Frosty

Trying to hang 2 tons from what you've drawn will stand the tractor on it's rear end. A stout back hoe attachment will lift 2 tons held close to the tractor but you MUST have a loader bucked full of sand, rocks, etc. and then it can be tippy. This type of A frame gin pole lifting rig is sold commercially. I HIGHLY recommend you take pictures and careful measurements of commercially manufactured units. Heck, my real recommendation is buy one and let the manufacturer pay the lawyers if something goes wrong with it. That is NOT a trivial project, people's lives and property will hang on it working properly. Frosty The Lucky.

It can make a difference but a lot is personal preference. The flame heats the forge liner and the hot liner transfers the heat to the work via IR. Aiming the flame directly at a wall causes a hot spot there with the rest of the forge cooler. Work in the forge can cause a heat shadow again making heat uneven. Not a big deal really but it can make a difference if you're heat treating finicky things say knives. Aiming the burners to make a vortex circulates the heat more evenly in the chamber for a more even chamber temp. You need to experiment and find what you like best but if you let the chamber come to a good heat the flame direction doesn't make so much difference, it's just keeping everything hot. Frosty The Lucky.

They're perfect for a hot work table top so you're not using a torch on something that doesn't like HOT much. Yeah, I still have a nice stack of fire bricks around. Split hard fire brick makes a pretty good forge floor. Frosty The Lucky.

Would you post the link to the video welding rail into an anvil. If someone else put the same idea up it'd save me the time. I'm basically a pretty lazy guy you know. Pre heating rail before welding is a good idea, it really helps prevent warping but I've never annealed or hardened it. Rail has been plenty hard and tough for an anvil. Were I to make a rail anvil for myself I'd make one like Charles made but a little at a time. I'd start with a nice clean end and add features as I needed or wanted them, probably start with a cut off, I know I need one of those. Frosty The Lucky.

Excuse me Gote I think I misunderstood you. As soon as your tires start to spin you REVERSE immediately?! Something has to be lost in translation or you'd be better off to just park till spring. Frosty The Lucky.

Bad pun? I guess if a person didn't get it maybe even then puns are the highest form of humor. The more dirty socks thrown the better it was. Still in this age of enlightenment there are folk who who don't play with words. I guess they just don't know how much pun it is. The header I speak of is accessed in your profile. You can post an Avatar pic and list your location. I have as much smart in my phone turned off as I can so I can't help there. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Kpd, 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. Unless the K in Kpd stands for Kodiak then just look up Reed Oswalt. If it stands for Ketchikan I don't know any smiths there. My version of an improved rail anvil requires some welding and you need to know how to weld high carbon steel correctly. The generals on it are. Two lengths standing right side up touching side by side. Offset one or make it longer. The last length fits between the two base pieces flange up. This one if the face. A little heavy welding to make it one piece and you have an anvil of decent weight high carbon steel. The one long rail can be cut and ground to make the horn. It'll be off center but that's no big deal. If you don't stitch weld it preheated it will become a specialty shape you can brag about how much experience and skill it takes to get 3 pieces of parallel rail welded together to to that. It's much heavier than a rail anvil the same length and it has a great depth of rebound so it's darned efficient at moving metal. The weight's tripled for the length so it's easy to make a rail anvil in the 100lb - 150lb range. Rail weight is lbs. per yard. For purposes of discussoin lets assume 125lb. rail. An anvil 12" long will weigh 125lbs. not counting a couple few lbs. of welding rod. If a fellow were to want say a 18" face and double horns 9" long you'd be looking at a little less than 250lbs and probably 3-5lbs of rod and some incidentals to help keep it from pulling during welding. I REALLY like Charles version it's no fun welding much HOT steel, you get to find out what a potato in the oven feels like. Frosty The Lucky.

They just need to know the size, arc and shackle method/size. Any good spring shop can knock these out easy peasy. Frosty The Lucky.

She's a sweet looking anvil. don't drill or machine a hardy hole weld one on. My preference is to use a couple pieces of 1" sq and one piece of 1"x3" welded to the side making a 1" hardy hole with 1" thick sides. The trimmings suggest a long list if useful shapes but don't get in a hurry to use them or something better will come right up soon as you finish. Frosty The Lucky.

My shop is 30'x40' and it was getting crowded before the roof was on. I wish Deb would buy a Tig welder so I could buy a plasma cutter. I'd be more than happy to teach her to weld. Frosty The Lucky.

Too many people get enamored of irrelevant things like some target low pressure. Ron caught that bug and spent quite a while developing his burner designs till he could run them at low psig. Some guys have taken it as some holey benchmark for burner goodness. Unless you plan on tapering the entire tube length you will NOT get one to operate like a commercial burner. In truth it doesn't matter a fig in a flood. If you have a clean burn that works then that's it you're done. If it ain't broke don't fix it. The one real reason to put a gauge on your regulator is NOT to try for some psi someone else runs. The sole good reason it to make repeating forge temperatures fast and easy. PERIOD. There are just too many variables between locations and burner builds for any one pressure to mean anything anywhere but your burner. My shop forge has 4 burners and each performs a little differently. Then again if you want to go ahead and join in the home built burner PSIing match. Your specific questions about your burner: #1, that's NOT a Reil burner. #2, NO the jet should NOT be farther down the tube than the air intakes, it should be well above them or it won't induce air worth spit. Frosty The Lucky.

Seeing as it's evening. Begone alien invaders your superior weapons are no match for our punny intellect! Take our leaders with you too. Frosty The Lucky.

A shop vac is WAY too much air, it'll literally blow the fire and heat right through out of the pile before it can light. Unless you're burning a pile made with a couple wheel barrows in your forge. Just my had crank Champ 400 will blow WAY too hard to light coal, starting I give it maybe 1/4 turn per second. MAYBE. Get a blow drier, turn the heat element OFF or remove it and you have more than enough air for even an anthracite fire. I used to heat with anthracite and it lit easily enough with a small kindling fire or coil of cardboard and natural draft in the stove. Seriously just more than a breath of air till it gets going. The secret to getting coal burning is go SLOW. Lighting kindling and blasting it hard only blows the heat and fire through the pile. Maybe for the look of a big roaring fire but not much good for forging with. Frosty The Lucky.

Right you are Joel and you said Champion repeatedly. I'm blaming the tree for getting one thing stuck in my mind while talking about something else. My bad. <sigh> The book's pretty easy to find you see it on Amazon pretty often, not that I look myself I've had a copy for several years now. Frosty The Lucky.

Very nicely done Joel. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Ventus, 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. Do you have ANY idea how dangerous any amount of molten metal is? Molten steel is Exceedingly dangerous, picture a coffee mug full of molten iron spilled on a damp floor. It has roughly the same explosive power as a CASE of 40% dynamite. Just a LITTLE real research into arc furnaces will have told you what you suggest is extremely OLD tech and nothing someone who doesn't have a LOT of experience should attempt. One accident with say 2-3 fluid oz. of molten iron will likely scar you for life and burn your shop, home, etc. to the ground. Frosty The Lucky.

Good score! Does the belt grinder work? Frosty The Lucky.

The muted ring is because it's so thick wasted, there are no long narrow arms (horn and heal) to ring like a tuning fork. That's a beautiful old lady, great score. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Joel glad to have you. You aren't going to have much of a market for your springs. It's a good thought but you can buy new from Little Giant. Probably get factory blue prints, parts lists are in the manual, available from them too. Someone will have to tell you who the new owner is since Sid retired, I don't recall. Do you have a copy of, "The Little Giant Powerhammer," by Richard Kern? If you're going to be rebuilding one it's a must have it has detailed step by step illustrated instructions for rebuilding Champs. We love pics, please post step by step pics of your rebuild. Frosty The Lucky.

Keep your eyes open though, blowers like that aren't uncommon and that one can become a parts blower. Air grates are simple affairs a few short lengths of round stock with a little spacer between them to make a little grate works a treat. Frosty The Lucky.

Were I new to blacksmithing and had today's resources available. I'd take a class and use the instructor's hammers till I found what I liked. Of course then I'd have a list of hammers and uses to fill. Depending on how strong a guy is I usually don't recommend more than a 2lb. hammer to start with. It's heavy enough to be productive but won't make mistakes permanent as fast as heavier. Most importantly it's less likely to do permanent damage to the student while I teach him/er how to use one without putting undue stress on joints. One by name? 32oz. Drilling hammer. Good weight, small face so psi on impact is a fair match to heavier and they have shorter handles which makes control easier. Once you've developed good hammer control you can use heavier hammers and strike harder to good affect without hurting yourself. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Mick, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you'll be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Just telling us where you are in one post isn't going to last till your next one. Fail your way to success is exactly how it's done. Blacksmithing is about failure analysis. Every blow of the hammer twist of a wrench bend punch, every single one has something to tell you and mistakes are text books. Sure it might not have done what you expected or wanted but that' what it did and may be the perfect thing to do down the road. Notes are your friend, pics help a lot tool. A little search of the site or Google for the TPAAAT will give you directions for finding all kinds of desirable stuff even if Anvil is part of the anagram. It's amazingly effective. You got it though, till you find better anything hard and heavy enough you use to forge on is an anvil. We like pics projects, tools, equipment shop, landscapes, pets, most anything you'd let your preschooler look at. Heck, we LOVE pics. Like puns? Frosty The Lucky.

I like it a lot and bet it'd work a treat opening old style pre-poptop cans. Did you intend to capture a roadrunner look? Frosty The Lucky.

Oh yeah, I may not remember details like conference dates but if we ever do a US tour you can bet we'll be letting everybody know. Deb thinks I came up with, "steel wool couple," I don't have to tell you where I heard it do I? I have quite a list of folk I'd like to meet face to face and you're top of the list. the top of my list is kind of crowded though I'm no good at making favorites decisions. Frosty The Lucky.

He's easy enough to find him Cliff, first page of the MS listing on the ABS site. No other comment, no dog in the fight. Frosty The Lucky.