Frosty

Lets see if this reply disappears on me. That's a really thick piece of stock for a header. A rule of thumb that seems to work okay is make the header no thicker than the nail shaft. Drifting something 5/8" thick with such a small hole is going to require a LOT of punches. Two maybe three blows and remove the punch, cool and lube it. Lather rinse repeat. The problem is the stock will be cooling and it really needs to be screaming HOT to drive such a thin punch through even drifting. You'd be farther ahead to make up say 4 or more punches so you can get right back to drifting while one punch cools. Otherwise you end up with the stock in the fire over and over for every drift step. Or worse bending the drift out of shape with one bad blow. I don't think I have a nail header 1/4" thick. I did make up a rivet header from 3/4" sq. but I used 2 lengths, clamped together with a card stock shim between the halves and drilled the rivet shank holes between them. A little flap sander action to break the edges and it'll grab the rivet stock HARD to head. Not really the same thing but that's my only thick header. Frosty The Lucky.

WHAT you aren't going to take medical advice from some unseen old fart on the internet instead of your doctors?!? Wassamattayou? I'd be willing to bet a nice tall single malt and water wouldn't be too hard on the wounds and might up the bar on the pain killers to cover headaches. Of course I'm just an unseen old fart on the internet. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Ethan, glad to have you. Sounds like a decent deal on an anvil but without posting a couple pics we just might not believe it. Frosty The Lucky.

No, I hand sketched the mig tip and it just came out that way. Wayne (I think) and some of the other guys swear by the tapered contact tips but I've never tried one so I don't have an opinion. Next time I buy a bag of tips I will though I'm for anything reasonable that makes a tool work better. Frosty The Lucky.

If aesthetics are important cheat rather than build a permanent installation. If you build a steel table as Charles describes it opens some options: First it's easy to make them knock down to a small stack in a closet. Another is making them accept wall paneling with clips. Brick wall paneling is easy to shape and you can make it a disguise so it looks like a red brick forge. If you want a red brick hood and chimney then line the inside with cement backer board and let it get black. All the cladding will lift right off and make a stack a couple inches thick. Also, if you look into the history of the blacksmith's craft you'll see iron portable forges going WAY back. Frosty The Lucky.

Waste of time doing a rebound test with a brass hammer. You need hard steel on steel. Brass is a dead blow hammer that deforms on impact with virtually no rebound. You think finding blacksmithing tools is hard where you live? You ought to give it a shot in Alaska. With rare exception most guys here buy something new and have it shipped up for the bargain basement price in the $6-7/lb. If you make the bracket to hold that baby to the block so it can slip in and out you'll be able to flip it to different edges with a pry bar. That'd let you put a number of useful shapes on it. I'd be happy as a clam working on that baby. Not that I'd trade my Soderfors in on it, clams just don't get THAT happy. (Anybody know where "happy as a clam" came from?) Frosty The Lucky.

Vent it even if you build a hood over the propane forge to target the CO and other combustion products. CO is lighter than air, (I thought otherwise too Neil but got shown the numbers) anyway, you need to get it OUT. CO is cumulative in your tissues, a little bit over a long period is as bad as a lot quickly. Worse in one way, slowly dosing yourself will sneak up on you, by time your gums start buzzing you aren't likely to be thinking clearly enough to heed the warning. You can buy heat exchanging vents to keep most of the heat inside where you paid to put it. Using one on a propane forge vent would be a fine way to heat the shop off the forge waste heat. My original plan was to build a forced forge exhaust vent that drew the badness down into the downdraft shop exhaust system. This would've done two things, get the bad air OUT and as an added bonus circulate the hot forge exhaust under the floor to help keep the floor warmer. Win win. Just vent the exhaust out. Keeping windows open in an uninsulated shop in a mid west winter doesn't sound like a plan to me. Insulate and vent, maybe put in a barrel stove. A wood stove has a significant advantage over a warm air heater that's radiant heat. Wood burners heat by IR which heats the other stuff which warms the air. you can feel the heat from my barrel stove 30' away on a cold day. Fingers crossed this won't be the 5th. post disappeared on me today. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh come ON Darlin I'm sure if you try really, REALLY hard you can come up with a situation where the same reply from you would spur him to action. "Yeah. . . . eventually." Frosty The Lucky.

Be careful putting plated bolts or ANYTHING in the forge, zinc is one of the most benign plating metals available, most others are carcinogenic some outright highly toxic. You can buy unplated fasteners easily. Frosty The Lucky.

It's pretty safe stuff, read the label on the Naval Jelly for disposal particulars. Seeing as they won't let me have phosphates in dish soap anymore I have to live with extreme disposal laws and hard to clean dishes. Frosty The Lucky.

My favorite thing about a side blast fire is you can SEE exactly where the sweet spot is and it's easy to access. It's a much better system for charcoal and works a treat on coal too. Frosty The Lucky.

Well done John, nice texturing die. Next time weld the shank to one end so the die is over the center of the anvil. The increased depth of rebound will make it more efficient and quieter eve. The crucifix and star of David had me wondering too but if that's what the customer wants it's just right. What I made for a texture texture die for split crosses started life as a garage sale ball pein hammer head in the 10-12 oz. range. I got it HOT and repeatedly rapped it on my hot hardy. The face had a nice crown to it and my hardy is curved so no strike marked the hammer face all the way across. I'd rap it a few times, tilt it the other way and rap it some more. I rehandled it after I was tired of heating and tapping the thing and it does a nice job of putting a wood grain like texture on steel. Frosty The Lucky.

You have a couple bottles of Colace don't you? The pain meds don't do diddly for headaches and steer clear of Tylenol. Tylenol does BAD things to your kidneys if used in excess or long periods, especially if after a drunk. Use aspirin or Ibuprophin Advil sparingly for the head. The dreams can be all over the charts and inspired by what you watch on TV. They had to cut me off from "Deadliest Catch" completely, I was dreaming of being eaten alive by crabs. I don't remember the dreams but everybody within a few rooms of mine do. Some of my dreams were great though. I don't remember them other than being really GOOD. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Geeky guy, 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. We're not going to remember you said Florida in one thread subject line. I don't remember what I had for dinner last night. There's lots of good reading for you and the boy. It'll give you a handle on the craft so you can ask good questions and understand the answers. Just the craft jargon can be bewildering but it's there so we can talk to each other and understand what we're saying. And try not to make the common new comer's mistake by waiting till you get all the perfect tools before you begin. Knowledge is a small part of the equation, practice is what teaches you, a little knowledge and a lot of practice is what it takes. Frosty The Lucky.

Just because someone is demoing doesn't mean they actually know of what they speak. A lot of myth is pretty ingrained into "common" blacksmith lore. I've heard lots of demonstrators say the fire refines the steel while it actually causes grain growth. It's the forging that refines the steel. Probably the most common myth I see and hear is "quenching" the work. If it isn't at critical temp quenching only cools it off or stops the tempering draw. Dipping in oil at black heat will give blacken it like oil quenched tools say black chisels and punches. It's just a finish for things like S hooks, calling it hardening is at best theater but probably a lack of knowledge or honesty. Unless the hook is to hang a deer or steer what's the need to harden it at all? I don't even for drive hooks and they last a long time Heck, they're usually mild or A-36 anyway. Good to look for collaboration when you hear or see things like this. Good question. Frosty The Lucky.

Well, I didn't get my shop finished before the tree got me so it's a red iron steel building without insulation or proper wiring. If I do any cold weather forging I start a fire in the barrel stove, lay a piece of 2" thick plate on it, plug in the magnetic engine heaters stuck to the propane tank and go back in the house for another cup of coffee. I come out in half an hour or more, stoke the stove again and maybe put the preheater plate on the anvil if it's hot enough. If it's only cool, say 20f or warmer I'll just light the fire ad go to work while the plate warms up on the stove. I'll put the tea pot in the stack robber (heat exchanger) to heat up and maybe plug in the old coffee pot. So long as it isn't really cold, say 0f or colder I don't have to go through a lot. Warm feet is a must and I have old fashioned surplus VB boots. They are big bulbous white rubber boots that would look right at home on bozo the clown but are rated to -60f and I've worn them in worse. Warm feet and head are good so I'll wear a welding cap or sock hat. I may wear my hoody lined flannel shirt but that's about it. My propane forge radiates enough heat out the front to keep you toasty above the breast pockets. The worst thing about the shop not being finished is condensation in winter, the propane forge really puts out water and it condenses on the uninsulated roof panels right over where I work and I get dripped on after a while. <sigh> Given a choice though I stick to warm places in winter. Frosty The Lucky.

You can derust things like that screw in diluted Naval Jelly, about 50/50 in clean water. A piece of PVC with a cap on one end would make a good container for the screw. Over night is plenty for the things I've done. You GOTTA rinse it and neutralize the phosphoric acid in the Naval Jelly with baking soda and rinse again before it dries or it'll turn it phosphate oxide black. Flat BLACK. Gotta give it a spray or wipe of oil too or it'll rust fast, Fast, FAST. Just arc weld the bearings on. No rules against arc welders, heck Mr. Miller the inventor was a blacksmith and shortly after inventing the thing Mr. Yellin had several in his shop too. Frosty The Lucky.

Awe I'm wrong so often I gotta look at the other side especially when I have direct experience. I'm not wrong about hammer handles but I could certainly express myself better. I still don't like wrapping hammer handles. Even really nice wraps can hide potentially dangerous damage. For instance some dip stick grabs one of your hammers when you're not looking, takes a mighty swing and hits say 1" behind the head on a smooth clean round surface, say a piece of pipe. The handle gets "green stick" fractured but the leather is unmarked and hides the damage. I ended up keeping my box locked even when using it, some clowns not only wouldn't respect other's property they didn't respect tools in general. You know the guy, use a screw driver and maybe you get it "returned" covered in grease, maybe bent or used for a chisel and left on the floor or a bench. And I was the "unreasonable" one for getting ticked. Sorry, I get off on a memory road tangent sometimes. Frosty The Lucky.

Really nice job! I love the wrap finials, very snaky or wormy, looks like the components are being held together with trained long wigglies. Oh okay, vines if you must. <sigh> I really like it and the red doesn't bother me a bit. Whatever the customer wants is the right color. Frosty The Lucky.

That stake isn't an anvil, it's a tin knockers tool intended to form sheet metal. It should be polished shiny and used with primarily, mallets: wood, leather, lead or plastic. This is the sort of tool the traveling tinsmith would use to make your great grandmother a funnel. Other stakes in the tinker's wagon would be: creasers, snarling irons, seamer, dapping block ball or mushroom stake, etc. They were called tinkers because that's the sound their work made, tink tink tink. Nice score. Frosty The Lucky.

I just went back and read my last post I think I came across a little more harsh than I intended. I meant it as a serious post but. . . I mechaniced back when and scarred up many a hammer handle but wasn't smart enough to replace them when they reached "that" point. I got called out on a service call one day, the customer had run over something and needed a tow. I got there and looked over the problem. Whatever he'd run over got thrown up and bent an inner fender and brace into contact with the front right tire. Surprise, like the front right doesn't take 99% of the run over stuff abuse. At the risk of making the boss mad I took my ball pein to it and the edge of the brace made a few cuts in the handle. No, I can't swing off hand with any accuracy and reaching up over and behind a tire that couldn't be turned out of the way just added to the effect. I got him road worthy and off. He drove to the station I gave him a ride home and went back to repair the inner fender and brace. All in a normal day's work at the service station. I was off shift when he picked it up a day or two later. The next time I saw him he gave me a hammer to replace the one I'd "damaged." Call it a tip he said. The edge of the brace had only scuffed the handle, a few seconds with my pocket knife and some sand paper and it was just fine. The hammer he gave me on the other hand had a handle that was pretty broken up but I epoxied and taped it. That hammer and handle, tape and all are on the shelf over my lathe for when I need to bump something. It's funny, I used to get tipped pretty regularly but that old beat up hammer means a LOT to me. It just isn't fit for serious hammering. So yeah I know what's it like to hammer in places where it's just not possible to not miss. Frosty The Lucky.

Took you a minute to twig to it eh Dave? My mission for the day is fulfilled. Frosty The Lucky.

A good source for stainless is the local thrift store for kitchen utensils, a big serving spoon has lots of shapes in it. One of our kettle stirring spoons was one of my grandmother's favorite back scratchers. Bob's "Happy Little Hand" brand back scratchers? Frosty The Lucky.

Looks nice, well proportioned and smoothly finished. Is it still round in cross section or did you flatten it? Frosty The Lucky.

Enclosing a solid fuel fire in a furnace will allow you to reach heat without excess oxy reaching the work, if you manage the fire correctly. This is one reason I prefer a duck's nest forge for solid fuel. I rarely need an enclosed fire so stack the bricks deeper around the air grate but when I need to concentrate the heat, say heavy section stock I'll roof the fire over with brick. A screaming hot fuel eating fire heats the bricks in a few minutes, turn the air WAY down, a layer of fuel, the stock and more fuel for a long deep soak. It's surprisingly efficient. Or, if working out of a camp fire, building a little tunnel furnace next to it allows you much better heat control in a small package while the camp fire behind it provides your air blast from the front. If almost no heat is escaping you don't need much fire. Frosty The Lucky.