Rantalin

HWooldridge, The ones in the blueprint were made out of 1/8 inch stock. Anything bigger and the weight of the metal will start to pull on the hair!

I looked at the blueprint for the hairsticks with the rose pattern top today. As I looked at the picture from the top, I had an idea. What if you brought the bottom segment of the rose to a careful welding heat, and welded the bottom of the rose to the stick itself. Or, if welding wouldn't work, or would be too difficult, just bend the bottom section down into the stick. This would make the rose cup a little at the bottom.

what does the inside look like? If it is indeed a puller, it may have a mechanism to allow a wire, or band to be fed from one end, and catch tight if you try to pull it out. The band would need to be cut and the extra piece inside the puller removed.

Walmart had a good 200+ lbs of natural wood charcoal, but when I went back, all of it was gone.

All stores I've checked at are no longer stocking charcoal at the warehouse, it seems that they are only selling it around winter time for heating fuel.

I've been using charcoal all summer, but every place I buy it from never has it in stock after I buy some. Shipping costs almost double the price to buy coal or charcoal online.

How efffective is forging with charcoal briquettes? I know its not the best thing to use, and I could make charcoal if necessary, but I was oplanning on doing some forgin on sunday and I have no fuel. I usually buy bags of 100% natural wood charcoal from hardware stores around town, but it seems every place I find that has charcoal never restocks after I buy it all. I don't have the money to order fuel online, as I am a college student and to ship coal to my house would drain all of my money. I am only going to be heating a piece of either flat 1" X 1/8" X 48" or a round bar 1/2" X 48". Thank You

I went to the hardwares store and they had racks of metal rods and bars. This was just a 1X48 inch flat bar. Glenn, at the moment, I don't have forge access, but I can take pictures of the individual parts of the hanger and get back to you.

The support is riveted at the base, the top of the support attached seperatly when the entire hanger is riveted onto whatever you are hanging it from. There are two screws, one is in between the support and the base and must be screwed in first to give the drill access to the head of the screw.

Yesterday, I made this plant hanger for my girlfriends mom. It turned out great, and I tested it with a 5 gallon bucket with water in it. Works perfectly. Without the brace, the entire thing would just bend down.

My Dad's fault, not mine.

After melting my other blade, which was a 6 inch tanto blade, I made this knife for my girlfriend while she was on a trip. The blade is 8 inches long with a 5 1/2 inch handle. All hand made. I used 1/2 inch round bar stock for the blade and I don't know the type of wood. The pins came from nails that I cut and made into rivets. With some practice, I'm sure I can get this looking great. I also laquered the handle to give it some lustre. The blade was ground using a bench grinder, as I have nothing else to use right now. I think it turned out great though. UPDATE: I had to rehandle the dagger. The other one had a crack in it. This time, I used a drill press to hollow out the inside of a piece of wood and then jammed the tang of the blade into it. Very snug fit without rivets, pins, screws, or glue. Different style handle also.

Thats a nice blade elkdoc, I expecially like the twisted handle. Check out my first finished blade. A dagger I made for my girlfriend. She's as much as a dork as I am, she wanted me to make it for her :D

My forge is a wash tub with a pipe for an air supply, which is the butt end of a hand held shop vac, which works quite well. So far, I have only tinkered with little projects. I made a decent pair of tongs that I use regularly, replacing the vice grips. Today, I finished making, handling, and grinding a knife; which turned out great for my first one, but still needs work. Pictures of the forge, tongs, and knife will come ASAP, no earlier than sunday night.

Hello again, I am using 100% natural wood charcoal that I found at my local hardware store. It burns great, but I was wondering how fast it should be burning up. I used about 2-3 pounds of it in 1.5-2 hours. I'll admit that my efforts to control the fire to one centralized area were not as good as they could have been, but I just wanted to know what your coal usage per hour is. Thank You all in advance

yes, the metal will not merge together if it is not welded when folded over

This isn't a question, so much as an interesting piece of equipment I happened to hear about today. I was getting my car inspected and there was an old anvil on the workbench at the garage. The Mechanic that I was talking to was thinking of taking it to Old Sturbridge Village in MA and taking blacksmithing courses. He is currently a woodworker, turning logs into bowls and such, in addition to working at the garage. He told me about this guy that hooked a 4 speed car transmission up to a lathe and kept one of the ends from turning. He would put a piece of hot metal into the lathe and slowly twist it, then put it into reverse and twist back, creating different twist designs. I thought this was a really nice trick that I would share with everyone.

yeah, that is an important thing to know...its a coal forge

I have a 3.7 gallon washtub that I am using as a forge. This design comes from Tim Lively, straight off of the livelyknives.com website. I have fireplace mortar good for up to 2000 degrees F. The directions say that its used for cracks and joints about 1/8 inch thick. Anyone have an idea as to how thick I should put this stuff as to keep the heat in the forge? I'm thinking somewhere around 1/2-1 inch.

I watched this weeks blueprint, and I plan to watch every other one that I can. Once again, thank you all for your help. It will not go forgotten.

yesteryearforge, E-mail me at email link removed and I can give you my address. Many thanks to you and everyone else who put in input.

I have read in multiple places not to get a cast anvil. I'm thinking my best bet is to get to the dump while I'm home from school this weekend. See what I can find. I've though a few times of just stopping my search and giving up. But thats no way to do anything. And I'd rather move metal on the steel plate that I have than not at all

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've been looking at this anvil to begin blacksmithing with. It's only six pounds and its cast steel. The description says it can be used "for the hobbyist in his home basement or shop along with most professional jewelers and blacksmiths as well. Any input? It's only $20 with shipping

I have a steel plate that is 1/4 inch think and 6.5 X 11 inches square. Mounted to a hardwood block, will this make a suitable anvil for a beginner? Any input as to what would make a better substitue anvil is welcomed. I am a student and have little money as of right now. I would prefer to use something very inexpensive to obtain. Thank you.