Welshj

Got my 100lb tank filled this afternoon... after I stayed home from work with a migraine. Wife wasnt too happy with me to say the least when I fired up the forge. But the difference from the 20lb is night and day. Got a high yellow easily. Started forging on a blade for an army buddy who was my truck mechanic in iraq. He gave me my anvil, so the promise was that he gets the first good blade from it. It's being made from a piece of a leaf spring from an army truck I've held onto since 2007 when I got out. It's slow moving... 3/8" thick, with a 4lb hammer. But its moving.

I'm all for helping someone out. I'd have chased em down too.... but they second they flipped you off- you now own a welder. Finders keepers then.

I just used to collect anything and everything for years. I had torn apart at least nine vw beetle when I lived in texas- for parts. At one point in time, I could have built one just from parts. Then, while in the army- I'd grab junked parts and scraps here in there from the motorpool. When I moved, I gave away alot of pieces and parts. Now, I'm starting over.

And? Oh really.... actually that is hilarious. I'm 6'1" and the wife's 5'3"- she complains about getting in my fiat all the time. Lol... Thanks for your service brother. 4th ID Iraq vet myself.

That's awesome! Sounds like he's got a great head start on learning the meaning of working with his hands. Great year too. (My birth year) I have an affinity for little cars for some reason- especially faster ones! I have a couple, one is obviously a project & the other my daily driver. And both are the reason I'm usually broke.

Man... I'm just drooling over it. Lol..

Lol... wearing a gun, and brandishing a mask... Jhcc, no sir... I was kind of surprised just to find them period. They look to be in decent shape, paint is still glossy and not all beat up. Whats the reference to date stamp in regards to use? Think I'll have difficulty in filling?

Looks like a great space to me! I like the inclusion of planned locations for fire extinguishers! I'd suggest maybe a water tank/bucket? I've got a 5 gallon bucket that I've used a couple times already just to cool down messed up pieces of steel to prevent using my fire extinguishers!! lol. And, just curious- but what's the make of the little yellow car?

^ I like that JHCC! Well thought out, and well done. Got my forge fired up today after re-lining it. It's not much, and not exactly ingeniously done... but it's technically the first thing I've ever forged. New pull handle for the forge shed door.

Well, on the way home from work today I spotted a couple things by the roadside for sale. So, I went and grabbed the wife's jeep and drug em home for $120 for the both of em.

Went out today and cut my propane forge in half! Literally... dropped down in burner pipe size to 1" as suggested, and it seemed to heat up faster, hotter. So, to finalize the process, I cut the forge in half to drop the volume it has to heat... as well as minimize wasted space. Got tired of my work piece handle getting too hot and red. And my tongs being too short otherwise! It was a good-ish plan I think that I started with. Just wasnt practical. Got the first refractory coat curing now. Going to add another in the next few days just to ensure a good coat. Oh, and welded on a front "cover" of sorts top and bottom of the front opening for further heat retention.

Bout a year or so now since... been really trying to be alot more careful since then. Well, other than high siding a four wheeler and hitting the ground flat on my back from flying superman style.... broke two ribs there bout a month back. Imagine the surprise on the sheriff's face when I went in to renew my CHL. I asked him what I should do if my fingerprints had changed? He gave me the "you moron" look, as he said- "nothing, they don't change." Oh really? He lost a bet that day. Not healing as fast as I used to tends to make me work a little smarter. Lol... I worked for metalloy foundry in Hudson mi. in '93-'94. One of the things we made were intake manifolds for a military contract. Jump forward several years to me joining the army, and lo and behold... the humvee I'm driving has a manifold I made on it. Was kinda cool.

Yup, that'd be me... just awhile before finding this forumn. Smh. From the looks of it- close to the same forge! My brother's lent to me. That I now have to repair. The original blower on it had the original leather belt still on it. It had been converted to an electric motor drive by adding pulleys and shafts of different sizes to "under drive" the blower. I removed all that for safe keeping, and converted to a straight squirrel cage blower. Worked great for an hour or so before... uh.... parting ways? I made a flat plate from mild steel. (1/4") and drilled two holes in it to match up with the bolts holding the grate in. To that, I welded a pipe and sliced and drew it in to reduce diameter until I met my 2" air pipe diameter. To that, I welded on an angled pipe to mount the blower on- after cutting a hole in the side of the original pipe for air. I left the bottom open, with a cap... to clear ash and crud from the grate. Forgive the rough looking welds- 110v flux core wire on old rusty pipe.

New to smithing... but I've had a few. Worked in a foundry when I was much younger, pouring aluminum. Had just gotten married, three days later I bumped a ladle of molten aluminum and poured down the front of chaps and left leg. Still have scars from that one on my thigh. Countless cutoff wheel explosions... ground knuckles, cuts of all kinds. Most recent was cutting wood for a knife handle on a tablesaw. I reached behind the blade to pull the wood through, and it bound and kicked back. Before I could even think, it pulled my hand back with it. Years of woodworking, and I knew I was doing something stupid.... still did it.

Hopefully this link is allowed. A lot of motors like that are used in various home furnaces. I've replaced a bunch of them... but no two are ever alike. As far as I can tell, it's either a two speed motor, or reversible. Most reversible motors have a two piece connector that allows you to flip the connector and thereby flip polarity or rotation. In the US- Green is always your ground. It will go the the bare copper wire in your home's wiring, or to the ground lug on a 110v plug. White is always your neutral. White wire goes to white wire. Black is your hot. It will go to whatever speed you want to run. In a multi speed furnace motor, that can be black, red, blue, yellow wires. Generally, black is your highest speed. Most motors have a wire color code label, or at least a sheet of paper that come with them (new motors in box) that tells you which wires are which speed settings. Good luck.

After 12yrs in the army, there's many things that have stuck with me.... but one I hold close is something a drill sergeant told me during training to be an NCO myself. "Strive for perfection in everything you do- but learn to accept completion in itself." Nobody's perfect. My wife tells me I'm a talented person. I tell her theres no such thing as talent. There's only the will to try something, the stubbornness and drive to make mistakes and do better from them... and the wisdom to know your limits. Your progress is inspiring sir.

??? Great question!! I'm hoping my neighbors still consider me one when I get going good. Lol.

I've always been known for being different in many things... especially perspective! That's really a pretty cool way to put it frosty. And I tend to think that nail, hammer, head..... meet. Because last night, as i think of it now.... a single burner- not one bit of whine or howl at any level.

Beautiful work! Your dad's a lucky guy. Lol... A trick I used often in woodworking is to glue a layer or two of paper grocery bags between layers of wood when I needed to shape pieces the same size- in opposite reliefs. Then taking a utility knife, sharp chisel... etc. You split the pieces apart fairly easy and sand the paper & glue off the backs. I adapted this to making knife handles and scales by using a good, thin double sided craft tape. (Not the foam type, the thinner translucent stuff) I'd drill pin holes in one side from the blade, then transfer to the other in process, or epoxy. The upside is the ability to polish the full tang and keep it so while sanding the scales. Also, you can line them up almost perfectly if you have different materials. The down side is you have to get your tang outlines almost perfect, as you're shaping them off blade. You get them really close, then split the tape. Test fit, if not perfect, re-tape together and adjust. Takes time, but makes a gorgeous alignment. Another thing I have done is take a scrap piece of sheetmetal, trace out and grind down to a perfect tang match... then use that to stick my scales to for sanding and shaping. Then transfer to the blade when done. Used that method on all these ones. Sorry for all the pics, but it gives you the idea.

I like you, dont have much for forging tools. Most are what my brother gave me when he moved on to other things. But... I have a pretty cool 30mm tank/aircraft round ammunition can with lid that i put alot of my oversized wrenches, mechanics hammers, 1/2 drive breaker bars, chisels, and miscellaneous big junk drill bits in. It doubles as a seat when working on a car, tosses in the back of the truck with semi relative ease. Came in hand recently when a friend broke a spindle on her truck and lost a wheel driving down the road. New steering knuckle- out replacement in mud. (Great seat!)

The beginning of my "shop". I worked mostly out of my garage, but last summer I bought a new mid-life crisis toy, a fiat abarth 124 spider... so ohio winters aren't great for convertibles and it needed a place to live. It's a crazy mess inside right now with me building my gas forge, and cramming my wood lathe, table saw, work bench and assorted life long collection of crap. Lol... But eventually, the plan is one half forge, and the other half a gunsmithing/cerakoting area. The rest will fall in between somewhere. It's a start, and needs insulating, power installation, air lines run, and fireproofing of some sort. The thought is naming it the "fair-weather" forge... as right now, all hot work is done outside... and 10° winters aren't fun.

A hot boom box... hmm... I love music. Every "shop" I've ever had has had sound. Well, just for the heck of it... and working with what I had on hand- I pulled the burners, and configured it down to just one burner. I pulled the drilled baffle off the nozzle and tried it out. With my blower- I couldnt even light the burner outside the forge without almost closing off my air. It kept blowing the flame right off the end. Got it tweaked, burning consistently. Re-installed in the forge body and lit it up. Warming up the forge, and tweaking the mix til I got a suitable consistant roaring fire. In a rich state- I could literally watch the flame roll around and out the body. My burner angle is a little off from before- but with a single burner... I'm getting almost a 20"? Flame from it. (on the bench test) I could only get up to what I'd call a medium to high orange heat in a 3/8 rod. Less than what I had before. So, on hold for now til I get the needed parts and a larger fuel tank. Sigh... By the way- a huge thank you to all who posted advice! I much appreciate it, and will be considering it all and acting on much of it.

No. By all means... be critical! If it saves someone else the embarrassment I now feel facing my brother... then it's worth every sentiment. Entirely too well noted! Smh....

(Laughing in "I hate tree trimming" voice) lol.... I'd tend to think of a birch as a way cooler cause... but prolly with the same results as my explosions. (Something about changing underwear?) I can open up my air on the tubes, and lean out the flames easily- but that tends to start the whining condition. I like the idea of 1" tubes. I was worried that I would over power the gas mix with too much velocity. But I will definately make that my next step. I should be able to locate a 1-1/4" to 1" t fitting without too much difficulty I'd think.... I'll find out. I got a little forge time in yesterday- and let's just say... it didnt work out well. I cracked a 100ish (he says) yr old coal forge that belongs to my little brother. Ugh.