Frosty

My pleasure John, mine leaked all the oil out on the floor too. Put your general location in your profile which is posted in your header. Saying it once in a post isn't going to do it. If folk here know where you are, you may get all kinds of cool invites, pointed at good tools, equipment, the occasional picnic and called on for help. There are lots of Texicans here, getting together is fun. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice looking anvil Jeff and a good size. Frosty The Lucky.

You're getting closer but you need a 0-30psig regulator, that one isn't going to do it. I'm sure there're folk able to build a burner that'll work on 1 psig but it's not going to be much in a forge. I don't think Mike Porter or Ron Reil have a burner that'll run that low. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard John, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you may be happy to find out how many of the IFI gang live withing visiting distance. Of course the oil drained out, hand crank blower aren't intended to be oil bath lubricated. Put a few drops of lightish weight motor oil, say 30 wt. Non detergent if you can find it but it's not a critical thing. Oh yeah, a few drops in the oiler cap on top at the beginning of a session. that's all she needs and NO don't use gear oil or grease or anything very heavy. They oil by tracking from one gera to another and a little bit of sling. There should be oil holes over the bushing/bearings where the shafts meet the case, if so put a drop or two in each, if no oiler holes, don't worry about it. Oh yeah, a little rattle or fan noise when letting it coast is normal enough, means it's worm gear driven so when you let off the force against the gears reverses and the fan shifts a bit. In time it may become necessary to adjust it but lots of guys here will tell you how. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Juicy, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll discover how many folk here live within visiting distance. Rad through the various sections of interest to you, say, anvils, forges (three basic sections there) and such. We're talking about improvised tools and equipment frequently. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Jacques glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you may be happy to find out how may of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. Sorry, I don't know much about post drills even though I own two Champions. Frosty The Lucky.

the main issue I have with brush hog blades is the level of abuse they go through before being replaced. Their life is nothing but impact, brush sure but trees, rocks, scrap iron in the weeds, etc. etc. I'd have to pass. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks man. There's nothing like beating the reaper to let you know just how lucky I am to wake up this morning. I am lucky beyond surviving, I still have my mind even with some issues I'm not sitting on a couch drooling on my jammies. One of the many blessings to it was finding out how many people out there lent support. Without you and many other folk Deb wouldn't have been able to stand up to the pressure. It's really humbling to learn how many people helped us, just the prayers alone give me pause. I never knew how many just pain GOOD folk are out there. Makes me proud to be part of the gang. Life is GOOD. Frosty The Lucky.

Medeival guy: If you'll tighten your location a little, say the town you might be pleasantly surprised at how many IFI guys live within visiting distance. Then getting hooked up with the local smithing organization will pay huge benefits. Most dn't require joining to attend meetings and almost nobody would attend meets if a fire didn't get built and poor defenseless iron/steel didn't get beating into something else. It'll be a great place to meet guys face to face and get networked into the craft. there's a pretty good chance someone may have a loaner anvil you can borrow till you build a better kit. You might be surprised at how well an oddly shaped piece of heavy steel works for an anvil, I foolishly abandoned a super duper field expedient anvil on a sand bar on a bank of the Resurrection River sometime in the 80's. It was a big axle of some sort, about 5" diameter on the shaft with a really large 10 hole wheel flange. I buried it flange up in the sand so the flange was a good working height. It was a terrific anvil, tremendous depth of rebound, I wish I'd drug it out with me when we finished the job and left. <sigh> The secret of a good anvil is two fold, how hard the face is and how much iron/steel is under the hammer blows. NOT how wide or long the face is and not a horn. The anvil actually strikes back in response to hammer's blow, in a compression (shock) wave that reflects from the far face and back to the working face at the speed of sound through iron/steel. It gets back to the work while the hammer is still compressing the work against the face. The deeper the rebound of the anvil the stronger the reflected energy and it's still going to get there well before the hammer stops driving down into the work piece. This is why a piece of steel plate oh say 8" square and 2" thick makes a wonderful anvil if mounted on edge while a really mediocre anvil if laid flat. The applied energy is reflected back through the work while laid flat all that energy goes into flexing the plate and making noise. PFT. These are just some things to keep in mind while you're looking and don't wait till you get to a scrap yard, keep our eyes open at all times. The "It Followed me Home" section of IFI is rife with examples of someone finding a delicious smitherly goody laying in a ditch, abandoned in a field, the local illegal dump site is always a good spot to look around. sometimes someone just wants all that OLD RUSTY junk hauled off. A lot of us old farts have blood sugar issues or sometimes just wake up cranky. If we're snappy it's probably not you, we may not have our nice vocabulary on when we type. Happens to us all, don't take it personally, a thick skin is more helpful than a quick come back. Of course, there may be times when you or I deserve a sharp reply, that happens too. We all have THOSE kinds of days. If I'm lucky I realize it and hit delete rather than post. Oh yeah, most of us old farts don't know modern "text speak," LOL, IMHO and such really basic abbreviations are the limit for lots of us. And I tend to be windy and run on. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

I expect a couple drops of oil would add a dramatic fire ball to the old blacksmith's trick for getting attention or adding a bit of drama to demos. If you do it with clean steel and move fast enough scale doesn't develop its relatively safe. If you don't use so much oil your LG won't slobber and stray oil all over the place My 50lb. LG only drizzles a little from the main bearing oiler cups. It takes a few days for all the oil to seep through the felt and mains so I get a bit. If I get carried away I'll get a little dripping next to my bottom die. I oil mine with Oregon or Stihl chainsaw bar oil dosed with Duralube at about 1/4cup per gallon. Bar oil is designed to be sticky and high film strength lube. Duralube is an extremely high film strength lubricant, both have this quality without high viscosity. The mix gets where you need it, sticks and is such a good lube you do NOT need it slobbering and spraying all over the place to do an excellent job. Seriously, P drip 2-3 DROPS in the main bearing oil cups and 1 drop each in the other oil points. The grease zerks get white lithium grease. Graphite grease is slicker but THAT stuff travels worse than silicone lube, even touching the grease gun will have it creaping past your elbows in short order. I save graphite grease for lubing my punches, drifts etc. Frosty The Lucky.

Floyd: I don't know what to tell you, casting refractory correctly requires the time to dry properly, casting under a tight deadline isn't a good idea. Best I can suggest is hanging a light bulb in the chamber and setting a gentle fan to blow through it. Heck, just rushing the dry CAN cause problems for going too fast. Can you do this work with a simple Kaowool lined forge and kiln shelf floor? I've mad quicky forges with rolled chicken wire and Kaowool. Welding fluxes will kill it quickly but it might get you through. A brick pile forge is a lot more robust and quick to build. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm liking the stand more and more. I think it needs feet but if the customer says no. . . <sigh> I like the idea of a cafe table and chairs following the same theme. Well done and a half. Frosty The Lucky.

70 points carbon will make a nice functional blade. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works for you. Frosty The Lucky.

Sam: Dimmer switches can be problematical, where a simple swing/knife valve over the intake will do the job without risking electrical components. Frosty The Lucky.

That's right Jim, stores are running out of air conditioners and window fans. The weather's just been brutal, temps are reaching searing 80's, Fairbanks was forecast for low 90's but it seems the temp's abated a bit. Today it was a humanly tolerable 56f here. Deb and I bought a gazebo/canopy thingy to keep that bright yellow hot stuff off us. I may have grown up in the high desert but didn't move here for temps in the 80's and above! I've been an Alaskan boy for some time now and start sweating above 60f. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, I LOVE doing demos. I treat it like theater and entertain folk while I show them a thing or three and explain what and why. I have everything but the larger anvil and forge loaded in the truck. Stupid overhead door's spring slipped the set screws so it's cocked and really heavy. I had to pack everything out the man door and heft it into the truck. Sean's coming over early tomorrow and we'll load the last couple things and off we go. We throw this event every June, the weekend before the 4th of July. Plan on visiting Alaska and time it for the event, I have enough kit for the both of us. Heck, anyone out there in IFI land come o up for a visit and swap tall tales over the anvil. Frosty The Lucky. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm not clear on this Mark. Are you saying WI needs to be forged round rather than drawn square then rounded, SOR? My experience with WI is really limited but starting at the end and working back became evident before the second heat. Welding the split ends just became as natural as taking it out of the forge. Frosty The Lucky.

Sorry I haven't started this topic sooner, I seem to be preoccupied by SOMETHING. <GRIN> My plan is to get there early enough to grab my favorite spot, in front of the trains. It's very visible on the main ring of activity and looking down one of the main walkways from the gate and food. It also has a great view of the cupola and iron pour. It's also close enough to power to run an extension cord so I can use my peanut grinder and wire wheel, etc. I'll be meeting Sean here at around 8:30 and we're riding in together. If you're packing smithing tools they'll let you in as an exhibitor and probably make you a member. I'll be pulling my pickup in head first so I can work out of the bed and will set up a gazebo awning, whatever they're called to make shade. If I get there early enough we'll be set up closest to the museum building and there's plenty of room for several guys to set up in an arc towards the old barn. I'm hoping a young man interested in getting started will make it out from Anchorage and I'll be giving him a shot at doing some smithing. Yeah, I'm planning on having a ball! See you THERE! Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Flemish, glad to have you. Good move hooking up with the Guild, you'll learn more in an hour with an experienced smith than days or weeks on your own. 14'x14' is a good size for a shop if you don't end up doing overly large projects, say long railings, banisters, gates, etc. Of course you can assemble them outside on nice days. Just remember we LOVE pics: shop pics, project pics, tool pics, family pics, dog and scenery pics, they're all good. <wink> Frosty The Lucky.

If you think they'll try a power saw or grinder use pipe and put a piece of hard steel rod in it, the disk or saw blade will only roll the rod and not cut at all. If they're using saws packing fine SS wire in the pipe will jam their saw to the point you may get it as a keepsake. It's fun to think about booby traps but it's just WAY illegal and you have to be willing to live with maybe taking out a neighborhood kid wanting to pet the dog, sniff the flowers or sell Girl Scout Cookies. A stock fence charger is a different thing rigging one to discourage folk from touching things is a workable plan. I helped a friend of mine stretch wire around his back yard. Thieves and general undesirable used to use his yard as a shortcut and good place to drop garbage. When we just stretched wire like a stock fence the bad guys discovered if they hit it at a run it'd just snap for almost zero shock. So, we changed the plan. We hung the wire from screen door springs so they'd stretch, making for really long contact. My buddy said there was lots of screaming and shrieking a couple times the first week and then nobody NOBODY came through his back yard. Not long later he rented a room to a cool guy with a big doberman, very friendly dog unless you weren't supposed to be there. Big dog and electric wire, word got out and no more hassles. One "booby trap" I considered in a place I lived for a while was an air horn with a wax plug and filled yellow food coloring. The idea was when somebody tried to break in the door it'd go off and hose them with food coloring. If you've ever used yellow food coloring you k now it won't wash off and takes a week for a dab to wear off. I figured a good hosing would mark them for quite a while. I never set it up as there was just no way to hide it close enough to be effective. <sigh> The "booby trap" that ended up working wonderfully in that place was a simple vibrator on a bee hive a neighbor asked to put in the field next to the place. The vibrator really agitated the bees and the one on the inside of the door gave them a target. When I braced one of the neighborhood punks about the serious bee welts he was wearing he couldn't figure out how I knew HE was the guy breaking in. Idiot. word got out though. You don't have to be the toughest target out there, just tougher than someone else. Frosty The Lucky.

I dip the thread protector "flares" I use in kaolin slip, let it dry and it really extends the life by preventing air contact with the metal. I don't know how or if it'd work on a smooth flare. Frosty The Lucky.

I don't know about ductile iron for anything but the swage blocks but 4140 isn't bad. It may be a good place to buy a new anvil and related tools. Frosty The Lucky.

I'll buy your results, I haven't tried the mix so I can only express supposition for what that's worth. I've used bees wax for years and in different mixes but not this one. I'm generally a little leery of linseed oil, it can be a fire hazard in some conditions and I wipe the finished piece with a rag to even it and remove excess. None of that has anything to do with your recipe just my foiables. I'll give it a go and see how it works, I'm always looking for good finishes. Frosty The Lucky.

Jeff: The above drawing is close. If you move the main door to the wall with the forge and another where you have the gate through the outside wall, all you need do is raise the fence walls to that section of roof hang a couple windows and you're there. Use horizontal casement windows in the high wall and you can use crank extensions, (cool hand forged crank extensions mind you) and you'll have good summer ventilation. If you move the forge to the upwind wall where the two areas meet the prevailing wind will help clear smoke by enhancing the draft. As the wind flows up the outside wall it'll create a low pressure zone as it crests the roof line. If you put the stack at the down wind side, horizontal vortices (rotors) can cause back draws and blow smoke down the stack. The stack must extend a few feet above the high point of the roof. Check local codes for specific details. Of course that's just what I'd do, I could be wrong. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Good looking piece of machinery! I'm happy to see larger lines and ports starting to be applied. The next step up in performance will be replacing every rubber hose possible with steel line. Yes please, a video of it running would be good. I just love seeing hot steel beaten like a red colored step bar. Frosty The Lucky.

Don't you mean they got that good because they had no choice? Oh wait, you DID say that didn't you? <wink> Frosty The Lucky.