Frosty

Yeah, winter can be a problem. You COULD make a teapot rack to sit on the forge. It might be enough to keep the bucket thawed and serve the double purpose of keeping YOU thawed with a nice steamy beverage on breaks. I'd say that's what I do but a tea pot fits in the heat exchanger on the barrel stove as does a foil wrapped sandwich. Warm is a good thing in winter. Frosty The Lucky.

I had to submit it in a new thread our quietly industrious mods must have moved it for me. I'm sure we would've been in the same clique in school. In today's school system we'd definitely be on the WATCH list together. I think a lot of us would've been friends or cell mates if your luck hadn't held out. Frosty The Lucky.

You can forge 316 but do a lot of test work before you try making something you want to keep or sell. It's really heat sensitive and has a narrow working range. It has a serious learning curve, be patient it's only steep if you hurry. Naw, it's not very good for things like punches, chisels, etc. I don't believe it'll harden worth beans. It's really good for other tools though, ever work glass? polished it's good glass tooling. Same for pottery and such. I'd have to look it up so I won't say it's good for food prep but maybe. A web search should cover food contact suitability. Nice all weather and outdoor applications though. It's long time shiny goodness is legendary. Nice wind vanes, door furniture, etc. 1/2" rd. is a little small but certainly good to have on the racks especially once you learn to work it. Good stuff good score. Frosty The Lucky.

When I started learning to weld, "Watch it!" was the standard warning but the instructor in my high school "Heavy Metal" shop class stomped that one first day. Mr. Harding's logic was inescapably right so we learned to say loudly, NOT shout, just loud and clear "EYES!" though, " Striking an ARC!" was . . . acceptable. Folk who aren't familiar with a welding environment will automatically LOOK at the person saying "Watch it!" same for "Look out!" or "heads up?" What kind of warning of a trip hazard is "Heads UP?" "FEET!, HANDS! HEAD!, EYES, HOT HOT HOT, HOT METAL, MOLTEN METAL," etc. are good warnings. They tell a person exactly what's at risk or what the hazard is, just like the waitress at the coffee shop saying, "Behind YOU" as she carries whatever behind someone. My "Sparky" coworkers would say, "Live" as a warning to just stay back a good 20', if you were already that far back and they said it to you they meant you should go set cones a LOT farther back. Some overhead signs State DOT were responsible for run on 660v but we'd get called out on down power lines in emergencies and some transmission lines carry 7,000v or higher. We knew enough to just barricade as far away as possible and control traffic till the pros arrived. Funny how you don't have to explain what "LIVE WIRES!!" means to anybody who survived their early teen years. Frosty The Lucky.

Chaos Theory refers to phenomena as a "Strange Attractor." Non linear mathematics show that attractors concentrate(?) order from chaos. The trick is getting the right amount of chaos, not enough and the system is too stable/stagnant, too much and order isn't possible. There are no pools of smooth water in a waterfall, white water rapids is a different story on the other hand. Anyone want to write the formula for predicting blacksmith tool attractors more predictably than the "get one, more will follow," rule of thumb? Frosty The Lucky.

You know Dave, if I wasn't getting a pretty good idea of what a joker you really are you'd be creeping me out with the whole man crush thing. Part of my bucket list is to travel around and meet online friends face to face. In a truly manly man way of course. Some of my earliest memories are sitting in the living room with Mother and Dad cutting blanks with tin snips. Dad was a metal spinner and machinist and we always had a spinning lathe stashed somewhere in the house so he could do side work. They were Depression kids and worked non-stop to get ahead. I also remember sitting on the ways of Dad's spinning lathe playing race car with the free play in take up wheel on the tail stock as he spun in the basement. It's how he baby sat me as. I have very clear memories of why I could only play with the free play in the wheel or bad things happened. I credit this for my almost hard wired feel for working metal. I can feel and hear metal's malleability and only have a work hardening failure if I push it deliberately. I grew up in Dad's shop, I only got an allowance till I was grown up enough to get around his shop without drawing too much blood, then I earned spending money. I got paid piece work till I was 16 and his operation got large enough OSHA took notice and suddenly it was flat illegal for me to walk past the office hall. There are NO pictures of me working in his shop, insurance companies and such would've. . . I was spinning before I was 10, nothing big, rolling beads, sharpening corners, polishing, etc. type spinning but it freed up a professional spinner for other steps so I earned my 1/4 cent per part. I ran everything in his shop but the square shear, he never let us kids work the square shear, too dangerous. No problem, running the punch press or spinning lathes but not the square shear. Go figure eh? I didn't use the machine lathe much as it was almost always in use for company business making tooling but I had shop classes and had access so that was no problem. I was a full blown metal spinner by time I was 13 up to my physical limits, I just wasn't bit or strong enough for some of the work. Some exotic metals take enormous forces to move, even hot. Most were really expensive and we only got paid for good parts. I took every shop class offered in school except light metal shop, did that at home for money. Wood shop was okay, really liked how it smelled. Crafts shop was too fluffy bunny for me and I had zero interest in print shop. Boys weren't allowed in sewing or home making and girls weren't allowed in Auto shop, metal shops, etc. Stupid rules. I read constantly, have since Mother showed me there were interesting things in books everywhere. I was blessed or cursed with an Eidetic memory for the written word so my reading comprehension is WAY above average. Before the accident I never forgot anything I read, I might have to work on getting things in proper sequence but I never forgot. Heck it's all still there and I still don't forget but my filing system is seriously screwed up. Stupid tree. School bored me, I was usually finished with the required reading the first few days and the related material in the first week or two. Didn't do homework and just drifted along. A classic underachiever. I only worked hard enough to carry a high C but aced any final or other tests casually. I'm lazy about other people's evaluations, especially when I know their subject better than they do. Yeah, I was pretty arrogant as a kid if quiet about it. Even my hot rod 62 Corvette wasn't much to look at. Faded white, usually unwashed, ushined chrome, but pushing better than 375hp our of a 327cid V8. Loud? Nope, I put the largest glass pack mufflers I could fit under it so it was quiet. Cops don't look at a plain jane QUIET car. Not in super car S. California they don't, cool cars are LOUD. I drove a sleeper, all the fancy was under the hood and covered in dusty oil but boy could that ride MOVE. I took several trade school programs and earned 3 welding certs before I realized how short a professional life span welders had in the 60's and 70's it was only smoke ad the Marlboro man was still on TV and "Winstons taste good like a cigarette had aughta" according to Granny Clampet. So, even with 3 welding certs I've never run a bead as a certified welder. It stood me in good stead as a fabricator though and I saw to my own breathing gear. But that was just something to make more valuable as a driller. Professionally I ran equipment of all kinds and we did field repairs, especially the drills and carriers. Those things live a HARD life, an operator who doesn't have a deft touch and good ear ends up spending more time repairing it than running it and shortly finds himself doing something else. That's about it. I won't get into on the job stories, this has gone on way too long already. Frosty The Lucky.

Elevation can make a big enough difference to need to be tuned out. It's been my experience a 20lb. tank is generally good for a single 3/4" burner for a couple hours on a nice day. A 40lb. tank is good for significantly longer and can run two for a couple hours without pressure drop due to tank temp. Standing the tank in water is a simple and effective solution but packing a tub can be a serious PITA especially if storage room is tight. However you can buy "collapsible water buckets" in a variety of sizes. This is the results of a quick Yahoo search for those terms. https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A86.JySWYPhVEkkAZXAnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Collapsible+Water+Buckets&fr=yhs-mozilla-001&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001 Sorry, tiny URL doesn't like me this morning. Lots of people use the things from ranchers, campers, "preppers", etc. you can find them at outdoors, sporting goods, farm and ranch, etc. suppliers. Frosty The Lucky.

Here you go. Just stare straight ahead and slowly move your head back and forth. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Where are the pics? We love pics and tend to wonder IF things we can't see exist at all. Was it a box or barrel weave? Baskets are a good way to go too. Then of course there are all the different twists. Then we can start talking about forging handles. It's a slippery slope you're venturing onto, best lube up there's no going back. Frosty The Lucky.

forbidden!

YIKES! I don't even know how to imagine being overtaken from down under! I'd better start typing faster! Nice score Spanky a cone mandrel is good for a lot of things a horn just isn't. They're a proper cone so they true up rings much more easily. If you reform rings at an angle you get conic sections, ellipses/ovals. If you form the smaller radius on each end over the same place on the cone you get another shape I can't recall the name of. Forming sheet metal is another whole different kettle stew. Be creative, use your imagination, experiment with wild abandon and let us know what you invent. Frosty The Lucky.

How much pressure have you tried? Closing the chokes down till the forge has a reducing atmosphere is all that's necessary to provide a good welding environment. It shouldn't reduce the temp from yellow to orange. That's say you're closing it up too much. Shine up a relatively thin piece of steel and put it in the hot forge. If it scales inside the forge close the chokes a LITTLE. If it doesn't scale at all it's good. Hot steel WILL scale up when you expose it to air, no help for it unless you want to keep it covered in flux. It works but it's messy and likes burning folk anywhere close. Once you get the air fuel ratio adjusted turning the pressure up or down won't effect it appreciably. Turn the pressure up till it's hot enough to do the job. Partially closing the doors will help as well you want to keep as much heat IN the forge as possible. I've never heard anything but good about Diamondback but there's always a first time. If you can NOT get it hot enough give them a call. Frosty The Lucky.

Hey Sam good to see you again! What you been up to? Stick around a while you'll find out about the issues in the new format. Oh like not being able to see one of the many MANY times the junkyard ID charts have been posted here. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh you missed a GRAND feature by not installing "Gozintas" in your shop floor Thomas. I put 2" receiver tubes on 48" centers in a grid in my entire shop floor. Each gozinta is connected below the floor with a 4"dia. pipe exhaust system for a down draft shop exhaust. You don't need to change out all the air in a shop space several times to get rid of welding/cutting smoke or paint/solvent fumes if they don't get loose in the shop. I have a cutting table that's a bar grate over a plenum on 2" legs that socket into gozintas. Well, I have the table designed and all the parts but the tree got me before I got it assembled. Turn on the exhaust blower and any fumes, smoke, etc. generated on the grate gets sucked into the floor, around a couple times to shed it's heat to the sub floor and out the final exhaust and blown out in the shop yard. All The Gozintas are also welded to the rebar in the floor so they make good welding grounds and cast into the 6" slab. The pic is me tieing in the Heat Pex, oxy barrier hydronic heat tubes. It's tied to the rebar so it's EASY to drill anchor bolt holes without poking holes in the infloor heat. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, that's an example of someone "restoring" an anvil by grinding off chipped edges. You'll want to radius them a little or they're going to put cold shuts in shoulders like your tongs and sharp edges are more prone to chipping. No it isn't going to have much effect on forging. If an instance occurs where it is a problem just make a bottom tool with 90* edges with a shank that drops in the hardy hole and you're golden. That's a beautiful anvil, use it in good health. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Being able to work with an experienced smith will teach you more in an afternoon than weeks maybe months of learning on your own. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, a foot pedal ash dump sounds pretty good but it doesn't need to be that fancy. It's really easy to over think these things. The simplest device that does the job well is the better tech. You may not really need to bend in a way the bench will get in the way but there are times I use the vise jaw itself to bend around and if it's a long piece of stock and some guys swear by twisting horizontally and it has it's place. There's no place in my shop a person can drag their feet. Clutter's not just a blacksmith thing but we're good at it. Frosty The Lucky.

Johnny: NO you can NOT adequately control the propane flow with the tank valve. Trying is in fact dangerous as propane is not a pure gas and if the tank valve is NOT opened completely little bits of crud will naturally stick on the valve seats. They are also THE natural place for condensation to form. With various solids stuck to the valve seats two things happen when you close the vlave: the frozen condensates will score the seats making for a NON gas tight seal. Secondly the crud that gets caught in the condensates will REALLY score the seats. this is a good way to make your tank valve NOT shut the flow off. This is a B-A-D thing. Propane burning appliances are NOT the place to pinch pennies, especially when you don't have a clue about what you're doing. Propane can NOT flash back up the hose, NOT POSSIBLE. Now buy the proper equipment or put the tanks back on the BBQ and do something safer. Frosty The Lucky. Dave: No, Exothermically Disassociation is NOT burning, not even close even if Explosive Combustion usually occurs as in a secondary affect of C2H2 exothermically disassociating. Acetylene is a very unstable gas, C2H2 and can break down into C2 and H2 WAY too easily for comfort and does NOT need an oxidizer. A shock, PSI much in access of IIRC 30 PSIA or spark can return to it's lowest energy state being carbon gas and hydrogen gas and seeing as it takes considerable energy to keep them in the compound acytelene it releases energy as it disassociates. This is what Exo (put out) Thermal (Heat) reaction means. Because acet is such an unstable association of elements there are some pretty extreme measures taken to make it relatively safe to put it in a tank and use it in a torch. Acet tanks used to be filled with porous concrete but are now filled with I believe porous ceramic so the liquid can NOT slosh in the tank. Acetone is also placed in the tank for some chemistry voodoo that stabilizes the acet. Lastly Acet regulators have a 15lb. RED line above which it is NOT safe without the porous anti shock (slosh) media and acetone stabilizer. You really WANT anti flashbacks on your acet torch for the simple "if a little is good a LOT must be better" myth most humans think applies. Being an equal pressure system (according to the molar weight of the elements) you never really want to turn the oxy pressure more than 2x the acet psig. A LOT of guys will tell you the secret about cranking the oxy pressure WAY high to cut "better." This can be catastrophically BAD as a chip popping back can clog the torch tip and guess what the oxy is set at a high enough pressure it CAN be forced back up the acet. hose. Now you have a hose holding a really unstable gas being pressurized well above it's safe point by OXYGEN! Now you have a mixture of extremely flammable gas over pressured by oxy. All it needs is a spark right? HAH, No acetone, WAY over pressured so all it needs is a little shock, physical, electric or just squeeze it hard enough and it WILL spontaneously disassociate with a BIG release of HEAT. (the Exothermal part) The uncool thing is even after acet separates into Carbon and Hydrogen gas it's still thoroughly mixed with pure OXY. And we get the ever popular FOE, that's like a Fuel Air Explosive but it's just a tad worse it's Fuel Oxygen Explosive. In a closed container, the hose. Frosty The Lucky he lived through learning this stuff, some the hard way

Another thing to consider. It's pretty normal for newcomers to a craft to want the best in tools, we've been tool users for a couple hundred thousand years and it's pretty well hard wired in to think of tools as the magic that makes our world go. Bearing that in mind folk who are telling you you NEED a pristine almost anything aren't masters of the craft. That pristine, perfect even tool can't do anything, it's not EVEN highly refined dirt without a human working it. Iron and steel is human civilization's foundation, it's made from or with steel even makes our blood red. This makes what it has to teach us worth many human lifespans and that's only a bare taste. It's a lifelong learning curve. It's only steep if you try to go fast. Just keep at it it's never boring. Frosty The Lucky.

That makes good sense, thanks Vaughn. Handy with a hammer isn't a whistling Dixi. Frosty The Lucky.

Bigger grill! The next project is calling your name! Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard glad to have you. You are SO going to fit in here! From what I can see of your set up I only have two suggestions: Replace the screw cap ash dump on your tuyere with a clamp on exhaust flap cap. Mount it with the counter weight arm facing your position so you can reach under with whatever's in hand to flip it open and dump the crud into the bucket. Flap caps make good pressure bypasses if a little flammable gas builds up in the tuyere and pops. If it's too closed the small gas explosion can blow burning coals out of the forge or split seams on the bellows you aren't using. My other suggestion is to move your post vise closer to the corner so one side of the jaws extend past the table side. This allows you free room to turn twisting wrenches or stock without hitting the bench. Now I've gone through all your pics carefully and still don't see any "junk" lots of potentially useful stock and stuff but no junk. There's a reason blacksmiths are high steppers you know. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. You live about 1/2 hour from me, even if you live on the far side of the Butte, I live on Vine rd. in Wasilla. I've been known to make a burner or two. I don't know when but sometime this fall I'll be putting on a burner workshop at an Association of Alaskan blacksmiths meeting though I'm not sure when or where. I'll have to ask date but the next meet is at Jim Hutto's in Anchorage and our other most usual meeting place is on Farm Lp. at Pat's, "Arctic Fires Bronze" studio. I'm not saying don't buy a burner from someone or use someone else's plans, there are a LOT of good ones available. I just have one that's easy, inexpensive and we're almost neighbors. Frosty The Lucky.

That makes it pretty easy to take into remote places, finding a piece of pipe to use as a stand would be reasonably easy. Pipe is pretty common almost everywhere. What is the feature on the heal end? I'm imagining all kinds of things but would like to know what it's really for. It's gotta be something good, it's too much trouble to make not to be useful. Frosty The Lucky.

Ti isn't going to alloy with iron at temps we're going to achieve in hoe forges so I suppose it'd drive out with the slag. . . Maybe. Now if you had black sands with a decent % of manganese, vanadium or molybdenum we'd be talking SWEET ore. Frosty The Lucky.

There are kiln washes designed specifically for stabilizing ceramic blanket refractories prior to washing with the hi IR reflective washes like ITC-100. Wayne Coe carries a good selection and knows more about using the stuff than I. I'm sure he'd reply to your question if he weren't at a big blacksmith meet. He has a website that shows up on a quick websearch. Leave the furnace cement at the hardware store and out of your forge. While some guys have "made" it work to a degree I think it's more hassle than it's worth for no gain. Frosty The Lucky.