Frosty

A valid version of the "God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason," adage I heard so often I used to cringe every time I opened my mouth when I shouldn't have. I'm kind of surprised my face isn't stuck in a permanent cringe. I don't know how keeping your eyes open fits mouth closed so well unless it's a visual conversation. As in; look at this, this is what's going on. I'm thinking "Shut up and pay attention" about covers it. Then again if I were as smart as I thought, folk wouldn't have been saying that to me so often eh? Teenagers! <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Mo, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. You say molding, not pattern maker or caster, but a mold maker, yes? You have me mulling the riddle so ram it to me. Sorry new guy, I just can't pass up a straight line. Frosty The Lucky.

Looks good J. Cable is okay for their talons? I guess, birds land on anything all the time so why not eh? Frosty The Lucky.

Looks good Nicole. You developed the pattern nicely and the patina has a nice rich color. Steve: I've had good luck with a simple steel clamp made from 2 pieces of 1/4" strap and 4, 3/8" bolts. A light sprinkle of borax helps if you're heating in coal or charcoal and doesn't hurt a bit in a gasser. Mokume is fun, even the failures can be spectacularly beautiful. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Most places you'll find folk who use one of the models you're asking about and you can give them a try. If you scroll to near the bottom of the IFI front page you'll come to the regional organizations section. If you hook up with the one closest you'll get to meet helpful folk who tailgate tools and equipment, hold hammer ins and often have demonstrations and open forge sessions at meetings. You can arrange for lessons, classes or maybe just make friends who like helping folk get themselves thoroughly addicted to the craft. Propane burners aren't rocket science or I wouldn't have gotten them to work. And yeah, mine will melt steel if you aren't paying attention and my one shining example of home made burnerhoodship melts the firebrick forge floor under it but that's as much luck as skill. Frosty The Lucky.

My pleasure Joe. Blacksmithing is a wonderful addiction and we just LOVE more company. The faster and easier you're afflicted the sooner you'll be infecting others. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, don't get fancy relining it, these were designed to be simple, easy to maintain and repair. Field clay ("Field" meaning any clay you don't buy) and sand will work well. Don't get it soft wet, you want it just damp enough to ram into shape. Too wet and it'll shrink check as it dries, think dry mud puddle. Leather ought to work on the valves. For sealing the joints I'd try head gasket material, it'll take plenty of heat and the air supply will be cooled by the air flow. You might get away using high temperature RTV silicone gasket sealer but I don't think it's going to need perfect seals. I think I'd want to play with what kind of fire it makes and then decide what kind of air grate if any to use. I don't know if the air will cool it enough, it's going to get plenty hot regardless. I'd have to mess with it but I'd start with it protected and see how it works and TAKE NOTES. Frosty The Lucky.

Uh, I'm not sure what to say, that's one serious gas appliance. Johnsons were (are?) famous for coming to not quite welding heat on natural gas and exceeding it on propane. I'd have to take a tape to my Johnson 122a but I think 6" would fit easily. Being gun burners you can close the lid all the way, the leakage around the lid is all the exhaust it needs. It's been a long time since I've been around a Johnson trench forge in operation, I've never lit mine. I got it as part of an all or nothing buy and have no need for something that size. I wish I could come over and watch that puppy in action, I'd stay out of the way, honest. Frosty The Lucky.

Only one more post to clarify a question is almost a record. I don't think twisting multiple strands of steel will schlub up like rope will, steel is a lot more elastic than hemp, jute, etc. Don't quote me on that though, I'm speculating and it would depend on how tight you tried twisting the steel. Oh yeah, post some pics of your project please, we love pics. You should've been able to post the .jpg, it's easy to forget a step like actually attaching it after selecting, etc. We've all done it, don't give up. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah guys me and my Soderfors again. <grin> It's a 1933, 125lb. sorceress #5 in near mint condition, there are a few small chips from the edges and Ive radiused them at the horn end. Before the internet went public I was lucky to find anything about blacksmithing, my only book was "The Art Of Blacksmithing" by Alex Bealer and not knowing any better I put my Soderfors to his quality test. I laid a cold chisel on the face and gave it a stout blow with a 3lb. hammer. It's something I'd never do to any anvil now, a ball bearing or rap with a ball pein is so much safer all round. What it did was flatten the chisel and not leave a mark on the anvils face. Good according to Bealer so the next test was to lay a new sharp draw file across the face and see if it cut. It nearly scated, barely shining the face at all and better still it cut across the entire face so it was flat. According to Bealer it was hard enough and the temper had been drawn down correctly to approximately a rc60-62. Mr. Bealer would've considered my Soderfors a good anvil. Good to know eh? A bearing test from around 10" will bounce the bearing back almost to height. I haven't done it with a ruler so all I can say is it's darned near all the way, mid to high 90% at a guestimate. I've never used a better anvil and I've had the privilege of using some darned nice anvils, a friend's Kohlswa is close but it's lighter, that may be the difference. That's my assessment of my Soderfors, best anvil I've ever used, if you get a chance buy it. If you have an old Soderfors in your way or you don't like, PM me I'll send you my address, I have the perfect place for it. Frosty The Lucky.

That's very cool David, I REALLY like the builder and mig welder. Wicked cool. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Joe, glad to have you. There are tomes of information archived on the site organized by subject. Pack a lunch, something to drink and pull up a comfy chair there's enough there to keep a person busy reading a week or more. Pick something you're interested in or think you need to learn and read up. Probably anything you may want to ask has been answered a bunch of times. If nothing else reading a bit will give you a handle on terminology, technique, tools, etc. so you can ask good questions and more importantly understand the answers. . . Well as well as anybody can understand some of these answers. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Stick87, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. I have a 206lbTrenton in the shop, it's a fine anvil, top tier. Don't do any welding on it till you know something about how they work and how you use it. It's a thing we all do, we lust after the "perfect" tool before we know what we really need/want. We all do or did it at one time, truth is no tool is perfect but that's okay. The tools don't do a thing without us. Without the hand and mind of man they're just highly refined dirt. It's YOU that does the work and till you develop the skills you can't know what you need in the tools. Give it a year or so and if then you decide you just MUST "repair" your lady let me know I'll run you through how I do it if I must. Frosty The Lucky.

I love it Billy. How's it feel having everybody on the road staring at your truck? Frosty The Lucky.

Naw, no photobucket or other photo site needed. You can attach pics files directly to IFI. Click the "More Reply Options" button at the bottom of the text window. Below the new text window is a "Choose File" button, click on it and select the pic file you want to attach from your computer. Click "Add to Post" Just follow the directions and it'll be attached to the reply. I attached the following so I wouldn't give bad directions for attaching pics. Abby is Deb's service and therapy dog, she really helped me though recovering from the accident. The cream colored guy is Falki, cool dog but a knucklehead. Loveable but a knucklehead. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Vaporlock, glad to have you. You're going to want to get all the gunk out of that forge, lead is a BAD thing in a forging fire, it'll vaporize and is very toxic to breath. The aluminum isn't good but not nearly so toxic as lead unless you are sensitive to it. If you can post a couple pics of the valves we're likely to have lots of ideas for repairing or replacing them. It's a blacksmith thing, we just don't do only one answer per question or problem. Frosty The Lucky.

Reminds me of the old saw about asking two blacksmiths a question and getting three answers. We just had a clinic by an East German blacksmith and he did everything with one hammer, every darned thing from heavy drawing to chasing details. Use what you like and let the other guy use what he likes. Frosty The Lucky.

Twisting doesn't reduce the length at all. . . UNLESS you are asking about twisting two bars around each other, about that I don't know. I'd have to give it a try, if you try please let us know what you find out. I have a rope maker friend and the wife spins, they may know something I could use as a departure point in the experiments. However, neither rope nor spinning fibers act like steel so it may be a useless thing to ask them. So, in short: twist one bar = zero shrinkage. Twist multiple bars together I'd expect some but don't know how much. Please let us know if you find out. Frosty The Lucky.

Post a picture? Frosty The Lucky.

Ayup, that's all folks. Nothing to find out there, move along. Frosty The Lucky.

Gotcha, bottle openers not blades! Make party not knife fight. Now we're on the same page. (code word for six pack) <grin> Back in my Boyscouts days I had a knife that had a bottle opener as part of the guard. It wasn't a Boyscout knife but one from that era, say early-mid 60's. I think that'd be a lot more practical than a pinky finger knife. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice job, it's a PERFECT coat hook for the barn. I'm thinking it has decent market value in the farm, ranch, rural communities. Eh? Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Marty, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Ask your friend about heat treat, he aught to be able to get you the spec sheet. That's a pretty little anvil it's profile is to be expected from someone who doesn't use one. It'll do just fine for now, you'll need to fasten it solidly. I the addiction catches you like it has us you'll be looking for and finding a larger more traditional anvil before long. Once you have a larger anvil in your shop that little beauty will be a PERFECT bench anvil or loaner to someone YOU are in the process of addicting to blacksmithing. Frosty The Lucky.

Skender: When I said "Oxy" I was referring to atmospheric oxy, (fresh air) not bottled oxy. A bit of experience to share, unless you're going to be twisting or scrolling a length there is no, ZERO good purpose to heating more than a few inches at a time. Even using a power hammer, 50mm (2" +/-) heating more than say 4-5" is wasting fuel. The only thing you can forge is what's under the hammer. Once you get your forge volume within the operating range of your burners you won't be needing anything else to bring it to welding heat. If I turn mine up it'll melt steel if you're not paying attention. I sometimes turn it up for students who don't pay attention after they've invested some work in the stock. Regardless your burners will get more than hot enough to weld once you get the forge in range. Putting charcoal, coke, etc. (carbon) in the forge will scavenge free oxygen from the fire. It works well. Frosty The Lucky.

If you're in the yellow pages as a blacksmith anvils will come to you, even here. Of course an add in the Yellow Pages, even just one season would drive up the cost of an anvil considerably. Even something in the news paper want adds is stupid expensive. Still, having the word out you are a blacksmith will bring smithing tools out of barns, garages, basements, sheds, etc. Frosty The Lucky.