough of them use coal to warrant the local farrier supply to keep it in stock. The ones that I know use propane. I would like to meet up with a local smith, but it seems that there aren't any. So, the school of hard knocks is where i'll learn. I would like very much to get out to visit some of the members on here before I get too old to do so.
  6. Didn't follow me home, but followed our adopted daughter home. Bell from an old wall phone. Now what to do with it.
  7. Got a little forge time in today. Decided to make a blade from a piece of 94 year old leaf spring. (I have a bunch of that stuff from Model A Ford) Got started thinking of micro fractures and what-all. So, rather than give up on it, I thought about giving it a low carbon internal "spine" to hold it all together. So, I hot cut a length of about 10", then folded it like a hotdog bun, and set it aside. Got a piece of 5/8" square stock and made about 9.5" of it to fit the "bun", and left the rest for a handle. Got it all cleaned up, and fluxed, then decided to put out the fire, clean the forge, and be ready to weld it all together tomorrow. I don't know how it will work but I'll know more tomorrow.
  8. DNAdave, Nice towel rack. I was a voracious reader from about second grade on. I would read almost anything written on paper. Mom had a set of encyclopedias that also had a set of books filled with short stories, and longer stories. I read almost every one of them by the 5th grade. Some of the books that were required reading for school, I didn't read simply because they didn't hold my interest. Just not my type of reading. If it wasn't a story that I could relate to, it didn't hold my interest.
  9. Daswulf, Most of the younger guys that I've worked with would rather replace parts, than to repair. So they soak up all the gravy, while I'm stuck with the big money jobs. But that's where the "tricks of the trade" really shine.
  10. Rojo, rivet setter or not, those are some very nice looking ladles.
  11. Torch welding aka gas welding, has been around for many years, and is still in use today. especially handy when all you have is a torch. Tens of thousands of airplanes were welded together with a torch, not because that's all they had at the time, but because it was deemed the best way to do it for structural integrity.
  12. Good lookin' banjo hanger. And a nice big shear, you should be able to cut up some pretty heavy sheet with that. I finished up the tongs, then made a bottle opener. I tried to put a diamond on the end of it, but it came out all wonky. I'll find out if it works shortly.
  13. I'm wondering if the OP found the trouble with his forge. He mentioned that there was some coke left that his grandpa used, and that it was rather large chunks. I wonder how his grandpa used that coke. Did he break it up into smaller pieces, or us it as is? Could that have a bearing on his problem?
  14. Arthur210, That's a real nice spoon. Today I pinned the tongs together, and made some adjustments. I'm not satisfied with them at all. Made another set following a video on YT. (Thanx Jennifer) and I think they will do way better. still have some tweaking to do, but I can tell already they are a vast improvement over the method i was using. Even the rivet came out better. Alexandr, I like those "fleur de lis" brackets on the beams. That's a nice touch. But -13c is way too cold for me.;)
  15. No I didn't. But it's still in the back of my mind. I burned a lot of coal upsetting the ends for the jaws. And I haven't had much forge time since Jan. anyway. Had to rebuild the exhaust hood due to rust, then had to move a bunch of stuff around, to accommodate the side draft hood, which required me to re-mount the vise which i haven't done yet, because I want to replace the stump with a better one. Then My tractor has a flat tire, (I need the tractor to move the new stump) I had to order new tires online, and just got them, but no tubes. So it will be next weekend before I can get the vise mounted again. I sure miss that little vise. I don't know how I got on without it.
  16. Went to the scrapyard today, found a bucket full of 3' x 5/8" square stock, but was already spoken for. Came back and worked at cleaning up the shop. Found and fixed a fuel leak in the shop heater. Small pinhole on the bottom of the tank, causing diesel to soak into the wood floor. Then out to the forge to draw out the reins on the tong project. For some reason the camera can see in the dark better than I can. I thought I had them in pretty good shape, the camera tells me there's more work to be done. Guess I need to put a light in the smithy.
  17. That was quite interesting. I plan to watch the rest of them. Good find.
  18. It would take two or three of the boxes that you just got to hold all my tools, between work and home. But the most used daily tools will fit in a tool tray from a carry box. And that's where they live on a shelf under the drawers. Here's a pic of the tool box that I've used at home for about 24 years. When I got my current job last year I needed a toolbox for work. so I put doors that can be secured, and took it to work. The drawer pulls are bought, the door handles/thumb latches, and hinges. are forged by me from scrap. Top drawer is standard wrenches, middle is standard sockets, ratchets, extensions, and Torx, Bottom drawer is various and sundry items, screw drivers, pliers, punches, files, etc. Shelf holds various power tools, Bottom holds another set of drawers with all metric stuff. Most all specialty tools are in their own cases, and fit on the shelves on either side. Hammers, dollys, etc, fit on the bottom left, along with battery impact, and drill. Yes, toolboxes are like cars, they lose about 1/3 of the value before the ink is dry on the sales agreement.
  19. Daswulf, That sounds about right. Matco, and Snap-itoff come by the shop regular. I haven't seen Cornwell Around or I would check it out. As for tool boxes, they're nice boxes, but dang, they're pricey. I prefer to spend the $ on what goes into the box, rather than the box it's self. Boss bought a new box from Snap-on, to the tune of $12k+ after trade in of his old one. We need a R1234 machine more than he needed a new box. Oh well. I'll stick with my old box, and keep it full of quality tools. And keep an eye out for more of those $36 deals at the scrap yard.
  20. Daswulf, How do Cornwell prices compare to other dealers like Matco, Mac, or Snap-off?
  21. Goods, That's a real nice picket. Les L, I've got a V swedge, and used it as well. I started out by opening it just slightly, heating it, then flux, and tighten. Then slowly brought it up to welding heat, and held it there to allow it to soak through. Clamped it in the vise and twisted it tight as I could, more flux, then back in the heat. Then to the V block tapping and turning as to tighten it more. It seemed to be getting solid by the third welding heat. And also considerably smaller cross section than what I started out with. I continued to work it a high heat, just on the verge of fuming, bright yellow. For a few more heats, then started drawing and shaping at a bright orange/red heat. Just in hopes that the wires will continue to merge under the hammer. I'll post pic of the results. Cable, and blade made from it. One of the delaminations. And another,
  22. Yes it is a workout. I guess hammer in the direction of the lay, as to tighten it up under the hammer.
  23. I've just about given up on cable. I end up with cold shuts all the way through it. And don't know about them until I'm just about finished with the project. Anyway, I got a little forge time in today. Tried to make another basket twist, but I couldn't get the weld to take on one end. The other end set just fine. I thought I had this end set, but after another heat, it blew apart, and can't get it to stick again. I've done about 5 or 6 of these, without too much trouble. But this one is being a pain. One thing I did differently today is, I didn't tie the ends together. I usually tie them together with a bit of tie wire. Mabe that's what it is. The tie keeps things in place and doesn't let them move around. So, I set it to the side, and set about the task of flat jaw tongs, and a rivit to hold them together. I still need to draw out the reins, punch the hole, and dress them up. \ Also managed to fabricate a big old clinker.
  24. Waiting on some material that was supposed to be in on the 22nd of last month. Just the last couple of items before covering.
  25. Went to the local scrap yard today. Got a tool cart, and a chunk of Aluminum. $36.
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