Frosty

Ain't you been tinkering in the shop now! I really like the heads, whimsical and a little humorous really lends personality, I'll bet any would make dandy burglar whackers. Thanks for the gander. Frosty The Lucky.

Thank you Owen, this has been very informative, the pics and notes especially. I've contemplated giving it a try but I contemplate lots of stuff. <grin> Frosty The Lucky.

I use my swage block if I need to forge a hardy shank, not going to break it with human muscle and a hammer. It's not uncommon to have dreams about a new job, skill, etc. You could ask Deb about me operating graders in my sleep. Frosty The Lucky.

I suppose a person could but using a lathe and 4 jaw chuck would be easy. Think of an end mill as a heavy duty drill press that can take side loading against the bit. Depending on the piece I could probably forge a tennon faster than I could get the stock chucked up but machining would be quick quick. Frosty The Lucky.

Dad used to spin lots of Monel, he spun the sphere on top of the Washington State capitol building. It polishes like a mirror and stays shiny. We used to spin it at medium yellow heat, holding torch was one of my jobs before he put me to work spinning. Regardless, it was a bear at yellow heat and imovable at high orange or below. Heck, the old man didn't think of alloys like Monel, Inconel, etc. special or unusual, he spun lots of exotics. What temp are you trying to forge at? Have you tried it at welding heat? No, this isn't welding heat for Monel but it may make it workable. High yellow may be the lowest, unless we're talking multi ton forging hammers. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Dennis, glad you delurked! I think it depends on how much fire you need for what you want to do. If it produces too much air you can divert it or gate it. There're lots of smiths in your general vicinity get hooked up with the local blacksmithing association, you won't be sorry. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Nice vise and for the record, making your own parts and pieces is appropriate to the age, whenever that is/was/will be. It's what smithing is about, folk bring US things to fix so fixing, modifying or making our own is the ticket. Frosty The Lucky.

You can draft your fire with a paper shopping bag and a little pipe, a feed bag works better it's larger. I've done plenty of campfire forging and almost never had a forced draft. I did get a Coleman Inflate All some years back and it's de bomb. A 12v blower for inflating rafts, matresses, etc. and works a treat. The Resurection River forge was one of my most ambitious camp smithies and featured a draft provided by the prevailing wind down the river from Exit Glacier. Another good method is to build a "hill" forge. This is a trench leading up a slope and covered with something non-flamable, sandstone works well provided it's seriously dry. It works best if it's steep enough the fuel can roll or slide down the slope to an obstruction at the bottom. You load wood in the top and it feeds the fire, pyrolizing as it slides down the trench. When it reaches the bottom it's coals and hot enough to weld or even found iron/steel. What I like about a hill forge is the fire is mostly covered, first to prevent it from just burning up before it charcoals but being covered I'm subjected to much less roasting heat. Frosty The Lucky.

Bummer, it won't play unless I subscribe to the site and allow it to store and collect data from my machine. Oh well. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm thinking a Marvin the Martin doll with a lit lighter sitting next to it would be a nice visual. That came together nicely Tristan. Frosty The Lucky.

THANKS VERY MUCH for the VISUALS! I'm outa here. Frosty The Lucky.

Steve: Zinc ignites in the mid orange heat and it's easy to see, it burns with a bluish green flame. Correct brazing temp is below zinc's ignition temp but if anyone has done much brazing you've seen it burn by overheating the joint. It's part of the learning curve. It doesn't actually "vaporize," it oxidizes when it's hot enough to burn, the smoke is bluish white and looks like a solid (it is) floating in hung together lace/string/ etc. It's the same look as the smoke from an oxy acet torch lit with the acet turned down too low only bluish white. It's well worth NOT breathing it at all, breathing the smoke is the origin of the "blue flu" for the color residue the stuff leaves on everything like dust. It leaves a guy feeling punky and usually tops out the next day but exposing yourself for a few days seems to get it out of you and you don't feel punky. Over dosing on it can kill you dead but for different reasons than intuition tells us. I used to know but my memory isn't good enough to go into details on what it really does to a person other than to say it's B-A-D. Frosty The Lucky.

I haven't heard a solid number or reasoning. I figure it's the thought that counts Mike, ring what you feel. Frosty The Lucky.

Nevermind! Frosty The Lucky.

That'd be Greeks and imported to the British isles by the Romans, same as the pipes, which were of Egyptian origin. Frosty The Lucky.

What failings? We learn from our mistakes sure, we should all hold multiple PHDs. None of us get everything just right and fresh eyes see different things. I've never gotten something perfect, there are always things I could've done better or differently for a better result. Get used to it. <wink> Frosty The Lucky.

I think the $60 range is reasonable if you can make them fast enough. If you have much time in them it needs to go up to suit. I was getting $20 for leaf coat hooks in the mid 90's and I could turn them out in about 6-7 mins. 10 during a demo. Horse shoe art is a bit of a niche market though so I don't know which way that'd drive prices, probably depend on who the market is. Frosty The Lucky.

You're a funny guy SmoothBore, everybody knows Amish computers are steam or horse powered. Frosty The Lucky.

I wouldn't drill a stop unless the crack grows. Mark it and check every once in a while. Covering it with a layer of enamel paint is a good way to tell if a crack is growing or one develops as paint has no flex and will flake if a crack develops or grows. Use a paint that dries HARD. Use a mirror to check it so you don't have to turn it over for a good look. Frosty The Lucky.

Do Dobies make good shop dogs? Falki our pedigreed Icalandic Sheepdog is one of the coolest shop dogs I've ever met. I keep the slack reasonably clean so he can drink if he wants but I try to keep him from playing in it. Yeah, like that'll happen. Pedigree doesn't mean anything to me, I like mixed breeds for the highbred vigor but Falki is a special case picked out by Deb. The hanging screen really helps, I wish I remember who I got the idea from, he deserves the credit. There's also a piece of sheet steel on the bottom to keep sharp pieces from poking holes in the barrel. Frosty The Lucky.

Roy: 2,600f is plenty, I'll be checking these guys out. I may be able to get it here, we have to ship everything in so there's no telling what you may find. Dave's set up looks good, just don't make the tracks fit too closely, they will warp from heat and if they're tight it won't be long before the bricks won't slide. I just stack bricks in the opening to block as much or little as necessary. The attached pic is my forge in action, you can see some of the bricks I use to restrict the openings. Only one quarter is running and you can see some of the bricks I use to block the chambers internally. Frosty The Lucky.

You don't want it to burn blue, that's excess oxy making the pretty flames which will burn the steel, say oxidize it. You need a deeper fire so all the oxy is consumed before it gets to your work. The heart of your fire should be yellow or high orange if you're just forging. And yes, break the charcoal up so it's walnut size give or take, it's not an exact thing but you don't want large pieces it lets oxy past. Pile your charcoal deeper and insert your steel into the pile at an angle aimed at the heart. Leaving a layer of cooler charcoal over the work helps protect it from oxy and insulates the fire itself so it doesn't radiate valuable heat as readily. Knife guy: why are you getting burned, flying sparks? Less air, deeper fire so the cooler charcoal on top helps filter the gleaties. Gleaties are the burning sparks and such from fires, it's a real word believe it or not. Frosty The Lucky.

Galvanizing isn't as dangerous as it's reputation makes it sound, think of it as the pitbull of not safe metals to put in your forge. It isn't heavy metal poisoning, it's an overdose of a metabolized necessary mineral/metal. Use Zicam when you're catching a cold? Zinc oxide as is calamine lotion, etc. Don't take me wrong, I am NOT saying it's safe to breath zinc oxide smoke, it can be very VERY bad for you and lethal if you're allergic or sensitive to it. Stay out of the smoke and better yet, learn to recognize galvy and avoid using it for stock. Other commonly available dangerous metals are cadmium plated steels commonly seen as gold colored fasteners, nuts, bolts, etc. This stuff is really toxic and serious cancer causing bad news. Don't forge it, don't grind it, don't weld it. The other common one I'm familiar with is chrome. Hexavalent chrome is very toxic and a heavy metal so it will NOT be expelled from your body before it does damage like cause cancer or rot your liver, kidnies, etc. Leave it on your bumpers and trim where it belongs. If you buy new stock you'll be fine. Welcome to the addiction, nothing stirs the soul like beating hot steel into submission. <wink> Frosty The Lucky.

Oh Stewart! Fortunately lips heal fast but hurt though you know that. Fortunately it wasn't a really dangerous stupid stunt so I'll go ahead and laugh. Nothing beats a little laugh before bed. Seriously glad it wasn't worse and we all pull these every now and then. Heck I wouldn't even slap crap out of you, the laughter would be punishment enough. Frosty The Lucky.

On the list here. Heck all you guys and your families are but I drop a name in particular as needed. Frosty The Lucky.