Welshj

Some remember irondragon... even if they weren't alive then. I remember for two specific reasons...

My grandfather telling me about living through that time and why he joined the army.

Me, standing on the deck of the Arizona memorial in class A uniform- staring at all those names in marble... and then at the Arizona herself, just under my feet.

On 12/7/2020 at 2:30 PM, George N. M. said:

I'd say this forum has a higher percentage of veterans than the general population.  Maybe there is a connection between a desire to work with your hands and a desire to serve.

George

George- I'd agree... and dare to add that it might not have much to do with two primary side effects of smithing? Tools and weapons? and I'm liking the new profile picture btw.

When I started this thread- the primary reason was that in reading many of the threads and posts here on the forumn, I noticed alot of similarities in peoples posts. Things that stand out to other veterans... tell tales if you will.

Attention to detail, clear communication, mannerisms and peculiarities in speech...err... typing- that told me many of us were former military.

And that aspect makes us/me even more... ?? Impressed... enamored? in a brotherhood of smiths that share knowledge.

Veterans of all branches, of all countries tend to do that same thing.

On 11/28/2020 at 1:31 AM, Frazer said:

if you ever turned to a life of crime, they'll probably have trouble getting a good print... 

Lol... I couldn't get away with it if I tried. Digitally fingerprinted for my CHL, digitally fingerprinted and bonded and licensed in Texas as a locksmith, US Army has my fingerprints, facial recognition, retinal scans, dental records, boot size, tattoo records and DNA.

Deimos- yep, healed up fairly well. That was almost 2 years ago now- but I have a smooth patch about 1/4" in the middle of my index finger, and faint lines thru the other two. Surprisingly, the middle finger seems to have relocated a nerve ending closer to the surface- and the tip of my finger is super sensitive to touch now. Anything more than a slight pressure on it is pretty painful. On the upside- I can detect much finer surface details on metal than before with it! Lol...

3 hours ago, Chimaera said:

Now, what about scorpions? I'm guessing those fall under insect, but they're pretty cool. 

but anyone had experience with "rapid tongs"? 

In iraq- I used to catch scorpions and keep them as pets for a bit. There were two general types- the big, dark brown or black ones... and the smaller light tan ones. The little ones were the dangerous ones, more poisonous. I'd keep them for awhile in a plastic bucket. Feed em crickets. Then or if dead- pin them to cardboard with sewing pins and dry them out in a pose.

Rapid tongs- theres much more investment in pride, and accomplishment in making your own tools... sure.

But my mindset has always been that the best tool for the job- is the one that works. If thats how you get going and do better work, if that's how you save time... and have more options to do it. So what? Go for it man, it's your time, your forge, and your tools.

I have yet to make a pair of tongs. Not for lack of research or ability... I probably could easily. But my little brother gave me four to ten sets so far that have done what I need to do.

A very cool find no doubt!

Lol... awesome.

And yes, hardened or soft steel- the sandblasting doesn't know the difference. You should have the same finish. Cool!

Ecross- whatever your final outcome, please post an update on how it worked out? This is not the only time this situation or question has come up... and I have thought of doing something similar. I just haven't had the desire to dig 60ft of line in the ground to tap into my 500lb house tank yet. Lol... so no research for me on it yet.

So what was the outcome on the blade chimaera? What was your final choice of process- if progressed that far yet?

Anxiously awaiting results. Lol....

30 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Wouldn't a modern scrimner use a tattoo gun? 

Really frosty? again you've got me checking things out with all these ideas.

80% of the ink in my skin was put there myself. Now I'm gonna have to go dig out my gun, and some old needles. They're all stainless needles... they might be tough enough.

Like jhcc recommended- id round those handles scales a little more, make it a much comfortable grip.

You could cheat if you have access to a sandblasting cabinet, or hand held blaster... make a mask for it, blast the artwork and then paint it. Call it... modernized scrimshaw.

I remember it from hand to hand combat training... ft Knox ky. My senior drill instructor-

"There's 14.7lbs of atmospheric pressure on every square inch of the human body right now... which coincidentally- is the amount required to properly crush the human larynx." 

I never challenged him on that knowledge...lol. 

Thats just my current house gas setup for propane furnace... to give an idea. The tank regulator is considered the high pressure regulator for heating. Lol..

Wc here is in inches for residential. 

May or may not have guages on bigger tank regulators. Mine does not- pressure is engraved on the bodies.

Just got home... walked out to see.

High pressure on the tank, and low pressure at the house-

Could be ounces, could be bars, or could be water columns for the low pressure.

I've honestly never messed with a household tank other than shutting the gas off. Even my own! I've replaced and re-ran plenty of lines from the house regulator in. We usually tested around 3 wc? pressure here for furnaces. If memory serves, its been a couple years.

Now you've got me thinking to go check mine at home.

I need to anyways- the wife wants to know what the percentage is left in it, so we can order a fill or not. (She's about 2ft too short to check it. Lol)

I was thinking outer layer against the shell, then 8# inner layer might work?

Was going to look that up glenn- thank you. I'm aware that 8# was the recommendation. But for free, I wasn't going to turn it down lol...

Yessir, but the line from the tank is already in place. He's trying to come down from a previously installed 1-1/2" in-building pipe to a propane regulator. If I read correctly. 

The older houses in this area commonly used 1" to 1-1/2" lines for gas. Now, they're 3/4" black iron, or 3/4" flexible line. Forget the brand name right now...

The tank will already have a high pressure regulator on it, and then a low pressure at the building. Bypassing the low pressure, and putting a 0-30 regulator in could get him situated.

Am I reading right?

The other possibility would be finding a regulator with a screw in stud for the tank connector. Older ones have a 1/4" or 3/8" pipe thread if recall. He could adapt down to that.

And that... in it's basest form- is a useful tool. Your first fire rake.

nope, detail is pertinent information sometimes.

Case hardening is a totally different process, and the minute that you heated it to non magnetic all the way through... case hardening would have been pretty much destroyed anyways.

This is similar to quenching and hardening a blade, then reheating it to fix a warp in it. You remove the hardening by heating it to non magnetic again. You can then hammer it, bend it... reheat, and requench it to harden.

Tempering, to me... in layman's terms is annealing. But at a much more controlled, longer process.

Annealing is heating the metal to non magnetic and cooling it very slowly,  retaining heat as long as possible to bring it to its softest state... its easiest to work state. You could literally then hand file that file to shape easily.

Tempering is heating the metal to a much lower temperature depending on the alloy- around 300°-450° F for a specific period of time to draw some of the hardness out gradually, not entirely. This allows you to still retain edge holding hardness, but flexibility and toughness of harder carbon steel. Again, much easier to grind and shape with abrasives.

Tempering a knife is a very important step in knife making after quenching high carbon steels. Immediately following quenching, the steel is hard, but brittle. Literally dropping a hardened blade on a concrete floor can break it half.

A knife should be tempered as soon as possible after hardening/quenching and cooling... and always before any additional grinding or shaping.

 I concur with frosty's advice...

But being devils advocate here has me thinking that as many people as there are that have built a propane forge- from a propane tank... there has to be hundreds of unused tank valves laying around like shown in your picture.

Fine thread pipe fitting into the valve, out to the regulator, into your forge. This would give you an additional shut off inside in your work area as well.

On 11/28/2020 at 2:46 AM, Mikey98118 said:

I'm not not okay with the move, Frosty

I'll take the blame there Mikey- as it was my suggestion to do so. So I apologize. Steve merely agreed and followed up on that request.

As I stated when I suggested it, there was alot of merit in that twist of the thread. Between the excellent, more technical information you posted... (I learned a few things I didn't know about tools ive used for decades) and our battle scar stories... I thought it should probably not be buried in a thread that was relatively off topic to that part of the discussion.

It was/is important info- and should be easier to find.

I still have yet to make it entirely through this thread!

Went with a buddy to help tow a car home he'd bought. Met a pretty cool gentleman that owned the shop the car was stored in.

He had a roll of 6# ceramic wool... pretty fair amount. Asked him what he was doing with it, if he'd part with it and how much he'd want.

His answer was-"throw it in your truck... you'll use it before i will." Free bonus!!!

Sgt- ditto to what frosty said! Thank you for your service.

I'm alot farther away than I'd hoped to extend an invitation to come play in my work shed... sigh. I don't have alot, but have several hammers and tongs you could have beat some steel on the anvil with to see what you might like.

I'm jealous that your boy wants to learn, and you get to have that fun with him!  thats awesome!

Congrats on starting your journey.

That is a pretty cool looking finish!

I have limited tumbler experience... I have used a rotary steel shot blaster in a foundry i worked at. Aluminum came out that thing looking super smooth...

But- I'd worry about adding oil or liquid of any type to your tumbler for one reason... clumping dust or debris. Unless you sealed it liquid tight- and added enough oil to work a slurry like a rock tumbler, I'd think that the oil/crud would eventually clump in areas and then really throw it off balance as it spun and bad enough- make it hop.?

Oh it was! And is for someone.

I burned up an older shop vac using it for ventilation before I went and bought the dust deputy cyclone kit... and new shop vac. Lol...

Future plans include a dust system for the shed when I get the extra time and money.