jcornell

I've recently acquired about 30" of railroad track which I intent to stand on end and use as my second anvil. Any suggestions as to how I should fabricate a stand for this?

Realistically, probably up to 1", but I normally play around with 1/2" without too much fuss. My gasser has a door in the back, so I can do a fairly long piece.

A dear friend of mine from college is a Franciscan priest. He's looking to commission a stand for a processional cross. As I understand these things, the cross is basically a long dowel with a cross on the end, so the stand has to be something like a flag pole stand - a stable base and a tube (of some sort) to put the dowel end of the cross at the end of the procession. Any notion where I could look at examples? Any helpful suggestions?

Check out Larry Zoeller's very good site: http://www.zoellerforge.com/simplegasforge.html and http://www.zoellerforge.com/firebrickforge2.html My gas forge resembles the firebrick forge, except that I've not used the steel frame on the outside, relying on the mortar to hold everything together.

My forge is more or less like this forge: http://zoellerforge.com/firebrickforge.html I have a one z-burner as my heat source and yes, I can get welding temperature. I have half of a hard firebrick sitting on the floor of my forge, taking the punishment from the burner and catching borax. J

I have picked up some free steel. It has the following composition: C < or = 0.03 S < or = 0.0005 P < or = 0.005 Si < or = 0.10 Mn < or = 0.10 Cr < or = 0.50 Ni = 18-20 Mo = 4-5 Cu < or = 0.30 Sn < or = 0.005 Al = 0.05-0 B < or = 0.003 Co = 8-13 Ti = 0.5-2.0 Ca = 0.005 Zr < or = 0.02 In its first life it was used as a fencing foil (those funny little swords with the rubber button on the end).

As it's cold, very cold outside, so I'm not doing much forging (my smithy is under a maple tree in my back yard), but that doesn't stop me from thinking about things. I've not yet done forge welding with my little propane forge. I'm wondering if I can it get hot enough. I'm using a z-burner from Zoeller forge and the forge is built from insulating (soft) firebrick. What ceramic cone best corresponds to forge welding temperature if I'm trying to weld A-36 steel? Thanks in advance, J

Assuming that you use some sort of ceramic fiber for insulation, covered by Plistix or ITC100, you'll have a very serviceable forge, but the firebrick will protect the bottom (a) from physical trauma (ceramic fiber is not all that tough) and ( if you intend to do any forge welding, the borax eats through the ceramic fiber with gusto, which means that you'll need to do some repairs. My propane forge is made from soft firebrick (the insulating type) and has a thin super-duty firebrick (the hard type) on the floor, which takes the beating from the direct blast from the burner. Lots of fun!

Neophyte question here. I'm on tank #2 for my home-built propane forge. I'm using the usual 20# tank (thank you, Propane Taxi) which goes along swimmingly, until the gas pressure drops from whatever I've been using to about 5 psi - where the flame is weak and sputtery. At this point, how long will it burn before it's totally out of gas? Forge welding is out of the question at this point, as is any serious heating of metal greater than 1/4 inch in diameter.

Mr Gilbert posted a design for a "vertical vise" on the ABANA page - I think it was from 2003.VerticalVise.pdf

I'm building a forge with my son (who will turn 17 this next week) using insulated firebrick. The design is similar to one found on Larry Zoeller's excellent website. I'm using a refractory mortar called Heat Stop II - anyone have any experience with this one? It seems that I need to soak the bricks before mortaring them together. How long does this stuff cure?

The issue is the density of the Inswool, not the temperature rating - if you're using two inches of 8 pound wool, the insulating value should be pretty much the same.

It might better be capisso frigus finis - grasp the cold end.

My favorite mechanic has given me permission to scrounge metal from his recycle bin - anything there is free, I just have to take it away before his usual recycle man shows up. So, I've got this very meaty tie bar and I'm wondering - what have you learned smiths made out of such an item?

Unvil When people ask - you could say it's an Un-anvil, or a Universal Anvil, or Unique Anvil, etc.

It would certainly help, but no, ITC-100 is not a proper 100% defense against borax flux. If you search on the web, you'll find a page where one of our fellow iron-bangers made a crucible out of kaowool and then painted it with ITC-100. The ITC-100 held against the flux for a while, but eventually the flux prevailed.

I've always thought that some questions are too dangerous to ask, including asking my insurance company what would happen if I had a gas forge in my backyard. My insurance doesn't go up with a gas bbq, so it shouldn't with a forge, right? I've never stored the LP bottles under my roof - they've always lived outside. Any comments on what running a gas forge does to your insurance? (I'm not running a business - it's a hobby.) J (Gaithersburg, MD)

Mainly 1/4" and 3/8" round and square stock while building up my skills.

Beginning smith here - I've had two sets of classes - got the bug. I have an anvil that I'm rehabilitating, a hammer, and I'm building a gas forge. In my last class we started making tongs, but I ran out of time. How do you build tongs without having tongs to hold the metal? My first thought is to go to Harbor Freight Tools and buy vise-grip knock-offs and use them until the spring goes slack. Surely there's an answer other than "go to Blacksmith Depot and buy some." BTW, who has decent tongs for sale at less than $30 a pop? Suburban Maryland - zipcode 20878

USAF Blytheville AFB, AR, 1984-1988 - JAG, 97th CSG and then Area Defense Counsel. (How can the military work without abbreviations and acronyms?)

Thanks for the reply. When I was in class last weekend, I had Al (Albin Drzewianowski) look at my anvil - he showed me where the top plate ended, what type of sanding disk I should use, etc. I want to make the horn smooth (it's pebbly right now) and clean up the face (top?) of the anvil - there's a saddle depression in one spot that I most likely will not be able to do anything about.

Hello - another newbie here. My son (16) and I have been taking some classes in blacksmithing - it's a marvelous craft, but as of yet we don't have our own forge (I'm saving up for a Chile Tabasco) or forge time anywhere close to our area. A client gave me an old anvil which I'm going to be grinding down over the next few weekends (very weathered, but deemed sound by one of my instructors, especially for the price - which was free). Classes were at Sandy Spring Museum (intro) and Carroll County Farm Museum (intermediate).