OnlyMyOPinion

While I was in high school, I got to do a little bit of welding (I MEAN A VERY LITTLE!) in metal shop, just basically got the basics from class, and did a little stick welding. I think we were all allowed like 3 sticks only! But from there we were supposed to "practice at home" Which would have been ok, except my dad didnt own a stick welder, so I was out of luck. Later in life when I moved to my farm, I got a old craftsman welder that was in major need to see the dump, but it would almost stick metal together, and got me by. 2 years ago I purchased a Miller Bobcat 250 Welder/Generator, and built a Steel pipe corral system for the Bull Pen. Since then, I have completely replaced two of our cattle chute areas, and various things around I could never get done with the craftsman. I just got my Hobart Manhandler about 2 months ago (230 volt Wire Feed) and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I have so far spent one small roll of .030 wire, and almost completed one LARGE roll as well building and playing! BTW, my Bull Pen covers almost 5 acres or so of pasture, so it was a BIG build! But well worth it considering a local welder is getting 25.00/hr

Quentin, the wood you speak of is called diamondwood, and comes in many different color patterns. It is basically a form of plastic impregnated plywood. Very hard, and polishes out gorgeously. My fav color combo is black and red. It is hard enough to lathe real nicely for pen pencil sets, and will withstand weathering quite well too.....

The Kingsford was more experimental than actual, and I did use some dried hickory which worked out better than char b que. Updated the hair dryer to a "lil Devil" vacuum (reversed, of course), and added some bricks to help control the breeze and air flow. The fire pot btw is a hub from I believe an old Allis Chalmers rear wheel, so plenty thick. Which I got from a local scrapyard for....FREEEE...helps knowin the guys there! As for the grate, i think i am going to put in some clay or something to help make the tuyere hole smaller....and yes, the clean out is at the bottom of the pipe, hairdryer goes to a "T", cleanout about 6" below the intake line.

Still trying to figure out th pic posting thing, hope this one works! :)

I am in a small town north of springfield called "Humansville", a VERY small town where i own/operate a small farm (500 acres, give or take...). I appreciate the link to the MO blacksmithing group, cant make this round, but will DEFINATELY look up future events, as I dont think my wife would like to spend her 20th anniversary with me there....though I would have a blast! Thanks for the tip!

I guess my next step is to learn how to post pictures....hahahaha I will work on that though!

Hey everyone out there in cyberspace, just thought I would drop a line in here, as I am new (both to iforgeiron.com and forging as well). I just got done wrapping up my first forge build, and learned a ton of stuff. A thanks to all the posters (or threads, or discussions) that gave alot of info on building one. And off to the junk yard, i ran! It came out pretty well (I thought) for a first time job, but definately saw much room for improvement. I posted all the steps I did to make it, however, they are in reverse order! oh well, i think yall can figure that out for yourselves. I will try and post some pics of my currently being redone new forge when completed. Thanks again, and nice to meet all of you.