keithgartner

Also the popping is the flux oosing out of the joint.

Try wetting your green coal that will stick the fines together, make a deep, 7", clean fire, no clinker steel etc., add coked coal on top and green damp coal to form bee hive, use as little air as possible to slowly bring to welding heat, flux before heating and on the way to anvil, small amounts of flux, then gently tap to start weld, two or three taps then back in fire, about three heats progressively hitting harder. Try a weld every time you light a fire. Practice, practice, practise.

I use wax or crayon as lube on the blade so chips don't stick. And the material must be clamped tight, in a good vice, on a good bench, if the material vibrates the blade bounces, and the teeth wear unevenly, and start scaloping. Also watch the blade not the saw frame.

Everthig about blacksmithing is time consuming, more for some than others. The guys on here are very good at what they do, and the knowledge they pass on to newbies, like me/us is invaluable. Pay close attention to their council. There are no wrong questions, but there are some that are asked repeatedly.

Welcome back! You should join in on Chat, not that it always pertains to smithing, but you'll get ideas And real time answers to your spefic questions. Keith

I do mostly repair work, hammer-out rotary mower blades, make tuckpointing tools etc.. I'm starting into rendesvous, camping stuff.

I missed the t.

Oh, Sop it. You're kidding. Right?

The realy new one are reinforced lightweight concrete.

Hell'o, My nane is Keith Gartner, I live in Steelville, Missouri, about 100 miles south west of St. Louis. I've been practicing smithing on and off for 12 years, I belong to ABANA, and BAM, I'm not active at all, should be though. I make mostly camping tools, and rendesvouis trinkets, I copy everything I make, as I have the, artistry and imagination of a sewer lid, most of my work is rebuilding tools and equipment, hammering out bush hog blades, and such.