671jungle Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 17 minutes ago, Frosty said: Being self taught isn't some kind of good thing, you have to make all the mistakes and figure out what went wrong, how to fix or better, avoid them in the future. True that. Lessons are usually learned if the mistakes are big enough but recording progress is most valuable. Something I'm getting better at. Nikola Tesla claimed he would come up with an idea, build it, test it, and make corrections all in his mind. Only after this mental process he would start the actual build usually without fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkertim Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 I know its an old thread but: I had something similar in my Design & Technology classes at secondary school (shop classes at high school?). They had to teach a rigid design methodology, which included coming up with and documenting multiple design alternatives to a solution, then documenting all of the reasons why all-but-one of them was sub-optimal, before arriving at the final design! As I did all of my designing, optimising and winnowing in my head automatically (always have, maybe its a dyslexic thing), I had to resort to producing my optimum design, and then making up stupid alternatives and then back-filling all those documents just to be able to say I'd followed the method. In the end I said I cannot use your stupid method, as it just panders to the lowest-common-denominator in a class, and I refused to follow it. They said I'd fail that class if I didn't follow the method, but my Father supported me in the decision. At the end of the year, I received the lowest mark for design method, failed the class, but got the highest marks in the class for all of my final designs and construction! Afterwards, the tutors allowed me to come in at any free time during the day, to work on my own designs. I designed in fibreglass, laminates, hot-molding acrylic sheet, metal, wood, etc. and combinations of all of them, where they only officially taught in the last two materials. Forcing me to try and think and create/problem-solve in a rigid and narrow way just felt alien to me, but having my Father support my decision over this was priceless to me. So now I design and troubleshoot electronic and mechanical systems for a living. I still struggle with documentation, but my boss understands that letting people play-to their-strengths gets the best out of them. Took decades to find a boss like this. Such is life. Sorry for the ramble 671Jungle, just the Nicola Tesla comment struck a cord. All the best, Tink! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 1 hour ago, tinkertim said: As I did all of my designing, optimizing and winnowing in my head automatically (always have, maybe its a dyslexic thing No; it's a competence thing We all start out by learning from others; when we exhaust that resource, the competent self-teach, and keep on going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bliziak Posted November 24, 2020 Author Share Posted November 24, 2020 I was the one who posted originally, so I keep getting notifications about the topic that I wrote, LOL. I've since abandoned the building of a gas forge, for now... in the meantime I very crudely welded together some parts and taped other parts together with heat tape to make a makeshift coal Forge which really does the job and allows me to he beat and repeat. that being said I've pretty much gone back to the drawing board. I want to learn more about how steel is going to be moving under my hammer. Needless to say I haven't fired up the forge in a while, in between acquiring new power tools and setting up my shop, I've mostly been taking clay learning it moves under my hammer. Some people have told me this isn't smart, others have said the opposite, either way I know that clay will move under my hammer in a somewhat similar way to red hot Steel. I don't have the money for classes, and there is a lack of Master smiths in my area. So this is what I choose to do to teach myself if that's what we're talkin about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qbonez Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Ive been doing a lot of reading on here but can't seem to find info on building a foundry. Its my first attempt at this and my castable refactory didn't settle well to my form and there's exposed kaowool in several places. Hoping I dont need to buy more refactory Cement just to cover these areas. Any advice is helpful, and appreciated. I know I'm doing lots wrong but thats how I learn. For reference its a 6 gallon trash can with 2" of kaowool and the castable cement is roughly 1/4" or so, also I didnt have enough castable for the top of bucket so I slabbed some refactory Cement from Ace Hardware around top ring of can. Still need to figure out the lid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bliziak Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 Did you rigidize the Kaowool? Ove read that this is a step that can conceivably be skipped... But it shouldn't! If you rigidize the kaowool then the refractory you "paint" on(I say paint on because you should thin it out a bit before applying it to the Kaowool), will apply easier to the Kaowool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 3 hours ago, Qbonez said: more refactory Cement That is probably your problem. What you need is castable refractory, not cement. Cement is made to stick bricks together, not to be a flame face coating. Did you look here? https://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/91-smelting-melting-foundry-and-casting/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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