IronPuppet

Looks real good, Sam. Christopher

Welcome, Dave. Hang around a bit. These guys really know there stuff! What's more, they are good about sharing what they know. Christopher

This is a good vice stand as it has a pipe vice on it as well. Christopher

My neighbour gave me this litle lathe last year. I took it apart and cleaned the years of neglect off it and did a little repair, then painted it. Never had paint on it before. Still need to build a drive for it. Christopher

I have a wood stove in my shop. Nothing like free heat! I have big old fans that blow the heat around the room. I scrounge all the scrap wood I see that is convenient to pick up. So far, I never have had to pay a cent to heat my shop, and now my forge is a wood burner too. I put side doors in my shop that open on the driveway. They open inward and I stand the forge just outside the doors. Works for me. Christopher

What about cutting oil? I notice no one has mentioned cutting oil. Wouldn't this help? Christopher

I dropped by my friendly junk man's place the other day and he was making room. One of the neat bits of junk he loaded in my truck was this forge. Seems small to me. I read Irnsrgn's descriptions for forge dimensions and this seems to fall short. The fire pot seems small, even for use with coal. the chimney port seems small too. What do you experts think? Is this forge worth any effort or should it be rebuilt? Comments welcome. Christopher

Volunteer or join a club or group. Take a class to learn something new. Christopher

My wife is a paraplegic and so is inside the house most of the time. I want to be outside doing things around the yard. We had a wireless intercom that plugs in for a while, but it proved awkward due to the fact that the radios were stationary. Now we have Cobra personal radios. They are great! Small and portable. Go anywhere we happen to be and we can carry on a conversation. Much cheaper and convenient than a cellphone. Only drawback is the range, but I can go 1/3 mile away and we can still yak. Perfect for around the property and no cellphone bills. I clip it to the collar of my shirt and she is always right there. Christopher

Pounder, for short. Full name would be Anvil Pounder.

I am using wood for fuel as well. Took me some trial and error to get a good set up. check out my post. You might find some good tips. http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f11/air-fire-3078/ Christopher

While scoping out my favorite scrap pile where people dump their metal junk for shredding, I found an old snow blower. Needs a motor, but all the rest is there and seems sound. Just needs a good cleaning and lube. Christopher

I came across something interesting and thought I would see what you experts think of it. I was at my favorite dump site and found someone had thrown away a small rototiller, so I dragged it home. The machine is a Troy-Built Tuffy. It had a few small problems, but it turns out that the engine runs fine, a 3.5 horse Tecumseh. Problems included a rusty gas tank, a hole in the side of the gas tank, cracked gas line, out of alignment pulley on the motors shaft, the clutch cable was rusted solid, no air cleaner and the carb was clogged with rust. Got a good tip on this forum about cleaning rust with vinegar and it worked real swell on the gas tank. After cleaning it up and repairing the few faults, a little gas and it fired right up and after setting the governor, runs real sweet. Once it was running I turned my attention to the tines. As you will see in the pix they were rounded with wear. I took them apart for cleaning and sharpening. I ground a new basic edge with a grinding wheel then cleaned it up with a flap-type sanding wheel. I'm not sure if this was the right edge for a tiller, but I thought sharp was better than round. While sanding the tines I took off all the rust and paint. This revealed a rather strange pattern in the steel. I was wondering if someone could explain how this occurred. I would also be interested in what you thought of my sharpening job. Makes for a dangerous unit and thus dubbed "the Ginsu Tiller". I'm also curious because the tines bend inward on this tiller and on other tillers the tines bend out making for a wider path. Any opinions on this? Anyhow, next spring, the gardens will be tilled to perfection. Christopher

I can't wait to see it, Sam! New forges are big fun! Now you will be able to make a Claymore. Christopher

I am a professional puppet builder. I make all sorts of puppets, from glove puppets to mascots and everything in between. My favorite puppets to make are remote control units made for TV and movie work. For these puppets the armatures are made from metal to make them reliable and strong. Thus, IronPuppet seemed like a good idea at the time. Christopher

Watch out for those sparks setting the saw dust on fire! If you do this be sure to clean the saw of all wood scraps and sawdust first. Slow on the feed, a table saw generally has more torque than a cut off saw and if the blade jambs it could get ugly, so slow on the feed and let the blade work at it's own speed. Make sure you wear all safety stuff! Your biggest danger is starting a fire, so clean it good first.

I use wood in my forge, also some charcoal briskets. The thing about wood is that you need a bigger fire pot than one intended for coal use. Irnsrgn pointed me in the right direction as my fire pot was too small at first. Wood is working fine for me, although there is lots needed, but I got my supply for free. Christopher check out the thread here. air in the fire thread

Nice blade, Sam. Good enough to gut a moose. Last pic is a hoot! "Would you buy a blade from this man?" Christopher

WOW! I'm impressed with your truck. What we would call "Real Skookum". My friend in Vancouver use to run a towing business and he made all his own wreckers. He has one ton trucks, 3 ton trucks, a five ton and the largest one is a big Freightliner. I think the coolest truck he has is made from a 61 Ford tandem dump truck. And his '65 Chev 4 wheel drive with Detroit lockers. He would buy the winches and drive train and make the booms and decks and everything else. The stories I could tell you! I'll bet you will soon have some stories to tell from working your own truck. Real nice to see. Christopher

Hi there. I'm in Saskabush too. I'm just getting back in to smithing after 20 years or so. Welcome to the forum. Christopher

I was on the scrounge at a lot one day and found some discarded air ducts. Works for me. Attached with bolts so I can remove it for larger stock. The cut edges are turned over to remove the sharp edge. Christopher

Here is what I did. I got the tap at a junk store for $2 and found the pipe in the scrap pile. Air is supplied with an old vacuum set to blow. Note the improved ash dump, much easier, thanks to Irnsrgn. My fire pot is so big because I burn wood. Coal fire pots are much smaller. the fuel you are going to use determine the size of the fire pot. Christopher

I think it was $14 Canadian. I found it in the section with the bark mulch and soil in bags. I use it quite a lot to condition soil for my flower beds.

Just bought me a 60 liter bag of Perlite from Home Depot from the garden section. IP