Frosty

Have it powder coated. OR hot oil and leave instructions and maybe a can of the oil prep. I prefer to avoid bees wax as it tends to stay tacky but that's just been my experience the above recipe may be just the ticket. I don't know. Frosty The Lucky.

The white is probably residue, maybe what it's supposed to roll or maybe what kids put through it for fun. It looks like a pasta roller but I don't know of a pleated pasta so maybe it's for pleating fabric or similar. I sincerely doubt it's for steel or serious metal pleating, heavy foil, probably max. Another thought is it's a roll for laminating something, think old style linoleum or maybe fabric being glued to a surface. I don't KNOW anything about it but it LOOKS familiar, I think I've seen one or more than one in the past but it's just a dim maybe memory. Frosty The Lucky.

If you're going to grind the pein start out with a wider radius than you think you'll need and give it a try. Use it for a wile and modify it till you have what you like. The heavier the hammer the wider the radius has been my observation. My Diamond(I think) turning hammer has a radius I estimate to be around 2". Another thing I've observed is the radius of the dome of the pein is less than the radius of body of the pein. Of course that's just my thinking, I could be full of beans. Frosty The Lucky.

Beautiful blade! Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Thibault, glad to have you. Please put your general location in the header, you might be surprised how many IFI folk live within visiting distance. You've found friendly company, we love nothing better than pictures, good stories, good info and good questions. Last but not least, good jokes, puns especially. . . Well, okay I love puns, I'm sure I drive some of the guys here nuts but that's okay, they're nuts already. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Sophia, glad to have you. Please put your general location in the header, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover how many IFI members live within visiting distance. a good place to get acquainted with the learning curve represented by blacksmithing is reading through the different sections. They are organized by the general topic of blacksmithing and related subjects to make it easier to find stuff. Once you get started you might find yourself addicted so pull up a comfy chair, brig lunch and something to drink, there's enough to keep one occupied for a long time. Frosty The Lucky.

You don't really need to secure the drum to the table with bolts or welds, cut a hole in the table so the drum rests on the larger outer rim and it's not going to move under anything you're likely to do to it. Then I ram dampened clay to the table top up to the drum to make a level bed. The clay will shield the table from heat so it won't warp or burn if you use a wooden table. Bolt, weld, rivet, etc. the legs on of course. Frosty The Lucky.

You can find my burner and several others in the gas forge section, If you need clarification, not a bit unusual if I'm describing something, let me know Ill clarify. <crossed fingered grin> A little tweeking and tuning is normal for gas burners, no matter how well packed, shipping can move stuff. Frosty The Lucky.

Heck Steve driving our gaurdian angles to drink may be the only reason they stick around ornery old cusses like us. :P Frosty The Lucky.

AIIIII!! I'd already learned to just drive people off when I was cutting unless I knew darned well they knew what was going on and how to behave around chain saw work. So I almost bought it cutting solo. Glad you survived Brother, we do NOT need more folk in the fully paid up lucky to be alive club. Your story gave me chills, I've been so close I don't want to think about it. Frosty The Lucky.

I wouldn't do any grinding till I'd done some forging on it, there's only just so much face and once ground it's gone forever. It'll probably work just fine till you find a better faced anvil. Being patient has it's rewards and that old lady may not have much face left. Frosty The Lucky.

I understand dial up limitations. The library will order books for you. I don't recall the inter-library lend policy name but it's free and reasonably fast. A lot of Youtube videos are scary from most any safety conscious point of view. You can melt aluminum in a wood fire bronze will require charcoal and an air blast. I'm thinking the best bet for good info is hooking up with a local casting organization. Our local caster holds classes and bronze pours where you can pay for materials and make your molds. He (Pat) pours pretty large weights solo but uses a jib boom crane and a gas melter. He also teaches how to build melters. Sooo, if you live in South Central Alaska it'd be worth your time to attend classes with Pat. If not hooking up with a local caster or the local college extension casting program is your best bet, at least check out a library book or two about making a masonry furnace, they're not highly complicated but there are right ways and wrong ways. Stone isnt a good way for first timers, stone can be really dangerous, you have to know what to select for. Frosty The Lucky.

No I haven't heard anything bad about the thermal Design burner except for your experience. My 1" burner will bring 700 cu/in to steel melting temp @ around 12psi and melt fire brick under the burner. I routinely weld in 300-350 cu/in with a 3/4" burner and it's melting the fire brick under it too. Two guys came over today and the three of us spent a few hours welding up some cable. Mine didn't take but I screwed it up, the forge was plenty hot. Your experiences are my only basis for that statement I made regarding your burner not being up to snuff. It should've burned the paint off the outside or scorched whatever's under it with that size burner in that small a forge chamber, in maybe the first 10-15 minutes. Don't sweat it, it just might need a little tweeking or something else might be the factor. Frosty The Lucky.

Outstanding Eric. Not only do you have a fine tool you have some hours with your so. He may have grumbled but he and you got to spend good time together. You'll both be able to brag on this job. Frosty The Lucky.

Ain't a good anvil a joy Dave? while everybody is suggesting ways to quiet it down I'll toss in my favorite. A steel stand. Steel stands have different resonant frequencies than the anvil so they self damp and don't ring. sure they'll give a good TING but then it quiets right down. That's it for advice. Now a hearty congratulations Dave! :D Frosty The Lucky.

NAW, give it a name. How about Rita? Frosty The Lucky.

Very nice Frank. Naw, we often brass or copper brush steel to give it color, as well as use gilders paste, plate and even <GASP> paint. We're all pretty independent folk and express ourselves as we wish or the customer wishes. Seeing how other folk do things is why we like pictures so much. The only suggestions I have have been covered, positioning the elements could use some refinement but the components themselves are outstandingly well done. Frosty The Lucky.

Dave Custer sells Brazeal type turning hammer, I don't know if Brian does though. You can buy commercial turning hammers at farrier supplies. but the very best deeal is takig a class with Brian, you get all the tools and lessons in how to use and make them. It's a win win. Frosty The Lucky.

Vaughn: Harris bought a burner that isn't going to operate up to a normal home made 3/4" burner so it isn't enough for the forge volume. He'll get tired of it and we'll get him cooking properly after a while. <wink> Harris: Don't over think a charcoal forge, they're really simple things. It's easy to fall into the snare of having to use something just because you have it. We all do it, I still do it but I've become lazy enough not to be too stubborn about it. <grin> You can make a fine charcoal forge by lining a table with refractory clay. (HEY I didn't say you wouldn't be using the stuff did I) make a hole in the table to pass the tuyere, I like welded exhaust pipe but plumbing pipe works just fine, it's just more expensive. Lay a brake drum or rotor in the clay so the pipe lines up. Hook up a hair drier or hand crank blower if you find a deal on one. And you're ready to go to work. There are pictures in the forge section showing several different ways to make the air supply and forges from exquisitely simple to holy moley!!! complicated. What you'll need when it comes down to it is a fairly deep fire, charcoal doesn't consume oxy as fast as coal or coke does so you need more depth of fuel between the air grate and your steels. having plenty of room around the fire is really handy to keep fuel, lay tools and support longer work in the fire. With charcoal you don't really need an ash dump as it doesn't make clinker so an occasional hard blast of air will blow ash out of the works. Do that when the forge is COLD so as to NOT blow burning embers around the yard. (I didn't really NEED to say THAT did I?) Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Put your general location in the header and you might be pleasantly surprised to find out how many forum members live within visiting distance. Didn't you find the answers to these very basic questions in the casting section? I'm not a caster and I've answered them more than once. Casting is NOT something a person can figure out themselves without serious risk of severe injuries and property damage. A 30lb. flask of molten bronze has the equivalent explosive energy of something like a case of 60% dynamite just waiting for a little water. Frosty The Lucky.

I just finished my new anvil stand using 2" sq. sched 80 from a rem bin a friend secures and my other stand is 2x3" sched 80 and has been serving to my satisfaction for probably 13 years now. both have quieted my anvils considerably, do to having different resonant frequencies than the anvils so harmonics damp. Each stand has a hammer and a tong hanger that acts as wedges to keep the anvils secure. I don't know about making a pipe pillar anvil stand, I had my Soderfors on a wood block till a couple weeks ago when I changed it to a steel stand. I don't see a steel pipe pillar as being functionally a lot different than a wood bock stand. Probably a lot more foot room which I like. Damping the ring will come in two parts:First, the steel pipe will have a different resonant frequency than the anvil so they'll self damp. Then filling it with sand should really damp any harmonics. I'd like to see one and hear how it works. The only down side to a pipe pillar stand would be portability in use. I frequently grab my anvil and reposition it during a session. I can't think of a reason one would be a lot different than the other. I'm sure I'd learn to love a pipe pillar stand, at worst might take a little getting used to. Frosty The Lucky.

Sure you can use a T but you'll want to run the air supply from the stem side and the gas jet in one limb the outlet to the forge out the other limb. there are two very good reasons to run a forced air (Gun) burner around a 90* turn. First is it really aids mixing, propane is weird gas, it doesn't like mixing with air so you need to stir it with turbulence. The second reason is it won't burn back around a corner which only really counts when you shut it down or block the forge. Any gas forge needs enough exhaust venting to make room for the incoming air/fuel mix or it won't burn in the forge, it'll backfire then go out. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you'll be surprised how many of the IFI gang live withing visiting distance. town, city, is about perfect. To get yourself started here, take a look around the sections, there's one for about everything smitherly. Reading a bit is a good way to develop a knowledge base wide enough to ask good questions and understand the answers. Pull up a comfy chair, bring a lunch and the beverage of your choice, there're a couple days of straight through reading here if you're so inclined. Frosty The Lucky.

I've welded rail cold with no problems but an anvil is an impact tool so avoiding stresses is a good thing. I had good luck with a 400f tempil stick but don't think it's terribly sensitive to higher, within reason. Remember to weld a bit on each side, alternating to avoid making a ripply twisty sculpture out of it. Do NOT try heat treating it afterwards, rail doesn't like being hardened and tempered for some silly reason, I've tried a few times but no joy at all. Awe heck, I'm just a likable story teller who had a near eidetic memory for the written word and excellent reading comprehension so I've been sponging since the internet went public. Then of course I go out and give some of these things a slash to see how they work. I got the idea for the stacked rail anvil after seeing rail stacked by a decommissioned rail road, played around with it a bit and liked what happened. My memory used to be really good then I tried catching a falling tree with my head. I discommend the practice highly. Frosty The Lucky.

I can't help with an ID but it looks to be in pretty nice shape. How's the rebound? Pitting on the body doesn't mean much, gives it character if anything. Taking pics in oblique light will help stampings stand out. rubbing it with chalk, then wiping it off will leave chalk in low places like stamped letters, numbers, etc. OR you can do a paper charcoal rubbing. Of course it's possible there never were ID marks or they've been obliterated by corrosion. While It's nice to k now the maker and age of your anvil it doesn't really mean much, what counts is it's condition and how it works. Frosty The Lucky.