Frosty

It's just part of the learning curve on Iforge, don't sweat it. Good catch Brian, thanks for bringing it up. I THINK Ben just laid the burner there rather than indicating where he thought it should go. Still you're right about burner orientation. I don't know if the one you mentioned will work well from the text description. One serious factor is NOT to aim the flame into a corner so it doesn't develop excessive back pressure and inhibit burner performance. Bummer about the cold snap, we're enjoying a run of subzero weather ourselves. It's been a few years since we got real cold and I'm getting too old for this. Frosty The Lucky.

Nice miner's candle holder Asa, well done. Frosty The Lucky.

That's a proven, sound forge design, it'll work well for you. The jet diameter in T burners is directly related to tube diameter. Sooooo, a 3/4" T requires, 0.035 J. a 1/2"T requires, 0.025"J. A 3/8"T jet is close enough to the same ratio as to make no real difference. I don't have it written down anywhere and rarely do math for folks. As short a time as we've been acquainted I feel confident you aren't special needs so I'll leave it to you. These things aren't over complicated you don't need special tools or math so don't sweat it. Lastly, there was no reason to start another thread, we could've talked about this just as easily on the one I just replied to. more easily actually. Frosty The Lucky.

It's my pleasure. You'll need to make a few decisions before you start to avoid wasting time and money. How large a forge you need/want, depends on the size and shape work you want to do. Making tools usually means you'll be working higher carbon steels so it will need good temperature control. Not precision but good control. Ah GOOD! I get back from a run to the store and Larry sets you up to meet the local organization. You'll get to meet, talk with and look at what other guys use, maybe give it a try. That's WAY better than listening to some guy half way across the planet from you. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Ben or BFancy, as you wish, glad to have you. Helping advance the addiction to playing with fire and beating steel into unnatural shapes is what we do here. Believe me, we'll be more than happy to answer your questions even if I have to make something up. Frosty The Lucky.

It's my pleasure, I hope I didn't make it more confusing than necessary. One last bit of advice do your best to resist using a firebrick for the floor, they are more harm than good. Un fortunately it's the way it was done before modern liner materials were available and many old timers will only do it "how it's always been done." On the upside it's easy to make it right once you get it home and we'll help. Enjoy the workshop and remember to pump the instructor for all it's worth. It's not often you have one on one help. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you, if you put your general location in the header you'll have a much better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. There are a couple different roll mill plans out there, someone here probably knows who to look up. Randy McDaniels name comes to mind but you can't trust my memory. We love pictures, anything you'd show a child is good. Shop, tools, projects most anything. Frosty The Lucky.

I'll be happy to see what I can do for you Shaina, we have a quiet New Years eave planned. What do you mean by "dual-function" forge? A forge melter combination or similar, maybe horizontal / vertical chamber, etc.? For very different functions they do neither very well. Or do you mean a dual access forge? Wide side door with smaller through doors lengthways through the chamber? This would be more like a Whisper Momma. The Deluxe only has the main full length door in the side. I haven't looked at the specs on the NC whisper forges recently enough to remember how many cu/in their volumes are. They're pretty much all 2 burner forges and IIRC they're comparable to 3/4" NA burners. They are GOOD burners I've been seeing them around for a couple decades and they haven't changed much if any for good reason. I assume when you say 10" x 10" x 1/4" you mean it's 10" square with 1/4" thick walls. When I was buying structural shapes I would've ordered 10" square 150lb.+/-. We're not worrying about that, but you might want to buy more someday. If you start fabricating ask for the current steel standards book at the yard. It saves sooooo much time if you speak the same jargon, saves a lot of explaining. Let's say you go with the 10x10 square. You'll want to put 1 layers of 1" ceramic refractory blanket and rigidize it. This WILL reduce the inside cross section dimensions of the chamber to 6" x 6", the length will determine the volume but with this cross section you'll want at least 2 burners or the chamber won't come to an even temp. Don't forget 1' of that square pipe is going to weigh around 150lbs. before you put hinges, legs, burner mounts, etc. etc. on it. Sorry, that's a long way around to say I wouldn't recommend the square pipe, It'd be a real BEAST to move around. If you already have it the 30lb. propane bottle will make a good forge. It'll be lighter and easier to line. Making a full length closable door will be no harder than in the square pipe. The steel is thinner so you can use a light duty wire feed, flux core or gmaw. EZ PZ. Most people build these on their side with end access. Usually one large doorway on one end and a smaller passthrough to heat long stock in the middle. As you've said the problem with this is not being able to fit anything in that won't go through the opening. A full length side doorway will make a big difference and a more useful forge. Have you looked at the Forges 101 section of Iforge? I know we lost a lot of the pictures in an upgrade some years ago but there were step by step threads with pictures and such about exactly what I'm suggesting. I have to be careful not to go off on a long ramble describing the hows and whys of things but I'd use the propane tank, it'll be faster, easier and WAY lighter. There will be issues but not bad ones. Frosty The Lucky.

"some kind innings," Chad? Every stinking time my phone updates I have to figure out how to Turn Auto correct OFF. I've managed to finally set my laptop so it only underlines words it THINKS () I got wrong in red. THAT is a good thing, I make more typos now on this small keyboard and my big old stiff sausage fingers is another reason I do NOT use my "smart" phone for anything but talking, taking pics and similar useful things. I don't text unless I have no choice. In fact I'm going to have to call my Dermatologist's office today and YELL at them about texting me a signup notice to another medical network. That actually translates to Opt in MARKETING network. I told her specifically to email the report directly to me. Yeah, I usually have to lean on the counter and discuss it in (pretend) suppressed fury and explain what's wrong with selling my personal information to marketers. It's amazing how effective it is when you do that in an office full of people who HATE being spammed. Sure you can select the "do not" contact me button but that's ONLY effective with companies subject to USA laws. Pakistan, India, etc. will dump persistent full screen ads on you that you can't close without following the windows. A police whistle is a good way to respond to telephone solicitors though. Sorry to vent, it's an old gripe of mine that almost never happens on IFI. Frosty The Lucky.

You're welcome Jason, it's normal for beginners to want their gear "perfect". Unfortunately it's rarely necessary and all too often does more damage than good. I did forget to mention one other major no no, do NOT grind the top of the anvil! You will be removing decades of useable life before it's smooth and flat. Hammering the dings out does two good things. Dings are literally impact craters, all the material in the depression was displaced in a raised rim around it, just like a meteor crater. If you grind the rim off AND to the bottom of the dent you remove all that steel from the entire face, permanently. Hammering the rims down drives the displaced steel back into the depression and seeing as you're doing it to the entire face all that steel is returned to level if not it's exact starting point. The second benefit to hammering the dings out is it work hardens the face. It won't make it brittle unless you strike the edges but you rarely get this kind of ding on an edge. You CAN however drive mushroomed edges back into the face if you do it BEFORE they're truly mushroomed. Don't use the step as a cutting plate, that isn't what they were for. They are excellent places to upset into. Address the anvil with the HOT steel along the horn and fetched up against the step then drive the stock into the step from the end. If the stock starts bending, (normal) just lift it onto the face and GENTLY bump it straight, reheat and return to upsetting. Holding the stock along the horn gives you an excellent visual line to let you know just as soon as the stock begins to bend so you can correct it immediately rather than AFTER it's so screwed up you have to draw it back to original dimensions and start over. The same visual line makes it much easier to swing the hammer in the same line which helps prevent bending in the first place. Isolating the heat in the stock being upset really helps too. If all you want upset is the end 3/4" cool the rest of the bar so only the HOT section moves. Wrought iron or mild steel can be cooled with a water can or wet shop rag. Be warned using a wet rag invites SCALDING your hand. I use a pair of tiny tongs that aren't much good for anything else for rag chilling. If it is a short piece of stock you can use the slack tub leaving ONLY the section to be upset above the water. USE TONGS! You do NOT want wet hands/gloves or you WILL grab a piece of HOT steel and need a ride to the emergency room. Frosty The Lucky.

Happy New Year Alex. I don't think you'll ever be finished, do you? Are the vine and birds on the candelabra finished, is it stainless steel? The gate is hard to see on my screen but what I can see is as masterful as I've come to expect. I think until we can meet in real time I'll lift a glass to you and yours tonight. Oh yes saving the back is a worthy cause. I don't remember who said it but it was as true in the day I was drilling as it is now. Take care of your back and feet, everything you do depends on them. That is why I bought a cabin tent, queen sized air mattress and several sleeping bags. That way I wasn't crawling into a tube tent and squirming into a mummy bag on a foam pad. I slept on a thick bag on the air mattress inside a partly closed bag with two more I could pull over my if I got cold. In the morning I could stand up and get dressed instead of trying to get dressed in damp clothes inside a mummy bag. I'd wake up open my cover a bit, light my Coleman lantern and lean my boots up with the soles towards the lantern. In about 10 minutes the bitter cold was off the tent and I could stand up in the top bag and get dressed in my freeze dried clothes. I also paid a BUNCH for a pair of White's Logger Smokejumper boots. Whites were maybe still are custom fitted to your feet and cost a bunch but your feet don't hurt, you don't turn ankles, get blisters, etc. There's a trick to breaking them in though, get them wet and walk them dry. One and done. Feet and back, nothing else works without them. Frosty The Lucky.

Subfreezing is easy, especially standing next to a forge. I'm not sure what to call the "not a camp axe" it looks sort of like a bearded war hammer. The spike would encourage enemy helms to leak. I used to use lanolin to finish my Doffers and it's lasted quite a while on Deb's. Deb got a small jar from one of the spinners in trade for something. I don't recall what she used it for though. Handling raw wool is the best hand lotion ever. About all that sorting you have to do. I thought the magnetic pickup tool was supposed to save you work? Frosty The Lucky.

NO TORCHES !! You'll draw the temper to normalized long before red. Of course it was hardened and tempered when made or it would look like a cattle trail. If a file skated it would have been heat treated improperly to begin with and believe me would NOT have hammer marks. Chipped edges? Oh Yes. Vulcans were never top tier anvils but they were perfectly serviceable. The face plate is thinner than most, say Fisher. Both Fisher and Vulcan were made in a very similar way. The face plates and horns were placed in the mold and heated to near high temperature then the iron poured. The molten iron contacting the high carbon faceplate and horn welded together. After a specific length of time as per weight they were broken out of the mold and the face quenched. The face plate was cleaned up with a sandstone and the residual heat from the body tempered the face. When the face showed the desired temper colors the anvil was chilled in water to stop the tempering process. From there it went to the grinders. Never, NEVER, NEVER use a torch on an anvil unless you wish to ruin it. Frosty The Lucky.

Does the shop carry raw wool, John? Frosty The Lucky.

Somebody made the epoxy+epoxy mistake on FIF every once in a while, maybe every other month. John has a recipe for ATF + acetone that is an effective rust preventative. I don't trust my memory to offer the %. I won't poke fun at anybody who thinks SUB FREEZING is particularly harsh. 80f feels like a broiler to me, heck I start sweating around 55f. Humidity is the killer, HOT or COLD, humidity makes it cut to the bone. Frosty The Lucky.

The resin would've set and cured it would just take a while. Maybe a couple years though probably not that long. Still a little hardener is quicker. Did she roll her eyes too or just snicker? I get the eye roll and for the doozies I get the lowered slow head shake and sigh. The bale should be a staple with two peined tenons. It's easier and a lot more solid. If the latch has a slight outwards curve from the tip to the angle it is easy to start and tightens the door a bit. All in all it's a nice practical door latch, utilitarian and not fancy. Exactly what a blacksmith would make to use him'er/self. Frosty The Lucky.

Sounds like a good day to me. Nice brooch David, I like it. Frosty The Lucky.

What do you think of it? I'd be tempted to try it on a hardened knife or maybe try sharpening a drill bit. Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Larry! His "steel glue" flux recipe is there alright. Blue, be sure to take the warnings about flourspar and flourine gas seriously, it is deadly nasty stuff. BOY did I spell Jim's name wrong! Frosty The Lucky.

You've always been a pretty reckless risk taker kind of guy John, I gave up on you long ago. Frosty The Lucky.

Modern spring steel has chrome in it which makes a stone bear to weld to itself you need a flux that can dissolve chromium oxide. Jim Hiroslus (Please forgive me if I misspelled your name Jim) posted a recipe for his flux for welding chrome steel including stainless, etc. I'm sure it's here in the Iforge archives somewhere, hopefully somebody out there is better at finding stuff than I am. Anyway, you need the right flux to weld spring steel and be aware it is TOXIC stuff wear PPE! Frosty The Lucky.

My real point was as always, keep it as simple as possible. The fewer things you have to figure out the better. Every thing you have to adjust complicates it exponentially. Because you can't tell exactly what did what. 1 change X happened. Change it again and watch X. EZ PZ. However if you change 2 things and X happens you don't know which thing changed X so you have to test 4 times to find out. 1change = 1 test. 2 changes = 4 tests. 10 changes is NOT 100 tests it is 10 to the 10th power or 10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10 tests to determine which of the 10 changes did X. BEFORE you can make the adjustment you need to. Of course luck MIGHT strike on the first try. It IS the universal wild card. It makes no difference how big a machine is, complexity is the issue. You have an oil fired furnace called a melter. It is no different in operation than any oil fired furnace. Right now you are trying to get it to operate properly on a tank of waste oil that's going to be used up BEFORE you get it burning properly. What's the next batch of oil going to be like? If on the other hand you buy 20 gals of #1 fuel oil you'll figure out how to work your burner quickly simply because the oil flows easily, lights easily and is available anywhere. Once you know how the burner and furnace work, what adjustment changes what thing. The next new fuel you learn to burn will be MUCH easier because you'll know what adjustment changes what. Time is money, saving a few bucks on waste oil isn't, if you have to spend 20 times as long making it work. We only have so much time and we don't know when it's up. Frosty The Lucky.

I'm lucky I remember you having a drill press, thanks to my Great White . . . birch attack issues. Got the dent and scars to remind me. Most of all I have Grant Sarver to thank for the Great White "flame" thread and all the jokes and fun poked at me and the healing it did for me. I'll never forget the gift, thank you Grant, I'll see you on the other side. Absent companions! Frosty The Lucky.

No idea but it could be the retailer's mark or perhaps a mason's union or guild. I could be a personal mark of the owner to help keep it from growing legs. Frosty The Lucky.

Usually dusting with chalk powder or flour and lightly wiping is good enough to make marks stand out but spakle works and I doubt will be hard to remove. If it were a top tool, say fuller or top cut it would not have the weight stamp. Soooo, it's a hammer. The pein is a useful radius so that's a good maybe. However the other face is an odd shape and not so useful for flattening after the pein forged creases so that puts a - on the fuller ledger. At this point I'd say there's a more than equal chance it's a mason's hammer, used to trim, shape and flatten brick and maybe even stone though it's pretty light for stone work. The word with "cast" looks like it could say Warranted. Peter Wright anvils were marked, "Warranted wrought iron" and the company did a lot more than make anvils. I used to have a Peter Wright hammer before it was rehomed by an EX ass ociate. So in short. It looks like a mason's dressing hammer, maybe made by Peter Wright. That's just my opinion I could be wrong. I have a stone mason's sledge I use CAREFULLY as a 22lb straight pein at the anvil and it works a treat. Frosty The Lucky.