Finally got hammering

[bipolarskizo]

After months of lurking, i finally got off my butt and started beating some hot metal. I can't call it smithing yet, but in another week or so i should be able to hit it square and not have it fall on my foot.

I started out taking a saunter along the tracks looking for some poor lost spikes. Only made it a third of a mile or so before i had to turn back due to the 35lb of iron i adopted. Poor things, being abandoned by the rail company

I got back and built a box out of firebricks from an uncle's old pottery kiln, piled it full of charcoal, and plugged in the shop vac.



I see now why everyone says to use lump charcoal. I don't know what they put in this cr*p, but after every heat, i spent 10 seconds scraping off slag. not scale, slag. It cooled off and glued my firebricks together, and i broke a couple trying to chip it off. Any idea what this stuff might be?

I gave up on finishing my spike knife for today. It's on hold until i can get/make some decent charcoal and forge myself some tongs with reigns a bit longer than the 6" channel lock pliers i used. Just because i can't feel my fingers doesn't mean i should abuse them more than I already do.

[MattBower]

What's in briquettes? Sawdust, coal, starch binders, stuff like that. Just what a growing boy needs.

I dig your ground forge. You're just goin' for it!

[Bentiron1946]

We all started some where and your start is as good as any. What are you doing for an anvil? :huh:

[Francis Trez Cole]

use what you can afford an invest in the future

[pkrankow]

You forgot about the limestone and/or gypsum and coal dust in them briquettes too!

I was going to suggest GFS
http://www.gfs.com/en/about-us/service-areas.page?
but Vermont is not in the service area. I am sure there is another restaurant supply chain in your area.

Check your local big box(es) for lump charcoal. I get cowboy and frontier brands here. (Lowes, Meijer, etc...) If there is a store that deals in high end barbeque's near you they will have lump on hand year round.


Good job on getting it done! Felt good didn't it?

Phil

[dagr8tim]

Sounds like you had a good day and need to build a small wagon for your sojourn.

[bipolarskizo]

@ Bentiron: I'm using a mongo trailer hitch standing on it's end. polished it up a little. I'm hitting with a 3lb drilling hammer, and i'm liking the weight so far.

@ Phil: I'm thinking i might as well spend my next day off cobbing together a charcoal retort (grammar?) and making my own. I work as an arborist and have access to more hardwood chips than I could ever use. But i do have a Lowes nearby in case i can't scrounge the metal drums...

[Marksnagel]

Great to see you are off and running! Good luck.

Not to damper your spirits, but,,,, the rr spikes were not abandoned as we would like to believe. They are still on RR property and some places and RR's take a very, very dim view of you (us)removing their spikes. That is how I aquired mine (ssssshhhh) but I have been told that some people have been confronted by the RR police or their equivalent. There is a fine.

But really glad you are started. Remember, it's an addiction. But a great one.

Mark<><

[evfreek]

What's in briquettes? Sawdust, coal, starch binders, stuff like that. Just what a growing boy needs.
...

Someone told me that you can put lump charcoal ashes in a compost heap, but not ashes from a charcoal briquette fire. According to that source, they are as bad as coal ashes. How much bad stuff is in them? The lump charcoal (real wood) works great. Can't comment on the 100% hardwood briquettes, but if they are 100%, they should be better than regular briquettes.

[bipolarskizo]

Great to see you are off and running! Good luck.

Not to damper your spirits, but,,,, the rr spikes were not abandoned as we would like to believe. They are still on RR property and some places and RR's take a very, very dim view of you (us)removing their spikes. That is how I aquired mine (ssssshhhh) but I have been told that some people have been confronted by the RR police or their equivalent. There is a fine.

But really glad you are started. Remember, it's an addiction. But a great one.

Mark<><

My apologies, i was being facetious. The rail barons around here are rabid about keeping anyone from taking anything from the tracks' right of way, but never seem to get around to picking up any of it. They replaced a lot of rail by my place a couple years ago, and left a lot of the old spikes on the edge of the gravel. waste not want not.

[Marksnagel]

We're all just a bunch of rebels at heart. Dodge the rail dic's and forge ahead!

[lordcaradoc]

I gave up on finishing my spike knife for today. It's on hold until i can get/make some decent charcoal and forge myself some tongs with reigns a bit longer than the 6" channel lock pliers i used. Just because i can't feel my fingers doesn't mean i should abuse them more than I already do.

Great job forging ahead.

Here is a cheap upgrade for your tongs: Looooon Locking Plyers

These were posted on another blacksmithing forum site I frequent and I will be buying at least one pair this weekend.

Best regards,
Tim

[pkrankow]

Great job forging ahead.

Here is a cheap upgrade for your tongs: Looooon Locking Plyers

These were posted on another blacksmithing forum site I frequent and I will be buying at least one pair this weekend.

Best regards,
Tim

I got a pair of those. They are OK, not great. Properly fitted tongs hold more securely, with or without tong clips. I use them as pickup tongs, pulling weeds (more like small trees), and odd jobs that the reach is important. I find they work best with thin, wide stock and sheet metal. For $9 they are hard to beat for versatility, but don't expect them to be great all purpose tongs.

Phil

[ThomasPowers]

Note: if you re-stack your forge so it's about 1/2 as wide and has the same charcoal piled deeper it will work better. All that charcoal to the sides of your working area is just wasting fuel and throwing heat on you. Charcoal forges are often "trench" shaped to make best use of the fuel.

When I need to make my own charcoal as I go along I like to have a separate fire to keep the heat and smoke away from *me* and then just rake coals onto a shovel and dump them in the forge as I need them.

You have already noticed that a vacuum puts out way more air than you need and have probably figured a way to cut it down a *lot*. Even blowing a 3' long trench forge my shop vac was set up to waste most of the air by having the end about 6" away from the tue pipe and then adjusting it so they were *NOT* aligned for fine control.

In general I do not advise folks to admit to crimes on the net or suggest that others do likewise; however those "J" shaped steel rail clips are *MUCH* better steel than RR spikes and are actually a fair grade to make knives from where RR spikes are a poor grade for that purpose. Sure are hard under the hammer too!

[bipolarskizo]

Note: if you re-stack your forge so it's about 1/2 as wide and has the same charcoal piled deeper it will work better. All that charcoal to the sides of your working area is just wasting fuel and throwing heat on you. Charcoal forges are often "trench" shaped to make best use of the fuel.

When I need to make my own charcoal as I go along I like to have a separate fire to keep the heat and smoke away from *me* and then just rake coals onto a shovel and dump them in the forge as I need them.

You have already noticed that a vacuum puts out way more air than you need and have probably figured a way to cut it down a *lot*. Even blowing a 3' long trench forge my shop vac was set up to waste most of the air by having the end about 6" away from the tue pipe and then adjusting it so they were *NOT* aligned for fine control.

In general I do not advise folks to admit to crimes on the net or suggest that others do likewise; however those "J" shaped steel rail clips are *MUCH* better steel than RR spikes and are actually a fair grade to make knives from where RR spikes are a poor grade for that purpose. Sure are hard under the hammer too!

I had the hose about 3 feet back and blowing through a crack. got it to a bright yellow heat and throwing sparks in about 7 minutes or so.

Version 2 is going to be a hole in a big dirt pile. pipe rammed up from the bottom for the tueyer and vented from the top for smoke control. I'm so excited for this weekend.

On the topic of the track clips... I didn't pick one up that was thrown into the ditch out of curiosity. Not at all.

[jimmy seale]

just chunk up some dried wood. i use mesquite and just add in a few pieces as needed.but i still prefer coal but that is scarce in west texas, have fun, jimmy

[edge9001]

While the RR spike debate continues, I've seen sevreal times on this site where on smith or aother will say something like, bring a metzal to heat and water quench it. strike it, if it breaks it will make a good blade. I made a RR spike knife from a HC. when I got dont with the blade, I quenched it in water, and then otice a slight bow to the blade. not thinking i tried to tap it out. it broke the blade. yea another on broke. but i have plenty more.

spike knives are fun to make, and can be a great source of free of cheap materials. just atch out for the RR nazis.

In my town they are so nice as to pile the use and bent ones up near the tracks for me...I wanna believe it is for me. lol.

good job with the forge, just keep the fires hot and the hammer swinging!

[ThomasPowers]

I'm one of the folks who will mention that car/truck coil springs have usually double the carbon content of an HC RR spike and are also cheap---usually free and easy to find. As most of the time and effort in knifemaking is in the finishing and you have to do pretty much the same amount for a spike knife as a coilspring knife why not use the *better* alloy to start with Then if everything goes right you have a good blade to brag about. I teach a number of people a year smithing and beginning bladesmithing and I don't start them on spikes; to get into the bladesmithing I expect them to already have done the basics class and so don;'t need to learn the basics of smithing on their first blade.

[Frosty]

There are other reasons for a piece of forged steel to snap than high carbon content. Recent'y I rambled over long about some simple shop tests to give you a handle on scrounged steel. Just heating and quenching a piece in water then seeing if it'll snap isn't really going to tell you much. If you were referring to my post you forgot about testing with a file first.

Grain growth can and will make mild steel and even iron brittle without it being usefully hard.

Just because some of the experienced folk say there are better things to use, ways to do things, etc. doesn't mean you have to do anything but what you want with whatever you wish.

Oh yeah. . . NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Frosty the Lucky.