Frosty

Iron looks good but where in the HECK is a pic of the fossil?! Flattened snail shell-like may be an amonite. No I'm not a paleontologist but I never got over a love for dinosaurs and read a LOT. <grin> Now post that PIC! Frosty The Lucky.

You can remove the carbides with a torch or in the forge, they're brazed in so if you over heat it the zinc will burn. Be careful. Then you can forge the steel and make various bottom tools. The steel is tough as can be, the carbides do the cutting but the rest of the bit takes the force, it's good stuff. We used smaller versions in our drill bits, Kennametal teeth by name. The carbide buttons are useless as anything but what they're made for but the teeth are good tough steel. Frosty The Lucky.

Eric: WOW! Anyone saying their burner burns more fuel than others, all things being equal is BSing. As you noted it doesn't make sense, it just ain't so. If your burner is wasting 23% of the propane your forge would have yellow dragon's breath a foot or two high out the doors. While Ron was using pretty sophisticated test equipment in controlled conditions I THINK he finally realized how little it mattered. Heck, he didn't like the results in they didn't make sense to him but that was the result of how propane behaves, not the numbers. What a person working at the forge needs to know in reality is two fold. Does the burner and forge do the job? Is it efficient? Trying to determine consumption rates by the cu/ft, gal, etc. is pretty . . . Just time how long it takes to run through a full tank a few times and average it. The environmental differences will cancel out. The arithmetic is easy. I typically get about 8hrs from a 40lb tank running two of my 3/4" burners at 5-9 psi. But that's an average and doesn't take into account the slight differences in propane's BTU per batch. So, considering running two chambers on my forge is about 700 cu/in and open at one or both ends and 9psi will bring most all of it to welding heat on about 5lbs/hr. that'd be about 2.5lbs. using one burner in one section. AND I adjust my burners to run rich for a reducing atmosphere in my forge. You can see pics of my variable geometry forge burning in the gas forge section, it has a generous dragon's breath. Insulation is good, a high zirconium kiln wash is even better, it's darned resistant to flux. but both is best. ITC-100 is out of my price range now, we buy Zircopax and kaolin clay and make our own kiln wash. If I said fresh ITC works better than old I misspoke or was misunderstood. It works a treat till it's worn off. Where a person really sees the difference is when you first fire a freshly washed forge compared to it's unwashed performance. Maybe I didn't say that well enough but the 2-3 year old wash on my forge still does just what it did when fresh. All in all unless a guy is operating on a margin of a couple percent or running a factory sized forge almost any of the home built burners you see will work just fine if adjusted properly. The efficiency difference between a Porter type IV and a Porter type V is insignificant and Mike put a lot of effort into improving that version. Iron Quake: Didn't you get or make the induction wands? Grant had more ways to apply induction heating to steel than a boy could need. Basically copper tubing hooked to the water and power and the business end might be a loop you pass over the work OR it could be two loops with a gap between them you can pass down the length of a bar, OR a flat spiral pad you can pass over the work and heat say the center of a car hood. There near the end he was making heat wands of the goofiest shapes he could come up with one of the coolest was a longish hairpin wand you could put inside a piece of pipe and heat it. I'd LOVE to have an induction forge but I haven't had a paycheck job since the accident and can't afford one. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.

Kismet! Ain't it wonderful? If you go raising the bar much more I won't even be able to see it. Frosty The Lucky.

Good grief Shawn, considering all the time you've spent airing on the inconsequential you could've mowed enough lawns to buy a forge. You don't even need a drill motor to build a working gas forge but who cares. It's in your court to spend more time looking for something you can point to as a personal . . . whatever, or you could just do IT. The only "Superior" that counts in a true craft is: better, faster, cheaper, easier. Improve any one and your profit margin increases. How you count your profit is your business. For the record, NO THING about manual blacksmithing is "necessary" Virtually anything we make can be bought at a fraction of the cost almost anywhere in the USA. WE do this because we want to, personally making steel plastic and forming it to MY will sings to my soul. But that's me. In short do whatever you want, dig a hole make a bellows from a paper bag and burn deer crap or spend tens of thousands on an industrial forge. The only person it'll make any difference to is YOU. If YOU want to build a gas forge and need a hand, just ask we'll be happy to help. If not . . . Frosty The Lucky.

I really like it, very cool all round. Gets me thinking, it's a good thing. Frosty The Lucky.

You're absolutely right, most of the guys talking about burner efficiency not only don't know what that means but haven't tested anything. I only report my observations and have built quite a few different types. Ron Reil is the one exception to this trend I know of, though Michael Porter may have tested as well. I'll ask him if you just MUST know. Ron not only is a retired science teacher he has the equipment on the shelf to do meaningful tests. I have to say he was NOT happy with the results but that's a different story. When I say an ejector type induction device is around 30% more efficient than a lineal induction device I try to stress it's a more efficient inducer, not burner. Those are two different things. It doesn't matter how you do it, if you properly mix 17.5 pts air to 1 pt propane it will produce 95,000 BTUs per gallon. The actual BTU rate is misfiled somewhere in my dented memory, there's a bit more to it than the rounded number and there is some variation in batches. Take it as a ball park figure for conversation sake or look it up. What makes an ejector a better burner than a linear is the higher induction rate, it makes them much less vulnerable to breezes and back pressure hence it's more practical in a forge that isn't going to be in a sheltered environment. The increased induction efficiency is why ejectors are used to highway clean drains, pump bilges in a hurry etc. Truth is they suck better than they blow. No matter what kind of burner, be it naturally aspirated or a gun (blown) it must be properly adjusted to your needs. If so, it doesn't make one whit of difference what kind it is you will get just so much heat per gallon of propane. If fuel economy is a major factor it may be worth the time to do some research into other fuels. I believe virtually every flammable substance has hard info, from handling and transporting to flame chemistry as in fuel:air ratio, exhaust chemistry, total unit BTUs, BTUs per second/minute, absolute temperature, etc. There are gvt departments that research and publish this information for a number of reasons and it's public information. For a start you might ask the FD, they have to be able to access this info quickly under stressful conditions, often with people's lives depending on them getting it right. If they won't tell you what you want to know they probably know where you can look. Asking general questions expecting specific and scientific answers on a blacksmithing web site isn't going to be terribly satisfying. Very much of what we do is by guess and by gosh. For instance, I'm going to try this type X burner and see what happens. And a week later saying My forge is plenty hot but it sure went through that 100lbs of propane fast. I'll just write that down and give a Jimmy Pete's Hottsy burner a try and see. Frosty The Lucky.

The nozzle is too close to the work. If you look at an oxy acet torch flame you'll see the flame is in three parts. The primary cone is the well defined blue flame at the center. Right at the very point is the hottest part of the torch flame. The secondary flame is the larger more transparent flame surrounding the primary and is hot but more suited for preheating, it's hot but softer. Lastly the tertiary flame is the looser outer flame it's very soft, sometimes feathery and is the preferred zone for soft heat such as needed for annealing non-ferrous metals. As I recall the three parts of the torch flame have proper names but they're gone from my much dented up old brain. What's happening in your forge is the flame is extended into the firebox till the floor is inside the primary flame. The fire isn't even burning where the fuel air flow is hitting your work. Just move the torch up till the work is beyond the tip of the primary flame and it'll work a treat. It should be screaming hot. Easy fix. Nice looking forge. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Joe, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised at how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Frosty The Lucky.

The only thing different in my "setup" is the lack of the feed screw and I've been planning on one but . . . Frosty The Lucky.

Forge the piece, heat to non-magnetic and place in a strong magnetic field. DC electromagnet works better than laying it next to a bar magnet but you can just lay it magnetic north south and do the job. The stronger the field the stronger the effect. Have an old motor around? Frosty The Lucky.

Excellent Curly, give the little ones do something to bang around on and they'll leave the fragile stuff alone. . . . Hopefully. <grin> Did you radius the edges on the hammer? It won't mark the anvil as easily if you do. Frosty The Lucky.

Well done Gergely, on all counts. Best is making a tool for your Grandmother, she'll use it and think of you every time she does. There's nothing wrong with the scroll, so you had to redo it a few times, nothing special about that. We all get to redo and tweak things Making a scroll jig isn't too hard, even small. I wish I had some how to pics, they aren't hard to make. I'm sure someone will post pics or a video link, lots of guys use scroll jigs. Frosty The Lucky.

Very nice "wagon wheel chandelier," Alexandr. Translation software has a problem with syntax, seems every language orders words their own way. Getting it right is going to depend on who you're writing for. The way I said it above, (bolded) is how you'd say it in English, well how most folk would say it, in American English anyway. Adding "Stylized" would be unnecessary here, especially not with the pictures, they say it all. Other languages would say it something like, "Chandelier of wagon wheel style" or something similar maybe. So much depends on which country a person is from I don't know of any single translation that will cover them all. I'm thinking if you put a translation program link on your web page people needing a translation could click on it and the software would translate for their language/country. Does that make sense? I don't know, I'm just making an educated guess. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised at how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Put it to work, it'll be far happier doing what it was made to do. The only sacrilege I see is what was done to the hardy. I wouldn't worry about it too much though as long as the bottom tool's shoulder is wade enough to go beyond the injury. I probably wouldn't do heavy work on bottom tools on that anvil though I'd use the post vise, lay my swage block on it's side or make a portable hole. That girl is in good shape and has a couple generations of work in her before she needs help. A couple tips for the beginner: 1, Work HOT iron, the sound of the blows will tell you when it's time to go back in the fire. 2, Be careful NOT to hit the anvil with the hammer, especially the edges, chips aren't good things. 3, get hooked up with the local smithing organization, you'll learn more in an hour with an experienced smith than days or maybe weeks learning on our own. There's plenty of reading to do here, most any question a boy could ask has been answered many times and some of us old farts can get cranky about repeats. It's organized by section and topic. If you check out the section of organizations you'll be able to locate the ones near you. When you start reading, pull up a comfy chair, pack a lunch and something to drink, it's quite the library. Frosty The Lucky.

I appreciate the warning Wayne but I can quit, I can, I can stop any time I want to. Really, the dark side is calling and I only want to take a little peak. <grin> I've wondered about the iron powder in fluxes and if it changes the appearance, Steve. If it does I have some bottles of powdered metals for torch, spray metallizing and think adding a little Stellite powder may camouflage the iron. Of course that's just idle speculation as I'm only going to try it once or maybe twice. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Wouldn't that be cheating Mike? Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, 1.5 x the material thickness is the general rule of thumb. Of course having a little extra is (I think) better than too little, it's easier to remove metal than add some. Heck, I think I'd just figure on extra and hot rasp dress the head. Let us know how it goes please and don't forget we LOVE pics. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm not really a coal fire guy, I haven't found a good source close and have had good luck with propane. So my opinion is FWIW. Back when I thought we had good coal available I built a forge with an air grate like yours but only worked so-so. I ended up plugging most of the holes by dropping in rivets so I could change the flow if I wanted. It's hard to clean, I had to make a special poker to clean clinker from the holes. I've used air grates that are 1/2" round stock welded over an opening with a small gap, maybe 1/4" or so, sort of like a BBQ grill. These are very easy to clean, just give it a poke and scrape with the rake. Reducing the air flow is as easy as putting a piece of brick over part. And that's the preference of a propane forge guy. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Clinker is the result of vitrified minerals in the coal, dirt, sand, etc. charcoal is plenty hot enough to make clinker if it's dirty. Frosty The Lucky.

Naw Dave; the hibachi and blow drier are pretty standard kit, it was the charcoal briquettes I was expecting to be pilloried about. The boys must be feeling forgiving. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Good grief Keith! First the "test" piece now this. Tuesday evening eye candy, I love it. Frosty The Lucky.

Outstanding Keith! I'm at a loss for words, believe it or not. WOW is about where my vocabulary stalls out. Frosty The Lucky.

A bit of good torch work will remove a nut without damaging the screws on the bolt so have at it. <grin> It's a good demo when reporting to a new shop so's the guys know you walk the walk. Frosty The Lucky.

I like it Vaughn. The close parallels give it a swoopy look and the heavier horizontal makes nice contrast. I'd maybe make the T longer and slide it up so the cross bar is above the V but that'd break it to two elements so it'd be a real maybe. Frosty The Lucky.