thecelticforge

That happened to me years ago and everyone I asked insisted it was sulphur. However, my education and testing showed that sulphur burns blue. Chromium is the most likely culprit. It can be found in paint, and even some refractory materials. It is also used in many things as a catalyst. You may want to see what kind of stuff is in your coal pile before you burn it.

Gentle rebuke?

Has anyone heard of this? http://www.pennsylvaniasteel.com/ I am wondering how it will act under a hammer.

Normal? I have never been called normal, but taking a forge and an anvil on a camping trip seems extreme to me. I seldom carry over 50 pound on my back when I go camping. Take a section of pipe and a small bellows and use charcoal and a small six by six half inc plate for an anvil instead. I think your shoulders will be happier.

I have not heard the term myself. However, I am willing to guess that it has to to with making a dome of burning coke, and poking a hole in the center to form a "chamber" to place your metal in so it can be observed while heating and shielded from oxygen. It is not necessary to do it this way, but it makes things easier for me at least. The coal I have now refuses to coke so I have to do as best I can.

Thanks for the contacts! Beth, I am making a dogwood tree. The final height should be between 7 and 8 feet tall root to bough; 3 feet wide branch to twig. I think I can pull it off and have it rigid enough to do its job on half of the gate.

Where I live is on my profile and thanks, I shall check the crane operators and any other pulley peoples I can ponder.

I need wire rope, at least one inch in diameter and with a bright finish. Here is the catch, I only need 12 feet.

Okay, all of this being said: Frank, I am sorry, but we can not allow you to die till we all catch up. :)

Spears, you are right! That is a good story. I have one similar. When I had just started my first shop, I was planning on joining a guild. So I made my offerings to the committee and put them in a bag to take to the meeting. I had some fair pieces that I was proud of, some I had saved for a couple of years, just to put in such a show. However, there was one piece that I had forgotten was in the bag. A wee hair pin made out of 1/8th inch key stock with a copper aspen leaf at the end. It was a nice hair pin, my God Daughter wears it now, but it was not what I would consider a "masterpiece." I had made if for a tourist weeks before in about 8 minutes and she never came back and got it. The lady in charge of what table we set our things upon saw the hair pin and told me she like it and that I should leave it on the table also. That dern thing won an award. What I have been trying to say during all of this is that there are skills that we used before there was an industrial age. Many of these skills came only after years of practice; often under the guidance of some one more experienced. We can learn some of these skills here and there, but we have large gaps if we don't keep at it. I know most if not all of these things can be replicated with modern equipment and I say: "So what." I use modern equipment and plan on getting more toys later. I love the stuff. I just don't want the old knowledge to be lost for pong periods of time, or forever. Wootz metal is an excellent example. I have some scraps that were given to me years ago by a fellow faculty member visiting from Syria and I treasure them. I don't and have not wanted to offend anyone. That was not my goal with this topic. I am just concerned that things that were needful for us to know years ago will not be forgotten. That is all.

I used one in WV and it did not work the greatest. However, we sealed it with pitch (brewer's pitch) and it did much much better.

I was really not thinking of to use or not to use modern equipment and techniques. It is things such as being able to forge weld a wagon axle back together, how to make a froe, how to properly fuller, jump weld, (say a round bar to a plate at 90 degrees), and I think I will exempt horse shoeing. That is too horrid for me to think about.

I like to finish my pieces, then I put them over a grate I have placed over my fire with the fan off, with a bit of green coal on top for smoke. After they are heated and well blackened, I apply the beeswax and linseed oil mixed, and hang the pieces on hooks to cool. It is how I finish my day. I should sweep my floor more often, but.....

If you have some of the harder coal that does not coke well if at all and a lot of slack with it I recommend screeding it first to get rid of the small bits as they will tend to stay at the side of the fire pot and not burn leaving you with a tunnel of fire in the center that burns up very quickly. I recently got several ton of free coal from an old basement here in town. It was hard, dusty, and full of seat rock. I tried it in its natural state (as is) first and it was a horrid experience. I placed it on a table of expanded steel and raked it around well till almost nothing fell through, then I washed what was left on top with water. It did much much better after that.

This is an excellent discussion on traditions. Glen has summed things up the best I think. However, I think I am bemoaning the loss of the basic skills we all should have before we hang out an open for business sign.

Excellent responses, especially from Purgatory. The part about there truly not have been a traditional time is true for all cultures, our culture included. The "guild system" was set up to protect local interest and often times retarded the growth of individual craftsmen. My biggest concern I think is the lack of basic skills, the skills I think we all need before we even produce an item for sale. Glen, we don't get extra lives burned? I go years between burns, and last week, I three pretty bad ones.

Apprenticeship to Journeyman, to my own shop.

I sure hope so, because I am using Kayne and Son stuff to speed up production. I make a LOT of candle holders in the Pennsylvania/Dutch tradition. But I am glad I learned the way I did even though it took a bit longer than in the old days. As far as I know, I am the youngest one trained in the traditional way; I am almost 44.

Do you ever get the feeling that a lot of skills that a blacksmith needs are being lost because our traditional methods of education are all but gone? I first ran into this years ago when a man came to my forge and was showing me a callus on his thumb. He explained he got it because he placed his thumb over the handle to better guide his strokes. The subject cam up because I was holding my hammer handle in the middle instead of on the end like a carpenter. He was explaining to me that I could get greater force by holding it on the end. I have noticed that almost no one uses files much any more either. I may be an old geezer, but I feel learning in a more traditional manner was a great boon for me and has helped me a lot now that I use more modern equipment and techniques. Feed back?

huh huh huh That was cool...

That is way cool My Rosary beads are made out of bog wood too.