BillyBones Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Been working on a stand for my swage block this week in the couple hours before i go to work i have. Been in the 60's and sunny until today, hate to waste nice days. But i have kind of an odd shaped swage so this took some thinking to accomplish but i think it will work well. Also made a handle for the garden rake i made this past weekend. Piece of old dowel rod i found in the barn with a copper fitting on the base. Now just to finish the rake. Decided it needed some paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BartW Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 foot done, fixed with Big steel bolts tapped in the anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Everything is as usual. A dozen lanterns are ready for installation.The workshop is cramped, I have to work outside in the cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul TIKI Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Beautiful work as always alexandr Much more frustration in the forge today. With the redesign of the firepot I thought I would get better results but it didn't work out. Neither did the corn. I put up some pics after I reshaped the firepot. Side blast with a bathroom exhaust fan for a blower. I shaped the firepot with soft firebrick in a v shape The tuye pipe is about 1 1/4 inch diameter. It's a chunk of handrail from a dead treadmill. The firepot is maybe 3 inches deep and one brick length wide with the walls sloping up at 90 degrees to each other. I put another brick at the end opposite the tuye to just keep the fuel contained. What I think happened is 2 things, maybe 3. The first is that I was just plain getting too much air at too high a speed. Second, as the corn burned, it was creating very sticky voids and pockets. I'd pull the metal out, get a cloud of sparks and see a hollow area. the steel wasn't even getting more than a low dull red. The corn wasn't coking up like I thought it would. I quit adding any corn and just used charcoal. Heat was little better, but still not where I wanted. I cued that I might be getting too much air so I tried to block part of the tuye from the back side. No change really At this point I'm ready to just quit. I turn to look at my anvil and I'm seeing that what was lat once upon a time is looking pocked and ugly, with lots of dings. I know it's not steel, but it was kind of disheartening, so I put the fire out and went inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Stick with charcoal for now, and work on regulating your airflow. That's a pretty big tuyere, and you probably are getting way too much of a blast. Set up your air supply so that you can adjust the amount of air going in, whether through speed control of the fan or by adding some kind of valve or the like to divert an adjustable amount of air elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul TIKI Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 I can use my sons hand crank blower for now. It's a nice one. I'm just a little lazy and don't want to turn a crank. Is my firepot design ok? I can't help but think it should be, but it has been the worst performing one so far. Also, I wonder if I'm just skimping too much on the fuel. I never seem to get a big enough fireball and rarely enough heat. I wonder if I'm not piling it deep enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 30 minutes ago, Paul TIKI said: . I never seem to get a big enough fireball and rarely enough heat. I wonder if I'm not piling it deep enough. How high are you piling the fuel above the top of your three inch deep firepot? I used the same firepot that I burn charcoal in for corn and it worked. It's about a four inch deep trench style jabod with either a 3/4 or 1 Inch tuyere I truthfully can't remember anymore which and it's about an inch above the bottom of the trench and the walls are sloped. I usually have to pile about three or four inches of fuel above the top of the firepot. I made it with burning charcoal in my mind. I've since changed it to the same type of firepot as Charles R. Stevens used in his Mark III JABOD but I haven't tried burning anything except charcoal in it. As for the hand cranked blower. I only have to turn mine about six or seven RPM's for normal forging with charcoal or it gets blown out of the firepot. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobtiel1 Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 First time in the shop after recovering from a dislocated shoulder I got from trying to ice skate a few weeks ago. Ice is always thinner than you think. Finished up some tools (top tool-ish things I am holding with tongs instead of a wooden handle) and also finally got myself a drill press! 2nd hand on the cheap, paid 25 euros for it. If I am using it a lot now I can justify spending money on a better one. Now I'm gonna start making some tools to get a start on some leatherwork. Managed to get a full bag of scraps to practice on from a guy who does car interiors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul TIKI Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Maybe that's the problem. I might pile it an inch or 2 higher than the firepot. Most of my problems could be from me skimping on the fuel. pnut With the corn, did you just straight burn it or did you blend it with charcoal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Worked on my second piece of mokume. Had a friend come over, and he also made a piece. I have the more brown one, his is the blue. Both full of delams and coldshuts, but it’s getting better. Made from quarters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Tokens for Cthulhu's parking meter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul TIKI Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 If so they might try to crawl back up out of the slot on their own Interesting results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Cthulhu is still dreaming away in R'lyeh. I think Yog-Sothoth would be more into parking meters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul TIKI Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 (edited) But Cthulhu double parked the tentacle mobile before going in for his nap.... I think parking meters are an invention of the Great Old Ones anyway... Edited March 12, 2021 by Paul TIKI added something I forgot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 That is a given, why do you think they are all about driving people insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Used coil spring steel to deepen the oak seat for this bench and to support the back. Surprisingly comfortable and stable; a fortunate accident rather than clever design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul TIKI Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 The wood looks great. I had to do a where's waldo search to find the supports, they got a little lost in the atv's in the background. Nice job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Same here. Very nice wood, love the natural(ish) edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacLeod Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Thanks, it was all one slab of oak. So two of the edges are natural. Just removed the bark. The strength in spring steel is ideal for that floating look and just drilled holes for sockets and used a wooden mallet to bang it all together. No glue, nails or screws. No IKEA on this island Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 (edited) Sorry for the confusion. I’m used to natural edge being used in reference to wood turning bowls, where the bark is left intact. Edited March 13, 2021 by Chimaera Clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 7 hours ago, Paul TIKI said: pnut With the corn, did you just straight burn it or did you blend it with charcoal I started it with charcoal but burned it exactly like bituminous just using a gentler blast. You're one hundred percent correct in that it burned quickly. The second time around I spent about twenty minutes "coking" up a good amount before I started trying to forge anything. It does take a lot of poking and raking to keep from clumping up and burning a cave in the mound of fuel. It's definitely not my favorite fuel. I like charcoal as a primary fuel simply because it's easier to source for me than coal. I get free pallets from a couple places near me. If coal was available locally I'd probably switch between charcoal and coal. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 Pnut, any tractor supply co around? It’s anthracite, but it’s cheap and clean. Oh, just read that you make your own, so free. Nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 We have a tractor supply but I have to order a whole pallet and pay for it up front if I want coal from them because they got scammed a few years back. Someone talked them into ordering coal and then didn't buy it but sent a friend in to buy it at a discount in the spring. I don't have anywhere to put a pallet of coal anyway. I'm pushing the limits with all the stuff I have outside now. I live in a large apartment building. I've used anthracite and don't mind it at all. I just have to carefully consider every single thing I can't keep in my SUV so I don't get the call from the landlord telling me to get rid of everything. She's been pretty nice so far. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 pnut If you have one of those self storage units close by and it's in your budget, might think about renting a small unit. We had a friend who had to do that years ago and the manager of the units let him forge outside the door in the open air drive. On the weekends he usually drew quite a crowd and even had other folks that rented hold yard sales there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 Finished with lighting in the gazebo, several lamps were added to the chandelier. Lantern at the entrance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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