Frosty

Congratulations Joshua! No serious accidents in 37 years teaching high school shop classes is an outstanding record! Definately something to be proud of add to that the thousands of kids who now have basic safe shop practices ingrained at a reflex level. Put me on the list for one of your books and let me know if you get this far Northwest, I'll do what I can to help you see/do what you want here. Frosty The Lucky.

Santa digs ditches in the summer? Hmmm. Life IS good. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Core, glad to have you. Please put your general location in the header you'll be surprised at how many IFI folk live within visiting distance. You can contact Johnson Gas Appliance for help. I sure don't know. Frosty The Lucky.

Looks good Mark, well done. Yeah, it could use some polishing on the photography, framing and lighting to highlight the features you'd like forefront. It just takes practice and electronic camera make learning good photographic technique affordable. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Please put your general location in the header you may be surprised at how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance. If you scroll to the bottom of the IFI home page you'll find the sections for regional blacksmithing groups to help you make contact. An afternoon with an experienced smith will save you weeks, even months of learning it on your own. Frosty The Lucky.

This is mostly a practice, practice, practice issue. I use drive hooks as a beginner's first day project or if they have a knack a leaf finial wall hook. the sequence I use is do the body first, twist, then the drive hook, fold the drive hook, then the finial scroll and finish forming the coat hook and tweeking it to niceness. Hot brush and Wax, oil, etc. finish. To demo hooks I'll use different types of tongs to show the tong's uses, advantages, disadvantages, etc. My preference is either flat bits with V groves longitudinal and lateral, or V bit bolt tongs with longitudinal and lateral V groves. On a camping trip I forged drive hooks with a camp fire, bolder, rock on a willow haft and split willow tongs. Did that on a bet with the other guys on the drill crew. Heck, you don't even need tongs if your stock is long enough. Forge and form everything down to one point, I'd pick the drive point and forge that in two directions ad when all the twisting, bending, scrolling, etc. is finished cut the drive point with a chisel or just forge it really thin and bend it till it breaks and file to a finish. In this way you already have the drive point forged for the next hook, just do that one reversed on the bar. Not using tongs when you can is always a better course, you have much better grip and feel for the work. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Please put your location in the header so folk living within visiting distance will know so they can invite you over, etc. Solar forges have been proposed and maybe used for a lonnnnng time. I think it was maybe Archimedes who was supposed to have had the local army use their polished shields to concentrate the sunlight to destroy an attacking fleet. I don't remember the details like who and where but the story is legend. A modern solar forge is not only possible but being done, it's a cumbersome mechanism to control it and it's very dangerous. VERY Frosty The Lucky.

There's no reason to replace everything, just the burner is enough. No reason spending more than necessary. Heck, we don't know the burner has anything but a little adjustment problem. You're getting close enough you do NOT want to start changing more than one thing at a time. If you change several you'll never know what did what. The slowest way to find something is to search every direction at once. ITC-100 is a good move, the more heat you keep in the chamber the less fuel you need to raise it and hold it. Besides you'll only be replacing a burner if that, not the whole forge. If you use the right flux and good technique you can weld at high orange. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Cody, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you'll be surprised at how many folk here live within visiting distance. No swords for at least 5 years eh? I LIKE you, you're gonna fit right in here. <grin> Hook up with the local smithing organization, they'll put you in touch with tools, materials fuel and best of all experienced smiths to learn from. If you go to Iforgeiron's front page and scroll to the bottom you'll find the section of regional clubs. Find the one closest to you and look them up. There are plenty of blacksmiths in NC, get hooked up with them and you're golden. I have good friends living very near Brasstown. 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. There is a thread going on right now about the ergonomics of blacksmithing, you might want to check it out. There are ways to work this craft without hurting yourself. Elbow pain is usually a sign your hammering technique needs work. Sure it'll strengthen up and that may take care of it but proper technique will make a huge difference, it's far more important than strength. Things like anvil height, grip on the hammer, how you hold your hand on impact, when to stop, how to start etc. there are many factors that add up to good or bad technique. The craft has an endless learning curve, enjoy the ride. Frosty The Lucky.

Naw, you need new capacitors in your florescent lights. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Kendal, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location, a little less general than a state, in the header you'll be surprised at how many IFI folk live within visiting distance. Reading subject sections you're interested here is a great place to start, it'll give you a grounding so you can ask good questions and understand the answers. Get a comfy chair bring a lunch and something to drink, it's not a short task. <wink> 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 IFI folk live within visiting distance. Though I cant say what it's maker was your anvil looks to be in good shape, nice edges flat face and no obvious dings. A little brushing and some hot steel and hammer work and she'll be a fine tool. Nice score. Frosty The Lucky.

Cool, thanks Ian. And here's one for you. Brujo is a wizard/shaman in Mexican Spanish, Bruja is the female form. and no guys, it's NOT from the Carlos Castenida(sp?) books, he did do SOME legitimate, non-peyote research. Frosty the Lucky.

Nice size for small bolster plates and gussets. Frosty The Lucky.

Oops. Both of you should slap me a good one. Frosty The Lucky.

It's probably AC. Ask at the local welding supply, be sure to tell them you are NOT trying to match hardness or carbon content. If it runs DC, then 7018 is good, an AC equivalent would be good too. I'm so far out of date on welding rod types and uses I'd be asking at the welding supply myself. Frosty The Lucky.

Good point Harris, I WAS thinking coal and charcoal tends to burn everywhere at once. Most of my charcoal experience is in campfires, sometimes with a blast, usually not. Frosty The Lucky.

Good question, I wonder Witch doctor he'd use? Frosty The Lucky.

Actually it's a tax dodge and the same reason the American fiscal year starts the summer before. Frosty The Lucky.

That's looking much better Harris you're getting it tweeked in. Your gauge will live longer if you put it at the other end of the supply hose and a 1/4 turn ball valve is much better at the burner. They turn on and off in a quick flip so it's easy to shut it off in a hurry. It looks like you have a needle valve there now, you can put it at the other end with the gauge and it'll still serve as well if a tad slower. Frosty The Lucky.

Wow Daniel, you sure got into the swing of it there! I hope you bought James a refreshing beverage after watching you work out so hard. Seriously, that was a mean piece of hammering. Well done. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm with you Thomas, that or charge time and materials above the agreed price. Not to hijack the thread Henrick, sorry. But I need a little help here, I was digging through a box of steel I fellow sent me some time ago and I found something I don't know about. Crucible Rex-95. Anybody know what I have here? Frosty The Lucky.

Instead of welding, cut the hole but leave tabs, bend them up and rivet it together. You can seal it with muffler tape, it's heat cured phenolic resin impregnated fiberglass cloth and will take the heat easilly. Heck, you could probably use muffler tape to stick the pieces together, or make the tuyere even, it's really tough stuff when cured. I wouldn't bet on making the whole tuyere . . . but maybe. Frosty The Lucky.

I tuned into the History channel tonight and what do you know, Larry the Cable Guy was shooting anvils. I'm sorry I can't recall the name of the fellow he was visiting except his first name is Gay and he has quite the anvil collection. It was an anvil shooting contest and most of town turned out to watch the shoot. The mayor awarded the prize a Championship Anvil Shooting Cup. It was the most anvil shooting I've seen on TV yet. cool. Frosty The Lucky.