Frosty

Nice job John, well done. I close the finial scrolls to avoid snagging on things too. Smaller overall and they'll look more robust. Scaling the finished piece to the stock can have a real aesthetic affect. Working wise, Depending on what's being hung is how they'll hang in use. Force takes the most direct route so an S hook hung on something it will swing from and carrying something that can swing as well will hang from the longest possible dimension. If a coat is hung from the end of the hook it will cant forward a bit, forcing the bottom hook back and the shaft will appear more out of true. You can also take into account what it's going to be used for. Hanging a lantern IN a barn might mean making a hook that will hold the lantern away from a wall or well below a beam. A beam hook's top hook might be formed to fit the beam snugly enough it won't swing. These aren't so much critique of your work but ideas and factors sometimes worth consideration. Depending on if you want to sell a product it can't hurt to have specialty versions for folk with need. Frosty The Lucky.

That's one serious piece of hardware Ethan. How's it work? Frosty The Lucky.

My pleasure, just remember this isn't rocket science keep it within the working limits and it should do just fine. Frosty The Lucky.

How big? Check out the RR spike wizard how tos around the web and modify to suit. I've been kicking around a wood rack for next to the stove based on the spike wizard but more gnomish. I have some 1 1/4" sq. If I give it a hair pin bend and forge to a floppy point, a disk of 14 ga. and I have the hat. Chase out the face and then comes the tricky part. A gnome needs shoulders as well as big feet. So I figured I'd make another hair pin and forge BIG toed feet on the ends. Heat and spread the other part a bit below the Adam's apple and open it straight out, insert the legs and fold the arms down over the . . . body. Oh forge BIG hands on the ends of the arms. A little 14 ga. to make his cloak to hide his steel thewed body and maybe a pack (gotta have someplace to hold kindling don't I?) from. This leaves BIG wide spread feet poking from under the cloak and wider spread arms from sleeves to hold a couple stove fulls of wood. The right hand, the one away from the stove door would be the fire tool holder and the hatchet fits a loop in his cable twist and knotted belt. Just a thought, I have back shelves FULL of them you know. Frosty The Lucky.

Weather's good here, nothing special. I say a few words for everyone in harm's way every time I think about it. The weather channel is non-stop scary. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't think any professional foundry would pour directly on styrofoam, just too dangerous IF EPA would let you. An alternative to pulling the form is dissolving it with acetone using a vacuum hose to remove the dripping goo without letting much soak into the casting media. This works really well with investment molds and you don't have to worry about the smoke during preheat, there's nothing to burn out. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a pretty darned cogent series of questions FC. I'll be happy to address them. You have most everything right and are looking for details yes? Kaowool is a brand name and there are a number of equally good ceramic blankets, Kaowool is just easy to remember. Roll the outer layer so it's just a bit tight. Roll the inner layer so it's either a little tight or has enough room for a shelf if you wish to inset the floor. Either way you want the inner layer to fit snug so it stays in place by compression. There are a lot of ways to arrange the blanket, floors, etc. What you like best is a matter of your experience, we can't be a lot of help with what works for you but we can help with tips for different constructions. Wash the blanket with rigidizer and kiln wash AFTER you drill the burner ports or it can turn into a real mess. You can place the outer layer, drill the burner port and rigidize, no problem you don't have to do it all at once. Repeat for the inner liner and kiln wash. Bring it JUST past the end of the can, it's too fragile to be sticking out much. You don't want exposed fibers and breaking it with bumps, etc. is a bad thing. You can use a fire brick laying on it's side in front of the can for an outside table and support for your work. One would also be a good place to stand some of the IR baffles Mike keeps talking about. The kiln wash is the high temperature, flux resistant and physically tough inner surface of the forge that is in contact with the flame, is incandescently HOT and gets scuffed, gouged, poked, etc. by steel. Mike is making good arguments for applying it thicker than I normally do, I believe he recommends around 3/4" of IR reflecting kiln wash like ITC-100, Plistec(I think?) or a home brew. Burner placement and alignment is again a matter of experience but Mikey is Dr. Frankenburner hisowndarned self so I'd try following his advice. We even agree on a number of points, we like a tangential flame for a couple reasons. First it causes a strong vortex in the chamber distributing the flame more evenly so the whole forge is a more even temperature. Secondly, the vortex deflects the back blast of the burner flame and so reduces back pressure significantly. This allows you to close the forge more and retains the heat better. Tangential burner mounts are most often aimed across the top of the chamber so it isn't aimed directly across the chamber at the far wall. One of our guys and a few others are aligning their burners from the floor pointed up along one wall. I'm becoming more fond of this arrangement and will probably build a forge this way one of these days so I can play with it all the time. Just drill the hole in the shell (tin can) with enough room you can wiggle the burner a little. Then as you install the blanket, drill the port so the burner is aimed across the liner, NOT at it. Repeat. With the burner aligned and however you mount it you can roll the forge till you find the alignment you like, across, up down, whatever. The only PITA thing playing with the up/down alignment might make for you is the floor. The floor should be at the bottom but don't worry you can make the next forge with the burner aimed where you like it. Yeah, no matter how well you make the thing it's going to wear out. Making a stand is a matter of tinkering a little, you could prop it up between couple rocks if you wanted, I saw one where the guy drove a few nails in rows and set his tube forge on the heads. A couple inches of loose dirt was the heat shield that prevented the old wooden table top from catching fire. The stand can be anything that holds it reasonably securely. It isn't going to need to hold more than a few ounces but will need to be secure against bumps. Bean can forges are light so they bump easily. That and off flammable stuff is about it. Tin snips and self drilling sheet metal screws open up a world of stands. Remember the only hard rules of forge stands is they keep the forge from moving around and support the work. All the rest of the nifty ideas we have are gravy. What kind of burner? Up to you really. The most significant factor is the volume of the forge, second is shape. Most bean can forges work fine with a Bernzomatic soldering torch but they're pretty small chamber sized. A rr spike knife is about max work in one. A well tuned 1/2" T will reliably bring 150-175 cu/in chamber to welding temperature. If you want a smaller chamber than that you're looking at making one of Mike's burners or at least using his technique for making gas jets. What's best is unimportant you really want something that works well, leave best for folk who like to eek the most possible from devices. Once they've sweated their hair off we can thank them and use their designs. Thank you Mikey. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, that's possible, plants exert enormous amounts of pressure if confined while growing, think roots under a sidewalk or house foundation. I only hope the wood block you have it mounted to is one of the trees! Frosty The Lucky.

I have a tip that might help you searching this or any site on the net. Don't just make up terms and expect to find what you're looking for. Just what did you expect to find searching "blacksmith goop?" Seriously I'll bet you got more hits on black boogers. Try just reading here for a while, we're talking about finishing pieces all the time and you can easily determine a good or at least workable term from "context." The jargon we use as blacksmiths is craft related, a specialized, specific language so we know what the other guy means, can reply in meaningful terms and understand answers. Without a language (jargon) a person is just spouting random words known as babbling. I could just answer your question, I've done it probably hundreds of times but I'm getting really tired of answering things for people who won't even look first. There's an entire sections about it. Asking what to look for is a different thing entirely than asking for someone else to do it for you. And THAT my young friend is WHY nobody even touched on the details. Heck, we'll even help you learn to do real research but don't expect us to just answer questions, especially if you haven't done enough reading to even know what to ask. None of this reply is to discourage you, we want folk, especially new folk to be successful but blacksmithing is not kind to people unwilling to do the work. Frosty The Lucky.

The easy way to shape fire brick for a flared nozzle is to first use a hole saw a bit larger on the OD than the large end of the taper. Use either an old disposable or one for tile to drill the basic hole. The tricky part is getting the taper right, the 12:1 ratio is the MAX rate of expansion that will allow a smooth or laminar flow, less is fine. If you have a wood lathe just turn a wooden plug to your desired taper. Once again I use my hole saw to make my "blank". The piece of wood you have to dig out of your hole saw has a perfectly centered hole and lacking a wood lathe a strong rugged duty electric drill will serve as a lathe. To chuck the wood plug (blank) in the drill simply run a bolt the same diameter as the pilot hole through it and using washers and a nut secure it tightly. You can chuck the hex end of the bolt in the drill chuck and let the threaded free end rest on a guide block so it doesn't deflect. You can make the tail stock easily by putting a drill bit in the mounted drill and sliding the wood block into it. Then with the blank chucked into the drill slide the tail stock block over the threaded end and clamp or duct tape it down. If you use a hand drill you need to clamp it down securely and remember the bearings in the drill are NOT thrust bearings so they won't stand up to much side loading so you can't just take a chisel to the wood like it's a real lathe. If you set up a guide, say two tapered stops on either side of the wood blank then just letting a wood rasp ride on the turning wood plug will make a fine tapered form. Once you're turned your tapered plug apply abrasives, contact cement and sand paper is nice just make sure there is a little overlap in the direction it turns so it doesn't just peal the sand paper off. Another more permanent method is just glue sand to the tapered plug. Make sure the threaded end of the shank (bolt) is at the narrow end of the . . . (sanding die?) and long enough to reach through the fire brick. Chuck in in your hand drill and sand the hole into a tapered flare. Really, it's easier to do than describe here. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Deleware Hammer, 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. About your advice, would you care to tell us about your expertise rebuilding anvils? Most of us who have used anvils for a few decades and rebuilt a few recommend NOT welding on an anvil with that little edge damage. Most of us have witnessed the damage and outright ruin applied by knowledgeable professional welders to minimally damaged anvils. We're all more than interested in learning how to improve an anvil's face while minimizing damage. Please fill us in. Frosty The Lucky.

Diatamatious earth is the silicate skeletons of diatoms big surprise that eh? How it works is by getting in the insect's joints and grinding them to death. I'd be thinking of the powdered sugar bait myself. I really REALLY wish we had a propane cannon for gopher control or I'd even heard of it, I'd have made one eventually. It'd be a wonderful rainy day pursuit. Right now I'm almost bummed we don't have burrowing rodents to worry about in Alaska or I'd be experimenting with aiming my T burner down the hole. Probably have to lean it up a bit but that's just a little tweak. A good non-toxic if you're not an insect insecticide is Pyrethrum as seen on Billy The Exterminator. Boric acid is effective on at least some insects, Heck it's marketed as Roachpruf. Another is Aspertame artificial sweetener I believe it's sold for bedbugs but not sure. Maybe raising a Praying Mantis colony? Frosty The Lucky.

I gave it a try yesterday at Teenylittlemetalguy's and it works a treat even in his crowded shop. Three guys at once is sort of REALLY crowded. Still it's a sweet technique. Deb loves her new courting candle holder. Thanks a bunch. Frosty The Lucky.

Go pick out some screws fit for gate handles. Make a counter punch so you can make counter sunk screw holes. Counter punch then through punch it for the screw. Getting twists even is a challenge that doesn't go away with time. If you have a torch I recommend using it to heat where you need it. Twisting also needs you to be fast, the heat in the bar doesn't remain even long the wrench and vise are very effective heat sinks. Nice job. Frosty The Lucky.

I had one for pocket gophers that might work on moles. I'd dump a gallon of water down the hole just to wet the soil so it wouldn't absorb my next presents, then pour a cup of Clorox and a cup of ammonia in at the same time, cover and take a walk. By time there's enough chlorine gas to smell it's pretty close to the fatal level. I don't know if it killed the rodents but they tended to leave the yard for. . . ? I never had any luck blowing them up though and I wasn't about to try getting gophers to pack a few kegs of powder in. Oxy acet on the other hand might be . . . interesting. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Tom, glad to have you. That anvil looks to be in decent shape only a little chipping on the edges. Please don't do any grinding on the face. It's a limited thickness and every bit removed is gone forever. Once you have some time smithing is time to decide if and how much you want to do with the edges. You'll hear a lot of guys say radius them and if it was in my hands it's what I'd do but I have a few decades messing with fires and hitting things on anvils. What else do you have in your kit? Have you decided what kind of fire you like? A millwright won't have any trouble building one so let us know when you decide what you want to use. Smooth faced hammers are good, any type but I suggest you stick to 2lbs. or less till you've developed good hammer control. Tongs, hot cuts, punches, chisels, etc. etc. are good learning projects, tongs aren't a beginning project but once you've made your punches, sets, etc. you'll be ready for tongs. One thing I recommend for sure is hook up with the local blacksmith's organization. Nothing beats some time with an experienced smith, you'll learn more in a few hours than days trying to figure it out yourself. They'll put you in contact with tools, equipment, materials, gatherings, BBQs, etc. all the good stuff, Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Alex, glad to have you. Nice hardy, well done. I just looked Vascomax up and there are a lot of the type. It just might be the cat's pajamas, I look forward to hearing how it performs as time goes by. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh that is going to be one cool piece! Frosty The Lucky.

Yellow dragon's breath indicates a really rich burn and what you describe inside the forge is pretty solid confirmation. I'll bet the sound is a gentle hiss less intense than a punctured tire. Open the chokes up, that baby needs air. If they're open or there are no chokes there's probably something blocking the tubes. Critters love burners for nests. Perhaps the gas supply tubes got knocked out of alignment. The jets must be aimed straight down the center of the tube. Your steel is NOT scaling IN the forge, not burning that rich. HOT steel WILL scale on contact with ambient air (27% oxy) just like it'll rust in open air, just much MUCH faster. Scale is something we just have to deal with, get used to brushing the piece on the way to the anvil or scale will get driven into the piece and texture it. Frosty The Lucky.

Ditto Charles WAY overthought. Ram damp clayey soil till it's hard, mixing it 1pt clay to 2pt sand will help prevent it heat checking. No, don't go buy "clay" just find some clayey soil. I suppose if you want to get fancy toss ONE CUP of cement or PoP per 5gl bucket in the clayey soil / sand mix. It WILL help it to stick together and that's little enough any bad characteristics of overheating it are negligible. There is ZERO need or reason to use refractories at all, if the clayey soil burns out so what it's just garden soil dig some more or dig an extra bucket for patches. Same for worrying about flux damage, it's garden soil, see above. This is just a hole in dirt on a table so you don't have to bend over, NOT a Sistine Chapel fresco. A duck's nest the size of one of those soup mugs is plenty large enough. Fire bricks are how I enlarge or shape a fire on a duck's nest. Getting fancy or trying to make the perfect tool has a consequence as you have noted you're spending more time trying to make a forge than you are forging. Once you've been smithing for a while you'll begin to know what you need or want from the fire. Better still you'll be learning enough about how fires work to be able to get it to do what you want. Frosty The Lucky.

In essence a "ribbon burner" is a manifold with a number of small burner nozzles fed fuel air by force. These come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. The old kitchen ovens people used to commit suicide by putting their heads in burned "brown gas" just like street lamps and the burners in the ovens were a NA inducer feeding one or more rows of pipe with small burner nozzles. I can remember as a kid getting a look inside our water heater and seeing a burner very similar to the ones in the kitchen range. NA inducer and ring with holes (nozzles.) Burner rings on top of the stove, same same. Our gas range had a pair of straight ones under the oven with the broiler below the burner. I tend to believe the term "ribbon" burner is the modern invention. The device is as old as pressurized flammable gas being used to heat stuff. Maybe casting them out of refractory with crayons or other such to form nozzles MIGHT be new but I'd be pretty surprised. Frosty The Lucky.

OR you can soak the jet in a solution of water and liquid bleach. Unfortunately the orifice might be small enough the solution doesn't flow easily. Warm the tip and drop it in the solution and let capilarity get the solution to penetrate but it's still going to take time to dissolve the gunk. Better to have a spare so you can keep working while one cleans out. You could try solvents but I haven't and can't offer my observations. If you're going to give them a try might I suggest you start with the least aggressive, say: alcohol, turpentine, thinner, acetone, before you move to gasoline, ether (be VERY careful with ether it's explosively flammable to make gasoline seem like a fire retardant) Lastly using proper PPE I'm betting tolulene or scarier yet, xylene might do the job. Water and bleach works if more slowly, going fast has consequences you know. Frosty The Lucky.

Not bad at all. Being in a hurry is always problematical though it can be good for points on the learning curve. Nice pattern in the blade, good contrast and the pattern is a pleasing shape. I give it a (not a bladesmith guy) well done. Frosty The Lucky.

Looks like cast iron ASO from here but that's just an eyeball guesstimate. Nothing you say about it makes it sound too good either. The weight and hardy hole can be handy if it's not good for forging on. It might be a cast steel anvil that's been through a fire and annealed but heat treating an anvil is not a beginner's project and if it's cast iron won't do any good. Your best bet is to get with the local blacksmith organization and get some hands on advice. I'm just a faceless voice from the intervoid. Bwahahaha. Frosty The Lucky.

I have to agree. The blade looks pretty good but the grip looks . . . I'd lose it soonest myself. Frosty The Lucky.