Frosty

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. One of the authors we recommend to newcomers to the craft was a sculptor who traveled the world but didn't or couldn't pack his tools with. He became expert at building field expedient smithies and tools from whatever was at hand. Alexander Wygers, "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" is a classic how to for putting together a smithy on a budget. One last thing, we LOVE pics, pics of almost any darned thing so long as it's family friendly. We mostly look forward to seeing your: shop, tools, equipment, work, etc. but the house, scenery, pets, etc. are good too. Frosty The Lucky.

​Yes Jimmy, at least a little something. Most commercial tumblers are 6-8 sided and don't need a lift flange. Round tumblers on the other hand need something to lift and turn or drop the material so it doesn't just slide down the side as the drum turns. Yo don't want a big lift flange though, the idea isn't to drop it against the far side perpendicularly. You want it all just rolling along gently, the lift lug basically stirs it so it has to tumble instead of slide. If your tumbler has a lift flange rather than being polygonal you must keep a minimum load in it or the flanges will pick material up and drop it across the drum and damage it. Enough material must be in the drum drag it off the flange so it can't be lifted and dropped. Or rather than use a piece sticking straight out, a piece of angle iron welded to the inside of the drum so it forms a closed wedge shouldn't be able to lift and drop material. Thanks for the question Jimmy it brought back tumbler characteristics I haven't thought about in 40 years or more. Dad was a rock hound and had more tumblers than any sane person could want but they were almost always in use so I guess it wasn't so crazy. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm in for a doc appt at 1:00 and can't stay long. Deb's headed for S. Cal. for a dog training instructor's class Tue. is flyday so I can't linger. <sigh> I'll have to see what the library can get. Frosty The Lucky.

Michael: Don't start grinding on that little Fisher you'll do more damage to it than good! This is probably the most common way people with good intentions destroy good tools, anvils especially. Repairing an anvil, especially a Fisher isn't something an inexperienced person can pull off. Heck, you may have repaired: HBs, Trentons, PWs etc. and you'll still have to screw up a Fisher or three before you get them figured out. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks for the recommendation Patrick, I'll see if I can borrow Tristan's (Teenylittlemetalguy) copy if he has one. Heck I have to drive to Anchorage tomorrow anyway, maybe we can hook up. probably be better if I ILL it at the library. That way I won't forget to return Tristan's copy. How close to how diffusion welding works did I get? I really only hung with some of the guys who do it a lot on the old Artmetal list. Deb and I wear Jim Binnion wedding rings. Jim posted a lot on the old AM list, I read it all and have a near eidetic memory for the written word. How accurate my memory is is questionable since the accident, it's all in there the filing system is just screwy. Solid state welding is a high priority space industry as it can weld normally incompatible metals very strongly. It's all in getting the molecules close enough. As you say, the more distance they have to travel or the colder they are the longer it takes. Tristan really gets into things and has turned himself into the Mr. Mokume of the Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths. I'm thinking he should hold a mokume workshop or at least do some demos at meetings. I really should go back to reading and learning from you guys. I just thought I could help dispel a simple misunderstanding and really hoping I wasn't going to make it worse. Frosty The Lucky.

That'd be differential hardening and the term is about all I really know about it. I'm not a bladesmith guy I only mess with tool steel occasionally. I can do the dance I just don't really hear the music. Frosty The Lucky.

​Don't be silly, turn it the other end up. <sheesh!> Frosty The Lucky.

Theyre' very different oils. Motor oil is heavier so chills more slowly which if the quench speed were the only consideration could be addressed by how much it's preheated. The real difference though is toxicity, used motor oil is laden with metal grindings and various engine chemicals, anti freeze probably being the most dangerous. This is toxic smoke so you need to do it outdoors in a little bit of a cross wind so eddy currents aren't as likely to collect smoke in your lee. I took a 5gl. water jug to the local super market and asked if they'd fill it for me next time they changed frier oil. I was hoping to get donut oil but got oil that makes the shop smell like old french fries, burritos and shrimp instead. Oh well, the price was right and it only smells like an old roach coach. The upside is it's not toxic, just makes me smell funny. Being a lighter weight oil and also a heat transfer oil it requires more preheat. check the bladesmithing/heat treat sections here for specifics as to alloy and profile of the tool. Believe me, there's a BIG difference in how you harden a knife than say a turning hammer head. Same process but the details and specific numbers are different. Whatever you use, make sure you have more than you think you're going to need. The 2.5lb pieces of 4140 for my Little Giant dies all but boiled 5gls. I should've had 2x but it was okay, just not ideal. You also want the quench tank to be deep enough to plunge the entire blade beneath the surface quickly or the oil will flash over and you'll have a fire ball. Swirl the blade so the oil can't develop a layer against the blade and slow the quench. I preheat my quench tank with a length of 2" rd. stock I heat in the forge and stand in the tank. A meat thermometer is a good way to check to see if the oil is at target temp if you need to be that precise. Just do NOT use the Wife's meat thermometer! No more than you'd use her oven to temper unless you're using fry oil that is. Frosty The Lucky.

Yes, exactly John, thank you. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a nice looking finial but I think you're giving up too soon on the diamond or pyramidal finial. Do you have an arc welder? If so think about welding a shank on a piece of cut down angle iron. One flange shortened and rounded to make the finial's neck the other left long for the point. A little time on the anvil will close up the die to the desired angle and some file work will clean up the bottom of the angle. Or you could just weld up the die from plate. This die is held in the post vise or hardy at an angle to allow the hammer to strike directly into it against the backer of the vise or anvil with the piece's neck off the edge. That's just my wild brain hair putting pictures in my head were I trying it. Frosty The Lucky.

No pics, they were just burn barrels. It's pretty simple fancy doesn't count. Draw four rectangles around the barrel a few inches off the bottom long dim. up. Cut 3 lines leaving one as a hinge, all oriented the same way and bend the tabs inwards less than 45* +/-. The tabs will deflect the intake air around the drum. Let me know if that's not clear enough I'll try modeling one with an oatmeal carton or something. I tried it the first time on a wild hair and it worked really well.

I had to try hard to hold my tongue. He had an old but obviously doted over Mercedes in the yard and it was really hard not to say something like how I'd use the tools to make a trellis for my convertible Mercedes flower planter. You run into folk like this too often, old=antique is valuable. Useful can't be Art. etc. etc. It's not like I need another post drill and the hammers and such would've been nice in the stock pile but nothing worth raising my blood pressure over. I will admit I looked him in the eye like he was a retard till he dropped his gaze. Then Deb and I just walked to the Saturn and boogied. Not worth another word. Frosty The Lucky.

Oh yeah, no problem. The coal forge I have doesn't have a fire pot at all and it welds, melts or otherwise gets steel as hot as a boy could want. Frosty The Lucky.

I've tried similar Glenn and the vortex burn barrel beat the stuffins out of them. I didn't mention it before I bent the tab inward. We've had two dry winters in a row I haven't lit a trash fire since last time it was raining, the transfer station is only 7 miles from here and no way to I'm going to be THAT guy by starting a forest fire. Frosty The Lucky.

Anvils are heavy so I fully expect picture . . . HEAVY posts about such good scores! Bunch of history there, sure wish they could tell tales. Frosty The Lucky.

Hung from springs they make good bucking horse simulators. A barrel bellows is a topless barrel filled with water with a smaller one open end down in it. Add flap valves and hose to the inner barrel and it produces a nice steady blast. A lift lever raises it and the intake valve lets air in. Before I salvaged a 10' length of 24" culvert to use for an incinerator I used burn barrels. I really liked how they performed when I put 4 ea. 2-3" x 4-6" three sided tabs evenly spaced around the sides. They were oriented vertically with the same hinge side. I only opened them so the tab had a gap or maybe 1 1/2" so they directed the intake air in a vortex in the drum. cleanest burning burn barrels I've ever seen if I could only convince people to NOT throw bottles and cans in it. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a "muffle furnace." I'm thinking you should take note of the manufacturer and model number and contact the company and see what they say. I'm thinking turning one of those down to tempering range is like using the engine from a AA fuel dragster in your Civic. It'd lose so much performance detuning it that far . . . I don't know what. What I do know if using a rheostat would be a B-A-D idea, they control current through resisters and get hot themselves. Let's say we take 1,600*f out of the oven and turn it loose in something sitting on the counter. Hmmmmm? I suppose he could put the elements in a larger furnace till the volume was large enough it could only get to the desired temps but I think my toaster oven is more practical. Heck, check with the scientific supply close by and ask what they have on the used or discontinued oven shelf in the desired volume and temp range. Oh one last thing about muffle furnaces, his electric meter will be spinning so fast you'll swear it's crying in anguish. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, I was only partly joking. Last summer Deb and I were hitting garage sales and found one with several tables of things that got my interest, mostly ball peins and medium carbon things like pry bars, etc. The fellow asked why I was buying so many pry bars so I told him about forging them into other stuff. He points out at the light pole in his circle drive and there's a complete Champion post drill with a potted plant on the table, he only wanted $500.00 for it even though it was so rusted up it was a rusty block. Of course then he points at the anvils in the garden. I smiled and told him that was a "heck" of a way to treat valuable tools and he gave me a smug smile and told me it was a dead trade and their antique value vastly outweighed mere craftsmen's wants. I smiled and we got in the Saturn and left him there looking at a dozen hammers and something like 8 prybars. It was a real eye opener for me I'm just so out of touch with modern . . . Something or other. Frosty The Lucky.

My large single jack straight pein is a cleaned up stone hammer, as my 16lb. straight pein sledge. Shhhhhhhhhh. don't tell the hammer police! Frosty The Lucky.

Now I get it, all you guys down under wanting to get into blacksmithing should start looking for garden ornaments! Frosty The Lucky.

That's one terrific Father Son day Matt! That sir is the smile of probably the ONLY kid on the planet with a REAL mining pick playing the game. Better still, HE helped his DAD make it themselves! Not only will he never forget it and the day, he'll tell his kids, grandkids, etc. It's the birth of an heirloom and a great family tale. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, it sure would. Not only clean underwear but BATHE regularly! I can just see Earth's Head Mother shaming ISIS into utter humiliation then making them sit in a corner till they were straightened out. OOH, another up side to Mothers running the world, politicians would have to get REAL JOBS! Oh wait, I remember some of the . . . disagreements some of our mothers had when I was a kid. Maybe not so great a world. I know for sure the boys WOULD take out the garbage on time, clean out rooms and not track "stuff" on clean floors. Floors WE cleaned I'm sure. Frosty The Lucky.

<snicker> I think I would like your Mum. Mine had some choice sayings as well, we're probably lucky they were half a world apart. One of Mother's things was flash cards till I was so sick of the things I learned the subject in self defense. Frosty The Lucky.

Man you make NICE roses! Frosty The Lucky.

A diffusion dome or screen prevents highlights in shiny subjects too. Shooting photos on cloudy days is a good technique as well. If you must use a flash cover it with a single ply of tissue paper to diffuse the light, this isn't perfect but really helps. If you have a speed light, angle it above or below the subject so light can't reflect directly back and aim it at a piece of white paper as a reflector. This really helps. A proper diffusion cube, dome, etc. is the best but there are ways to make do. If possible a background far enough away to be out of focus draws the eye and attention to the subject as there's nothing instinctively interesting about the background. A rumpled blanket with a piece supported by a wire a fishing magnet or a flat black stick and glob of wax 5-6' in front. The camera/tripod 15-20' back, shooting with a shallow depth of field (narrow aperture) through a macro zoom, all lights through or off flat white diffusers can do magic to small shiny objects. Geeze I miss my T-90 Canon and film sometimes. I think almost all of catching a good photo can be done digitally, after the fact. Where's the fun in that? Catching a good shot meant exactly that CATCHING it. A good photo is a very ephemeral thing, sometimes lasting milliseconds. Staging a good portrait is a different game of course and that's what taking pics of your work is. Staging a portrait. Frosty The Lucky.