Frosty

Welcome aboard Red glad to have you. Most any question you're likely to have has probably been answered here more than once. So pulling up a comfy chair, packing something to drink and lunch for the reading is a good start. No, our babblings aren't going to teach you the craft but it'll give you a handle on it. Once you have a handle on say the . . . jargon you'll know what we're talking about, be able to ask good questions and fave a good chance of understanding the answers. Probably one of THE most important things to learn is how to ignore all the oh so "helpful" responses from folk who don't really know anything but just have to help anyway. Doesn't make them bad folk, pretty typical actually folk want to help but . . . <sigh> Same story for Youtube, anyone with a camera and connection can be a Youtube "expert". There's a lot of good stuff there but you have to know enough to filter the . . . stuff. Frosty The Lucky.

Happy New Year! A common tendency of folk using butcher block brushes is to use them sideways instead of lengthwise. Sideways makes the bristles cut rather than flick across the surface. The bristles in a butcher block brush are flat little leaf springs intended to flick debris but you have to apply them on the flat. Visualize a putty knife and mudding drywall. If it's moving sideways it's a blade that will cut hot steel, the bristles ARE medium carbon steel that's been hardened and spring tempered so cut they will. Pushing HARD is also NOT the answer, firm, fast and lengthwise is how the things work best. You want the tips of the bristles in contact, not laying flat from pressure. A brush is a brush and none like being ground into the work, they lay down and stop working. Frosty The Lucky.

Look in the yellow book (the paper one NOT online) for a tool repair shop and give them a call. If they don't repair power tools they will know who does. Authorized service shop can be located by calling the Company 800 # and asking. That one is a good one to look for online. Say, search "Hitachi, Authorized Service" and maybe add your local. I've found the peanut grinders aren't so robust and tend to need the doctor's more often. You need to let them feed themselves, pushing will kill them soonest. Do you have a hack saw? A 12 TPI Sanvic blade will go through 1/2" sq. in about 30-45 seconds if you know how to use one. AGAIN pushing harder does NOT make it faster. Frosty The Lucky.

<sigh> Did you see a puff of flame? Last time I grabbed something TOO hot I saw the flame puff out around the piece. Very superficial 4th. Charred and shiny fingers, no finger prints and a FAST dive for the slack bucket. No, it didn't take me long to look at that piece, no siree. Fortunately Pat has Silvadine on the shelf being a caster. I broke a very ingrained rule of mine, a couple actually. There were a number of guys working per station at a meeting and I got slack. I ASSUMED everybody was letting work cool before putting it on the bench. and my biggest blunder I didn't follow the "hesitate before touching" rule. Always but ALWAYS hesitate a couple inches fro the piece BEFORE you touch it, then approach slowly. Give your fingers a moment to feel heat before grabbing stuff. Even then around 250f. things are getting hot enough to burn you if you pick it up and at around 400f will stick to you like a steak in a dry frying pan. Then again anyone practicing this craft IS going to get burned, bruised, shed a little blood and lots of sweat just as a carpenter will get splinters. It all goes with the craft. Frosty The Lucky.

Yes, get a regulator. Do NOT try to control the burner with the tank valve, opening the tank valve partially will cause erosion of the seats and after a while it won't close completely. Also do NOT turn it off hard, it's a precision valve and intended to close high pressure gas tight with no more than snug pressure. Say less than necessary to open a twist top soda bottle. More pressure will damage the seats and it won't close completely. Yeah, get a regulator though some guys use a needle valve I'm not a fan of half way measures. How far into the forge is the burner set? The end of the flare should only just be into the refractory. It's probably backfiring up the mount hole because you're pushing so much pressure OR the ceramic blanket is deflecting in the fast air/fuel stream as it gets hot. Rigidizer is to hold the blanket in position it's NOT a kiln wash it will degrade just about as fast as bare ceramic blanket. It will however encapsulate the fibers at least to a degree and minimize the health hazard. NAW, you're that bad a welder or you would've been able to adjust it properly after the second try. Don't sweat it, propane tanks aren't mild steel so what the chart on the welder says doesn't necessarily apply. As a little FYI one of the bladesmiths here, JPH maybe used an old propane tank in a pattern weld billet to good effect. The stuff evidently has more than average nickle in it. Nickle can make for a bit more challenge welding if you're new at it. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah and I see people operating vehicles on public roads every day who think the turn signal lever are for keeping the PO key handy, not answering a text is stupid, etc. etc. Life is full of idiots learn what NOT to do from them and keep out of their way and their hands OFF your tools. When you say you "know them", is that in person or online? Be very VERY careful what you believe on Youtube till you know enough to filter out the bull nuggets. Frosty The Lucky.

Ice Road Truckers <sigh> There's a reason the show wasn't shot but a small part of one season on the Pipeline Haul Road, Dalton Hwy. I was surprised Lynden Transport allowed their trucks to be filmed let alone be part of the program. That Hugh lasted two episodes says money was let for the privilege. The whole "Dash for the Cash" BS. would get a transport company banned most places in Alaska. I'm thinking it was the late / mid 80's and a guy driving an undersized belly dump on a by the ton charge basis blew a stop light. He couldn't afford to maintain his brakes either and rammed a sedan under an asphalt tanker. The lawyer driving the sedan lost his legs to being cooked by 350f asphalt, his son was killed instantly. Bystanders got the Father out before he was killed. It wasn't long after that particularly horrible wreck a law was passed making it illegal to pay operators by how much they delivered, too many people have died trying to squeeze one more ton or load in. Ice Road Truckers, "Dash for the Cash" is not only TV producer BS it's illegal in Alaska. If you're running the Dalton Hwy. and you make a run too fast you get a warning, once or twice more you get to drive somewhere else. It makes me wonder how the show ran Canadian Hwys. as long as it did. Is it still on? Maybe it's about Siberian ice roads now? I haven't watched it inn quite a while, caught a couple episodes with Kelly, the gal from Wasilla driving but only a couple, it was just getting dramatic for drama's sake. A good equipment operator doesn't live a dramatic life at the controls. We say "Clearance" or "Overhead Clearance". That's probably for folk who might think the width of the highway is 16' and not notice a bridge. Happens. And Yeah, I've driven the Dalton a couple times but not as a freighter, we moved our own equipment. Frosty The Lucky.

Mine is better insulated and adjustable isn't a useful description for making comparisons. Frosty The Lucky.

First reply disappeared. <sigh> Nice "Stretch Kitty" They like to drag their bellies on the floor with their hind legs stretched behind them too. Smaller ears and pointed. The whiskers need to be lower on the muzzle, nostrils are slitted. I keep forgetting nostril slits. The eyes are higher, closer together and facing forward. Do you realize how marketable this is? A selection of basic poses with customs @ time and materials rates. Frosty The Lucky.

I see you've made the synthesis, get a picture. (tag) Frosty The Lucky. Where do you get the ointment Matto? I'm up for trying new stuff. Frosty The Lucky.

I vouch for Jim's advice, there is NO rush to modify your anvil, especially when you can experiment with models like pictured bottom tools. When you can let experience guide your decisions it's pretty . . . silly to make irreversible changes to critical equipment without experimenting. It also gives you time to develop the skills necessary to do it with power tools, hand polishing hardened high carbon steel is caution overkill. I'm not faulting being conservative about these things it's an instinctive way of staying safe. When you don't know the road, go slow. Frosty The Lucky.

Ooooh, NICE shop! I'd estimate that at around 30' x 40' x 14'. A rolling door has advantages my roll up doesn't. The power pole leads me to believe electricity is right there, is it wired and did you put in LOTS of outlets? Lots of lights too, you can't have too many lights and outlets. Is it full yet? How's it insulated and more importantly ventilated? Running ANY open fire consumes oxy and produces byproducts, CO being the most insidious and dangerous. Most coal byproducts can be smelled but produces CO2 and CO as well. SWEET, good for you. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah. I didn't want it in the first place but it was an all or nothing sale so I hauled it with. I have no use for something that large nor inefficient. I'll let it go cheap. Frosty The Lucky.

It might have drip a peal. Frosty The Lucky.

I've never even heard of the finish. (Frosty says shuffling his feet in embarrassment) Got pics? Frosty The Lucky.

Make aloeances?! Are you insinuating I'm some sort of sap? Frosty The Lucky.

Pretty cool fish Dick. Makes me wonder how large one would need to be for the horse shoes to be to . . . scale? Frosty The Lucky.

NICE looking blade J, going to fill us in on the how? Frosty The Lucky.

You have the soul of a blacksmith. We all get quivery thinking about working with that much HOT steel. Oooooh, gotta get me some cool air. Frosty The Lucky.

How she got a CDL is the question. Can't convert 6 tons to pounds so she can calculate if that's less than 30 tons? Doesn't like BACKING her rig? I wonder how long she'd keep it between the ditches on an icy mountain downhill, the crest . . . maybe? She's probably a nice gal just not an operator, maybe someday but not now. This kind of story kind of plucks a nerve in me. If someone here manages to get a line on wrought if that bridge is WI it might be good to share some out for a buck. I'll bet Glenn wouldn't mind notices here for a little piece of the action. Hmmmm? Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Corksmith, glad to have you. (I started to call you Corky but don't know you well enough to stick you with a nickname yet) If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance. That's a clunker of an anvil, literally. You'll do much better with almost any largish piece of steel, RR rail makes a good anvil so do axles mounted flange up, or most any shaft larger around than the hammer face. Rail car male couplers make excellent if unconventional anvils. forget about "REAL" anvils, one will come along just keep your eyes open and some cash handy. Anything hard and heavy you beat hot steel on IS an anvil. Period. Search Iforge for the "TPAAAT." It's a proven method of locating most anything though it has "anvil" in the name it works very well if you use it seriously. Frosty The Lucky.

Fascinating Glenn. What's the punch line? Frosty The Lucky.

I use the aloe gel quite a lot............DUH!!!!! Maybe Arkie should give it a try he seems to use a lot of aloe. Chlorophyll might help him turn a new leaf. Frosty The Lucky.

Did 4' bellows actually SELL for that much or was that asking price? Without provenience that's just a large bellows, nothing too special except it looks kind of old. Frosty The Lucky.

Insulation for a coal forge? NO Cement for the brick in a coal forge? No, unless you're building a masonry forge then forget the BBQ. Plaster? Only to repair the wall or joint the drywall though you'll be farther ahead to use joint compound. Dig some good Georgia red clay, preferably just damp enough to clump and mix it with sand around 1pt clay to 2pts. sand. Adjust moisture as necessary with SPRINKLES of water if it's crumbly or dry sand if it leaves streaks on your palms, mix thoroughly and let rest a while. Once it's clumping moist ram it into the forge pan with a wooden mallet or the end of a 2 x 4 till they bounce. Don't tell me I need to tell you to shape the clay mix before you ram it up! Quartz will take LOT heat but not localized like laying HOT wire on it. That's one way to cut glass and break crystals in a controlled manner. Just wrap it with cold steel, remove the crystal and twist the cage a BIT tighter then spring it open enough to slip the crystal back in. This will let the cage hold it more securely. No need to hammer on the quartz. Don't do a thing to your anvil except MAYBE wire brush it a little, not to try offending you but you don't know enough to do more than damage it. And NO taking it to a professional welder is no guarantee, more good anvils have been ruined by professional welders. Repairing an anvil is NOT just about knowing how to weld, you must know how to weld ANVILS. It's a specialization not covered in any welding manual or certification course. Frosty The Lucky.