Frosty

Have you been following the current discussion on "Burners 101"? One of the members bought a $38 T burner that he says welds for him and he's new to the craft. When I looked at the site they were $74 and change but I have Amazon Prime so shipping is covered. My rules of forge welding are Clean Clean CLEAN. I match the joint surfaces so there are no high spots or gaps. Then I shine them up, preferably on my belt grinder with a fine belt or at least a single cut file till there is nothing but shiny steel. Cleaning can be involved but if your joint is clean enough you can clamp it together for a few days and it will weld. Next step I wipe the joint surfaces lightly with 3in1 oil and DUST lightly with flux. I use Peterson's Blue commercial welding and brazing flux found at welding stores in the gas welding section. My can cost $26 in Alaska dollars but that was years before Covid let alone the current inflation. Anyway, the light oil coat holds the flux in place, I clamp the sides together while I gently close it with light hammer blows on the poll. Lastly I bring it to welding temperature, shined and fluxed well, medium orange will set the weld. I suggest you take it to medium yellow till you get a handle on the process. I set the weld with slow dead blows with a heavy hammer. The weight of the hammer does the work of pushing the sides of the joint to welding distance. By dead blow I mean to not let the hammer bounce. don't let it sit on the weld and draw the heat but do NOT swing it fast so it bounces like you were forging something. Letting the hammer bounce can cause the joint surfaces to move sideways and shear the weld or bounce apart. I strike the first blow on or next to anyplace that might trap flux, scale, dirt, etc. This shouldn't be an issue on an axe head but start at the poll anyway. Work the blows out in an overlapping pattern. When you get to the bit, flux and take another heat, then before setting the bit weld I like to give the bit steel a light tap into the folded and welded body to make sure there are no gaps. Then I set the bit with a blow centered on the bit. Once the welds are set flux, bring back to welding temp and refine the weld by striking the joint with harder blows until you've covered the joint 100%. While you're refining the weld the axe head will get wider and longer so start towards the center before striking the edges. And if you make the pattern closer as you move towards the cutting edge it will widen more than the rest and curve the edge for you. If you want a bearded axe/hatchet GENTLY forge it on edge over the horn. This does NOT take hard blows but wants solid ones. lay the beard section on the horn and strike the top of the edge. Envision holding the axe head up by the handle, the top is up the beard curves down towards the cutting edge. With practice you can forge an axe head to finish shape on the anvil and require only a little bit of clean up with file or grinder. Profiling and sharpening the edge is likely to take a little time of course. I'd be able to describe this better if I made an axe or hatchet now and then but that's pretty close to how I make one. The big difference in my method from most folks is in making lap welds as described above. Most folk use a traditional method of closing the joint, heating to orange and fluxing, then bringing to welding heat and setting the weld. I on the other hand bring the joint almost closed and flux sometimes using a light oil to stick the flux to the surfaces. I prefer not to heat the joint prior to fluxing because the higher the temperature the faster it oxidizes which can prevent a successful weld. Interestingly enough Borax welding flux lowers iron oxide's melting so it will flow out of the joint more easily when struck with the hammer. Soooo, I apply the flux before heating so it forms a prophylactic barrier to contact with oxygen on the joint surfaces. Oxide will form because borax, even combined with boric acid melts at a high enough temperature that oxides WILL form before it's protected. On the upside the iron oxide that forms is already mixed with borax so dissolves upon formation. Rather than having to flow between joint surfaces in hard physical contact. it's as close to fool proof as I know of. Frosty The Lucky.

Okay, my memory isn't as bad as I was afraid! I was thinking we might've crossed paths on theforge.list, maybe. If the $38T actually burns as shown I don't know how much more I could do with it. I'd like to see how it worked with the proper length length mixing tube or if I should start tinkering with too long versions. Then there's the Jet's position, way too close to the throat but once again it appears to be working nicely. As you mentioned above and before new folk tinkering with NA burners have caused me to reevaluate my thoughts frequently so I won't discount a $38T that is an effective performer. I'd just like to play with one and see what. Frosty The Lucky.

Good grief! I got involved in jack hammer bit prospecting and forgot about how wonderful I think your piece is Billy! I'd be bragging if I could make space here to display it. Honestly I love it. Agreed Jennifer, prospecting for old or used tools and materials is always hit or miss but you can hunt fertile fields and hedge your bets. Frosty The Lucky.

And here's your Tuesday morning Frosty tip. A good source of worn or broken jack hammer bits is the local tool, equipment rental company. The first guy charged me $1 each and the next time I stopped by to pick up some for club members the manager gave me a bucket of them and made me take the bucket. There isn't much better salvage steel for tools you're going to hit. Frosty The Lucky.

Stay away from alloys containing more than a couple points of chrome. (A point being 1/100 of 1 percent) Simple carbon alloys weld easily IF you follow the basic forge welding rules. 1040 makes a good axe body, it is tough and can take a beating without bending. I like 1070 - 1080 for axe bits it can be hardened nicely but not so much it's unreasonably brittle. You might have to buy online though and the only one I can think of right now is "Metal Supermarket" it sells " standard" shorter lengths, or any length for a reasonable cut charge if you want one they don't keep on the shelf. Trying this with found stock is NOT a beginner project, there is more to blacksmithing than getting it hot and hitting it with a hammer. I'm not trying to discourage you and we'll help talk you through it but you're setting yourself up for failure using the alloys you've mentioned without the knowledge and experience necessary. Frosty The Lucky.

About now I'd be looking at new angle grinders. You've spent an awful lot of time on this, I could spend a lot less mowing lawns, picking up dog poop, etc. and earn enough to buy new. There's a point where things are just not worth the effort and expense. Frosty The Lucky.

Uh, Al, that's a 1.55mb file and a bandwidth hog, it's a bite even on my high speed connection. Many IFI members don't have high speed connections and pay for data. Can you reduce the file size or post a link? Frosty The Lucky.

We called stickless bottle rockets "devil chasers." One of my tent poles was a perfect rocket launcher, 7-8 fit in it easily and it was long enough to prop on your side while you lit a fuse and dropped a handful in, you had a couple seconds to point before they fired. One would fire and the rest would go in a split second. Since someone started the "Miller's Reach, forest (wild?) fire that burned some 37,000 acres and 344 homes playing with bottle rockets, shooting them other than winter someplace other than a gravel pit, large river bar or a boat on a lake is likely to have nice police officers explain your mistake as they take you to your room. What amazes me is you can still buy them at roadside fireworks stands in Houston. Yeah, in the forest. Frosty The Lucky.

I wonder if a wisteria bougainvillea, (thicket, knot, MMP(Mixed Martial Plants event)? would make nice smelling smoke when you burned it? Kidzu's easier to eliminate than bindweed, it doesn't root nearly as deeply and goats eat it. All you need to do is convince the goats you want to keep it and they'll clean it out to ground level, even pulling it to a degree. I also found a number of recipes for kudzu. Let us know which you like best please. Frosty The Lucky.

Unfortunately you only hit him once? We used to have bottle rocket fights too but they're too loud to have them going off very close. We didn't have them very many times before moving onto something else. Our bottle rocket action was more like a series of ambushes. Frosty The Lucky.

When I started monkeying with burners I only knew of you by name, I don't think we spoke directly until you joined Iforge. I just deleted a bunch of things I've learned talking to you and changes I've made to the T but I started sounding . . . Nevermind. You've spoken about that T burner's flame and I like it too. I'd like a hands on look at it to see how he did it. Frosty The Lucky.

Johnson and Masters handled do it yourself gene splicing. Frosty The Lucky.

Ever been hit with a Cumquat fired from a Wrist Rocket? even through 2 flannel shirts and a sweatshirt a green one will leave a bruise the size of my hand, say 4-5" dia. and draw blood through the skin. We outlawed Wrist Rockets for sling shot fights. Mine would put a 3/4" wrench size Nut through a car door from 75'. Ever have pellet gun fights? NO BB guns allowed, BBs go right through doubled up pants and shirts while pellets just leave welts. We had a no above the belt and pump limit. no CO2 cartridge guns either. Sheridan's rule! Frosty The Lucky.

I did a search for Simond Store burners and found them on Amazon for $74 and change. Right below them on the page was a stainless steel T burner for $38 and change. I might have to buy one, that's less than what I spend on materials and we have Amazon Prime so we don't pay shipping. It'd be as much to check how they got an apparently good looking flame the ratios aren't what they should be. Like the ones I used are the only ones out there. When I started on the T and got the first one right all I knew was what a good oxy acet torch flame looked like and tinkered till I got fuel air close. I'm the first to admit there are many times more about fuel air burners I don't know than I do and I'm a big use what works guy and their T burner looks good from here. Frosty The Lucky.

A melter is a type of furnace though probably not a wax melter but a tar pot on the roof with the roofers is fired by propane or fuel oil would be a furnace. We heat our house with an fired oil boiler, the firebox section is called the furnace. Furnaces burn things whether as the process or the end result. Frosty The Lucky.

Ditto Mike about not being able to see the flame for the light, maybe take a pic in the evening? Does the burner actually tilt up at the angle it appears to? With the type of melter you're using the crucible should be stable enough to use a smaller plinth and aim the burner under it. As it is the flame is directed in an upwards swirl and you want to keep the flame IN the melter as long as possible to transfer energy where you want it. Yes? That is my favorite type of small scale melter, I hate lifting the crucible out of a flaming pit, too much chance of tipping or dropping it while you're getting BBQed by the radiant heat. All that said if it's been working all this time (Since you could get a decent burner for $85) I call it a good effective burner. How about this for you. While you're melting and casting with your current set up how about building a burner? Just because it is home built doesn't mean a Mikey or T is a "better" burner, they're just relatively cheap and you get to add to your acquired skills list. Hmmm? I'll bet I know where you can get a hand getting them right and tuned. You have NO IDEA how hard it's going to be for me to not refer people to . . . "Mickey." Thank you for that. Frosty The Lucky.

Goodness, lighten up on yourself man! Propane burners aren't magic or some kind of super science they operate on some of the most basic principles there are, the same thing that causes a wind behind a truck to go the same direction as the truck until something changes it's direction. If your burner does what you need and want it to then it's a good burner. Looking at the picture I'd set it up a little differently I much prefer to have the 1/4 turn shut off valve at the regulator than at the burner. That way if you need to turn it off in an emergency you are standing as far away from the burning device as hose length lets you. It also depressurized the hose when it's off. I really prefer to not have any more of the fuel circuit pressurized than necessary when it's not in use. Enough of that, blather. Show us a pic or two of YOUR burner burning if you want to know what we think of it. Do you know where it was made? I have to cut this off for now it's bed time and I have a couple things to do before I can lay me down. Deb and I took a 40 mile drive out to Sheep Creek Lodge for dinner on a perfect spring day so I'm kind of pooped and will make more sense tomorrow after I've had my coffee and a nibble. Frosty The Lucky.

One of the brothers introduced Mr. Volcano on Iforge. I wonder if he's still lurking. Ever do a web search for a "Frosty T burner"? Last I did there must've been 20+ guys selling them and not a one understood how they work. Every stinking one had a too small mig tip extended into the mixing tube making really FAST burners. Not that I'm complaining I put it in the public domain on purpose so folk could make an effective burner for not much $ or shop skill. It does gripe me to see MY NAME on poorly made versions. The plans are commonly available with no strings attached the least they could do is follow them! Oh well at least I have positive confirmation you don't have to know what you're doing to make a burner that works. Maybe not top of its potential but one that'll heat steel. Careful what you wish for eh? Frosty The Lucky.

A neighbor of ours had a couple potted wisteria on their concrete patio well away from house, fence soil and kept it mercilessly trimmed. They were probably 7-8' tall and maybe 3 wide. When they were in bloom you could smell them for blocks around if the wind wasn't blowing. We had a bougainvillea in front of our place where the jet crashed across the street. When in bloom which was most of the time it was beautiful and smelled like heaven. Dad hated it with a purple passion and I didn't understand until I'd gotten big enough to turn the hose on. The hose bib was on the house where the bougainvillea was planted, dripping water made it a VERY happy thorn bush. I swear the thorns were around 2" or longer, sharper than a needle and you couldn't break one with pliers or cut them with normal hedge shears. I took diagonal side cutters and a saw with me if I had to go under there. You could make a lethal weapon from a thumb sized switch. It would've been interesting to see if it and Wisteria would fight to the death. My luck they'd cross breed and produce a rapid growing thorn bush without a scent that wouldn't blind you. Frosty The Lucky. to have escaped the bougainvillea!

When I was a kid any adult in the neighborhood who saw one of us with a bow would confiscate it immediately and worse, call our MOTHER! We used to get into dirt clod fights, especially after the "rainy" season when you could grab a hand full of grass and pull a dirt clod with the roots. You could really get some distance slinging it. Then I was watching my baby sitter, TV and an episode of "Have Gun Will Travel." Paladin had been way laid by the bandits he was tracking and left on the prairie with no water, horse, boots, guns, etc. He came too, found an old covered wagon that had been massacred by Indians. (mid 1940s TV show) He was able to find water in a barrel, found broken glass to cut canvas to make footwear and clothes. He used a piece of glass as a magnifier to start a fire. Then using a boulder for an anvil forged a piece of wagon tyre sharpened it with a rock wrapped the handle in canvass for a knife. Killed a porcupine with a rock from a canvas sling, ate porky and flour/salt/porky fat biscuits while he sewed canvas into moccasins, cloak, water bag and sack for the biscuits and a sort of hat using porky quills and threads from frayed canvas. THEN he went to town forging arrowheads and using the knife split boards, carved and scraped short heavy "arrows" fletched them with turkey(?) feathers. Then he carved another board into an atlatl and went hunting bad guys before dawn. What really stuck in my mind was how he saved himself, got the bad guys, the bounty, his horse, gear, etc. by making it with what was there. Anyway, the older kids used to be able to throw dirt clods a lot farther than us little kids so we were always getting battered when we tried to join the fun. A couple of the big kids, one especially were bullies we were fair game. A little experimenting with bamboo and I came up with a pea gravel slinging atlatl that would raise welts on bare skin at lot width distances, 100' IIRC. Better still, all the houses across the street from us had been bought and razed for an airport safety zone. A jet trainer had clipped a power line and crashed into the house across the street and one lot down from our place. So, about 3/4 of a mile between us and the Van Nuys airport got turned into a grass seed farm. How does that fit in with little Frosty's pea gravel atlatl? Every driveway on our street had pea gravel driveways and nobody would yell at us for collecting it from long gone places. That meant that little Frosty could scoop a flinger full of gravel anywhere on the street and rain pain and welts on the big kids. Even after one ambushed me and took my bamboo flinger he couldn't figure out how it worked and I made another. Bamboo stands were weeds, once rooted it took extreme measures to get rid of it so nobody cared how much we cut down. Bamboo swords were old time toys. Sorry, long kodak memory but that episode of "Have Gun Will Travel" was a huge inspiration for me to bet into blacksmithing. And YES I can salvage road side steel as boulder, fist sized rock or two, make tongs from split willow and do some pretty convincing smithing at the camp fire. And NO, split willow tongs don't last long but you usually get several pair from one willow sapling. Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, it's pretty typical of a product type becoming popular enough small manufacturers get on the wagon. Each has to market their own forge for less $ or more special features than the others. Guess where we'll see where commercial forge evolution takes us. Frosty

I wouldn't expect you to remake your anvil stand like mine, I just posted it to show an option I like. I just said this in another thread without realizing it was another thread but repetition isn't all bad. I only used the rack on the far side to hang tongs very briefly for two reasons. First if I'm using tongs they're in my hand. Second and more memorable, the rack holds tongs bits up so you have to give them time to cool down or walk around the other side to lift them by the reins. In my setup the best place to hang my ready tongs is at the forge where I need them most often and you would have to almost reach into the dragon's breath to grasp them by the bits. I have a rack on 3 sides of my little steel table next to my forge station to hold my less likely to need tongs, top tools, bottom tools and the pointy sharp tools you do NOT want to walk into. The table has a lower shelf I can let HOT things cool on as does my too large 4 burner shop forge and the garage sale steel serving cart that serves a the NARB forge's stand. I also have tong racks standing next to a wall for those I have and may need someday or maybe modify into something special. Auctions and chance find smithing tools are welcome to live in my shop. Frosty The Lucky.

Good video, I've always liked Kim Thomas, he presents himself as very likable and a good teacher. Thanks for linking us John. Not spearing myself in the leg is one reason I hang my ready hammers handle down, it lets me feel which is which without looking too. I haven't hung tongs on the far side after a couple tries, they're much more convenient hanging on the forge or table racks. Worse, After using a pair you can't easily pick them up until they cool down and the racks on the anvil stand hold them bits up. Frosty The Lucky.

Rawhide fletching? I believe historically the strings were waterproofed with lard, beeswax tends to flake off in use. Even as soft as beeswax is the shock from release shatters it. Tod has a number of videos up about crossbows including steel ones. I really like his methods of research, testing and production. https://youtu.be/wWiZpenRGx8 https://youtu.be/2IdfmaC_t-Q Frosty The Lucky.

Art. Frosty The Lucky.