pkrankow

What happens when that bolt is carefully loosened an/or removed? Phil

First, WHY? If there is nothing specifically wrong, everything can be done in this current state. You can soak it and clean it just fine. I would soak and degrease in this state then decide if I needed to proceed further. These things don't have seals, and they use bushed bearings generally so the setup is pretty durable. Phil

Without a valve, and with a closed bag there is a gap, open space, between the end of the pipe and the fire. It becomes like blowing on a fire with your mouth, there is a lot of space between the fire and your face, yet you can blow forcefully on the fire and breathe in safely. Phil

If you make a side blast forge as pictured, and postion the pipe far enough from the fire you do not need valves, and the iron pipe can serve as intake and blast. Positoning so the pipes are close enough to the fire to be effective, yet far enough away to draw clean air is important. The blast is going to form a controlled column of air, while drawing will draw equally from around the pipe opening and will be much less forceful, which is why this method can work. Phil

I bet it could be a heck of a table for both scrolling and welding with just a little thought. Phil

Proud horn on that one! Clean edges, except the little spot that looks like a torch cut. Nice big anvil. Go for it. Phil

Yes. Hardwood or plywood might be better and last longer than particle board, but particle board should be fine for a test run, might not last as long. Phil

Modern "boiled" linseed oil, bought at the hardware store is not boiled, but instead has drying agents added. Flaxseed oil (food grade linseed oil) is available raw at many grocery stores. Boiling is heating the oil to start the polymerization, so the oil cures in hours instead of weeks. At one point in time the oil was heated till it started to boil. The chemical dryers in modern boiled linseed oil make it unsuitable for food contact. Phil

Try it and see if they transfer to your work. I suspect they will not affect hot work. Phil

I use a sewn canvas air duct to carry air from my blower to the tue. I quilted plastic to canvas drop cloth to keep the air from leaking too much. I then cut a piece out of this "quilt" 3 ft long and 10 inches wide. After sewing the long edge together I have a tube about 3 inches in diameter, 3 ft long, easily clamped to irregular shapes using an "aircraft" hose clamp, or a few wraps of wire. IT IS ABSOLUTELY _NOT_ FIRE RESISTANT!!! I connect the canvas duct to a piece of iron pipe that is connected to the tue of my forge using another "aircraft" hose clamp. The canvas is on the outside. I used a sewing machine, but could have done it by hand but not nearly as quick. Phil

I would start with a spark test, and see if I had a similar sparking piece of material to practice with prior to welding the anvil. This far out on the tip I would try 7018 first and see if the color is acceptable. Look up appropriate preheat, etc. No need to heat the whole anvil this far out on the tip though. Frequently the horn is not ever hardened even if it is a steel faced horn. Phil

Pretty sweet looking check out this swing arm tray Phil

Magnetic drill presses are pretty cool. On #22 steel I think that a mag press would not work too well due to the thinness of the material, however I have also used a hole saw without a center bit in a drill press before. If you clamp down a plug, er hole, on top of the material as a drill guide you can likely get pretty good to excellent results, maybe even drilling a short stack at once. Phil

I have a hammer that I modified by reforging and did not harden it afterwards. I find the face gets damaged very easily. Straightening "cold" iron would sometimes damage the face. Striking any tooling is an instant mark in the face. I quit using this hammer in favor of others. Phil

I'm impressed. I might have to experiment and add this to my list of cleaning methods. Phil

Anvils are blunted off for a reason. No somebody did not drop it on concrete, the concrete breaks first. A 1/2 inch ball tip is as pointy as I want.

Ignore them. I think they are from corrosion from being left outside as a decoration for a few decades. If after a few months you find they are transferring undersireable marks to your work THEN consider repairing. Most work is done near the edge where there are no marks, and the center of the anvil is used more for flattening and straightening. Just rub that beautiful anvil down with some oil or wax and let work clean up the face. The oil or wax is just to stop the rust from transferring to your clothing. Phil

If you clean clinker out hot it tends to not be very sticky. It gets quite sticky as it gets to dark/dull red colors. Make a steel cap for your tue with a 3/4 inch hole in it and try that, just use a large pipe cap or a piece of heavy sheet metal. Having a table of some type intigrated into the forge is helpful for fuel management. The table does not need to be heavyweight as it is only supporting fuel and not fire. What is the inside diameter of your forge, and can you post pictures? Phil

I use those for the consumable floor of my forge. My burner slowly makes a crater and eventually burns through the brick. Flux makes this worse. They also provide little insulation. The entire brick glows after a few hours for me. I bought them locally at a big box in the fall. I would say yes, but it is marginal. Phil

That is pretty good looking. You are going side blast which is quite different from what I have used. Phil

Seriously nice deal. Clamp that baby down tight with some type of tightenable system to help with the ring. Add some chain around the waist and some magnets to make it REAL quiet. Still gonna need hearing protection though, but the neighbors will be happier. Don't grind on the face, grind on the edge just enough to give yourself a nice clean spot with a smaller radius. you only need a couple inches of clean edge to do anything. (Yea, I haven't done this to my Trenton yet...) Also make an edge tool for the hardy in case you need a smaller radius edge (this I did already). Phil

In my brake drum I used 3 parts sand, 1 part portland, just enough water to form a hard ball. I did not add the optional 1/2 part clay. Clay the grate in place, but don't obstruct it. Your grate may be bolted down, but mine is held by only the clay. Hooking the grate out while cleaning clinker is no fun. HOT clinker does not stick, but once it looses that bright red color, it is glue. Clean the forge HOT and regularly, and especially at quitting time. Phil

Flame colors can be quite vivid. It is worth reviewing them from time to time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_test http://chemistry.about.com/od/analyticalchemistry/a/flametest.htm http://webmineral.com/help/FlameTest.shtml#.UIMJSxiGaP8 Most of these colors we do NOT want to see in our fire. Some are quite unhealthy. Phil

Looks like a meat tenderizer, but that would be wood most likely. I suspect it is for pulverizing and smoothing the surface of stone with that toothed face. Phil

Some people find concrete hard to walk on all day. You can have the pour done in 2 different levels and insert wood blocks or a compactable fill like crushed stone in standing areas like around the anvil taking advantage of the deeper pocket. Phil