Fondy_Iron Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Hi All, Finally able to get back on here to learn and post. The forge I put together with a bunch of spare iron. She's not the prettiest girl in town, but I think it will do what I need It's mobile. Has wiring on the top and bottom for hanging tools. The forge is an old brake drum. Blower is an old hair dryer with the heating element removed. Fan control is an outlet and rheostat that I've wired up with an extended cord Anvil. Around 60 lbs. Granted its small, but I am beginning Lastly, some Railroad junk I picked up. I have no idea what all the parts are. My question about these parts is this. I have very little tools to work with, what can I make out of this junk? Parts and descriptions below 1. Plate, about 3/8" thick. I was thinking of using the center of this as a possible swage block (drill different size holes and different shaped "dimples") 2. J-Shaped, has a groove running along the outside curve about 3/4-1" wide 3. 2 pieces of 3/8" plate welded together on the left side, could be separated 4. Some kind of a pin, the thick end has approximately a 1-1/4" diameter 5. A brake shoe arm? Not sure. The tapered end at the top of the picture has a recessed, threaded hole. The entire piece is solid 6. 3/4" round twisted bar. 7. 3/4" x 1/2"? flat bar 8. This is possibly slag. I weighs about 8 pounds. The slanted cut appears to have machining cuts on it 9. Spike. Other than knives, can these be made into hardy tools? -Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Jeff- 1) the plate can be used as an anvil in case yours, which reminds me of cast iron, fails. Keep it around, especially if you need to wail on something. It can also hold hardies. Flip it upside down on a stump andnail is down. 2) You could flatten this out and use it as tool steel flat. Read the Blueprint about Junk Steel and their compositons. 6) This is a pandrol clip. Its very hard to straighten, and hard to forge. But it is medium carbon steel, and would make good steel. However, go for coil springs first. 7) This is good steel to use. I think its 1060 or thereabouts. 9) It can be made into a small hardy tool, but its close to mild steel, so you'd need to weld a tool steel plate into it for cutting tools. But you could make perhaps a swage or fuller from it. Lots of upsetting, though. Been there, tried that, don't want to do it again.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fondy_Iron Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 Ridgewayforge, Thank you for your input. Some very good ideas. I was questioning the Pandrol clip after I looked it up. Sounds like it would be tough to straighten out. I do have 2 coil springs I want to attack. Excellent. There is a dumping ground of the #7's. Any thoughts on #4, #5 and #8? The #4's seem like they might be a shear pin. Plenty of them around all broken at about the same length. I haven't tested #8 for any magnetic characteristics. More than likely it's just garbage So, don't use spikes for hardy tools unless they're stamped HC or weld tool steel to it (thinking out loud). Thanks again, much appreciated. -Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 #7 is another medium carbon hook used to keep the track in place. If there is a dumping ground of them, then they still belong to the railroad and I would seek the necessary permission before taking any more. It is easier to get new high carbon stock than get out of jail, and the railroad can be pretty strict. I am not sure on the others, but check out the blueprint. It will give you some good idea of the content of these. The pandrol clips are mysteriously hard to unbend. I spent several minutes at a bright yellow trying to unbend them to no avail. Coil springs will work best for you at the current moment, as will buying some 1045 and other new stock like it. That might be best. It is money, but it is also a good way to shorten the learning curve, as you have new stock of known carbon content to judge heat color and forging toughness off of. HC does not mean high carbon as WE blacksmiths see it. they are about 20-30 points carbon. Enough for some tools, but not for chisels and the like. I would make some steak turners and other neat items out of them and sell them, to buy some good 1 inch square 1080 or some other tool steel. That will work best for you. Spikes ought to be used for decoration, not tools, basically. That's my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/blueprints/original-series/bp0002-junk-yard-rail-road-steel That is the material list you will want to study http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/pages/bpx-rr-track-plate-box-copy-r1089 There is a neat thing you can do with the plates. Pay it forwards, as always! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 12, 2013 Share Posted November 12, 2013 4 is the sprue from thermite welding of track. May be 1070 steel with a high Mn content to match that of the track. Lots of work and ofen quite coarse grained. 5 is a brake arm and will be tough to forge at that size---but could make a cone mandrel with cutting off the pad area (at a sharp anvle to make forging the rest into a tapered point easier!) Don't quench, normalize (I'd bet it was something like 4140) 1 makes a good cutting plate to preserve your anvil from damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gor Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Not to threadjack here, but I'm curious about that anvil. I've seen similar ones going for pretty reasonable prices, and claims that they are hardened steel. How's that one doing for you? Good rebound? Any soft spots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fondy_Iron Posted November 14, 2013 Author Share Posted November 14, 2013 Wow Awesome feedback, thank you! Yes, the anvil was sold as "hardened steel". So far I have not had any problems with it. (Better than what I was using which was an old vise) and no soft spots that I can tell, yet. and yes, it has a nice ring to it. Price was around 80? I'm not crazy about the color I should rephrase my railroad find. I called it a dumping ground. Most of it was pulled from the ditch and not directly from the track area. I will however check with the locals and make sure I'm not crossing any lines. Thank you again, great information! -Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewayforge Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 You're off to a good start, it would appear. If you're trying to get hammer control down, and just starting out, I would save yourself some trouble and buy some straight A36 or the like from a industrial product supplier or a steelyard (depending on what you have nearby) and forge that before moving on to scrap. It will save you some troubles. Keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 #5 is a tamper. I've got one just like it and asked about it on the general forum. Good bloke from down under just happens to know railroads and was able to ID it. The longer end isn't conical, having three flats equidistant around the circumference, but the short end serves really well as a cone mandrel of sorts. Were I to do it again, I'd cut it off just below the collar and weld a stub to it so I could use it in my anvil as a short mandrel. The longer piece, minus the pad, would be good stock to make a punch/mandrel for axe and hammer projects. The curly bits are good stock for punches and such. Saw one fellow on IFI used the pandrel clip to make a beautiful hatchet and I've been wanting to try that myself. Very difficult to unbend, but worth it just to say you made an axe from a bit like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 i believe #4 may be part of a broken knuckle pin. if so would be pretty tough stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fondy_Iron Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 Per Ridgewayforge's suggestion, I did get some 1"x3/8" steel to make tongs and followed the directions (as best I could remember) for the Dempsey twist Here is what I discovered: Pros Cons xxxx that was fun! xxxx that was a lot of work! I now have tongs! wow....are they ugly Coal was fantastic for heat Without a flue, I had smoke pouring around me. I'm still wheezing Coal fire seemed to burn up quickly, I'm still working out if I built the fire correctly or if the coal on the fire should have been taller Once burned I was left with a "slag" (?) The forge would not heat the steel without newer coal on top Going through coal that fast seems like it would get expensive in a hurry Hot coal looks the same as regular coal (got me twice) Parts of the anvil can be used like a hardy tool Without the hardy tools cutting and fullering were tedious Once heated the metal was easily shaped Although I was working outdoors, it never appeared that I could get the metal to a nice bright yellow. Red and orange I could achieve This is probably due to how I have the coal piled up. Created my own rivet, upsetting the steel THAT...is a B*! without the right tools. Ii need to practice with making nails I have a new found appreciation for the craft Overall it was a great experience.. I can't wait to get back out there and make a couple more tools. Using a brake drum as the fire pit, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the fire hotter? It didn't seem to matter what I did to heat the iron, the only way I could get the heat I needed was to keep adding fresh coal. That just seemed to burn off in a matter on seconds. That's all to report, for now. -Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 Tending your fire is one of the first skills a smith learns because it gets expensive fast if you don't. Are you turning off your air while you're working at the anvil? How much air is your dryer pushing into the fire? Are you burning too much trying to get the heat up quickly? Looking at your forge, I would add a cookie sheet to the side instead of chicken wire. This will give you a table for extra coal and hot work and tools. #7 in your photo, the rail clip, will make an excellent hot cut for the hardy. The straight leg only needs to be tapered a bit to fit the hardy, then cut it free with a few inches to spare. Spread out those spare inches and you've got a doozy of a hot-cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted November 29, 2013 Share Posted November 29, 2013 Coal was fantastic for heat Without a flue, I had smoke pouring around me. I'm still wheezing Coal fire seemed to burn up quickly, I'm still working out if I built the fire correctly or if the coal on the fire should have been taller Once burned I was left with a "slag" (?) The forge would not heat the steel without newer coal on top Going through coal that fast seems like it would get expensive in a hurry Hot coal looks the same as regular coal (got me twice) A few things that might help. Raw coal smokes a lot. Dumping a big pile of raw coal on the fire is a recipe for lots of smoke. "Coked" coal generally burns with very little smoke. If you build up a pile of raw coal up against your fire on a table, the impurities of the raw coal will burn out as the coal cokes down. The smoke that is created usually gets burned up by the fire and isn't a big issue. When you need to add more "coal" to your fire, you push the coked coal in from the side with more raw coal and start the process all over again. You can also sometimes "kill" the smoke by lighting some newspaper and laying it on top of the smoking coal. The open flame ignites the coal smoke and reduces your plume. Some times opening up the coal pile to allow the air to flow thru can do the same thing. The "slag: you had was probably clinker. It's all the impurities in the coal that are left when you burn up the fuel. It's usually "sticky" and settles to the bottom of your fire pot. There it robs space and can block air flow. If you rake out the bottom of the fire on occasion you can pull out the clinker and it will cool to a glassy hard material that goes "clink". Some coal has more clinker in it than other coals. I've got some hard coal that tends to produce a lot of clinker. On the other hand I've also got some soft coal that produces almost no clinker at all. With the hard coal I'm constantly working to keep my fire clean and pulling out chunks of clinker. As mentioned, are you running your blower full time or are you shutting it down while you forge and then restarting it while you heat? When I use my hard coal, I have to run my blower full time and run it hard, to keep the fire going. I burn more fuel, but it's the price I have to pay to use the "free" hard coal I was given. I use my soft coal in my hand pump forge. There I only pump the forge while I heat my material. The fire stays lit while I forge and I can then go back to pumping the forge as needed to heat. I go thru way less coal this way, but I had to buy that coal... Once my hard coal is gone, I'll only buy soft coal. Knowing what type of coal you are using would help so you can conserve fuel if possible. In general it seems I burn roughly a bit less than a 4 gallon bucket of coal in 4 hours with my big forge running hard coal if I keep it lit with the blower going nonstop. I've got 4 55gallon drums of the stuff right now, so I'm not worried I'll run out anytime soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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