Frosty

I like the big blows too, they really make the steel's plastic nature stand out a person can the see it's transformation without the specialized experience of being a blacksmith. Nice, how do they sell? Frosty The Lucky.

That's a nice piece of work. The background in the pics is pretty busy making it hard to see the iron work as well as I'd like to. I can't help but feel I'm missing things. Frosty The Lucky.

No, you don't really want the burner perpendicular to the floor if you want even heat in the forge. The more tangential the flame impacts the refractory the more even the temperature and the longer the refractory will last. I'm thinking the easiest way to realign the burner would be to shift the floor to the point the flame hits the close edge and crosses at a shallower angle. Yeah, I know that would mean pulling the liner out of the forge and moving it over say 4" and reattaching it. Or, pull the liner and flip the forge over so the burner is aligned across the top tangential to the liner. I wouldn't really rip the liner out and change it now. Liners are wear items the burner WILL burn it out eventually and the way it's aligned now, sooner than best. That will give you plenty of time to see how it works as is and when you reline it do so a little less permanently so you can shift it after you see how it works. Frosty The Lucky.

Does experience count? I agree, dust and dirt are bad for cutting tools, I wire brush stock before cutting for that very reason. Scale not so, so long as it's not dirty too, HSS handles scale without problem. The grit shed by grinders is typically carborundum or harder and tends to grind cutters as well, heck it will even damage carbides. I grew up in Dad's metal spinning and machine shop and have seen just how fast a little grit will dull a lathe cutter. You can see the edge go in the way the work looks after the tool passes. If you're running a lathe sometime set up a cut and partway through the pass shine the stock with a little emery cloth ahead of the cut and watch the results. Just one spot, not the whole bar, that way you can see the change and how it affects the cutter after it's passed the "ground" section. Das: An argon plasma column doesn't penetrate as deeply as 75-25 the CO2. isn't inert. In the heat from the arc is disassociates into carbon gas and oxygen. The oxy and steel burns raising the temp IN the puddle and the carbon replaces what is burned out of the steel. This makes for better penetration and more importantly better edge wetting for smoother beads. Straight argon may not be ideal for welding steel but being inert the carbon won't burn out of the steel so that's not a factor. Anyway, it isn't ideal but it was there and you could have finished the project, just turn the power up a little to make up for the penetration factor. Frosty The Lucky.

Try calling a paint manufacturer, bone black used to add black to paint. An art supplier will carry graphite, best of either bone black or charcoal. Make a tumbler and use bearings for a ball mill to crush your charcoal if you go that route. #6 is kind of coarse for case hardening isn't it? You don't want ANY oxy to get to the steel so why have any more porosity than necessary? Also the more complete the contact between the steel and carbon the more uniform the carbon migration. No? Were I attempting to make blister steel I'd mill to -200 for that reason. And mill the charcoal, lime and toss in something with a little cyanide say peach pits, at the same time for a uniform blend. That's just me though and I don't know what you mean by "color?" case hardening. Frosty The Lucky.

It's starting to get nicely overdone, just needs another board or two on that shelf to make a proper desk. I'm really liking your project. LED, good choice. That oil can is getting a little carried away though. Frosty The Lucky.

Well DON'T use a roast! A small piece will make lots of maggots and they eat the meat as it rots so smell is minimal. Geese are not only excellent alarms they eat things like ticks, chiggers, white socks, no seeums and such annoying bugs. They also keep the weeds cleaned out of the garden though crop selection can be a factor, you don't want to grow a crop the geese like. I liked Deb's geese, they had distinct personalities and would sometimes sing with me. I found if I sang a little ditty when I did barn chores it'd quiet the geese and after a while they'd occasionally join in. Hard to believe MY singing would soothe ANYTHING but that's geese for you. Frosty The Lucky.

Use the Yellow Pages, the paper book not internet search! Call a steel supplier, NOT mill, the mill makes the steel, suppliers sell it. Anyway, call one close to you and ask. If who you call either doesn't carry what you're looking for or isn't the closest the person you talk to will tell you who is closest or carries what you want. The telephone has a LOT of advantages over the internet. The internet is too impersonal people don't answer beginner's questions in emails but they will for a human voice on a phone. Be polite, tell them you don't know exactly what you're looking for and thank them for their time. You'll be amazed how much people WANT to help nice folk. Frosty The Lucky.

The burner flame is aimed into the corner of the floor and wall. This isn't nearly as good as it should be, it needs to be aimed at the closer side of the floor so it will cause a strong vortex in the chamber. A vortex will even the temperature in the forge considerably. As it stands the hot spot is half way up the far wall, your last pic shows the piece centered on the floor almost completely OUT of the hot spot. Not a bad job, just needs a little tweaking. Frosty The Lucky.

Drop a ball bearing on the face and estimate how far it bounces back as a %. If you're not good at estimating use a scale, in America we'd drop from 10 inches and note how many inches it rebounds as a %. 85%+ is excellent, 70%+ is good, 60%- is okay to junk. The better the rebound the more energy the anvil returns through the work per blow and the more efficient it is at moving iron / steel. That is a BEAUTIFUL anvil. Nice score. Frosty The Lucky.

Will the anvil fit between the flanges? If so lay a section of the I beam on it's side and set the anvil in it so the flanges hold it in place and provide handy places to hold tools. A tripod is far more stable than a quad. Just because you HAVE a thing doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. Frosty The Lucky.

Now you have it, perfection isn't a blacksmith thing, we're just very VERY good. Frosty The Lucky.

You mean like a ham? Frosty The Lucky. Clenceo: The close burner in the 3rd. pic down is running rich now as can be seen by the orange in the dragon's breath. I don't recall what size was the orifice before you drilled it #57? Maybe I wasn't clear earlier. I agree with Mike I didn't see anything particularly wrong with the way it was burning before. At most fiddly little tweaks maybe might could've helped a BIT. It's unlikely you'll ever get both burners running just alike, I have 4 in mine and none are just alike but any will weld. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Benne, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. NO, you do NOT want to try "restoring" that anvil. First it's actually in fine shape the chips knocked off the edges on the tail aren't bad enough to risk ruining the anvil trying to repair. Just radius the edge at the face to prevent further chipping and that part's fine. The grind marks aren't anything to worry about either nor is the torch cut at the end of the horn. The little bit of chipping on the edges is inconsequential, they're the result of missed blows and easy to work around. You only need good edges to set shoulders and by GOOD I don't mean sharp square, I mean radiused. A sharp edge WILL put cold shuts in shoulders making an initiation point for failure. Meaning the work will break at sharp inside corners. Were That fine old lady to fall into my shop I'd just put her to work unless I found a crack traveling or a dead spot I'd use her as she is. The kind of repair necessary to correct the large chips on the tail WILL put the heat treat at serious risk and I KNOW what I'm doing. Just use it for a few years. Once you develop proficient skills sets you will begin to develop the kind of experience you need to even know if that old beauty needs repairs. Till then you're more likely to ruin it. Seriously, more anvils have been ruined by good welders and machinists than actually "fixed." Please PLEASE don't try "restoring" that anvil. Frosty The Lucky.

An old rancher friend, Vern made up hardware cloth meat holders that he hung from trees out of dog and cat reach. The screen kept birds and squirrels from stealing the meat and the maggots fell off for the chickens below. Sandy insisted Vern NOT hang them above where folk walked, she just didn't the humor for some reason. Deb used to keep Emden geese. I like geese, they require you earn their respect but it's easy enough if you know the tricks. Frosty The Lucky.

Why didn't you change out for the bottle on the Tig welder? Yeah, I've cut a lot of rail I just screwed up and let the cuttings build and jam the blade. My fault, I should've used the disk grinder and ground the mushroom off the rail's wear surface so I could position it better. I just hate putting a cutter to ground steel, the embedded grit dulls them. Better than breaking them though. I'll just have to position the rail better so cuttings clear and it can't shift. It's supposed to warm up the next few days so I won't be shivering and in a hurry. Frosty The Lucky.

I made a rack with rollers, welded a lift lug in a 55gl drum with the clamp on lid. The drum rests on the rollers with a belt around it and down to a 1/3hp. motor on a hinge board. It turns the drum about 30-35 rpm. so long as there isn't too much in it. Makes a fine tumbler. Of yeah, I almost forgot I found a gallon of bed liner touch up paint at a garage sale and painted the inside of the drum with it. Quieted it down considerably and sharp steel hasn't worn through the drum. Frosty The Lucky.

Your jet is WAY too far down in the works. A properly tuned 1" burner should be running a jet in the 0.040" range give or take 0.005". Though that is a linear so probably 0.035"-0.040" is more realistic. Who's burner build instructions did you follow or did you just wing it after seeing one on Youtube? There are several sets of good burner constructions directions available but you have to pick One set and FOLLOW the directions. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Caleb, glad to have you. Even if nobody had risked damaging them "refurbishing" they're pretty over priced even in most of Alaska. You aren't so far out in the sticks you won't find a nice tool for a decent price just be patient. There's nothing wrong with a rail anvil even if it's not idea. The advice I think most important in the tool hunt is "do NOT get in a hurry!" Patience pays dividends, you need to be ready to move but don't jump at something just because it's there. You almost never see anything on Craigslist or Ebay that isn't puffed. Puffing is exaggerating the merits of whatever's being sold. Blacksmith tools are almost always called antiques, vintage, etc. or they're refurbished, restored, repaired, etc. Antique isn't what we're looking for we're looking for tools, I don't pay extra for old and refurbishing in ANY manner drops the value, sometimes to scrap. Depends on how much damage is done in "restoration." Frosty The Lucky.

My cousin Judy just sent this to me and it's well worth taking a gander or two. Even if you've taken as many CPR courses as I have new things are coming along all the time. Frosty The Lucky. This is an interactive demonstration with a sudden heart attack at a mall. http://www.heartrescuenow.com/

Yeah, tuning a gas forge gets me tuned into fire and I'm a pyrophile. I love fire but I'm not crazy about it. Tuning burners is enjoyable and satisfying. Frosty The Lucky.

My GoogleFu says almost all cobalt alloys in conjunction with forging as die and forge tool alloys. Frosty The Lucky.

Old blacksmith wisdom, "forge it thick, grind it thin." Frosty The Lucky.

The wife says scrap is okay so long as she can't see it from the house, driveway, road, etc. if it's free. Frosty The Lucky.

Uh huh. We've been dealing with a well damaged by the recent earth quake, two sick dogs and sunday a club member drove 50 miles out to start making a RR rail anvil the way I do it. Part way through the 1st cut and the blade jams and breaks. Too late in the afternoon to go buy a couple new ones so there it sets in my cut off saw. Some days it isn't worth getting out of bed. It was worth it today though. The dogs are over the squirts and feeling better. The well service guys came out ahead of schedule, pulled the pump, replaced the check valve and our well is clearing up nicely. No more air in the lines and dirty water. WooHoo! Frosty The Lucky.