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CLINTON
Thats a nice shop
Is that a brian Brazeal style anvil and a TOM Clark anvil i see in the background ?

Mike Tanner



Yes Mike there is a Brian Brazeal style anvil that I built as well as one that Brian built that is a blacksmiths helper and anvil, and the Tom Clark Ozark patern
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Phil,

CCTV,are you trying to send Deb over the edge?!! What good would it be to stand in the house and watch Frosty and not be able to do anything about it?

May I respectfully suggest either a shock collar and/or carefully placed cans of pepper spray to be triggered from the house in conjunction with the CCTV.

Unfortunately it may be cost prohibitive to electrify the floor and send him to work with his bearfeet soaking. :)

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Phil,

CCTV,are you trying to send Deb over the edge?!! What good would it be to stand in the house and watch Frosty and not be able to do anything about it?

May I respectfully suggest either a shock collar and/or carefully placed cans of pepper spray to be triggered from the house in conjunction with the CCTV.

Unfortunately it may be cost prohibitive to electrify the floor and send him to work with his bearfeet soaking. :)


You guys are just having TOO much fun! not only would CCTV drive Deb nuts, she'd pass her concerns on to me in a most harsh and persistent manner! Electrify the floor? Pepper spray? WELL I NEVER! Hmmmm, okay on the pepper spray, you guys are invited to the BBQ, pepper steak specials for YOU!

You guys are just too mean to speak to. . . Oh wait, darnIT all! If I don't talk to you guys who am I gonna talk to? :unsure: Oh well. <sigh>


Frosty the Lucky.
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Here's my shop in its current incarnation. Part of it outside and part of it inside. I'm using a RR rail anvil at the moment but a better one will be here end of the week or so. I'll post picks of it when I get it on a stump.


Under cover and everything? You got plush digs Bryan! I worked under a plastic tarp for a few years but it was still just fine so long as the snow and rain weren't falling directly on me.

How big is your smithy? It looks snug but clear and roomy enough to work in. there are advantages to a limited space, it not only keeps everything handy (too handy or footy sometimes) it helps a person to learn how to organize not only the tools and equipment but the work stages.


Frosty the Lucky.
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Frosty, Meanness has nothing to do with it. I think we all want to have Deb sane and you to hang around a while longer.
Phil


Uh huh, S-U-R-E Phil, just one shock through my bear feet will have me hanging around (from a PURLIN! :o ) a while longer than I'd choose.

Oh you guys are just big old sweethearts alright. Remind me to give you a hug when we meet up will ya? :mellow:

Frosty the Lucky.
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Under cover and everything? You got plush digs Bryan! I worked under a plastic tarp for a few years but it was still just fine so long as the snow and rain weren't falling directly on me.

How big is your smithy? It looks snug but clear and roomy enough to work in. there are advantages to a limited space, it not only keeps everything handy (too handy or footy sometimes) it helps a person to learn how to organize not only the tools and equipment but the work stages.


Frosty the Lucky.


The shed itself is a 12'x16' and the tarp is a 20'x20' with a peaked roof. I picked it up at Sam's here in Fairbanks for about $260ish??? or there abouts. I keep a couple of cords of wood under it, park a car there and also keep a corner for forging and hammering. In the shed I keep my belt sander, post vice, stock, coal and my hand tools ect. Eventually I'm going to move everything into the shed.

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The shed itself is a 12'x16' and the tarp is a 20'x20' with a peaked roof. I picked it up at Sam's here in Fairbanks for about $260ish??? or there abouts. I keep a couple of cords of wood under it, park a car there and also keep a corner for forging and hammering. In the shed I keep my belt sander, post vice, stock, coal and my hand tools ect. Eventually I'm going to move everything into the shed.


That's a plenty workable size Bryan not to mention keeping the firewood clear so you don't have to shovel it off. Sounds like a win win to me.

Frosty the Lucky
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Here's some shots of my shop taken in the middle of a couple projects, yeah kinda messy and cluttered, but it works for me, some shaping tools,a layout bench, some tongs, another work bench with drill press and stock piled nearby, and a welding bench, just set up, not complete yet. The gas forge has a cylinder in it for the process of making a bell for a garden.

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Here's some shots of my shop taken in the middle of a couple projects, yeah kinda messy and cluttered, but it works for me, some shaping tools,a layout bench, some tongs, another work bench with drill press and stock piled nearby, and a welding bench, just set up, not complete yet. The gas forge has a cylinder in it for the process of making a bell for a garden.


Messy and cluttered Mike? Looks good to me and I'll cite pic 4 as evidence you're actually a Tidy Cat! :blink:
Frosty the Lucky
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I have relocated my setup from a portable setup stowed away in the shed where I park my work ute in to another shed on our property where I now have a permanent setup. The shed, which has a roller door at the front, was used for firewood, bicycles and general storage, the firewood is now in the disused chook house, the bikes are where my old setup used to be stored and I walled off a section at the back of the shed for storage. The store room wall and new work bench both were made from scrounged materials or timber etc I had on hand. The quenching tub is a stainless steel laundry tub, $10 from the local tip and I have added a tap underneath for easy emptying. The anvil is my new 450lb Peter Wright and the forge I finished just today. The anvil bench is all new materials into which I have mounted the firepot and workings from my old forge, the hood is an old "Burning Log" brand fireplace ($80) coupled to 3 metres of 9" stainless steel flue from the tip ($35)-great place the local tip! ;) I use coke in the forge and it worked well today during testing with no smoke entering the shop. Outside the shed is a covered area with concrete floor which extends the usable space.

Ian

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Looking good Ian and NO I don't mean the bloke in pic 3! :P

Seriously it looks like it'll be a good workspace and being dog friendly bumps it up a notch in my opinion. dogs are good. I like your smoke hood art too, it brings cool images to mind.

Well done Mate!

Frosty the Lucky.

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Thanks Frosty, I can only take credit for copying the hood art, the idea came from Lorelei Sims' book the Backyard Blacksmith, it makes an otherwise utilitarian object look more interesting.

Cheers

Ian

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Thanks Frosty, I can only take credit for copying the hood art, the idea came from Lorelei Sims' book the Backyard Blacksmith, it makes an otherwise utilitarian object look more interesting.

Cheers

Ian


I was gonna say someone read backyard blacksmith hehehe Excellent book btw. I'm actually about 75% through it. I've actually done a fair amount of smithing but it's nice to go back and fill in any gaps of knowledge I have. She really is something.
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This is my seventh shop in thirty-seven years of forging. It’s not my smallest or my largest, but it works well. The floor plan has changed with the addition of some more equipment and getting rid of other pieces. Seems like there’s never enough room, but with my focus on using the Nazel 1B power hammer and the 60 ton hydraulic forging press I have plenty of space to create whatever I want. Besides using my coal forge I have been experimenting with different designs of gas forges. It looks like several are required to achieve the type of heat and size depending on what’s being made. More pictures are on my website www.drgnfly4g.com .

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Thanks Frosty, I can only take credit for copying the hood art, the idea came from Lorelei Sims' book the Backyard Blacksmith, it makes an otherwise utilitarian object look more interesting.

Cheers

Ian


Oh no,no,no, that isn't "copying"! It's adapting. Not a thing wrong with adapting another's idea to something for yourself. . . Well, not usually. I don't think Lorelei's gonna come kick your Butt for drawing a face on the forge hood! Oh WAIT! (A rare moment of sanity :unsure: strikes Frosty) If she DOES come kick your butt you'd better post pics or I'm going to gather a few of the IFI gang and we're ALL coming down and kick your butt!

Frosty the Lucky.
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This is my seventh shop in thirty-seven years of forging. It’s not my smallest or my largest, but it works well. The floor plan has changed with the addition of some more equipment and getting rid of other pieces. Seems like there’s never enough room, but with my focus on using the Nazel 1B power hammer and the 60 ton hydraulic forging press I have plenty of space to create whatever I want. Besides using my coal forge I have been experimenting with different designs of gas forges. It looks like several are required to achieve the type of heat and size depending on what’s being made. More pictures are on my website www.drgnfly4g.com .


You have a nice looking set up Randy. I must say I'm now suffering power hammer envy though. :huh: so, what gas forge designs are you thinking about? If you'd like I'll shoot you some drawings of my Variable Volume forge.

Frosty the Lucky.
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Frosty, I've got 4 different gas forges. An old Mankel, or so I've been told, a small forge with adjustable clam shell, a Jymm Hoffman that I built this year and a Steve Gensheimer burner in a freon tank. The last two I can forge weld in. I'd love to see your Variable Volume forge.

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Here you go Randy. I just hope I don't overload the file limit.

The two cad drawings show the basic unit including how the telescoping tong racks/ helpers are mounted. If you have Google Sketchup loaded I'll be happy to send you the drawing file so you can look closely, change things, check the dimensions, etc. Sketchup is a free download from Google and pretty darned easy to learn, especially as they have good tutorials available. I not only stopped using AutoCad after trying Sketchup, I removed ACAD from my comp.

The photos show it as built though the one where it's burning is before it was finished. The green pic shows the tong rack and scissor jack specifically. The scissor jack lifts and lowers the lid to facilitate changing the interior sidewalls to suit. The tong rack can be turned over so the cross bar is at the same level as the forge floor for a helper to support longer stock. With the cross bar in the low position it'll hold another 5-6 pairs of tongs without crowding.

Both sides of the forge have tong rack/ helpers I've discovered some pieces I've made want to be handled either left or right handed so I built the forge to accomodate them.

I have yet to use it with the outer side walls removed but I could put a pretty large piece of sheet in it, heck a goodly part of a car hood even. Being able to lift or lower the lid can be darned handy for oddly shaped pieces.

As shown there are four of my design "T" burners with 3/4" tubes. Each one is positioned to heat about 350 cu/in of volume and they're individually valved so I can heat a small volume of the whole shootin match as well as odd shapes. The sidewalls are soft fire brick liberally coated with ITC-100.

If I need to lift the lid another 4 1/2", another brick width, for a 1,500 cu/in LARGE forge, it'll need the 1" burners but I've heated double volume forges with my 1" "T" burners before, the thing you have to really watch out for is melting whatever's heating.
Frosty the Lucky.

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Frosty, thanks for sharing your design on the forge. I like the concept and using the scissors jack. Clever. I am a draftsman by trade and use AutoCad LT, but I like what you were able to do with Sketchup. I'll have to look into it. I have a few questions on the forge. What is the table size? What keeps the top bricks in place? What keeps the burners in place? Why use the soft brick compared to the hard bricks and are you using them every where? Can you forge weld in it? I have so much to learn about gas forges. ;-)

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If this works, here's some pics of my shed, The shed, benches and forge were built out of stuff that I found in skips. I paid £50 for the anvil and the vice and tools were left over from when I was full time. The top of the bench with the vice is 1 1/2'' of oak and 1/4'' thick plate and the legs are concreted 18'' into the ground.

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Frosty, thanks for sharing your design on the forge. I like the concept and using the scissors jack. Clever. I am a draftsman by trade and use AutoCad LT, but I like what you were able to do with Sketchup. I'll have to look into it. I have a few questions on the forge. What is the table size? What keeps the top bricks in place? What keeps the burners in place? Why use the soft brick compared to the hard bricks and are you using them every where? Can you forge weld in it? I have so much to learn about gas forges. ;-)


Thanks Randy. There really isn't any benefit to using the scissor jack over a trailer jack like Ralph does, I just had a couple.

I was a professional draftsman for a few years some time back too. At Father's urging I took six semesters of drafting in school. I didn't dislike Autocad particularly except the price and some (it seemed deliberately) nonintuitive commands and such. I was still using it years after I changed jobs but Sketchup ended that phase of my drawing life. Dimensioning the drawing is pretty automatic or pick and click. Sketchup's 3D rendering makes Autocad's look like a complicated form of tortured anguish! :o

As it stands my forge is 18" square inside the outside sidewalls say around 22" sq overall. I stopped using the soft brick in the lid as thermal shock just broke them up. Right now I have Kaowool folded into pleats and held in place by long 1/4" dia steel skewers. When I had bricks in the lid they were held by the frame which can be tightened with a couple bolts like a clamp. That's the old system though now. When I decided to use Kaowool in the lid I made a 14ga sheet steel lid cover so the burners would have something to rest on.

I made large 14 ga. steel washers I welded to the couplers I use instead of a flare on my burners, so they just stand on the lid over their holes. The copper tubing I use for the gas supply steadies them. Each burner is centered over a 350 cu/in space in the chamber.

It welds easily without cranking the primary (propane) psi very high, say over about 10psi. Their normal operating range is between about 5-6psi up to around 20psi. though they'll burn just fine at over 35psi. it's just never been necessary. Heck, desirable, at 20psi they'll melt whatever's in the forge if you don't keep your eye on things.

I use ITC-100 coated soft firebrick for the sidewalls because they insulate and are more efficient. Heavy firebrick, while a lot more durable requires more time and fuel to bring to temp. The greater thermal mass (specific heat for you picky guys ;)) means less time is necessary to heat stock after the brick comes to temp.

The floor is ITC-100 coated split hard firebrick laid over about 2" of 2,300f insulating castable refractory. At some time I'm going to make a sidewall form so I can ram high phosphate rammable refractory and back it with the 2,300 insulating castable for durable and efficient sidewalls. I think I'll wait till the bricks I'm using now are all dead though. B)

Let me know if you have more questions.
Frosty the Lucky.
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