Frosty

HIDE the cookie sheet I believe you meant to say? Frosty

I have to chip in with my thanks too. A site like this is a tremendous amount of work, even if it were just cleaning up the internet traffic jams. It's a lot more than that though. A LOT more. Thanks Glenn. You be de man. Frosty

Welcome aboard Brad. Nice looking work. Frosty

Ian: I've never heard of custard powder, the stuff is really easy to make without powder. At a guess I'd bet "custard powder is corn starch. There's all kinds of Youtube videos about the stuff. Some call it "Ooblect" (I think) or (non-newtonian) fluids. (I think) Funny stuff. So's custard of course. Frosty

I typically run 7018 and 6011 for "field" welds on cruddy steels or when I need a fast freeze for filling holes. I run stick and flux core wire with my Lincoln Ranger 9 portable. I run whatever the mild steel wire they had on the shelf in my Hobart 120 Handler with 75/25. And lastly I run whatever the book or guys at the welding supply recommend for the more oddball things I run into on occasion. Frosty

Looking good. It makes me feel good to see someone NOT overbuilding a thing to a fare-thee-well. You look happy covered in soot and grime. Making steel do my bidding usually does a similar thing for me. Frosty

Lots of differences, even amongst SS types. Some are not forgable at all, some are but not by human muscle power. Metal suppliers have spec lists that will let you know what to expect. In general though, SS has a narrow work range, 2-300 degree or so, from hot enough to too cold and you don't want to get it too hot. SS doesn't conduct heat very well either so it'll spend more time in the fire soaking for less time on your anvil. It's not only harder to move it doesn't let you work it as long. You'll probably be happiest using a 300 series, say 304. It's been a long time since I worked SS but as I recall 304 worked best at a high orange, just shy of yellow heat. 300 series SS is pretty common and not too expensive. Be sure to pick up enough to experiment with and make some mistakes with. Once you're done you'll need to passivate it or have it passivated or it'll rust. This can be done at home if you don't mind handling nitric acid or want to set up an electropolishing machine. If you're bidding this project; figure it'll take you about 5x as long to forge and finish, the SS will cost 3-4x as much as mild and shop around to see what passivation will cost. SS will make you work for it but it's plenty forgable and the results are excellent. Frosty

Nicely done. It's been my experience most people don't build enough table space onto their forges. I like your set up a lot. Frosty

Oh no, that's no digression, It's a taste of history. It lets us know how the village smith was thought of and their place in the society. That you could return such a terrific memory to your visitor is something rather wonderous. Not to mention being almost as good P.R. as saving the mayor's kid from drowning. Excellent story, thanks for sharing. Frosty

I gotta toss in here. Zinc isn't nearly as toxic as popularly believed. Don't misconstrue me here, I'm not saying ignore it, take proper precautions, just don't freak out if you get a whiff. And YES, drinking milk most certainly will help where some inhalation hazards are concerned, zinc being one. Milk stimulates mucus production which helps your lungs flush the zinc oxide fumes out. One nail make you sick? I doubt it but won't say no way, you could be particularly sensitive to zinc oxide. Unlikely but possible. I'd almost say a psychosomatic reaction is more likely. Paw Paw exposed himself to a huge amount of zinc oxide and suffered from COPD. Even so, had he sought medical attention sooner he may well have pulled through. As it was, by the time he relented and went to the doctor the pneumonia (I don't recall what the proper name is) had him well and truly in it's grip. And yes, I've torched and welded lots of galvy myself. I've "enjoyed" the Blue flue many times in the past and gotten over it every time. Never mass dosed myself though and don't intend to. Other platings are not the same story though. Electro plated zinc is NOT pure zinc and tends to have much more toxic metals included. Do NOT under any circumstances, weld or grind CAD plated steel it is very toxic. These are the gold colored bolts. Chrome is also very toxic, especially when heated. All in all, stay away from breathing metal fumes of any kind, steel and iron included. Frosty

Okay, so I'll make a contribution to the thread. At 2lbs + I doubt it's a chipping hammer. I have one like that and it's only around 10oz. A stone cutter's hammer is a good possibility, especially if the faces are beveled to be sharp. Another possibility is a forming hammer, I have a couple though not in the 2lb range, they're just like the one you show. Frosty

I was just looking at someone's anvil and noticed they have a metal bucket for a slack tub. This is a fine choice, better than a plastic bucket which is okay. I have half a whiskey barrel for one but my favorite is a SS mop bucket. It has a mop wringer that's nothing more than a cone made of perforated SS sheet. The wringer is perfect for tossing small pieces of steel into and not losing them. No pics though. So, what're your favorites, least favorites, disaster stories, etc.? Frosty

Linguisticks? Aren't those the things you boil to make linguini? Frosty

I've worked outside, it was a pain in the butt. I only have a couple pics of the outdoors set up, this one has Richard in it. He was one of my first students and a fine young man. Frosty

Does the wrought iron anvil have a steel face? Hmmmm? I certainly couldn't endorse it's use as a hot skinner if it had a steel face. ASO? (Adequate as a Skinner Only?) Sick puppy? I think your friends need to get out more. Frosty

I suppose you could do it that way but hot enough to get skin to stick properly comes awful close to damaging the heat treat on the anvil. I don't think a responsible smith would do something that evil! I believe the proper method is to poke the horn under the customer's skin, then slide it along under the skin to remove it. Small areas like fingers, toes and such are simply tapped a couple times with the anvil and the skin will slip right off. But. . . Even THINKING of heating an anvil that hot! Talk about a sick person! Frosty

Chuck: I know exactly what you mean by transitioning from a machinist to a blacksmith. Father was a metalspinner and machinist and I grew up in his shop. He didn't understand why I wanted to eyeball a design and mash it out of hot steel when I could machine one to a couple ten thousandths. Dad did everything like it was going on a moon shot. Dad has parts he made on the moon and in deep space, some have officially left the solar system. Still, there's no good reason to build a garage or kitchen cabinet that way eh? :cool: I've been away from home for more than 35 years and still tend to build to ridiculously tight tolerances. Frosty

I was cooresponding with a smith in Sweden in the early days of the internet and he told the same story. Lots of smithing tools for next to nothing. I actually researched and talked to a couple people who ship from western europe and it'd cost about 1/3 as much to buy new as it would to ship one. Of course if I could slip one into my baggage. . . Frosty

That's quite nice. I'm wondering though, why wouldn't your grandmother want the cat coming downstairs and being decorational? Frosty

I don't suppose there's room for the pot belly stove inside eh? I hope you find room for it in the new shop even if it's just for folks to come by on cold days, put their feet up and swap lies over hot coffee. I'll be putting a foot rail by mine for just that purpose. Lastly; congratulations for finding a woman who appreciates a man's need for a larger shop. May you two last a long, long time. Frosty

Nice troll, especially for a first one. Be sure you use an unplated washer. Plated washers will give off dangerous fumes when heated. The gold colored cadmium ones are especially dangerous. Think I'll give a troll a try, I have a bucket of spikes. Hmmmm. Frosty

Use 1", 8oz Kaowool cut it about an inch longer than necessary to fill the tube when rolled up with the ends butted. Then cut a second piece to fit inside that one for 2" total insulation. Instead of using an insulating fire brick for the floor, use split 3,000f hard brick(s). They're WAY more durable, especially if you get flux on them. Another option is kiln shelving. It works well but is a lot more expensive. It's best feature is it's a lot thinner and heats up faster. Whichever you use lay it on top of the Kaowool so it's insulated as well. You may need to float it on only one layer of Kaowool but that's still WAY better than no insulation. Frosty

Another solution for the problem of your eyes needing to adjust after looking into the fire. Don't look into the fire so much, it won't make the steel heat faster. Honest. It's also bad for your eyes, too much IR will cause problems down the line. Another trick I use is to stand at an angle to the line the steel is inserted into the fire so when I want to check I can pull it partway out and see it without having to look into the heart. Other than judging heat, it's hard to have too much light in a shop. Frosty

You make my point perfectly. Loaded chamber, safety on and you still make sure it's pointed in a safe direction. Doesn't sound like you trust the safety any more than I do. Putting your hand in the business end of a running machine is NOT pointing the weapon in a safe direction. As already said, you wouldn't put your hand over the muzzle would you? Especially if you KNEW the safety was worn. Would you? And yes, when I hunted I used to keep a round chambered, depending on conditions. The safety was on regardless. Don't get me wrong, I've done dumb things and gotten bitten. Dad kicked my xxx when he caught me doing dumb things so I wouldn't lose body parts or worse. Mostly though he allowed no excuses, zero. Everybody screws up and that's okay. Sometimes we do things we know we shouldn't and get away with it, sometimes not. Making excuses for doing stupid stuff is inexcuseable and shows a definite lack of respect for the machinery and oneself. A year ago september I shattered my left arm. Nobody saw me fall, I could've said anything and nobody would've questioned me. What happened was I didn't follow good safety practices. I was stepping off of the track of a mini excavator, less than 12" to the deck of the trailer I was loading it on. There was nearly 2' of deck space to step on too. So, what did I do? I swung my left foot off the track, let go with my left hand and slid down the grab bar with my right hand. A whole 12 step. big Whoop"! I don't know if I slipped on the dew covered steel side rail or just stepped off the deck but the next thing I knew I was going down. Tried to drive my left elbow into the ground like a tent peg and planet earth prevailed. 9 useable pieces and lots of splinters, chips and such, poked bone through my skin in three places. Three surgeries totalling close to 12 hrs. Nearly a year's worth of healing and recovery. Like I say, I could've said anything, made up some plausible reason for why it wasn't my fault. Truth is I was complacent. "Familiarity breeds contempt," was another favorite saying of Dad's and that's what caused my fall. It was only one little foot with almost two feet to land on. I don't need to follow the, "three points of contact," rule. It wasn't the first time either and probably won't be the last. I dipped my cup in that well once too many times and it kicked my butt. No excusees. Zero. I was lucky this time, REALLY lucky, my elbow works darned well, almost no pain and in the high 90%s of range of motion. Like I say, I've done plenty of dumb things, gotten away with most, paid for a few. So, that isn't my issue. It's the excuses that are intolerable and frankly so damaging to the newer guys. The only reason you still have your hand is just plain dumb luck. You asked to have it removed in a particularly grissly manner, begged repeatedly in fact and for some joyous reason you only have some bruising to show for it. That you aren't shouting about how lucky and stupid you were is what convinces me you wouldn't be a safe hunting companion, nor someone with which to share time in a shop. Your's or mine. Frosty

I'm really happy you weren't injured seriously. On the other hand had you pulled a stunt like that in my shop I'd 86 you then and there. I don't mean for getting pinned, I mean reaching into a running machine. :mad: It doesn't matter how many times you get away with doing something like this, it's begging for trouble. Sooner or later it will bite you. Smithing is dangerous enough without taking unnecessary risks. Trusting a brake is like trusting the safety on a firearm, you just don't do it. Add to that you let it wear out of adjustment? You get no sympathy from me. I'm glad you weren't hurt worse and really hope you learned the lesson. What I'm more concerned about is how many people have watched you reaching into a power hammer and think it's okay. Perhaps you can make up for that a little by getting a good picture of your hand after the bruises get really ugly, blow the print up nice and large and put it behind the power hammer with an explanation of what you did. End rant. Frosty