Giant School Project

[MrDarkNebulah]

You guys have definitely made me think. This is actually an individual project Frosty. 

After some deliberation I realized I have two clear options that have come to me. The New England Blacksmith fall Meet is coming up and I know I can get some higher quality coal there. So one option is buy some good coal and work to fix up my forge. The issue with it seems to be the air grate is messed up. I can't get the fire hot enough. So maybe I get some coal, use some of the money saved from building a gas forge and try to pick up a welder for cheap. That way I can fix up my forge and get some good coal as well as have a welder around

My other option is to plunge ahead with the gas forge. I did some asking around and found a company that actually fabricated the gas forge shells for another local smith nearby. If I can get that I could proceed by simply buying a burner and making the gas forge that way. 

Right now I'm leaning towards the coal forge idea.

[njanvilman]

As a retired shop teacher, I feel I must jump in here.  This student must do a project on his own, one that he develops and executes.  I am sure a journal record of what you do, learned and completed will be part of the presentation.  This is not a group project.  This is not a business.

Come up with a plan with an end product in mind.  Whether you achieve your goal is not the primary task; the journey and learning that takes place is what counts.  If you have access to a forge, great.  Do you access to cutting and welding equipment?  Do you know how to use them?  Primary consideration is to assess what you know and have the ability and equipment to do.  Then, based on that, figure out where you want to go with it.  And do not take on too big of a task.  It is better to finish early and do some small extra skills, than get bogged down with a project you could never finish.  

 

[Frosty]

I'm sure glad you jumped in Josh, you said what I was trying for so much more concisely. You must have more practice understanding what a high schooler means as opposed to what I think he said.

How much help and suggestions should we out here in internet land be offering? I can see how a lot of our suggestions are based in decades of experience planning, financing and producing projects. Are we in danger of providing shortcuts and derailing the purpose of the assignment? In my old curmudgeonly mind as soon as the bench suggestion was made I was envisioning the strap stock conversation pit and would only need to make some calls and calculate the logistics to bid  the job and go to work if I won it. Maybe a day for design, product and tooling. Call and secure bids for materials. A day or two to clear floor space in the shop probably the biggest job of the whole project.

Now I'm reconsidering suggesting an outline of how to go about a project that hasn't even been defined.

How much should we help Josh?

Frosty The Lucky.

[njanvilman]

My former school now has this exact course as a senior elective.  Not everyone has to do it.  We had one student who was making duck calls make them out of many types of woods, then compared how they sounded and functioned.  Practical, and he got it done in time.  Most try to do too much and never finish.  Frustration often set in.  It is the task of the teacher to guide the students in the beginning to do a project that will provide for independent learning, and have a goal of where they want to end up.  And setting that goal is always dependent on the students abilities,and the tools available to accomplish it.  We always advised the students: KISS.  "Keep it simple, stupid."  Do not try to take on too much.  This students first has to sort out his heating method.  Coal/ charcoal/ propane.  That alone could be the basis for part of the project.  Compare the forges and what can be done in each?  Then do some simple forgings.  Maybe develop a whole series of different decorative twists.  They could all just be samples.  You do not have to build the Eiffel Tower.   Asking for ideas is good, just keep it simple.

[VaughnT]

With no good source for coal locally, you're gonna have to burn charcoal or wood.  No big deal.  

A propane forge is great (if you get a good one), but they also limit what you can do.  I've been running propane exclusively for the last few years because good coal isn't available locally (2hr round trip for mediocre stuff).  The size and shape of the openings in the forge will really limit what you can make and how you make it.  

If you get to keep what you buy with the $600, I wouldn't necessarily invest in a propane forge because you can build one that best suits your needs and do it for less than six bills.  I'd buy a quality burner (rather than cobble one together from plumbing parts) and build around it.  Any money left over would get spent on tongs, fuel and raw materials.  Tongs because they are a critical element in the process and you're always better off buying rather than making.  Fuel - 'cause you're always seeming to run out of the stuff.  Finding raw materials isn't hard if you have scrap yards, but I prefer to buy most of my stuff new so I get exactly what I want and know that it's mild steel or X alloy.  It saves you a tremendous amount of time and fuel if you buy 1"x1/4" mild steel bar rather than hammer down a larger piece to make it 1x1/4".

[Kozzy]

Building a really good propane forge might be a doable project in itself rather than thinking of what one can make in the forge.  If something has to benefit the school in the end run, the forge "proving" tests can be used to make some smaller items for that.  With that $ 600 budget and a good plan, you could end up with a pretty nice forge that exceeds just about anything you could buy.