MrDarkNebulah Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Hi everyone. I've come here looking for help with some ideas. For my senior year in high school each student needs to do one gigantic, year long project. This project is devoted an entire class period everyday, and culminates in a 45 minute presentation describing it at the end of the year. I was thinking that I wanted to do something with blacksmithing for my project. However, I'm not sure what to do exactly. How do i turn the whole hobby of blacksmithing into one year long project that can culminate into something big? Just to give you guys an ideas, some previous projects other students from years past have done are, starting up a debate team and hosting a debate, running the school model UN program, making a dining room table, restoring a vintage car, etc. I was thinking that perhaps I could do something like attempting to complete the ABANA journeyman skills list, (https://abana.org/resources/journeyman/index.shtml), but I know that realistically I wouldn't be able to complete all of them. What do you guys think? Any and all ideas and opinions are welcome and desired. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 The journeyman projects could be incorporated as you make a bench to be anchored outside for other students to sit on. Look at other benches for ideas and improve on the design(s) with bar stock scrolls, etc. If you wanted to get fancy, build the bench from horse shoes. Or build a metal sculpture that can be placed on the school grounds, or a metal sculpture of the school mascot. That way your senior project would benefit the next generation of students. Several ideas can be seen in the sculpture section of the site or the gallery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS3900 Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Glenn's suggestion is a good one. Most college campus's have benches that were given by alumni or various student projects. To get a better idea on what your options are, what sort of equipment do you have access too, what is your total time frame, what sort of mentors are available, and what are your main interests in blacksmithing? You may not be able to work through the whole journeyman skills list, but you might be able to work through enough skills to build the ABANA curriculum grille. https://www.abana.org/resources/Grille/Grille.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 I definitely recommend trying your hand at the ABANA grille. It's not complex, really, but it will certainly take you a lot of time. And because the two halves mirror each other, you really only need to do one side if time is running out on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDarkNebulah Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 Those are good ideas guys, thanks. They've definitely gotten me thinking. Here's another thing I'd welcome your advice on: I have $600 I can get from the school to spend on this project. What should I buy? Right now I'm thinking a propane forge, probably from devil's forge unless someone has other advice/recommendations, and some steel. I have an anvil, a coal forge, and the basic tools. What else comes to mind for spending money here? There is a class nearby I might be considering, but it is on bladesmithing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 I don't know about Devils forge, but my Pro forge cost $600. That eats up all your $ and leaves nothing for consumable and materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Spend, no INVEST your money in your education. You will learn much more, much quicker, and no one will ever be able to take it away from you. Your education can cross over to and benefit many different projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Do you get to keep a forge if you buy it? If not I'd spend the money on a class and materials! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Geist Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 You've already got a coal forge. I wouldn't have a gas forge as a high priority right now. When you do decide to buy one I'd recommend a Hypona or a Forgemaster Blacksmith model as I think those are best on the market right now as far as gas forges go. Is plenty of other stuff you should be investing in as Glenn says so I'd not be thinking about gas forges right yet. Get good with the coal you'll probably learn to like it better anyway. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the iron dwarf Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 how about build a gas forge like a frosty T burner, make an anvil, make something on it for the school. I have fabricated many anvils as well as having made a few early anvils ( like 2 of those from mastermyr ) the forge, the anvil and the item you finally make could all be the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 I love Glenns idea of a bench or sculpture. Use the money for education, materials and how about a bending jig? You could make your own jig tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natenaaron Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Stick with what you have and know. Spend the money on known steel and coal. The bench and the grille sound like fun projects. The time will go fast so plan wisely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Part of any project is estimating labor--which is actually quite tough to do without the experience to back it up. You might want to try working backwards before deciding on a project to better help define what is realistically "doable"--How many hours do you calculate you'll be able to put into this project? Divide that by 4 and you'll probably end up somewhere more in the range of the real figure...now subtract 33% because you'll spend a lot of time chasing materials, doing set-up and tear down, chasing problems, re-work, yelling at your little sister to stop moving your tools, and a million other things which eat time but are rarely accounted for. Only then might you have a reasonable guess as to the hours you can put into actually getting your project done. Since picking a project that goes unfinished is a very large negative, be sure and err on the other side and pick one that is truly doable in the time frame. I sound like I'm being negative but the students around here do similar projects and there is a high incidence of "planning too big"..so they are either scrambling at the last minute to pare the project down (or fake what they couldn't make) or simply don't complete the project. Stuff always takes longer than you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Don't forget that *FINISHING* (painting, oiling, grinding---) Can take longer than *forging* too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDarkNebulah Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 You guys bring up some very good points. I'm not quite sure how the $600 works, but if I make a project and donate it to the school then I get to keep what I spent the $ on I believe. I was thinking of classes, but the only school with in an hour and a half I've taken the general blacksmithing ones. The ones I haven't taken are intro to bladesmithing and making a kitchen knife. What they do offer is a $50 membership fee to go to the open forge night every friday which I will probably do. I was looking at Devils forge and they have the majority of their forges at around $350. I thought of making a propane forge, but it is a very intimidating process, especially since I dont even know how a proper one works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 3, 2016 Share Posted September 3, 2016 BP0192 Gas Forge By Garey Ford Build your own gas forge as part of the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackKnight0739 Posted September 4, 2016 Share Posted September 4, 2016 I built my own propane forge using Frosty's T-burner, it's not as intimidating as you think. Your project can be the design and construction of that forge (you can make the cart for it by hand as well), and your presentation can be using the forge to make a demo piece of your choosing. If you don't want to build a forge, Glenn's bench project is also an amazing idea as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Do you have access to a school shop? I sure as heck wouldn't spend money on a propane forge, not when you have a coal forge already. What do you think you can do with a propane forge you can't with a coal forge? If I had good coal available I wouldn't be burning propane. I really like the bench idea. It can be simple and comfortable. If you pick a simple enough design you could make two or three maybe love seat size to be arranged in a circle as a conversation pit. Wouldn't THAT be an appropriate and memorable donation to a college? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 6 hours ago, Frosty said: Do you have access to a school shop? I sure as heck wouldn't spend money on a propane forge, not when you have a coal forge already. What do you think you can do with a propane forge you can't with a coal forge? If I had good coal available I wouldn't be burning propane. I really like the bench idea. It can be simple and comfortable. If you pick a simple enough design you could make two or three maybe love seat size to be arranged in a circle as a conversation pit. Wouldn't THAT be an appropriate and memorable donation to a college? Frosty The Lucky. I agree with every single word of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDarkNebulah Posted September 5, 2016 Author Share Posted September 5, 2016 I would normally agree, however there are a few things that need to be addressed. This is not for a college. I'm a senior in highschool, and as a graduation requirement every student must do a "Senior Project". This is a year long course that has an entire class dedicated to it. The reason I want to get a gas forge is that It takes me a good 20 - 30 minutes to get my coal forge up on running. The propane forge would give me a lot of extra time for forging, as I already have a busy schedule. I do like the donating the bench idea. Oh! Another reason for the propane forge is that if I can get the school to pay for a propane forge for myself I definitely want that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 39 minutes ago, MrDarkNebulah said: The reason I want to get a gas forge is that It takes me a good 20 - 30 minutes to get my coal forge up on running. The propane forge would give me a lot of extra time for forging, as I already have a busy schedule. Have you taken into consideration the fact that a propane forge can not go from whoomp to welding heat instantly. It MUST preheat and then get up to working temperature in order to operate. A coal forge can be st working temperature in 15 minutes if you really push the air into the fuel. Then there is the issue of putting the fire out (both solid fuel and gas) and let the forge cool to a safe level before you leave the area. Solid fuel can be removed from the forge and put into a 5 gallon bucket of water where it is immediately out. The gas forge will have to cool down naturally. Can not put it in water. (grin) I would estimate that in a one hour time span, half of that time would be getting the forge up to temperature and then cooling it back down to an acceptable level to be safe to leave the area. Solid fuel wins the time game, in my opinion. This is not considering the time needed to get out all the tools and tooling you will need to use, and then breaking it all back down and putting it back into storage. You may want to try a test run with your current forge and the tools and tooling needed to see what amount of time you are dealing with just for the set up and tear down. Then go one half to two times longer as there will be distractions at school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDarkNebulah Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 None of the forging would ever be done at school, as there isnt the equipment. Infact, my school actually recently shut down all its shop classes. Thats a good consideration that both of them will have necessary time consumptions. I'm not saying I'm going to get rid of the coal forge, I'm saying I might want a cleaner and quicker options. However if you guys are saying that a gas forge isnt necesarrily as great as I'm thinking it is, I might have to reconsider. Another thing pushing me to go with the gas forge is that the is not a good coal source around me for right now, and my forge is going to need work to get it more efficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Use charcoal or wood as a fuel. Not like it has not been used for thousands of years already to do many things at the forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aessinus Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 34 minutes ago, Glenn said: Use charcoal or wood as a fuel. Not like it has not been used for thousands of years already to do many things at the forge. Yep,and if you time your stopping place, just shovel out the coals onto the grill & cook a burger for dinner. Only way I get to forge during the week & get a hot meal after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 If it's taking you 20-30 minutes to get a coal forge ready to work you're doing it wrong. The coal I dug from local mine is a crummy seam, almost more clinker generator than useful forge fuel and I can have it ready to forge in about 5 minutes without cranking hard on the blower. If this is going to be a class project then why are YOU doing the forging? What are the other folk doing? I seriously think you need to do some planning. Right now you have an idea but an idea is far from a plan. Treat this like a business, bring in partners, someone to do books, marketing, logistics, etc. etc. There have been posts here by people who estimate projects for a living, design ventilation systems for a living, on and on. You could probably read and write an in depth report on what's been written here for a final project. Unfortunately right now all you have is an idea to forge . . . some THING and have the school buy you a gas forge. That isn't a plan at all. think this through, get together with classmates and see what you can come up with. Run this project like a business and learn something marketable in real life. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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