Charlotte

I remember my neighbor had a Deere with a side flat pulley that he also used to run his hammer mill when grinding feed. Is yours like that?

Thank you for the effort.  Really serves to clear up the confusion all the way around. 

Not to be negative about the current crop of young, but one of the things that we lose by becoming an urban civilization is the contact of the young with adults in a work situation.

A week with granddad on the farm repairing fence can teach many valuable lessons.

That is a standard of excellence that many aspire to but only very few achieve.  Truly worth the price of admission just to see in person.

Had the pleasure of picking up a coil spring from a chevy one time that broken to show where the rolling mill had folded the coil so there was a cold shut down the length,

Taught me to be cautious of any spring steel that I pick up that is broken or discarded.  I've got to figure that it came to me for a reason.

Steve, I think you are very ambitious and excited.   First off, you want to look at the numerous YOU TUBE vids of bloomer operations.   Second, how big a crew do you have to help you?  There are folks in your area that are interested in the same kinds of activities you want to engage in.  Contact Them!!!!!! That is the place to start.

Our ancestors did none of  what you are proposing solo.   The solo blacksmith didn't make an appearance until the twentieth century and even in the 21st large projects need more than one person.

very pretty work Matto.   You are doing very good work.

from the shape of some of those sparks that is definitely some kind manganese steel alloy.  Local hardware shop will have a steel products rack somewhere.  get a couple of 3/8 pieces to practice on.

I second that emotion. 

Really Brian.  The folks are here to help you but,  you need to do some reading of the stickies posted here and elsewhere in I Forge Iron.

You are trying to reinvent an item that has at least 30,000 years of development by contemporary humans and hundreds of thousands of years by our early ancestors.

Before there was steel there was Iron, before there was Iron there was bronze, before bronze there was polished stone, before polished shone there was flacked stone.

Brian, no one will find if instructional if one, it is not well done, if two it does not present new information, if three the presenter doesn't  know his subject.

You have failed at this point in points one, two , three. I don't mean to be critical but many of the persons posting in this forum are professionals or semi-pros.

Read and learn and experiment.  We are interested in your experiments, and will try to help you achieve what ever goal you set for yourself.  You need to know the history before  you begin to claim something new. 

If it works for you  and you are happy with your forge then good.!    However a lot of people use the nipples etc.  because they are using the "induction" of pressurized gas escaping from a small hole to pull ambient air into and mix with the propane with out the fan.  

I actually use a hybrid system that allows me to switch from one to the other , forced air or induction, depending on the heat that I want.  I change a couple of fitting and can force air or go induction when I want to keep temp at med orange/yellow 

I tend to forget that 50 years have passed since I lived in PA.

True but temperature dominates.  However,  Hoods have to be larger and closer to the source to be effective at capturing source pollution.  One of the charms of the forge vents shown in the Hofi prints is that they have individual exhaust fans pulling the smoke and pollution out.

CO alarms are always desirable when ever fuel is burned in an enclose space.

Agrees with my experience.  I got hold of some coal that seemed like it was all clinker, and was steam coal.   Really there is nothing to be done about the clinker but buy from a different source.  You are fortunate to line in PA.   Much harder to chose your supply here in Louisiana.

Insulation is valuable under any circumstances. In the south the aluminized  reflective sheet insulation goes a long way toward cutting down the radiant heat from an asphalt shingle roof. On the walls insulation creates a lag in heat up on south and westward facing walls.  The aluminized sheets would cut cold convection from the roof and reflect any radiant heat back into your shop during the winter.  On the walls  insulation would cut the cold convection from the walls also. 

Get the Idea?  Air circulation from hot or cold surfaces is the enemy of comfort where ever you live.  That is way I see it at least. When I lived in Tennessee one of my friends inherited a house built before world war II.   He Heated the whole place with one coal stove and relied on the convection up the stair well to heat the second story.  No insulation in the walls.  A glass of water would freeze on the night stand during January.     

S hooks cold forged from copper grounding wire, like 1/4 inch, will take a lot of abuse too.  Just flatten the sides a little to reinforce the set.

Excellent!  Really great additions.  Wish I had thought of that when we did demos.

Looks like I would expect. The flame is burning back to the section in which there is an increase in size.  Out of forge doesn't really matter.  Put it back in the forge with the flare not so deep in the forge as before and increase pressure of propane and more air.  Your forge looks ok. 

Your burner  is ok.  but more air could be added  when in the forge. 

As far as the tip of the burner glowing red.... not a problem.  When the forge gets really hot it will be the at nearly the same temperature as the forge. Yellow/white.

while you have it handy you may want to get a couple of replacements for the tip.  Those things have a bad habit of melting or other wise deteriorating.

Don't obsess about the fuel pressure.  Running the pressure up and down and adjusting the air inlet are methods of regulating the temperature, atmosphere, and fuel consumption.    

Excellent work and great production.  I'd buy it for that job.

Most of the oar locks I'm familiar with are cast bronze.  Wrought Iron would be less corroded by sea water than steel but would have needed extra care.  However whale boats were intensively money conscious operations with limited life expectancy and highly industrial dirty operations.  It could have been bronze was too expensive for a disposable item. 

I noticed the same thing,  Could they be worried about fish mouth under the light hammer?

Higher temp if making Pattern welded Knives mostly.  Lower temp if only done occasionally

Kiln shelf for working bottom

Thank you for the excellent description of your process and the clear sequence of pictures.  That looks to be a great design for the ax and will be striking when fully dressed. Great

work.

The Mortar has a higher thermal resistance than your blanket does.  However, how it will work with and adhere to the blanket is open to question.  It is intended to be gunned (spayed) on to solid surface or dipped to insulating brick. I hope someone with direct experience of the product can respond. Wam-2800 is more similar to Satanite mortar than the other.  Following the application of the mortar with and application of Ict-100 will make a better application.

Without  experience with the product this is all guess work on my part.  However,  more information may help  other better informed readers help you.  A design of your proposed application would help.

Being meticulous  in cleaning up after each step helps prevent the mystery scratches.    That applies to all phases and materials to be polished.  If a new scratch appears you have to go back to the grit that caused it to remove it normally.  Yes, soft materials are a bit more difficult to polish and require softer grits.  Jewelers rouge seems to work on most mild steels in my experience.  A soft muslin buffing wheel would help.