Frosty

Well done Kevin! Making uniform bar from larger material is an excellent exercise. The bolt might be a bit small for a hardy but it'll work. I'd shorten it and put the shoulder an inch or so from the head, then forge the head into the blade. It's a fine first session at the forge. Keep it up. Frosty

I have to say this is a really good idea; recuping waste heat to make charcoal, making steam to power anything is not only dangerous but highly regulated. First though the idea of making a flash boiler, see fed, state and local regulations first or your insurance co. is likely to skin you alive while the sheriff puts you away. This seems very doable though. Find yourself an old turbocharger and pipe the steam into the exhaust leg. A waste gate will deal with any excess air you generate. Both links are the same site. O'Conner has had this site up for a number of years but it's got the basics right. Don't use cinderblock for containing the fire around the retort chamber, it'll spall away from the heat very quickly. Enclosing the retort chamber is a good idea, anything that helps contain the heat where you want it is a good idea, anytime you're generating heat on purpose. This is why we insulate our homes and wear coats. Find a steel bucket with removeable lid to contain your coffee cans. Better yet, use SS stove pipe to contain the 5gl. steel bucket. SS reflects heat well and once you get a reaction going you can burn the volatile fumes from the wood. Not in the forge though, they won't generate high enough temperatures outside a very oxidizing atmosphere, this is one reason you're not burning wood. The other being the adverse effects of the volatiles on your steel. I'll be trying this method of generating charcoal for sure. Thanks for the idea. Storing heat, especially waste heat from the forge is a good idea, here's how I'm doing it. I installed a sub-floor exhaust system under the shop's slab, there are 2" sq. tube sockets (gozintas) to the surface on a 4' grid. The gas forge will get a hood that plumbs to the exhaust system through the 2" sq. legs it sits on. Waste heat and fumes will be drawn away from the forge and down under the floor. (The final exhaust is above the surface outside the shop of course) I also laid hydronic heat transfer tubing in the floor and will make a water heat exchanger for the wood stove for infloor radiant heat. It's just hot water so no need for the extremely hard to aquire permits for a steam plant. The pic shows the Pex tubing and Gozintas before I poured the slab. An alternate plan I'm working on for making charcoal is building an air tight stove for the shop. Not what passes for air tight in commercial stoves but one that will smother the fire if I shut the draft off completely. I'll load it with wood, get it roaring and shut it off. Later, after it cools, I'll shovel out the charcoal. Frosty

Stop by the local spring shop and ask to buy some drops. Be sure to tell them what you're doing, they'll probably give you all you want. If you make a habit of hitting their drops, making the foreman or owner a nice blade will pretty well seal your supply. Frosty

The anvil looks a lot like my 202# Trenton. Weight's in lbs. as well. Frosty

Oh yeah Thomas, I even remember when I was that young and all the old geezers were telling me my misfortunes were NOT tragedies. Hmmmmm. You actually WANT me to tell stories? Let's see, experience being how you deal with life, the good, the bad and the misfortune.(mistakes) I've been a really fortunate person, I've survived enough mistakes to be fairly experienced. Okay, here's a mistake Deb and I made a few years ago. It occured over a few years and like so many mistakes the unintended consequences continue to this day. I met Deb online in early 97', we met in person the next Memorial day when I flew to the UP for a face to face to face visit. That July she flew to Anchorage for a return visit and we were married in the muni court. (MUCH to my friends surprise. ) Afterward Deb had to return to the UP of Mi. She owned a 40 acre hobby farm, lots of STUFF, a herd of pygmy goats, flock of geese, dogs, cats and various and sundry other critters. Lots of loose ends to tie up to say the least. In the mean time I had a newly purchased 30 acres of woods to turn into a home, barn and sundries. While Deb was having garage sales, packing, cleaning and selling her land down south I was killing trees, moving dirt, stacking cinder block and such. That september I flew down to help Deb and a friend Julie load all their remaining stuff in storage, pack Deb's van and after the reception drove to AK. We got married in an Anchorage court and none of Deb's friends liked the idea so we held an informal ceremony and reception. It was quite the event with a couple hundred folks showing up to inspect the Alaskan bushman and give one of their own a proper mid-western sendoff. It was a very cool event, much better than the courthouse wedding. I had to fly back home while Deb and Julie drove so I beat them by about 5 days. The next several months were pretty mundane for a newly married couple building a house in the woods during an Alaskan winter. The next spring things were starting to get rolling good when we discovered there was a problem with where Deb'd boarded her remaining goats. We needed to get them to AK soonest. Well, we'd made contact with a number of goat owners locally and one was a reasonably close neighbor, about 7 miles. They offered to let us keep our herd at their place till we had barn, pastures and such finished that fall. Deb had been raising goats for maybe 16-17 years and my family had raised horses for some 9 years when I was a kid so we both had more than a little understanding of what can happen mixing herds. The first thing we did was ask about the health of their goats. We were assured there'd never been a positive test result for any of the dangerous diseases. We took their word for it. We kept our herd on their property a little longer than we anticipated but it was all good, we bought hay, feed, meds, helped out, cooked for each other, etc. In general we were good friends and all was well. The next spring we moved our herd to their new digs and as kidding season was close our friends gave us a milk goat in case one of ours wouldn't nurse kids. Deb had only kept a core herd and we purchased another six animals from different herds to improve the gene pool. Hers were the first registered pygmy goats in Alaska in about 25 years. So, we had a number of unknown new does and getting a milker was good insurance. All's well and we jump ahead a couple years. Our herd then numbered some dozen adult does, 8 pregnant, three adult bucks, three yearling does. One of the bucks started losing weight and occasionally having bouts diarrhea, though he was eating well, was bright eyed and in no discomfort. We doctored him with everything we knew, consulted vets and long time breeders. Finally, in early summer we had to put him down, while he was still happy, bright eyed and eating well, he'd become so weak he couldn't get up. We had a necropsy done and discovered he was suffering an advanced case of Johne's. (pronounced yo neez) Johne's is a bacterial paratuberculosis with no cure or treatment. It has an extended amplification rate, some 2 years before an infected animal will show antibodies though it may start shedding sooner. It's spread through feces and goats being indiscriminate excreters it's everywhere. At the time the results from Jimmy's necropsy came in, kidding season was nearly over, we had some 18 kids on the ground and two still pregnant does. The only practical, ethical thing to do was put the entire herd down. Then with the herd gone we had to leave the pastures and barn fallow for two years to let the bacteria die off. Most of the chemicals necessary to kill Johne's bacteria would leave the land and barn a toxic site. Oxygen and sunlight will kill it given time. After waiting the two years we reestablished a herd. It isn't the lines Deb spent nearly 20 years building but they're champion lines. The herd isn't as large as it was, we don't have the same fire as we did. But we still raise beautiful pygmy goats that kick butt at shows. WE broke a basic rule, we not only boarded our animals on an untested farm, we accepted an untested animal onto our farm. Sure, they'd NEVER had a positive test result. . . They never tested. One of the spinoffs of our "misfortune" came about by the pygmy goat community's response. Deb's well known as a breeder and well thought of so when word got out there were many breeders in the lower 48 who offered to give us replacement goats. Our response was NO WAY, not a chance! Unless you have a clean herd. That means a minimum two years of clean test results for Johne's and one year for the rest. The ONLY acceptable proof is the vet's test results in writing. Untill then maybe 15-20% of pygmy breeders tested. Now some 75% test simply because it's getting hard to sell a goat from an untested herd. More and more goat breeders in general are testing as well. We won't even breed to an animal from an untested farm. This too is becoming more common around the country. Well, that's probably the biggest mistake we've made in the last decade or so. Lesson learned. Frosty

"Good night Wesley. Sleep well, I'll most likely kill you in the morning." You are a lucky guy Peyton. Frosty

Keeping on my back's good side and liking not-flat toes keeps me from moving it around a lot. Once I get my stand made I'll post more pics. Frosty

It'll work, not as well as a straight pipe but it'll be okay. Put the elbow as high as possible while maintaining a safe distance from the ceiling. Outside use one of the flap vented "T" fittings rather than the elbow. They're designed to keep cold air from backdrafting down your chimney. It's similar to a smoke shelf in effect and function. Frosty

Sure enough. I think the 3 1 2 pretty well nails it. It's good being able to put a name to things. Thanks, Frosty

Good to know. Got pics? Frosty

Oh come on now. Having the digital cameras crap out on you is hardly the worst luck EVER. If so you have to be the luckiest guy I ever "met". Frosty

Sorry it took so long but here are a couple pics of the tongs I got for my article in the Hammer's Blow. They're 3/4" flat bar tongs. I'll be showing them off at the Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths meeting this saturday. Anybody in the neighborhood is welcome to stop in and . . . touch them. Seriously, I was honored to be asked for the article in the first place, getting these fine tongs was a step above and beyond. They were hand forged by Phill Rosche and donated to ABANA to give folk contributing articles to the Blow. Frosty

These are my girls. The smaller anvil on the left is a 125# Soldorfors Sorcoress #5. The larger one on the right is a 202# Trenton. The little one resting on the Trenton's heal is the rail anvil I made in the early 80's. The rail anvil was my only anvil for years and remained my traveling anvil till I transfered off the drill crew. The Soldorfors was my first "real" anvil and is set at the height recommended in "The Art of Blacksmithing" knuckle height. The Trenton is set at wrist height and is more comfortable to strike. I haven't remounted the Soldorfors yet but will now I have the new shop closed in. I haven't decided whether to go to the trouble of morticing it into the block again, though it deadened the ring nicely and holds the anvil very securely it was a lot of hassle. Frosty

This swage block was in the State's heavy duty shop till the new foreman said clear all the junk out. The weldor gave me a call and asked if I wanted the really heavy, weird shaped, probably a blacksmith's tool, hunk of iron before it went into the scrap bin. I hot footed it right over and loaded it into my pickup. The 3 1 2 is the only marking on it. It's the same pattern as every swage block in state equipment shops across AK. Every equipment shop also has a 250# Fisher anvil. All the swage blocks disappeared around the same time, I hope they all went to smiths. One did anyway. Most shops still have the anvil, everyone knows what an anvil is though very few use them. Frosty

Okay, this is the pic I forgot to attach to the previous post. Go ahead laugh, I'm used to it. Frosty

This is my 6" Indian Chief. I picked it up near Reno about 20 years ago for WAY more than folk in the mid west would think a bad joke. It cost less to air freight it to Alaska. I also have a 4" no-name but it's not set up, buried in fact. There'll be room in the new shop though. :cool: Frosty

I got started as a kid. Father was a metal spinner and put us kids to work in his shop as soon as we were aware enough to move around without slicing ourselves into lunch meat. Some of my earliest memories are sitting behind the tailstock of his lathe playing race car with the adjustment wheel while he spun. Dad's idea of baby sitting till I was old enough to sweep, clean and oil, don't you know. Attached is a pic of Dad spinning a radar dish of some sort in the basement, I was around four at that time. Anyway, Father raised us, Sis and I, in a high production spinning shop, often working to ridiculous specs. While I loved working metal I burned out on spinning young. We moved to so. ca. around 57' and sometime around 60' I discovered fire. As anyone watching the news right now knows folk in so. ca. take a really dim view of kids playing with fire. However, if you're blacksmithing you HAVE to play with fire. It was also a controlled fire with definite goals, iron melting heat isn't so easy for a 8-9 yr. old to achieve. Anyway, I started pretending to be a blacksmith so I could play with fire and hit things with hammers. Mother finally put her foot down regarding Father's discouraging me from smithing, "learn a paying trade," was one of his mottos. Anyway, Mother just got tired of me taking her stove apart to make a forge and hammering on her countertops, using a chunk of steel I'd kiped from the shop as an anvil. She finally told him, "George, get him a forge and anvil, buy them, build them I don't care. Just get him OUT of MY kitchen!" It was one of the only times I heard them disagree and the ONLY time I heard one of them shout at the other. I was maybe 9-10 and Father "loaned" me a piece of 2" x 4" x 24" rectangular steel bar. It was a drop from building a big spinning lathe or perhaps modifying one. In the pic of him spinning you can see the spacers he put under the tailstock to increase the swing so he could spin large diameter parts. There are equivalent spacers under the headstock of course. He also gave me a brake drum, a little advice and made me build my own forge. If you keep pretending to be a blacksmith, sooner or later folk just assume you are one. I moved to AK in 72' and spent several years getting established and playing around. Then around 77-78' after a couple years working for the state I started wanting to play with fire again. I started hammering iron again while in the field as a driller. While the other drillers were putting away a half rack a night after work, something I tried but just never quite got the hang of, I started heating found scrap in the camp fire and banging out things like skewers, branding irons, pokers, etc. Finally I welded up a rail anvil, it's the little one on top of the Trenton. I welded rail into the web for additional weight, bringing it up to around 65#, shown in the pic of the heel. I welded the plate on top for a flat surface without knowing the rail was far better steel. The face plate has hammer marks and dings the rail wouldn't have suffered. I packed the rail anvil and a minimum tool list around the state for years before I discovered I wasn't alone. One day while hitting a book store in town. Yeah, I read instead of concentrating on half racks, I was such a poor example of a driller. Anyway, there on the discount book table were several copies of "The Art Of Blacksmithing" by, Alex Bealer. Seems the head office or whatever, mistakenly sent a dozen copies to this branch and they were dumping them cheap. I bought a copy and the next day went back to get another. They'd sold them all before I got back but they still didn't think metal working books would sell! Anyway, that was my awakening, there were how to books out there! I found out why some things I couldn't get to work wouldn't work, found out there were things I was doing you shouldn't be able to do. HA! Best of all it made me look for more books. I had a decent library and a couple smith contacts when the internet went public in 91'. I was connected within 30 days, I was on vacation or would've been in line THE day. Anyway, within a few hours of getting online I'd discovered ABANA, ArtMetal and a couple other lonely voices in the aether. Finally (bet you thought I'd NEVER finish eh?) I'm still pretending to blacksmith. Frosty

That's quite the little hammer. Thanks for the pic of the linkage, saved me from asking. About the only way to really tell what the total reciprocating weight is would be take the arm off and weigh it. Doing a rough guess I think it looks to be in the 20-25 lb range. A large part of how hard it hits is the rigidity of the hammer, the upper die is coupled directly to the pivot so there's not much give, just the natural flex in the short length of wood. The linkage in more common hammers has the weight hanging from a spring so all it's impact is kinetic energy. This little gem is basically a lever with the upper die hard coupled to the frame. Small wonder it hits so hard. Hmmmm. Think I'd call it the, "Small Wonder," were it mine. Frosty

Hey Mark, welcome aboard! Mark is a "neighbor" about 25 miles from me and an accomplished smith. It's good to have another Alaskan around. Frosty

Check with your local gas co. Fire marshal, etc. Don't ask your insurance Co. till you're actually ready to set it up and be careful then. I have yet to talk to someone in the heating business that would consider mixing gas or oil burners and other fuels in the flue. They didn't have a problem mixing wood, coal, etc. I'm no expert so talk to one where you live. Frosty

You're just MEAN Imagedude! Frosty

Not impossible, just amazing. It looks like the helve is on a solid fulcrum and the spring relief is in the crank linkage. This means all the weight in the helve and solidly attached linkage gets to take part in each blow. Figuring exactly how much the weight translates to for moving metal is far trickier than my math allows. It's why there are standard slug sizes for calculating these things. Place a slug on the die, give it a whack and measure how much it moved to find out how much energy was shed. Anyway, it's actually more than a 6lb. hammer though it's still light. Fast makes up for mass and 300 bpm is fast. Still an amazing little hammer. I'd like to give it a try some day. Frosty

Consider an appliance lid or door, they're really easy to find if you know where the local illegal dump sites are. :cool: My first forge was a washing machine lid with a brake drum let into it and packed with clay to the rim of the drum. Frosty

Jacob: Plumbing the stacks for the propane heater and coal or other solid fuel forge together will NEVER pass code and it's outright dangerous. A chimney sweep buddy I asked when building our present house went into the chemistry but the short story is propane exhaust contains mostly water vapor and encorages creosote buildup. I'll be heating my shop with a large vertical stove I'm building from a piece of 24" can pile. While it'll be designed for multi-fuels, wood will be it's main course. I have a salvaged SS fume hood that'll be adapted to cover the propane forge. The difference in my shop is how the exhaust system works, it's a down draw system. There is a system of ABS pipe under the floor connecting to a 4' on center grid pattern of 2 1/8" ID. sq. sockets. The sq. tubing is 2 1/8" ID because 2" sq. receiver tubing is about 6x as expensive. The sub floor exhaust system is connected to a blower and vented outside. When in use the exhaust system draws smoke and fumes down into the floor so I don't have to exchange all the air in the shop a few times over to rid it of smoke. The gasser table's lags are 2" sq. tubing that will socket into the exhaust system and are connected to the hood. The welding / cutting table is a bar grate over a plennum and it's legs socket into the floor. If I need a scaffolding I can socket the uprights into the floor and clamp or weld whatever members to it I need. I'll be able to access the exhaust system by tapping into it from the socketed verticals. And so on. Besides removing smoke and fumes closer to the source so it doesn't have to exhaust as much good air it passes it all under the floor. This will help warm the ground under the shop and help keep the shop warmer. It will also draw the coldest air off the floor rather than the warmest air from the roof peak. My strategy for the wood stove is to keep myself between it and the forge. The stove will be placed against one wall near the center of the shop. It'll also get an aimable stack robber with a blower so I can direct heat where it's needed. CO detectors are a good idea if you have any combustion going on and a hearty must if you're running a forge of any kind. Except an induction forge maybe. Even a torch can make a dangerous atmosphere, especially a rosebud. Frosty

You're using the direct method of making charcoal, the easiest if least efficient. Yes, you certainly can run an engine from wood smoke. The Japanese were doing just that towards the end of WWII when they couldn't get gasoline. In the south pacific they used coconut shells. Frosty