Frosty

You TOO! EGADS! It's a conspiracy!!! Frosty

If it doesn't work for a forge blower it'll be dandy to circulate heat from the wood stove in winter. Frosty

Two Toes? A dingo eight the rest? Sorry, couldn't resist. Frosty

Cool, I'll put that one under his name in my E-dress book too. I just picked up a pint of ITC-100 today. We've been coorresponding with the other Edress. TWO E-mail addresses! What is the world coming to? Frosty

It's running lean. What psi are you running? Too high can cause an oxidizing flame. If necessary choking the air intake down will correct the problem. Lastly tossing a piece of charcoal in the forge will absorb excess oxy. Use campfire, stove, etc. charcoal, not a briquette. Frosty

This is Jay's current e-mail address. xmas4lites@earthlink.net He's a good guy. Frosty

EXACTLY! Years ago, before the internet I used to look for blacksmiths when on vacation in the lower 48. I was frequently amused when a smith didn't want to show me how he made something because he didn't want me to steal HIS secret. While s/he may have a better way of making something I can still make one of my own. Sure, there're a FEW genuine must know tricks out there but no real secrets. I like to keep graph paper on hand to make sketches as well as a camera. Combine both a photo and a quick sketch for reference or to show hard to see details and you've captured the thing. Frosty

Building a gas forge isn't a difficult thing if you remember to apply some basic principles and ratios. Principle 1. A forge is a furnace, all it needs do is hold fire while the floor supports the pieces you're putting in it. Principle 2. Only make it a LITTLE larger and stronger than you think you'll need. Unless you're going to be forging RR rail you do NOT need to use 1/4" steel. You can of course, especially if you have it or it's cheap, etc. There's nothing wrong with using overkill dimension steel in a project unless you want to move it of course. My choice for a pipe forge is SS stove pipe. It's commonly available in dia. up to 12" and if you want larger you can snap two together to make larger dia. For example two sections of 8" will make a 16" dia. shell. It comes in different lengths though 24" and 36" are most common. While tough as grandpa's toenails it's workable with hand tools and power hand tools. A pair of tin snips, aviation snips work better than simple snips. Hand drill, pop rivets, etc. NO special shop tools necessary at all. About the only "special" tool you might need is a bimetal holesaw to make the burner port(s). There are lots of options commonly available for ready made forge shells. What you use depends on what shape you want and what's available. I'll drop a few suggestions in a bit. The most important basic ratio to remember has to do with burner size and number per volume. For a naturally aspirated burner whether it's a linear like Ron Reil's EZ, one of Jay Hays', etc. or an Ejector type like Mike Porter's, a T Rex, Side Arm, etc. The ratio to observe is 1 ea. 3/4" burner per 350 cu/in of volume. There is wiggle room of course but this is a good conservative ratio and it's better to have more burner than you need, you can always turn it down but you can NOT turn it up over max. Other factors will effect this basic ratio of course. The forge liner is probably #1. Hard refractory is a poor insulator and will require more fuel and time to come to heat and stay at heat and may require more burner for the same volume as an insulating lined forge. The upside is hard refractory is MUCH tougher than an insulating refractory. #2 but no less important is shape. If your chamber is roughly cubical or spherical you can get away with less burner. If however you want a long narrow chamber you'll probably want more but smaller burners to maintain an even heat. Shape makes a lot of difference at some point in your exploration of the craft. This usually occurs when you've settled into a style of smithing. For instance bladesmithing usually requires a long forge for heat treating but it can be pretty narrow. An armorer on the other hand may need to get a piece of sheet metal into a forge that's 18" x 24". Neither of these guys(gals) will be happy with the other's forge. If all you're going to do is make small tools like wood chisels, reasonable sized knives, etc. a Bean Can forge will probably be plenty. If you want to do architectural iron work you may end up with a walk in. I'm building a Variable Volume forge at present so I can do the small stuff without heating a huge volume and still enlarge it enough to get that breastplate in if necessary. Things to keep an eye out for that'll make a good ready made forge shell are: Stove pipe, discarded 20lb. propane tanks, helium (balloon) tanks, water heater, well tank, ammo cans, (.50 cal makes a really nice size and shape box forge) Popcorn tins, etc. etc. You get the idea. Steer away from galvanized pipe for a forge shell. If you build it right the shell shouldn't get hot enough to burn off the zinc but there's no reason to take chances you don't need to. Liners are next on your decision list. As I've already said hard refractory is tough but less efficient. Ceramic wool blanket like Kaowool, Durablanket, etc. are very efficient but also very fragile. You also need to be thinking about breathing the particles though this is easily remidied. Another thing about insulating refractories is welding fluxes. At welding heat borax is quite caustic and will go through Kaowool like hot water through cotton candy. Eventually welding flux will erode even heavy duty hard firebrick though it takes a LOT longer. But you get back into the insulating and heat sink aspect again. I've been reasonably happy with a double lined gasser. The inner liner is a hard rammable refractory and the outer liner is Kaowool for insulation. If I build another like it I'll use 2" of Kaowool but it works pretty well with 1". You can have more than one kind of refractory as an inner liner as well. the forge I'm currently building has hard high temp split (half thickness 1 1/4") fire brick for the floor with 2,300f insulating castable refractory under it. The sides and lid have 2,300f insulating kiln brick. The idea behind this is to use the most efficient materials wherever possible and use the toughest available where necessary. So, now you're wondering how well a 2,300f refractory is going to hold up at temps of 2,700f or more. Coatings is the answer. A high zirconia coating will reflect most of the IR radiation back into the chamber so less heat will soak into the refractory. ITC-100 is the best known though I've talked to a fellow who makes his own. ITC-100 is kind of spendy up front but savings in fuel and refractory repairs will pay for it, quickly if you do a lot of forging, longer if you only do a little bit. If you're not going to use a forge very often you may not want to spend the money on high efficiency materials. ITC-100 or one of the other available coatings is a good way to contain ceramic blanket so it doesn't release particles into the air. A little exposure is no big deal but there's no reason to take chances you don't need to, especially if you're going to do much forging. I'm sure I've gone on more than long enough but building a forge is front burner on my mind right now. In summery: 1, Decide the size and shape work you're most likely to do and design a forge just a LITTLE larger. 2, Decide what type and size burner(s) you want to use. 3, Decide what kind of refractory you need. 4, Build it and light er up! Frosty

If your forge scales steel it's burning lean, oxidizing flame. You can correct this in the short term by tossing a piece of charcoal into it to absorb excess oxy. Pick it out of a camp fire, not a briquette. Welding temp is as much a matter of skill as actual temp. Frosty

Very nice anvils but out of my range. (Monetary and geographical) Still, I'm really enjoying the whole

If you wouldn't mind posting it here I'd be very interested in reading it. Frosty

I'm sure there are specs for a tuyere but I don't know or have them. I wouldn't hesitate to attach 4" exhaust to the firepot and "T" off in 3" or whatever to your blower. I also use an exhaust flap cap as my ash dump. So far no one and I mean on one has noticed the non-traditional ash dump till I pointed it out. Frosty

Welcome aboard Jet. A quick test for your anvil is to bounce a ball bearing off the face. Hold it a foot or so above it and let it drop. If it returns 9-10" it has good rebound and is probably a good anvil. Don't worry too much about the "ring" some don't have much and are still good tools. Lastly except as the replacement test for the bearing bounce you really don't want to hit your anvil with a hammer, you want to hit the metal in between. Frosty

Wasn't me who hand cut rail but it's very doable and less work than a person might think. Standing it on end is a good option. You can also grind different radii on the web and flange to serve as fullers though you're limited by their thickness in this application. If you have a welder or access you can weld a section of rail onto the vertical section for the best of both worlds. Great depth of steel under the hammer and a decent face to work on. Also, if you have access to a welder and a way to cut it you can make a denser, heavier and more rigid anvil with a flat face by stacking shorter sections and welding them together as in the sketch. If you leave one of the bottom pieces longer than the stack and shape the rail you can have a slightly off center horn. Leave the other side long and you can have another horn, perhaps a flat square taper, or whatever you like. The benefit of this is you're tripling the weight of your anvil for the same length. Also the flat flange bottom makes a fine face with just a little polishing. A word of warning is in order however. Rail is all high carbon steel and needs proper care when welding deep sections like this. Pre and post heats are recommended as are annealing and THEN hardening and tempering. Lastly you want to use "line" rail for tool making where heating or welding is concerned. Yard rail has a high percentage of either Vanadium or Manganese for wear resistance and rigidity. Both have a limited lifespan at heat and annealing them is beyond the capacity of a small scale smithy. Sending it to the heat treaters would cost you more than just buying an anvil. Frosty

Good to hear from you Philip. I knew you'd be in the middle helping wherever possible. Being a blacksmith has to come in handy in times when civilization falters. Frosty

Part of the pricing equation is weight, after you determine the basic nature of the beast. When you say the edges are rounded off. Do you mean ground off or broken off. While it's not universal, most smiths round the edges of their anvils for good reasons. We can get into that if you'd like but for now suffice it to say rounded edges are not a bad thing. Broken and chipped edges are a different matter, depending on how badly damaged the face is. About the apparent seam on the second anvil. Front to back on both sides? Do you mean at the waist? Is it horizontal or vertical? I assume it isn't about 1/2" under the face because that'd be where the high carbon face was welded to the body. What do they weigh? Where are the Hardy (square) holes? Are there pritchel (small round) holes? We need more info and better yet pictures to be more specific. Unless of course the "M" means something to somebody, wouldn't surprise me mind you, I just don't know. You can cut rail with a torch, no problem. I prefer to use my horizontal band saw. Only the rail surface is induction hardened so a saw cut needs to come from the bottom. Lay the rail on it's side with the flange facing the direction the teeth are coming from and it'll cut it a treat. Welcome aboard. Frosty

It's similar to the Bendix clutch in a starter. Frosty

That's a big relief. Frosty

When it comes to electronics I'm a first class weldor so I don't know what the diagram says. However, I do know the electronic cycle controlers work fine with induction motors but power reduces with RPM. Restricting intake works fine as long as the motor doesn't rely on blower air for cooling. A bypass in the outlet is another if more complex option that allows plenty of air for the motor. Bypassed air can be directed up the flue to increase draft. Frosty

I realize it's unlikely Philip can connect to post the forum so I don't expect to hear from him for a while. I'm sure hoping he and his are alright. He's in Sichuan, near the epicenter of the recent major quake. Gonna say a little prayer for everyone in harm's way tonight and Philip by name. Frosty

Thomas: After you sandblast it you might want to paint it with a phosphate primer to prevent rust from occurring under the liner. A good liner for the sheet metal pans is wood ash, dampened lightly and rammed tight. A bit of white wood glue, Elmers, etc. in the water at about 1 tsp./gl will help keep it in shape. A good hard liner for the cast pans is the old fireclay, grog, sand and portland cement refractory. As I recall the ratios are: 3pts. fire clay. 1pt grog (fire brick crushed to pass a 1/4" screen). 1pt silica sand. and about 1/4 pt. portland cement. Soak the grog over night. Mix all the other ingredients thoroughly then add the damp grog and mix till everything is equally moistened. It should make a clump in your fist when squeezed without being sticky. It should break cleanly without crumbling. It it's sticky it's too wet, add a little more of the dry mix. If it crumbles it's too dry, add a LITTLE more water. Once the moisture is right let it rest in a sealed container for several hours. Then ram it into the pan with a wooden mallet or a piece of 2x4 and a hammer. Ram it good and hard. An inch is usually plenty thick and I make a little rim around the air grate like a smooth crater about 6" in dia. When it's good and hard, use a piece of burlap and burnish it smooth and score to control shrink checking. Burnishing makes it less likely to be damaged by iron, tools, etc. Scoring will control the cracks that naturally form when clay dries. Ramming it up as dry as will stick helps minimize checking but scoring will cause the cracks that WILL form to follow the score marks. Scoring is making shallow grooves in the finished surface. Expansion joints in the sidewalk, etc. do the same thing. Use a butter knife and cut about 1/8" or so deep. Allow it to dry completely and heat cure with a small fire to start. Say a bed of split kindling a couple inches deep. Second cure can be a layer of charcoal briquettes a couple inches deep. You want to get it good and hot so if you were to turn it over and build the fire underneath it wouldn't be overkill. I don't know how well a green fired liner will stay in if you turn it over though. Then again, you can go down to the river, find a bank of clay and ram it in and score. Always score wet clay or the cracks will make a mess of it. Frosty

Don't you just love a patent server? Are you going to print it out and hang it somewhere? I don't know how many times I've found the device or mechanism I needed by searching them. Now Google has made it reasonable and easy to do. Congratulations Thomas. Frosty

WOW. I like it just as much on this forum as the other one! Go figure. Frosty

Attached is the exhaust pipe Tuyere on my coal forge. It isn't a very good picture of it but there wasn't a good angle. Maybe when I get it into the new shop. I just thought to add the Sketchup component I drew of the exhaust pipe tuyere and flapper cap ash dump. Frosty

The electric fly swatters are a lot of fun if you're going with manual extermination anyway. If on the other hand you just want to be rid of them a little 1/4C of gasoline poured in the crack will finish them in short order and not leave neurotoxins laying about. WD40 is good for attacking the nest while they're warm enough to fly. I use a little gas on the ground nesting yellowjackets around here and WD40 on the paper nesting variety. I've never been stung doing it either, gas or WD knocks them right down and they don't get up. DON'T light the gas! It not only tends to light the surrounding on fire it doesn't kill the bugs, the natural draft draws the gas fumes up and away from the nest. You probably don't want to do it while you're forging either but . . . THAT'S a judgement call. Frosty