Frosty

Welcome aboard Tom, glad to have you. Thanks for serving. We're blacksmiths not English Majors! . . . Uh . . . No, not British officers that is. You have a couple semesters worth of reading here if you skim the topics that interest you. Do you have a type of blacksmithing in mind? I'm pretty sure most of us were in the dog house for taking things apart no man can repair as youngsters. Dad once told me he kept all the things I'd destroyed and was going to make me take them with when I moved out. . . So I stayed a couple more years till I could sneak out. Welcome to the addiction. Frosty The Lucky.

Quite the story, thanks for posting it Froggy. Frosty The Lucky.

That looks like a pretty neutral flame, just a bit rich but that's a good thing in a forge. Of course making the 90* bend could be changing the flame's shape enough I'm misreading it a little. These things aren't complicated just a little finicky, if you have a design that works why change? If that's what I came up with first, that's what I'd be running now. If you want to lean the flame trim the tip back from the throat a LITTLE at a time. Frosty The Lucky.

Don't I wish! Frosty The Lucky.

I like you already Noah. Good plan. You are going to fit right in here. Frosty The Lucky.

I really like the music in your video, much better than narration. The high speed hammering was entertaining too. It's an enjoyable and educational video. Good job. A wrist loop lanyard is another alternative to losing them overboard. If you look at an eagle's talons you'll see a gaff profile that's been perfected by million's of years of evolution. That tip is courtesy of Mr. Harding my heavy metal shop teacher. I traced a Bald Eagle talon in a Nat Geo mag for the model and it worked WAY better than factory gaffs. You don't need to reach under the fish and pull up, you can simply flick it against the fish from it's side and the profile of the hook just sets itself. Gotta be S-H-A-R-P. I understand making something for Dad but you DO have a simpler handle plan for the next ones don't you? Frosty The Lucky.

I was Forbidden out for the 4th. time. Short recipe. I'm going to try mixing some of the castable refractory I'm using for the fire contact surface in my new forge as a slip with zirconium silicate and suing it for a kiln wash. I'll let everybody know how it works. I'm getting really REALLY tired of Invision Services cruddy software! Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Noah, glad to have you. You bet there's some magic to be done Noah, put that lady to work little brother, it's not the tool it's the person holding them that does the work. She'll smooth up with use, forget the grinders for a year or two before you damage her. Build your skills. Frosty The Lucky.

Sounds like it to someone in the lower 48 but EPA has Alaska so tied up even shipping sodium silicate in quantities over 1oz. drives prices stupid high. Last time I checked Radio shack was the only place I could find Sodium silicate and a 1/4 oz bottle was $18.00. A person has to go through a licensed and bonded gunsmith to buy bluing and it's still ridiculously expensive. It's cheaper to send a gun to the gunsmith than touch up the bluing. Frosty The Lucky.

I've been using the AllStates oxy propane torch for probably 30 years now and love it. However All Sates doesn't seem to want to deal with torches anymore but eh patents have expired so Harris can sell the same set ups under their own name. Harris has been built eh All States torches since day one so they do know what they're doing. Anyway, the way a proper oxy propane torch operates isn't by regulating the propane pressure. It is preset, usually at the factory, hence the 25 bar x 4 bar label on your regulator. There shouldn't be ANY way to adjust the pressure on your regulator! A REAL oxy propane torch system's propane is METERED according to how much oxy is flowing, NOT prop pressure. 4 bar is a REALLY HIGH feed pressure through the reg. A designed/real torch operates in OZ per sq in. of propane as it's metered from there but it shouldn't be adjustable. I'd literally have to take my propane regulator apart to adjust it's pressure or flow rate. I don't know what you have but I'd assume it's a regulator for a torch conversion and not a proper oxy prop torch system. Don't take my word for any of this, contact the manufacturer and find out what's what. Then contact Harris and find out how a real oxy propane torch works. A real oxy propane torch is a joy to use and costs about 2% as much to operate in consumables. They're expensive up front but will pay for themselves 2x before you run through a 20lb. bottle of propane. Frosty The Lucky.

It was for YOU! <sheesh> Frosty The Lucky.

Nothing wrong with a rail anvil, wide faces and horns are over rated. Seriously overrated. Frosty The Lucky.

I vote for the Wilkinson the little bit of edge chipping isn't a problem. Unfortunately the PW has seen a lot of welding and if you aren't familiar with evaluating the "repairs" it's a crap shoot. Almost any ball bearing or a light ball pein hammer will work just fine for a rebound test. Are you familiar with rebound testing? I'll assume not. The idea is to gauge how live the face is, by live we mean how much hammer energy is returned to the work through rebound. Impact energy travels from the hammer through the work and into the anvil. If the face is properly hardened the energy will reflect from either the wrought body or the far side of the anvil ad back up through the stock to the hammer. This happens at the speed of sound through hard steel so your hammer will still be moving downwards moving the project stock. The rebound test is a practical field test to gauge the anvil's practical rebound. You're simply bouncing another hard piece of steel on it and eyeball gauging how far it bounces back. (rebounds) What you use is up to you but the most consistent results are from a ball bearing or light smooth faced hammer. I carry a 3/8" ball bearing in my pocket any time I'm out yard/garage/estate saleing. However, I also keep a 4-8oz ball pein hammer in our vehicles. 2 vehicles 2 different weight ball peins. Simply hold the bearing between your thumb and index finger and drop it on the face. Eyeball how far it bounces and you have an impression of it's liveliness abut 50% is borderline dead. 75%+ is pretty good and 90%+ is outstanding. Now do drop tests in a grid over the entire face. Expect a little better rebound in the center over the body than as you test out the heal. It WILL have less rebound over the tail. What you're looking for are dead spots, areas where the rebound changes drastically. Less rebound means the face is probably delaminated (coming un-welded from the body) OR some dip-stick used it as a table to heat something with a torch. (MORTAL SIN!) Testing with a ball pein is similar, do gentle taps and estimate the % of rebound it has. Search for delaminations as well. I like a ball pein for another reason, a hard faced repair if done properly is a good repair but there is a Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) around the borders of welds. the HAZ WILL affect the hardness and temper draw of the face. It may be inconsequential or significant. The hammer may rebound well on the weld and even next to it. Small zones of overhardened face metal might be too narrow to be easily determined with the hammer face and dropping a bearing isn't as accurate target zone wise as one might like. However a person can target areas as small as 1/16" diameter pretty easily and lets a person determine sharp boundaries as you will find in HAZs. And that's it for your Frosty treatise on rebound testing for today. Frosty The Lucky.

Nobody's said anything about the always loveable Cholla Cactus? Prickly Pear. . . yum. WE had a big bougainvillea growing around the kitchen window in California nasty thorns best leave it be. Sprinkler valves were under it, guess who got to handle sprinklers? Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard John, 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. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm not familiar with White Wolf but like a d20 system, no problem. I can crew on interstellar scout or exploration ship. Part of my mind is always exploring out there somewhere. We need to find an emoticon with a space helmet. Never smile in death pressure without one! Frosty The Lucky.

Did you put a few drops of oil on clutch contact surfaces? Just a FEW drops makes a big difference. Too many makes a big difference too just not a good one. Frosty The Lucky.

Can't hurt. chemistry can be fun and useful or a Darwin award. Frosty The Lucky.

Laundry borax is a good welding flux. However if you have a welding supply close check the isles for Patterson's flux. It's primarily anhydrous borax, boric acid and something else to turn it blue. It's the same basic stuff as real" forge welding flux but a fraction of the cost. As said, clean the surfaces of the joint. Depending on the joint I like to flux then bind with wire of fold it closed before heating. Bring it to welding temperature and let it soak a bit. Set the weld with firm blows and a moderately heavy hammer. Do NOT hit it hard, if the hammer bounces so will the steel being welded. You want an almost dead blow, the hammer comes down and just stops on the weld, no bounce. If it's a large weld, lap or billet then the first blow should be in the center of the joint subsequent progress to progress outward in a overlapping pattern. This will force any inclusions out from the joint and not trap them. This was the setting weld. To check it I like to lay one side on the anvil and look for a sharp change in color. If the piece fades from dark on the anvil to color on the far side it's set. If there's a sharp line fro dark on the anvil side and color on the other then the weld did NOT set. In either case, brush it clean, reflux and return it to the fire to take to welding heat. If your weld did NOT take a set use setting blows again and retest. If it did take the set weld you can use heavier blows, that does NOT mean whale on it, just heavier blows. This is the first refining weld. Repeat the above brush, flux reheat and refine. You want two refining welds after it's set. The weld should be good to go. Frosty The Lucky.

Finding the spousal unit something for her hobby is a good PR move IF it doesn't infringe on what little free space her hobbies leave in the house. Garage saling a couple years ago I spotted a spinning wheel tucked into a corner of the driveway by the garage door. Pointed it out to Deb and after literally putting my hand on it so she'd know what I was talking about we scored a Lundrum wheel in really nice condition for $50 and the gal wouldn't sell it to us if we didn't take a SUV stuffed full of processed wool too. I can still call that one in as a marker if I need it. I'm still waiting for her to return the favor with a nice Soderfors anvil but . . . Frosty The Lucky.

You have me wondering how you cast underwater too. Prophylactic methods of preventing oxy contamination of molten copper, say a sprinkle of borax and deoxidizing is really easy. However underwater casting metals really piques my interest. Frosty The Lucky.

Vito: It's a good question, it's not wrong to ask for evaluations of a commercial product. These are burners up for sale on the public market so they're a commercial product, Heck that's a commercial. I'll give you my opinion as my answer. I wouldn't pay that much but I make a burner just as effective if not more so for around $10 USD. I say just as effective but I don't understand his testing or criteria. I judge a burner by putting it in a forge, lighting it up and seeing how long it takes to bring the forge volume to welding temperature. THEN I put a piece of steel in it and see how long it takes to come to welding temperature. I didn't see the point to his couch talk other than to try convincing you he makes a good product. Watching him tig welding things that should be screw fittings or milling air intake slots is another attempt to impress customers. I think the whole video is a clumsy attempt at a commercial. I use a drill press, taps and dies to make a T burner in about 20 minutes. Tuning takes about 5-10 minutes depending on how good a job I did on the drill press. With increasing prices of pipe and such a burner costs me about $10-$12. USD I suppose if I wanted to make a buck off a machine shop I'd modify a Mike Porter burner, sell kits and finished burners like Rex Price. If you aren't confident in your skills to make a T or Side Arm burner then buy one. If I had to I'd probably buy the one with the White choke sleeve, it's an ejector type and a little more efficient as a type. All in all I'm not impressed with any of it. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm not finished trying to find something that works as a matrix to keep the zirconium silicate on forge walls. sodium silicate is popular but I'm not fond of it if you plan on doing any welding. Silicates dissolve in caustics, that's why sodium is used to dissolve silicates and make sodium silicate. Borax is probably the most common ingredient in forge welding fluxes and at welding temperatures it's very caustic. This property is what causes flux to eat holes in refractory liners. My next experiment is to mix the castable refractory I'm using to line my new forge into a thin slip and use it as the matrix for the zirconium silicate. I haven't tried it as a stand alone but it seems to be holding up in my shop forge so far. Frosty The Lucky.

Counter punch was my first impression too and no other impression has come up so that's my vote. Frosty The Lucky.

I like paste wax as a preservative finish on iron work. Johnson's paste wax, furniture or floor polish, is commonly available and a durable finish. My favorite is Trewax paste wax. It's carnuba and is used in heavy use situations, floors and bowling alley's for example. Another brand is "Bowling Alley Wax" is another heavy use Carnuba paste wax. I haven't used it but I haven't heard anything bad about it. Any of these waxes simply wipe on and buff off excess when dry and it's good for years. The face will polish up under the hammer. If you aren't going to use it for a while a wipe with oil will keep it for weeks or months. Frosty The Lucky.