CGL, good to see you back. Hope life is treating you good. 

A couple years back i was turning my truck around and knocked one of my chairs into my fire pit and melted the back a bit. It has turned into my favorite chair. The melty jagged bits are great for back scratching, so no it is not i am so poor i cant afford new chairs. Anyway here is my smoker thing a workin. 

And a close up

All those weeds and trees growing by that garage are my neighbors also. It is a rental property that has been vacant and neglected since last summer. Not in the pic is one of those old swamp maples that is tearing up the foundation. I try and keep what is over growing knocked back some but i can only do so much. Sorry for the little rant, just kind of xxxxx me off. 

That's the same basic set up as our Webber, do you hot smoke near the "fire" box and cold smoke at a distance on the grill?  I control the smoking temp by it's proximity to the fire box opening and how far it's open. BOY that sounds more complicated than it is. 

I know what you mean about a chair that fits, I had an old recliner with a seam on the back that was perfect for scratching. 

I don't suppose a "Spike" or two would be a way to "CURE" the swamp maple? If it's that much of a nuisance.

Frosty The Lucky.

Hey there Billy! It always makes me smile to see a post from you. Hope you are doing well. 

Frosty, I think it's know what the problem is with the WI. My little JABOD will get to forge welding heat easily. What I think I'm doing is working it too long before putting it back in the fire. I'm going to attempt to post the picture of the horseshoe again. 20250725_205401.heic20250725_205401.heic

Okay so that didn't work. Sorry I'll figure it out. I resized it i thought

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

I control the smoking temp by it's proximity to the fire box opening and how far it's open

I built a wall of firebrick that redirects the gases from the firebox up and over the grill, making the heat more indirect and more consistent throughout the grill section. 

Yep, cold smoke away, hot smoke close. I actually do not do much cold smoking though. I have done some jerky like that but that is about it. Never done cheese or fish at all. 

That maple is nice for the shade but i am the one who has to deal with all the helicopters, leaf debris, etc. from it. It is also growing at an angle and i am afraid that if i kill it it will fall at some point in time and that takes out my power line. Becuase i am not the property owner i can not have it removed, i tried, only her, the city, or the power company can do it. 

I would not mind it so much if the owner actually tried to take care of the property occasionally. 

 

Good morning, all.  First, I want to thank you all for the comments on the seahorses, I've been having fun.  

I know I'm not the first, but I did a search and couldn't find a WIP on how to forge these here, so I thought I'd share my process for any newer smiths (don't forget there are many different ways to forge stuff).  The starting stock was 1/4" x 1-1/4" flat bar.
First heat - Draw a taper over the horn (in this case it's ~4")

Second heat - isolate material for the belly over the near edge of the anvil

3rd heat - start isolating head and lips over the tip of the horn on other side of bar

4th heat - clean up the mouth using SOR methodhere's a close-up pic, one time we actually encourage 'fish-lipping

5th heat - begin fullering a line down the back to isolate material for the dorsal spikes and fin using a 1/16" dia. fullering tool.

Take as many heats as necessary to go from near the tip of the tail to the top or the head

Next, widen the fuller and clean up using a 1/8"- 3/16" fuller

Next, isolate/mark out segments using a butchering tool and round out the tip of tail

Next, use butchering tool to knock down the corners to give the body depth

Next, start separating the spines using a flat hot cut chisel with square sides. . . . . .skipping a few segments for the dorsal fin

Next, fuller out the dorsal fin

Finish shaping the dorsal fin

And then finish the seahorse by first curling the tail (I have better success when I start by heating the thicker part of the tail and starting the curl there first, then working on the tip to curl in opposed to just doing the whole spiral starting from the tip) and then heating the neck to bend the head into the proper position

Finish up however you want, I'm probably going to punch/drill holes and then use rivets for the eyes if they are going on a project using traditional joinery, or I use button head allen head screws for other applications.

Thanks for looking and I hope someone finds something useful in this.  
Have a good week, all.

 

 

Back when we used to hot smoke in one of those sheet metal smokers "something Chief" IIR, with the little hot plate and pan for chips in the bottom but we hardly ever smoked more than 10-15lbs. of Tuna. Dad preferred a plain salt and sugar brine and I had to gradually introduce Tobasco and black pepper to slip it past him. He was a seriously picky eater, never wanted more than salt and a little pepper on anything.

It can really stink renting and I won't suggest methods of getting the landlord to solve problems for  you. Does your lease say who has to maintain the property and to what extent? In general absentee landlords tend to "not notice" issues they'd take care of where they live. 

I rented for too many years and hated it, the landlord wouldn't repair anything that wasn't falling down or a serious liability.  The trailer court was O K at first but sold and the new owners / managers pinned eviction notices on your door any time they felt like it. Unfortunately for them I paid my space rent yearly in advance so when I told them to start clearing the snow and NOT use my parking space as a snow dump or I'd move out and THEY would owe me a couple thousand dollars plus interest, when I sued them for constructive eviction.  Tell me watching court TV doesn't have some practical uses. Go ahead. 

It still sucked living in a mobile home and court but it was cheap and my job kept me out of town a good 75% of the time. I mostly needed a place to keep my stuff dry and a warm place to stay when in town. 

Just back from a Honey do run. Nice how to on the seahorse Billy!

More stuff to do. Later, Frosty The Lucky.

Billy thanks.

Not to complain (but i will do anyway), but better to make a different topic "seahorse" so we can find it back in a couple of years?

But thanks, clear pics and explanations!

 

Continued practicing MIG welding on 18 gauge sheet. Proving somewhat trickier than yesterday’s beginner’s luck, but at least — unlike when I first started welding — I know enough to identify the problems and find how to fix them. 

That said, rather than just running a bunch of seams on random scrap, I used the opportunity to weld up a spark chute for the square wheel grinder, which worked quite well. 

Dressing an auto body hammer face:

Lola performing quality inspection:

It turns out the bucket I was using has some leaks in the bottom, but I should be able to get those patched up pretty easily.

Welding 18 ga. is what mig was made for. I held my type earlier but the first bead needed either more current or lower wire speed. You want good "wetting" at the edges of the bead, it shouldn't look like it's sitting ON the steel. Don't be afraid to weave, you always need to manipulate the puddle and bead. 

You'll pick it up quickly and wonder what you did without it in no time.

Frosty The Lucky.

Noted — many thanks!

You're welcome, it's my genuine pleasure. 

One more tip while I'm at it. When welding corners try to make a bit of overhang on one sheet about the thickness of the sheet and weld the outside of the corner. The bit of extra sheet allows you to melt it into the other sheet making a nice bead without overheating and burning holes. 

It seems intuitively better to weld the inside of corners like this however it takes more wire, heat and time to fill so heat can't dissipate as quickly, and you burn holes. It's different if the stock is 1/8" and thicker.

Frosty The Lucky.

20 hours ago, Frosty said:

It can really stink renting

I do not rent. I own my home it is the property next to me that is a rental. I do not know which is worse renting from a negligent landlord or living next to one. She had some college kids living there for a long time. These guys kept the grass mowed, the weeds knocked down, and the trash picked up. They kept to themselves, no loud parties or anything like that. They moved out when she almost doubled the rent on them.  

Back a few years ago when i was working on cars for a living our landlord came over to collect the rent. She had her car in the shop and was a little late getting there. She started going on and on about how mechanics are just out to rip people off and are just scammers. after she quieted down a bit i calmly looked at her and said "you do know i am a mechanic, right?". 

I think you said that already didn't you? Yeah, neighbors, can be an albatross for sure.  I've had too many myself. 

Did your landlord have you work on her car?

Frosty The Lucky.

More work on the flamingo. 

10 hours ago, BillyBones said:

"you do know i am a mechanic, right?". 

There’s a professor at the college who always used to greet my arrival by saying to whoever he was talking to, “Look out! Here comes John! Better hold onto your wallet — he’s one of those people from the Development Office!” I finally got sick of it and reminded him that the money I raise helps pay his salary. The words “You can disrespect me if you like, but don’t ever disrespect the work I do for this institution“ may have passed my lips….
 

JHCC, how big is the flamingo going to be? Sorry I'm a little behind on things and I'm sure there are details on your project. 

And Eureka! I think I might get a photo to upload. This is the horseshoe I was talking about that may be wrought iron

 

Also, here is my little set up for now. I miss a shop with a concrete floor but I've decided I really like using solid fuel through this process 

Chellie, IMO you should spark test your horse shoe to see if it is WI.  Just touch it to a grinding wheel and look at the spark stream.  IIRC WI has kind of an orange color and the spark form straight lines, no secondary or tertiary bursts like little fireworks.  Check Google and Youtube for examples.  If it is WI work it at yellow heat.

G

PS Hi to Tom.

Hello George! Yes that was my thought was just to spark test it or break it... which I would rather not break it. If it's wrought, I want to make maybe a little something special out of it. A friend in Alabama is sending me some draft horse shoes with copper nails in them. It sounds as if they may be aluminum though. She's a barefoot farrier and she's not sure about these, but it's what it sounds like in her description to me. I still like the artist blacksmith twist but my current thoughts are nail making and hinges. We are building a pole barn and I want to add some blacksmitherly touches to it. Tommie is good. He's excited because I told him to buy a saw mill 

10 hours ago, JHCC said:

More work on the flamingo. 

 

I've got to say, that is A LOT of hammering!  Looking good!

I can't remember if I mentioned here, but I scrapped the idea of a solid head and neck for the flamingo, replacing it with a hollow form made from the same sheet metal as the body (salvaged from the stand of the cannibalized bandsaw). It would be quite a feat, though, to hammer that bar stock out to 18 gauge, especially since I don't have a power hammer!

CGL, i would suggest that you take that anvil off those brick and use that log that you have the hair dryer stack on. Those brick will eventually crack and break and you do not want that happening while working at the anvil. 

I like the repurposing of that bathtub. 

Billy, yes sir. It's very temporary. I'm thinking of moving my anvil stand out. I had a good stump but I think it found it's way to the burn pile. That little one in the picture is for my scythe peening anvil. On the other side of the picture, there's a loafing shed that's up off the ground. I was going to use that for a smithy but the floor is very bouncy. I'm saving up for a new gas forge but I decided to build myself a JABOD and do what I can do for now. In the process, I find I really like using solid fuel so I thought I might buy or build a coal forge. No local coal available so I looked at ordering it. $24 for a 50lb. bag and $53 for shipping. Yikes. So what I think I'll do is go ahead and get the gasser since propane is easily available and make a charcoal retort and have the option of either. We are getting a saw mill soon so I want to build a little shop just for my all my stuff

Oh and the bathtubs were remnants from the previous owner. He also was a bit of a blacksmith himself and he left me some good stuff including a big machinist vise

Sawmill offcuts would be great source of raw material for charcoal making. Look into the Hookway retort design, if you're not familiar with it already.

Springy ground in a loafing shed / barn pens is the norm, even when clean. You'll probably need to excavate to "clean" soil and fill with a compactable fill to get a solid deck. I was going to ask about what you had your anvil on but have been enjoying severe frustration with the latest MS upgrade. I deleted that rant but am looking into changing OS.

You've seen the threads about using vertical timbers, screwed together to make an effective anvil stand, yes? 

Are you looking for coal online? Good luck with that, instead try calling a farrier supply or farriers, many of them use coal and there are suppliers that keep it on hand for the farrier market. They aren't fussy about who buys from though. A horse or farm supply may carry coal, tongs, smithing tools, etc. Have you asked the local smithing club? 

Charcoal retorts are pretty simple if you don't fall for the youtubers with no more than a camera and connection. 

At the price you mention for coal you might want to call a restaurant supply and find out about lump charcoal. If one of their suppliers is reasonably close you might be able to get 1,000lbs delivered for a couple few hundred bucks. You may have to buy by volume rather than weight. I don't see a weight to volume calculator for charcoal. It was a PITA to use but 2,000lbs of coal is a little less than 1 cubic yard, you could carry two tons in a standard pickup truck bed, if it wouldn't smush it that is.

A cubic yard of charcoal shows 1 cubic yard of charcoal weighs around 523lbs. The conversion tables only show particles finer than useful for smithing so lump charcoal will be lighter. I couldn't find a conversion table in a restaurant supply that was of any use but I didn't do a lot of searching.

Bear in mind, 1 ton of coal will go maybe as far as 5 tons of charcoal, maybe more. I'm sure someone here has practical experience.

The local price of either is why I use propane.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thank you. I am not familiar with that method but I will look into it. We have about a bajillion trees on the property so I have plenty of material for fuel making. We've cut down probably hundreds and still have only made a dent. 

Frosty, sorry I didn't see your reply. I was just looking at anvil stands. Refreshing my memory. My set up is just quick and dirty for sure. We sold a little piece of land to a man who is a farrier. I have his number so I could call him for a start. That's why I was thinking since I have access to so much wood, I could just make my own charcoal. The restaurant supply is a good idea. Thank you