Frosty

​Oh nuts, I usually wear a cap to keep it hidden. <grin> Frosty the Lucky

I'll let you know how using the castable refractory as a matrix works. I'd like to get the new forge finished before the meeting but . . . <sigh> Frosty the Lucky

It looks good Lawman, sure the video was pretty large but it was good to see it move. I'm having a heck of a time convincing Deb her 1 min I-phone videos are too big to E-mail. I like the way the mount turned out, simple direct and no hidden details, just bare bones functional like it should be considering the subject. I do have to agree a bottle opener would be an improvement. Frosty the Lucky

Through your shin bone! That's a lethal projectile. Makes me cringe thinking about all the arteries in the neighborhood. With that much force I have to wonder if a leather apron would've been enough to stop it. Probably but . . . I hope you bought a lottery ticket that day. Glad you only have a lump to remember it by. Heck, glad you're around to remember it. Frosty the Lucky

I hadn't thought of that, good tip. Frosty the Lucky

​NO they don't anymore than they teach deductive (or any kind) logic. If they did so the kids might demand quality educations rather than just being throughput statistics. Frosty the Lucky

Bolt/screw it to a solid corner of your bench so the jaws are over open space and use that baby. Wilton bullets are tough as nails industrial quality vises. You just don't want to take a sledge hammer to it. Don't worry about say bending 1/4" thick x 3/4" wide strip stock for tabs and such. Just don't take a sledge hammer to it. I picked up a 6" one from a guy at work who was making the garage safe for his elderly father and was just giddy about it. that is a class A score use that baby in good health and joy, Frosty the Lucky

Excellent bench vise score! AT the local serious hardware store one of those costs in the $1,200.00 range. WE have killer shipping costs here at AIH brings everything in by the barge load so their shipping is slightly lower. <sigh> Remember though that's a bench vise and NOT designed for hammering on much harder than straightening 12p. nails. What Bigguns just said! Hey I looked at the tie stamp this time, I'm learning! Frosty the Lucky

The April meeting is NEXT Saturday! April 18th. at Jim Hutto's shop. It's an open meeting, the ONLY member only activity is club business and that's usually over pretty quickly after lunch or whenever the guys can hector me enough to call the business meeting to order. Lunch is potluckish though Jim's better half usually puts out a crock pot of something really tasty, a side, general nibbles, beverages, etc. are always welcome. Whether there is a proper demonstration or not sort of depends on which or how many of our really skilled members can make it and depends on if they have a home, sportsman's, etc. show they're committed to. They have families to support you know and have to strike while the iron's hot so to speak. <wink> No matter we have enough members who can demonstrate on the fly if it comes to it, even me. Jim's a pro and does some beautiful work we can probably talk him into demonstrating if we're nice enough. Heck, I believe he has a horizontal vertical band saw to make Fredrich's crosses easy and I've been messing with slumping torch work glass into the negative space of Fredrich's or spread/split crosses. I've been trying to develop a backer so the melted glass doesn't stick to every darned thing. I'll be bringing along the latest incarnation of slump clamp (what i call the things) and some some various colors of torch work noodles and frit to play with. There are artwork glass suppliers and if someone were to buy some various torch work RODS it'd be cool. All I have available or been able to find in the Valley are the long flat ribbons they call "Noodles" and I think colored rods have a REAL potential for things like eyes and other shapes, etc. slumped onto iron work. think dragon's eyes. Hmmmm? It's a thought and I'll be bringing my so far as I've gotten slumping kit with me. If you're interested just curious or have something interesting to demonstrate, toss in iron in the hat, you're more than welcome you're more than welcome. So, COME ONE COME ALL! Be there don't be square!! Directions to Jm Hutto's Nanook Forge (Oh I hope I got that right!) Follows. Frosty The Lucky Aka. President (silly beggars elected me while I was in a COMA!) of: The Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths, Jerry Frost. (cell num. three five five dash five two seven three) 1. Take New Seward HWY. south 2. Exit at HUFFMAN, turn left toward mtns. 3. Go up Huffman about a mile & turn right on Pintail ( Grace Church is on this corner) 4. Stay on Pintail as it curves to left and turns into TAIGA 5. I am down on right about 8 houses Three eight zero zero, Taiga Dr. ph# Two four four - Five four one four (If you don't already know Alaska's area code look it up if your visiting attend or to call I'm in the book)

Ayup you have a LOT more than old wagon tyers there. some make good stock, some make good bases incorporated in projects and commissions. Looks like you have a nice resource at hand, congratulations. You may have enough available to sell or trade at meetings or conferences. Hollis isn't that for from you and the CBA (or is it NWBA?) Conference has a really BIG tailgating area/event. Were I close enough I'd attend for the tailgating if nothing else. Frosty The Lucky.

Wrought iron, usually double wrought. Has a strong pattern when etched, makes nice decorative work. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't see how an oval chamber can cause better circulation than a round one but there're a lot of things I don't see. Long and narrow like that would probably work better with two 1/2" T burners or two outlets from a blown unit. I'd orient them somewhat tangential to the wall to induce a vortex. Frosty The Lucky.

Wouldn't being stuck in your armpit kind of lower the value of your stamp collection? Your anvil won't stick in our armpit if you take it out for a walk. Frosty The Lucky.

​Did you meet Bob Bergman in person? I got to meet him in 2002 I believe it was he had an orchard of Power hammers, I'd LOVE to have been able to buy one of his Nazel 2s, perfect for what I do. I don't know if he's still rebuilding them though. Frosty The Lucky.

Back in the 90's I stopped using the term coke at demos, too many folk giggling and making the wrong kind of comments. I spent time explaining pyrolization and how coke and charcoal are pure carbon and that forge coke is more properly called "breeze", after the long explanation I only call it "breeze." Let folk make silly comments about breeze, no stain on my rep. Been a long time since I burned coal, maybe I should go prospecting in the coal country N. of me but propane is so easy. Frosty The Lucky.

Good eye, the legs are 1/4"x2"x3" rectangular tubing the angle is 1/2" x2" x3" with the 3" as the base under the anvil. The 2" flange would've left a gap and small tools, cut offs, etc. would've fallen through. I need to raise my Soderfors stand a couple inches as it's my finish anvil and it's set just above knuckle height. Of course the heavier Trenton's stand has it at wrist height but the anvils have different size bases and won't interchange. <sigh> We're literally on the west side of the boundary between Wasilla and Big Lake burroughs. Vine Rd, 2 miles from the Parks Hwy. When you think you'll be back? Montana is a nice place, elbow room and such but you have Alaska in your blood. It's a harder addiction to kick and blacksmithing. A really large demographic of Alaskans is folk who were stationed here and couldn't wait to get away and couldn't stand it. Probably the truest thing Wally Hickel ever said was why he lived here, "It's the place I dislike least." As honest a statement a politician ever made. Look me up when you visit your relatives. We'll get some of the guys together and have some fun. Frosty The Lucky.

​Kind of glad you didn't go for the cheapo' "coke" reference. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh I LOVE playing cons, cold call telemarketers, etc. for all they're worth. Wasting THEIR time for nothing is a good thing, everybody should do it. I'm kind of bummed you can't bomb the online cons like you could in the early day. Used to be able to attach files they couldn't be stopped from downloading so long as they're logged on to their server. Make a spammer download "War and Peace" or "A Tale of Two Cities" on a 96k dial up? I didn't have to download or upload anything just attach the link as an open file, let the Library of Congress send it to them, they had multiple T1 links. Oh the joy. <snicker> Frosty The Lucky.

I'll be happy to critique your forge and plans but I gotta know what you want to build. Pics or drawings are a good start. At first blush, 4 burners in a 300 cu/in forge is 4x what you need. You don't want FAST for a good welding forge, the heat has to soak to the center of the billet. Starting the billet slow and low as a preheat and only going for welding heat at the last is a technique some of our most experienced forge welding guys use. If you have a super hot forge it'll start melting the outside of the billet before it's hot enough to weld in the center. Not a recipe for success. Pics please. Frosty The Lucky.

I used a little GMAW welder. A wire feed that uses 70% argon 30% CO2 for shielding gas CO2 isn't an inert gas so it's NOT a MIG, Metal & Inert Gas welder. Not that it wouldn't be just as happy running Argon or even Helium but I didn't use it for metals requiring a real mig. Anyway, I picked it up at a cheapo tool outlet, Bob's Closeouts" by name. It was a really inexpensive 110v with a 75 amp/30% duty cycle output. It worked a treat for really light stuff and died one day, No parts available, couldn't even find a company that'd admit making the thing. The GMAW I use now is a Hobart 110 Handler and it's WAY more welder than the Bob's Closeouts special. You can buy higher output 120v. Hobarts now and maybe someday I'll get one but this one has to wear out first. I'll probably have to let it go in my estate sale. <sigh> The Lincoln wire feeds are every bit as good, maybe better, if Miller makes one it'll be right up there too. I consider HF as a being on a level with Bob's Closeouts though It has a LOT more outlets. Quality is down there though and good luck getting parts or service. Frosty The Lucky.

​If it's just melted steel slag in the bottom of your forge, scrape it out while it's still melted. If you let it stick to the fire brick like clinker it will gradually lower the vitrification temp of the brick. Fire brick is a high Alumina oxide silicate ceramic and vulnerable to iron fusing to it, you have to get the slag off the fire brick or it will literally become part of the fire brick ceramic and lower it's vitrification temp to a melting temperature. I don't know the correct terms but it turns the refractory ceramic to a slag goop puddle. Once the fire brick melts dumping bentonite (clay kitty litter) on it doesn't fix it, helps temporarily but it's not a fix. The puddle's melting temp will lower and the puddle will grow. Eventually it will ruin the floor of the forge and you will have to change it. Scraping the slag or other contaminants off the floor of your forge is basic maintenance. I don't think forge manufacturers cover this in the operator's manuals but they should. Heck, do they even have operator's manuals? I've never owned a commercially manufactured forge so I have no experience with their instructions. A kiln wash really helps but you have to be careful they're designed for ceramic kilns and have different uses. The forge furnace standard is ITC-100 which is zirconia silicate and kaolin clay. the stuff is, llast time I checked, well over $100.00 a pint/lb. One pint can is enough to cover a large forge/furnace but it's really spendy. I've also discovered the kaolin doesn't actually fire into a hard porcelain matrix for the zirconia silicate, it eventually falls off as dust. Last year some of us in the Alaskan Organization kicked in and bought zirconium silicate sand and have been experimenting with binders that work better than ITC's product. I've had pretty good luck just mixing it with the fire contact layer of the commercial castable refractory I'm using for my new forge. Oh, as I recall the straight up zirconium silicate sand cost us around $3.75/lb shipping included. Teenylittlemetal guy handled the acquisition for us and can tell us the cost specifically if you're interested. Anyway, Zirconium is pretty bullet proof stuff, it's the next best thing to diamond if you want hard, say for polishing, etc. It's chemically very unreactive though I don't think it's inert. It's melting temp is WAY out of our range unless you're using oxy propane for burners. Yeah, right. Anyway, slag, flux, most anything in our fire isn't going to effect it at all. Just don't dump it in the goop puddle and expect it to fix it, it just mixes in to no noticeable effect. Well, I can't see it helping or effecting my goop puddle. I've sure gone on a long time haven't I? Surprise! My short answer is scrape the the debris off the forge floor as a matter of your shut down procedure or it'll turn to goop melting the forge floor. I'm citing " The Kiln Book" second edition by Frederick L. Olsen for data, re. fire brick, refractories, etc. I picked it up for dirt cheap at a library book sale and it's one of my best scores ever. The entire point of the book is designing kilns using most materials available all over the world. It's charts re. refractories is extensive with evaluations. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in why refractories work or not i various situations. Criminy I gotta close or I'll get rolling again. Frosty The Lucky.

Niel: Don't auto racers have AAA for help? About racing in general, I've never seen anything men won't race, seriously, there are guys up here betting on who's glacier moves fastest. Frosty The Lucky.

Don't let the hole bother you, it's not in the way. You only need an anvil face a little larger than the hammer face. A lot of subs have a tool joint for a wrench rather than a chain tong but even that isn't necessary. For flat or straight forge in line with the sub, for a curve forge across it. Standing it on end lets you forge against the ends, the box end should have a reasonably large flange end and that's flat enough. the pin end is smaller but still plenty large. I'd have to be looking for a creative new texture before I tried forging on the threads. For comparison, a sledge hammer head makes a fine anvil, about as much as humans have been forging with for millenia. Modern day Japanese swordsmiths often use no more than a stake anvil, 4-5" across. Frosty The Lucky.

Ah its just butterflies, we all get them starting a new skills set, especially if we're hoping to make a dime off it. You'll do fine, you have realistic expectations, a good handle on basic business and a paycheck coming in already. I do this largely because I like playing with fire and hitting things with hammers. Being able to use humankind's two oldest tools, fire and something to hit with and bend the most recognizable symbol of strength durability and permanence on earth to our will is soul deep satisfying. I think maybe we're on the same page eh? Being able to take other people's trash and sell it back to them to their delight is icing on the cake. Probably the truest form of compliment is paying someone for their efforts. I have steel stands under both my main anvils now and really like them better than the wood blocks. First and foremost they're really quietened them down. The Trenton is a loud anvil on a wood stand but nothing compared to the Soderfors, that one had me wearing both ear plugs and muffs, any missed blow was damagingly loud. Now they're both decent, miss a blow and they're still loud but it's a clank rather than a ring. A steel stand has a different resonant frequency than the anvils so as the shock wave jumps the gap they self damp, no ring. It's like ringing a triangle and leaving the striker in contact, clank buzz, no ring. I wouldn't put sand or anything in the legs, it won't quieten them any more and a heavy stand is of limited use. I just made an angle iron frame the feet sets into and hammer and tong racks that wedge between the rim and anvil foot to keep it in place. Turns out the self damping action keeps the anvil from bouncing anyway so I don't know if wedging it in helps. Frosty The Lucky.

Is it actually a puddle? If so just dip it out, I made a little glassy crud dipper for my old forge. It's flattened on the end like a screw driver and bent in a 90* so I can dip, hook and remove slag a little at a time. Are you welding? Flux is caustic at welding temps and silicates dissolve in caustics so it will either eat holes in the brick or vitrifying it. Once fire brick starts to vitrify it's melting temp begins to fall so the vitrification zone will expand. If dipping the goo out doesn't do it just replace the split brick. I do. Frosty The Lucky.