Frosty

Well, outside of some windows once, we didn't damage anything that hadn't been abandoned. (dumped cars in the dry wash) I made a canon that shot marbles and it'd punch right through car doors and then some. We were careful not to damage anything of value. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Valupack, glad to have you. Lose the reducer on the end of the burner tube, it's most probably your problem. 2" is a mighty big burner but you can turn it down. When you reduce the diameter of the tube the fuel air mix accelerates but back pressure increases in the cube. Neither are helpful. Instead either try it with a straight pipe OR add a thread protector to the business end. the thread protector will increase the diameter slightly which will slow the mix and help keep the flame in place. Frosty The Lucky.

You don't let the wife out much do you? When my wife ad the other girls get together they sometimes compare how much junk their husbands collect. Frosty The Lucky.

Mark: next time you do a local show let us know when and where will you? Deb and I spent part of Saturday at the Colony show but it was so extensive we didn't even talk to anyone who'd seen your booth. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Northsmith, glad to have you. Please put your general location in the header so we won't have to keep asking. You also might be surprised at how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. You're an apprentice in HIS shop so his mark goes on anything going out the door, that's pretty normal anywhere. At some time if you've become an accomplished enough smith to have a reputation of your own HE may decide to make you a partner and include your mark on the work. Employees don't have a place in the business's name logo or such. Normal normal. Frosty The Lucky.

I hardly know everything there is to know about foundations and soils engineering but I did work for the State of Alaska soils lab then Headquarters Materials geology section, bridges and foundations drill crew. So, for 20 years I was immersed in foundations design and soils engineering. All the words are in the dictionary but I make no claim I'm using the right ones in the right way. I know enough about soils and foundations designs to do a fair job or who to ask if I'm out of my depth. You won't find my signature on any reports even if I'm in them. Everything got logged. Frosty The Lucky.

Another photography tip or two is to use oblique light (from the side) or as said diffuse light. A good field expedient diffuser is a piece of toilet paper over the flash. Dark clothes is a good one too. Polished objects reflect light and images. There was a site on the net with "interesting" reflections like the naked guy reflected in the tea pot he'd photographed in an "artistic" composition. His naked carcass became FAR more famous than his composition. <grin> Nice looking blade by the way.

Tip cleaners for the orifices and a brass or tooth brush for the outsides, retainer, etc. Never get creative around oxy, it can get worse than bad than you'd believe in a heartbeat. Frosty The Lucky.

Don't take it personally Jammer, the whole poisoning a forge is a long running myth and we can get a little snippy when we hear it again. Cut Steve a little slack, being part of the admin on this site is a major PITA and it gets to the guys. Among the long running myths you hear spoken with great authority besides poisoning the forge is you just can NOT weld in a propane forge, especially a naturally aspirated gas forge. Not only will my naturally aspirated (no blower) forge weld, there's a little puddle of melted 3,000f hard fire brick under the burner is it's running for an hour or so. A properly adjusted naturally aspirated gas forge does NOT automatically scale up the work either. HOT steel WILL scale on contact with air. Anyhow, go ahead and ask your questions but if you read the sections on the site related to what you want to do you'll get a LOT fewer grumpy old farts being grumpy. Just remember to drag up a comfy chair, pack a lunch and something to drink, there are days worth of reading. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Steve, glad to have you. Yeah, I almost lost a fight with a vegetable 4 years and a bit ago, still recovering but what the hey, life without challenges is just processing food and air. don't worry about getting the forge "perfect" it's just a hearth/fire place, something to hold a fire and air it. The charcoal no stinkum kitty litter isn't an issue at all, I don't know about the baking soda but doubt it'll hurt anything. No, you do NOT want to enough water to make it malleable, bentonite clay takes a LOT of water to become plastic and when it dries it WILL shrink check. Only add enough water so you can ram it and it'll hold it's shape, less than damp. Bentonite is funny stuff but it is hydrophilic, meaning it LIKES water so you can add a little, mix it and put it in a sealed container, tupper ware is perfect and just let it rest. The moisture will distribute itself equally throughout all the clay. Forget stuff like ash or perlite etc. this kind of forge doesn't benefit from insulation. In some cases ash helps act as a binder but it's not necessary for bentonite clay, the stuff is sticky as all gitout. Crushed or decomposed granite is fine for sand in the clay mix. And no, you don't need to crush the kitty litter. Dampen the sand and mix it and put it in a sealed container over night and give it a hard squeeze in your hand, if it leaves your hand is wet, it's too damp, add a little litter and leave set over night again. If it crumbles it's too dry add a LITTLE water, mix and leave over night and repeat the test in the morning. If it forms a hard clump without leaving more than a little dust on your hand, break it in half. If it breaks clean it's good to go, ram in in the forge body with a wooden mallet till the mallet bounces. If you burnish it with a burlap till it's smooth clinker won't stick as easily. A "V" forge works well but is primarily for bladesmithing and isn't so hot if you're doing scrolls or built up pieces, say quarterfoils or railings, etc. all you need is something to shape the fire and hold it at a convenient height. Heck, a hole in the ground is excellent provided you're on mineral soil. Check out Glenn's 55 forge as found under forges section, it's an excellent set up and is made largely from salvage. An old BBQ works well and has wheels. clay forges can be made from wood, the clay keeps the hot off it. Almost anything works dandy. While I haven't sen an oil pan forge it will no doubt make a dandy forge. Lots of guys use SS sinks, single or double, they're SWEET forges too. Avoid using galvanized close to the fire, over heat it and zinc will burn with a green flame and zinc oxide isn't meant to be breathed a heavy dose can cause damage or even death. If you see the green flame and bluish white, lacy smoke, don't freak out and go running, just step out of the way and don't breath more than you have to getting clear. No, it's NOT heavy metal can't cause heavy metal poisoning. Zinc is a necessary nutrient, your body will just process it and expel excess but breathing it is a BAD thing, avoid it. RR spikes are as you've noted mild steel, heat treatment has no significant effect. So long as you don't forge it cold it'll be fine, forge cold and it will eventually split. Orange or higher is a good forging heat for most steels,high carbon doesn't do as well in the yellows due to the carbon, it has a lower melting and burning point, sparks = burning steel. Avoid sparky steel. Frosty The Lucky.

That is just extraordinarily beautiful work Chuck! Will you share more of your portfolio please? Frosty The Lucky.

Nothing wrong with a soft flame if it's producing enough heat. In truth a soft flame is good for area heating. Where is the scale forming? If it's inside the forge it's too lean, choke a it little or move the jet farther in. If you're getting a little orange dragon's breath coming out the door the mix is probably okay and may be turbulence drawing air in the door. Hot steel WILL scale when exposed to air. You have to move fast when you draw your steel. You just can NOT stand there holding a piece of glowing steel and try to decide what to do. Think in the fire or better yet, do your thinking before it goes in the fire. Frosty The Lucky.

Exactly. I'm afraid I used bridges as examples of stabilizing foundations with batter piles. the shock waves are severe because you're sitting on wet clay. Jello is indeed how it acts. This is laquifaction, vibration shakes the soil grains and water gets drawn in to fill the voids but it can't be driven out nearly as quickly so the soil grains are kept apart and can flow like a liquid. OR move in waves like a pond, etc. Increasing the displacement of the foundation helps in two ways, first it's more massive so resists movement and secondly it displaces more soil so the vibration is diminished by acting over a larger surface area. In wet FS (frost susceptible) soils it IS hydraulics and behaves according to the same rules. PSI is = over all surfaces, so a ram of 2x the area moves with 2x the force but 1/2 the distance. (Yeah, I didn't specify a ram area, I can if anyone needs) DSW: concrete vibrators work in sands and wet clayey or silty soils. They don't work worth spit in well compacted angular soils. They can however sometimes move a rock that stopped the penetration. Frosty The Lucky.

Good deal Dave. I didn't check my email soon enough. It' can be darned hard to beat this gang to the helpful punch. <grin> The first tips I got were to try Riogrande and http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/Crucibles.php. Mc Master Carr carries graphite blocks. This morning there are quite a few more places to check but seems the IFI gang has it in hand. Frosty The Lucky.

Pin driver eh? It should work especially in wet clays just like a vibratory driver. A concrete vibrator should work as well and all a person would have to do is guide it. Frosty The Lucky.

Personally I'd just give it a try and see. That's just me though. <wink> Frosty The Lucky.

Cool thanks, here on the last frontier anything exotic is a loooooong way away. We've got Wally World and fabric shops but I haven't seen a hobby shop in a couple years. Can't even find a Revell model. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.

You can dilute Naval Jelly about 50% in clean water and soak the pieces. Be sure to neutralize and rinse well, real well when it's finished. If naval jelly dries the phosphoric acid will leave a black phosphate oxide(?) finish. Frosty The Lucky.

You don't need to subex to bedrock or there wouldn't be but maybe 4-5 bridges in Alaska or maybe anywhere in the world. your power hammer is nothing compared to high speed traffic crossing a bridge. If you're on 75' of clay best hope the water stays low. Of course you can drive piles and no they don't need to be 50tn. house support piles, let alone bridge piles. What's going to keep your hammer in place is skin friction rather than end bearing so you can drive a bunch, say 15-20 3/4" or 1" rebar length to physical refusal. Basically make yourself a reasonably heavy slide hammer like for driving fence posts and drive the bar till you can't make it move measurably for say 5-10 blows. Do NOT take a break while driving, once you start, hammer hammer hammer till it stops. aim for as deep as you can drive it, stand on something secure to get it started, 10' would be SWEET. Please don't tell me I have to tell you, to get a few buddies over to help, unless you're some kind of superman you won't be able to drive one to refusal, let alone a bunch. Get a keg of beer, throw a barn raising kind of shindig if necessary. What will happen when you stop driving is the displaced soil will lose liquifaction and re consolidate (not quite the right term) around the bar and stick it in place like nothing's gonna move it again. For every one you drive straight down drive one or two at an outward pointing angle, 10-15* is probably plenty. These are batter piles and prevent the foundation from tipping while spreading the width of the footprint. (NOT to be confused with a footer or footing.) Oh yeah, what do do with a stick when it's driven as far as it'll go or you can stand. Cut it off a couple feet into the foundation block space, wire your foundation rebar to it and pour your concrete. The wetter the clay the easier it'll drive so be prepared to weld on lengths and continue IF you can weld fast. You can make a round bar clamp with a piece of angle iron with a space cut from the corner so you can run a bead without welding the rebar to the jig. A "C" clamp or two will hold the rebar in the clamp but you gotta go FAST to weld it before the soils grab the bar. It'll be stuck when you start driving again but if you're not too slow it will free up again. The shock from the slid hammer will re-liquify the soils unless it's seriously locked up. If it's that locked up it may be locked up enough for the power hammer. You won't be dealing with just one piece of rebar under the power hammer either. As a last note to you other guys reading this, please don't make me explain a floating foundation. Yeah there are bridges on soils so liquid the abutments and piers are resting foam core concrete floats. Frosty The Lucky.

I'll ask my metalhead and caster buddies and get back. and yeah you should be able to buy graphite blocks and I don't think it'll take special tooling, a HS drill bit should do just fine, think pencil lead. Frosty The Lucky.

Johnnie: Isolating the foundation from the existing floor with foam is a good move. However, ANY "mud" under it will liquify when the hammer is working and shake your house apart in time. Pull your foundation block out and excavate till you're through the mud, fill and compact with angular (crushed) gravel till it's a meter or so below the surface then pour your concrete. Mud is BAD, get rid of it. If the gravel is reasonably clean a high water table isn't a game killer as the water can move without liquifying the gravel the way mud will. This is called "liquifaction" a search will find more info than you will ever want. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Robert, glad to have you! I'm constantly surprised at the IFI gang and this thread is really dropping my jaw. Of all the very different experiences, emotions and coping techniques, I've read many with amazement and understood them all at a gut level, it's been very cathartic for me. Seems Ivan planted a seed in fertile soil. See gang, I CAN make a straight statement and all the fertilizer remarks were screaming to be aired. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Nobody: Yeah we used loo antenna on walki talkis. One of our little group of squints, Ralph was the electronics guru. He not only made tuned loop directional antenna he designed and made the radio beacon for the balloon packages, the capacitor discharge release device and the electronic timer. Everything in the package Ralph built weighed less than the 9v transistor radio battery that powered it all. Modified the walki talkis physically adding a small dia. knob centered on the back cover. We mounted a close detailed contour map on a cardboard backer. We marked the walki talkis with center lines, they pivoted nicely on the knobs and we could mark fixes with the marks on the ends.. WE discovered on the first package recovery we only needed one tracking radio. lay the tracker on the map at your present location, determined accurately by taking sightings on more than one peak or visible feature and mark the compass coordinates. Where the lines crossed is where you was at. We'd tick the little socket centered on the locatin fix lines. the socket was just a knob sized hole in a thin piece of plastic. Then take a radio fix, put a pint on the front arrow and one on the back arrow, lift the tracker and draw a line. Move a ways and do it again three fixes and you had the package location within a couple yards. Ralph was the electronics guy, Jim was the chemist and I was the builder and wacky idea guy. There were a couple other guys who'd drift in and out but we three were the core. Ralph had his off the bell curve genius Grandfather who loved teaching Ralph, Ralph was smart enough to understand him. for instance Ralph was the only 16 yr. old in 1968 I ever heard of who had his own ruby laser. I have some pretty cool stories about Ralph's laser and the voices. Later maybe. Jim's mother worked in the lab at a local hospital and Jim seemed to have a serious knack for chemistry. I'll have you k now we never did anything destructive with the contact explosives and other various FAST burning compounds. Me, I had wild ideas, a machine shop, Dad's, welders, torches, various implements of con/de/struction and piles of scrap, drops and such. Oh yeah, e had horses so getting around and packing . . . stuff in the Chaparal wasn't so hard. Good times, every kid should have a bunch of ADD ADHD pals, resources and enough room to not destroy . . . too much. Frosty The Lucky.

It's an honest 1", I get it from a hardwood store, all he carries are cabinet grade woods. Big box stores don't carry anything useable for handles but . . . handles. Frosty The Lucky.

Bad light too Steve. Makes you wonder why he said "first wife" doesn't it? Frosty The Lucky.