Frosty

Glad you chimed in Charles you have a lot more experience with side draft forges. No, an air hose isn't a good air blast, you want low velocity and moderate volume. All the gleaties (fire flies) are a result of too much or too fast a blast. Charcoal will throw sparks normally, quantity depends on a couple factors, type of wood and air volume. A charcoal fire needs to be deep and as narrow as practical. It WILL grow as wide as the fuel pile so keep the fire pot, trench, etc. as narrow as possible. Deep is good for a couple reasons, first it shields the steel from atmospheric oxy, the fire has consumed all the oxy and positive presure through the pile keeps the ambient out. Second is insulation, it helps hold the heat in a controlled volume and not heat the room instead of your stock. Frosty The Lucky.

That'd be Theo and I believe he's making patterns for investment casting. Uh, you just got married and have a 15yr old son. How fast is the boy growing!? I can't resist a good straight line even if I have to stretch to reach one. Frosty The Lucky.

"Drive the new South American sensation the Porche Paranha!" "Lost on the way to MacDonald's," "Harsh soap at the car wash," " Driving makes me lose my appetite," "I can't stop biting my fingernails when I drive." Frosty The Lucky.

It's a wrench thingy. Frosty The Lucky.

I have something similar I bought to flare the copper pipe running from the well to the house. The swage part slips over the pipe and this flares it into the swage. It's a split swage so you can get if OFF the pipe. Or you can slip the outside of the flare fitting over the pipe and use it as the swage. I went the second route, no leaks. Frosty The Lucky.

I love the forge, sort of an Angry Forge look. It's not a very good charcoal forge design though, better ratios have been mentioned already. NO the fire pot should NOT be as wide as it is deep, especially not for charcoal. I'm sure someone will chime in with a side draft forge and how much better it is for charcoal. Your blower is WAY more than you'd need to burn charcoal by the pickup truck full at a time, a blow drier typically needs to be choked down. With that one the blast is strong enough to blow the heat right out of the fire without much more than warming the steels. Pull up a comfy chair, pack a lunch and beverages and settle down for some serious reading. Yo bet Iforge has a solid forge section that contains designs, plans, discussion and arguments pro and con for different ones. There's in depth discussions abut fuels, what and why one is preferred over another. Etc. etc. Figure a couple days of reading, take notes and don't be afraid to check books out of the library even if you have to ILL them. Yeah, there's a reading suggestion section too. I'm not sure how long IFI has been online, Glenn's told me, us several times but I don't remember lots of things well. Anyway it's been online more than a decade and yakky guys like Me have been posting. A lot of the guys contributing are world known names in the craft many published authors. Anyway, virtually anything you can think of to ask has not only been asked but answered many times. Reading up may not tell you what you need to know at any given moment but it will give you a handle on the craft and more importantly a handle on the language. It REALLY helps to know what a thing or process is called so you can ask good questions and better still understand the answers. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a good one! The piece posies so many possibilities, I wonder what others will wheel out? I'm with you, seeing folk's work is a highlight of my days some stuff leaves me breathless and some leaves me wondering what they were thinking showing THAT in public. Sometimes it's the only reason I turn my computer on. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Anthony. Congratulations! I met my wife online when I was 45 and we got married quickly enough to scare all our friends and families. Anyway, we wanted something unique and not so traditional, neither of us wanted a diamond though I did foolishly opt for a fire opal. It didn't last too fragile for rings. Anyway, I'd been an online friend of James Binnion for a few years and he made our rings. They're Mokume Gane from: red gold, white gold, yellow gold and silver. I specified a simple twist even though Jim really wanted to do something flashier. He twisted the billet, rolled it back into a square billet and sawed it in half. My ring is one half, Deb's is the other. Our rings are the same piece of metal and show a mirror image of the other one. Nobody on the planet has a ring like ours and until someone invents a replicator nobody will. If you decide to have Jim make you rings tell him Frosty sent you. It won't get you a discount but he might not charge you too much extra. Search "James Binnion Metal Arts." He used to have our rings somewhere but I didn't search long enough, the ones on the front page show you the possibilities and he'll know what you are talking about with mirror image patterns. Say hi from Frosty. Frosty The Lucky.

There is a lot of good stock in big rigs, just don't use a brake drum for a fire pot they're just too impractical. Nice fit and finish on the handle, I'd opt for more subtle with the woods but that's a matter of taste not craftsmanship. The jeweler's arts go with knives like butter on bread. Have you messed with Mokume Gane? You can make spectacuarly flashy blade furniture with it as you can using pattern welded steels. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice anvil. I don't see what someone else wants to pidgeon hole it as anymore than I care how old it is or who made it. I only care how good a tool it is and that one looks like a beauty. Sometimes people can get more invested in an opinion than is good for them and can't let go of a position. You get them occasionally at Demos, you know the person who's grandfather was a blacksmith and I'm not working the steel hot enough or taking too long or whatever. If the person is becoming a PITA ask for a detailed accounting of exactly what makes an anvil a "farrier's" anvil. It's the same tactic I use at demos on Grandad the smith characters when I offer them the hammer. I don't argue with them and after the first bit I don't respond till they hit the distraction from the demo threshold and I silently offer them the hammer. I've never had one take the hammer nor continue bothering me and I've never had to say a word. Frosty The Lucky.

Das: Is the name of that piece, "Keep Your Hands ON the Wheel?" I'm thinking you guys should have your own section. We can call it something like, "'Smile Today." Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Phenius, glad to have you. I'm sure some of the guys in your neighborhood will speak up soon as they notice you posting. Yes the reason your welds aren't working is you're doing something wrong. I'd be more than happy to tell you what and what to do about but I'm not there. Virtually anything that keeps a weld from taking is operator error even though nobody may be able to tell what. Don't worry forge welding isn't hard, it's a matter of following the steps. There is a LOT written about forge welding here, I believe it has it's own sub section on Iforge. Your main question is on the right track you want to get hooked up with others, especially an experienced smith. You'll learn more in an hour with an experienced smith than days of trying to figure it out yourself. The guys are around, it's just a matter of getting their attention. Frosty The Lucky.

Next time just quench the striker NOT the handle. Residual heat from the handle will temper the rest a bit. You can also quench at a lower temperature and see if that doesn't toughen it up a bit. It takes a little fiddling to find what works best for whatever spring you scrounged up. What color sparks did it give? I like fat orange sparks they are plenty hot enough and last longer. White fizzy ones are showy but don't last long enough to get tinder going easily. Frosty The Lucky.

It doesn't have to be high carbon steel, it's a good thing but isn't a must. So long as you're hitting HOT steel on it the shaft isn't going to get dinged. Now when you miss a blow it's a different story but what the hey, those dings will hammer out. Frosty The Lucky.

Another great piece Aus, reminds me of a friend of mine. I'll bet folk want to buy these. Frosty The Lucky.

If everything else is correct it'll run lean. You can tune it to neutral by moving the end of the mig tip (jet) closer to the burner tube so it induces less air. On the up side the smaller jet and higher gas pressure will make the burner less affected by breezes and back pressure. So, yes using a 0.030 tip is only a final tuning issue. If you're doing it like I showed in the plans and trimming the tip to increase air induction you don't trim it as short as a 0.035. The affects of difference in supplied propane adjusts right out. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a great respirator Nuge, thanks for the link! One of those will hook right up to my dry vane air compressor and I won't have to wear that stupid HEAVY 3M Whitecap helmet! Yeah, it's actually a welding helmet but it's a supplied air welding helmet for toxic environments and made welding galvy or worse okay. Eye protection is a MUST and can vary depending on what you're doing. flying chips WILL find any crack between the source and your eyeball. some operations just my normal everyday safety glasses are fie but others like running a disk grinder requires a second layer. either a face shield or better still goggles. On some occasions I wear all three. Natural fibers, no synthetics! Synthetics, even fire suit synthetics like Nomex melt on contact with hot things then they melt and stick to your hide and deep fry it. Halon fire extinguishers are dangerous in a closed space, I'd rather clean up dry chemical than spend the time in a hyperbaric chamber clearing halon out of my blood. The stuff is worse than CO. I wear gloves when I have to, my forge has significant dragon's breath unprotected flesh doesn't stay very close long, not long enough to grab a piece with the tongs. Gloves can be really dangerous though be very careful. Like Thomas said some of us have been doing this long enough we can spot problems before they begin and minimize our risk. Learning the craft is much different don't take ANY chances you don't have to. This IS a "do as I say NOT as I do." craft. Frosty The Lucky.

Sounds like a fine day Andy. Nice tools and fun making them, what could be better? Frosty The Lucky.

That's pretty ambitious for a first project. Looks pretty good though it's more a leaf than a feather, feathers take a lot of finish detail to look like a feather. Rebar can have a lot of variation in steel so you never know quite what you're working with. This is a pretty hard thing to have to deal with till you've developed more skills. Even "mild" steel from the supplier can be pretty inconsistent but it's better. I usually start people out with 3/8" sq. it's about the same amount of material per inch as 1/2" rd. but being square makes a lot of operations easier to keep straight. Nice job, keep at it. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. What size jet are you using? The build looks pretty sound without being able to get a good look. Yeah, that choke is your problem right now. The only way a choke leaving that limited an air intake area is if you were using a small dia. jet at high psi. and still it's shape is going to induce bad turbulence. You may have seen this kind of choke on burners before but that doesn't mean it worked well. Just because someone CAN get it to work doesn't mean it's a good thing. Put it in the forge, that's where you're going to be using it. Yes? That's where you need to tune it. Breezes can make NA burners sputter too, I have a wind break system I put on mine when outdoors. Before you start removing things turn up the regulator and see how it works. Oh yeah, this is VERY important. Rule #1 of trouble shooting. Only change ONE thing at a time then test run it. Take notes, notes are your friend. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Post pictures? . . . HERE!? You better believe it, we LOVE pics. A look at that anvil would be a good thing, we can't offer a decent opinion without a look see. sounds like a deal though . . . IF the weld beads haven't damaged the face's heat treat too much. That's a matter of doing a rebound test or maybe a pocket knife scratch test. The rebound test is to measure the hardness and competence of the face's bonding to the body. You drop a ball bearing and estimate the rebound (bounce) as a % of the distance you dropped it. If you're not good at that kind of estimation use a ruler and drop it from the 10" mark. this can be done with a smooth faced hammer but it takes some experience. Take the hammer with you though so you can compare the results. Do the rebound as a series of drops in a pattern over the entire face. You're looking for dead spots, the heat affect zone around the welds is a likely place. A sudden reduction in rebound can indicate heat damage or a delamination of the face from the anvil's body both are bad things. The pocket knife scratch test is as simple as scratching the face with the back if the point of your pocket knife. A pocket knife shouldn't scratch a properly hardened anvil face beyond just shining up a line. It'll also have a distinct sound and the blade will move almost frictionlessly. If it leaves a scratch you can feel by scratching it with your finger nail the face isn't as hard as it should be. This test will tell you almost instantly if the Heat Affect Zone (HAZ) of those weld beads damaged the face. If they did you'll feel the knife blade start to bite the face as it gets close. Remember USE THE BACK OF THE POINT NOT THE EDGE! You're not trying to shave or slice the anvil and heck the edge of the blade is too fragile to survive. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Mark, glad to have you. Ditto about putting your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance. You'll learn more in an hour with an experienced person than days trying to teach yourself. I'm not a bladesmith guy but I do love smooshing HOT steel with hammers. What kind of belt sander is it? If it's a bench sander it'll go a HUGE long way to shaping and thinning your steel. A forge isn't rocket science it can be as simple as a hole, some charcoal and an old blow drier. Propane forges can be as simple as two soft fire bricks with a hole drilled lengthwise between them and a burner inlet hole in the side. People have used 2 brick forges to make blades for a long time. An anvil is whatever you're beating the steal on, horn and heal are pretty recent inventions. A heavy sledge hammer head works a treat. Master Japanese bladesmiths use anvils that are square or rectangular blocks between 3"-5" on a side. The size is an eyeball estimate I made watching videos. I like a truck axle mounted flange up, a little grinding and it's actually a very effective anvil. As has been suggested there is many hours of reading in the bladesmithing section. If you want to forge knives I suggest you learn to forge before you start making blades that way you only have one learning curve to climb at once. Frosty The Lucky.

Leave out the 4140. I usually have a student do a forge weld on their first session, it gets that out of the way and they can concentrate on what I'm showing them. Try taking the mild and bending it in a ring that holds it self closed tightly. Let it cool down and clean it shiny where it crosses. Sprinkle a LITTLE flux in the join and let it hold itself in tight contact. Slowly bring it to watery yellow QUICKLY bring it to the anvil and give it a heavy but NOT HARD blow, maybe two. Now leave it in contact with the anvil on the join and watch the color change. If it changes evenly across the joint it's set. If there's a line it's not set. In either case, brush the joint, reflux and take it back to the fire. Repeat including color text. Remember flux is NOT GLUE. it's only real purpose is to prevent oxidization, if you're using it to squirt dirt and scale out of the weld your weld isn't clean. Hooking up with a local smith is going to do you more good than every blacksmith in the world TELLING you how especially online. Frosty The Lucky.

Myth Busters is in it's final season. I think it says a lot when a show billed as entertainment displays better science than the "Science" Channel. Of course Jamie and Adam are professional special affects guys so their science has to be a LOT more solid than . . . Nevermind. Frosty The Lucky.