JeremyP

I too get frustrated with myself when I look at some of the amazing work others are able to do (mostly from you guys on this site!) I don't know if I will every get to the point of mastery in anything I do, I strive for it but I think it will take a lifetime of trying. Its ironic because as a younger man I knew that if I didnt focus my life I would end up a jack of all trades and master of none. Despite my focus on metal and fabrication I never realized how big of a universe metalworking is, you can go much further beyond glueing metal together and machining it down. One could spend lifetimes in the metal trades and still not have learned everything.

Hey guys, well here is what I came up with. Just gotta make one more now, hope they like em!

francis do you have a pic of your angle table? Im wanting to build something similar but not sure how well it will work for my needs.

I'll be forgin later today I'll try to capture the green flame with a pic

The forge is 10" dia and 24" long with a single reil style burner. I have whats called 'cerwool' for a liner, 1" blanket wrapped twice. I also put some of the denser type firebrick inside as a floor to protect the wool from scrapes. It takes a good couple hours to get realy hot at which point a greenish flame begins to appear. I just noticed yesterday that when the forge is heat soaked for a good several hours the firebrick inside gets a big gooey, I can scrap a thin layer of the brick off with my metal if I wanted to. Im wondering if those firebricks are the culprit. If I shut the forge off, let it cool for 1/2 hour I can turn it back on and it wont burn green for another hour or so. As far as what kind of metal i've been putting in there, I can't think of anything unusual that I might have been sticking in there. Another hypothesis I have is that the green flame seemed to have appeared right around the same time I hooked up a new tank to feed the forge. The tank is an old truck fuel tank that someone gave me. I forgot to take the pickup tube out of it first before filling it so I have it on its side so I'm drawing vapour but every so often you can hear it take a sip of liquid. although liquid propane burns blue and orange I wonder if there isn't something in the fuel lines or tank thats giving a green flame.

I've noticed lately after a few hours of running the dragons breath out of the forge starts burning green. it burns green whether i have steel in it or not, and the flame seems to extend further from the forge than when its warming up. Am I burning out my lining?

thanks guys, I was actually wondering about the sharp edges of square stock against the saddle. Especially with them bouncing around in the trailer. I've seen some which incorporate hooks, so I think thats a good avenue to add some forged elements to the design. I'll let ya know what I come up with B)

A friend of mine asked me to fab up some saddle racks for her horse trailer but I'd like to try and forge something for her. All I can really think of though is some simple twisted bars for the wings welded or riveted to a center post. Anyone have any other ideas that someone with moderate skills could do?

Im certain this discussion has been going on for hundreds of years, and in the next 100 years the future metal workers will be worried that no one arc welds anymore. That being said I hold great value in learning the old skills and techniques because of the evolution it represents to the trade of working metal. We didn't get to where we are now without the smiths before us trying new things and pushing the limits of possibily. As with all modern technology, it takes for granted the skills and knowledge obtained from generations before to be able to create and accomplish what we can today. Soon when 3d printing technology advances to such a degree that we simply molecularily 'print off' steel components with near perfect accuracy we will take for granted that legions of works used to manually weld pieces of steel together to form modern day components and structures, just as many metalworkers today do not realize that legions of smiths use to hand make every single nail that went into building a house. Modern arc welding is no doubt a quicker more efficient way to join metal than the older joinery methods, but it also brought about newer possibilities with steel that we didnt have before. We can now join miles of pipeline together, we can now assemble huge vessels to store pressurized liquids and gasses, the list goes on. In its shadow, some of the old ways got pushed aside, but rather than be forgotten, those old tools and techniques evolved, rather than being used exclusivly for practical purposes, the old ways can now be explored in a new light, as a means to create art for example, or in the modern design of steel components. Combined with modern technology we yet again push the envelope of possibility, in art and in industry.

I made a couple of carpenter style open boxes with a top handle out of aluminum. I want to make another one with some forged elements in it though. I think it would look sharp contrasting with the alu

Hi there from north west alberta. Grande Prairie. I also took the BLS101 last summer with shawn. Taking his second coarse this weekend actually.

It wasn't a forged job, but just last summer I fabbed up a stand to transport BOPs (blow out preventer) on a flat deck truck. Finished it up, sent it off to paint. When they went to slide the BOP into its place we realized the extended arms used to secure the BOP was reversed. I mixed up my lefts and rights. So I had to cut it all apart, and switch the arms around. Worked all night to get it finished for morning since they were hoping to use it the next day. Then I paid to get it repainted a few weeks later. I think they forgave me though as they kept calling me back. I'm still embarrased thinking about it :mellow:

I think new technology is great, especially if it helps you work more efficiently, saves lives or enables new possibilities. I think the problem nowdays is that many people rely too heavily on their technology. I know of a few people who go bonkers if their internet goes down for more than a day. There is a balance to find between new modern technology and the old reliable technology we take for granted.

You and me both. Some weeks I dont even get a spare moment to forge at all. It gets very frustrating when I'm stuck doing something mindless or mundane but I don't have the freedom to turn it down and pursue something more challenging and creative. The worst part is, now that I've discovered blacksmithing and a new passion for it, some of the jobs I'm used to doing feels a lot more mundane. I'm totally getting sick of it, but they are my bread and butter, and with this slow down I dont want to turn anything away.

In my opinion, fabrication is any finished piece thats been assembled from 2 or more components. Welded, is a finished component that was exclusivly welded together after cutting the material to its desired dimensions. Forging is a finished component which has been heated and shaped to its finished form via hammering, bending, slotting etc Machining is a finished component which has been ground or cut to its final shape via stock removal or mechanical cutting. An entrance gate using all forged components is in my opinion a forged fabrication. An entrance gate using welded components is in my opinion a welded fabrication.

I've been seriously considering getting that torchmate 'diy kit' as an entry level plasma table. I almost never have to sub-out any cutting for high precision fitup, so super accuracy isnt an issue for me. It would just be nice to build bracketry and such with a more finished, proffesional look. that torchmate 2x2 looks very interesting as well. I like that it would be portable, and I could put it somewhere safe if I needed the extra room. I dont think the 2x2 would save any time tho, especially if it takes me half an hour to figure the cad software lol. Let us know how you like the 2x2 HWHII. I'm very curious.

I havent been forging much at all lately because of work, so I decided to try and come up with ideas I can put into some of my work. Here I forged the door handle and locking pin for the tool lockup cage I built for a customers shop.

Thanks guys, I was lookin it over there last night and I have a few ground down shiny spots that I would like to see dulled before I put a finish coat on it. Maybe I'm better off going over it with something that can bring consistancy to the surface, well maybe consistant is misleading, I want it to look finished. So now im thinking about antiqueing it a bit, using a metal patina. Never tried anything like that though, I've been looking around for products to help with it but maybe I don't know what I'm looking for. Anyone got links for me to read on antiqueing metal and various other finish options?

I'm just about to instal the first section of stair railings I built for the house. I want to keep its natural colour and texture. What can I coat it will to give it a finished look but still retain the metal's colour and texture?

You might be a blacksmith if you search the internet dreaming about powerhammers and brand new anvils while all your friends can talk about is snowmobiles and atvs. Just went for supper with some buddies the other day. The conversation quickly turned to snowmobiling and how everyone was planning to either buy a new one or radically modify their current one. Definatly made me feel alone in my hobby, as well as a bit old.

As for blacksmithing my goals are; Training: Attend another blacksmithing coarse in Edmonton Spend some more time behind the hammer Im tempted to look into an art coarse at the local college too to get my creative side working some more Home: I've got a few projects for around the house that will be good practice for me I'm building a stair railing for staircase going the loft coat hooks for the entrance porch a fire tool set for the fireplace For the shop I got a lot to do to get it up to snuff I need to build a nice heavy work bench I need to finish building my homemade air compressor Build a slip rollar Build a rotary tumbler build a hydraulic press start on my cnc plasma build Business I want to look into developing a product line that will challenge me to hone my forging skills and produce somethings that I might be able to sell at a farmers market or something. phew- all this to get done after working 12hour days. I really hope I can stay motivated.

I've never come across this in my time welding. Even if you had a large hole to fill in thin material I cant see ever needing to use this 'trick'. This 'trick' will always result in a poor weld because when you start trying to introduce extra material in the weld zone you first need to penetrate the protective slag which the electrode coating is providing during the weld. Even if your just letting globule drops into the puddle you are still doing two harmful things. Your adding extra metal, which is colder than weld puddle causing anything from too much buildup to a cold shut. The second thing your doing is distrubing the protective slag coating that sits on top of the molten metal during the weld. This slag is supposed to be drawing impurities from the weld as well as protect the weld from oxidizing. By dropping material into it from an outside source you risk causing slag inclusions and oxidation in the weld. I would just say no I'm curious though, how does the weld look after this 'trick' is used?

hmm walmart sells bottles eh I'll check that out. Although I do have most of what i need to build a manifold and with my current setup my forge wont run a 20lber after it down to a 1/4 full so if I exchage Im getting ripped off bigtime.

Well we got a cold snap the past couple days which just happened to coincide with a project I needed to do in my sort-of insulated shop with a decent size propane heater, however I'm too cheap to go buy a 100lb bottle or rent a bulk tank. But I do have a good collection of 20lbs bottles that I've been using to run my forge and heater. After running both the heater and my forge all day on 2 seperate bottles I got wondering. If I setup a manifold to tie all my my bottles ( i got 6 of em) together would I be able to draw more gas for longer just like if I had a larger tank? Has anyone tryed this?

Thanks for the support guys. It turns out they will 'allow' my new PPE setup after some negotiating and me giving a bit of a concession (I think they just had to feel like they were still the one giving the orders) However I expect I will run into them on a similar issue again as there are a few 'safety procedures' of theirs that in my opinion should not apply to me or in a few cases I have a better more practical solution for. My biggest beef is that these big companies (and even the govt) expect me to believe that their 'safety officer' sitting in his ivory tower office has more regard for MY safety and well being than I do. That he knows more about the reality of my daily work life than I do. That they have the power to dictate what risks I'm allowed to take and which I'm not. The problem I have with the rules and guidelines enforced on us is that these rules are so broad and over simplified that you will be lucky if half of them actually provide any benifit. We all know that these rules are just something you follow to please the bosses. The real danger is that these same workers, forced to conform to these hairbrained rules (not all but many) have had their objectivity strippen from them so that when a real danger does arise, or if a new situation in which the above ruleset does not apply, these workers will have a harder time adapting their actions or initiating new procedures to protect themselves and others.