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I Forge Iron

What did you do in the shop today?


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Got the blower hooked up to the forge with the new firepot.  And played with it some.  Found that the new deeper firepot will take some getting used to.  Amazing how much difference an inch can make.  I love the blower. (sure beats the hairdryer)  I can control the air simply by how fast I crank it.

  Now on to the down side. Later on the fire wasn't getting hot, but the tuyre sure was. Never had that happen before. Opened the ash dump, and a small dab came out.  But still no air, and tuyre still turning red.  I got it sussed, the problem came about when s chunk of coke fell past the grate, and got caught on the air inlet.  (when I installed it, I tried to keep it flush, but ended up with a kind of ledge on the bottom) Well, that chunk of coke invited some of it's friends, who were glad to join him. End result was hot coke plugging the tuyre, and what happens when you add air to burning coke? It gets hot, and makes the tuyre glow red.   I shut down for the day.  I'll deal with that trouble at a later date.   The firepot never got "hot" (of course it was warm, black hot). The old one never got hot either. Didn't even burn the paint off the outside. 

But that old Champion blower is the "Cat Daddy".  (compared to my hairdryer)

I kinda like my 3" firepot over the 4" firepot.  With the 3" I can make the fire as deep as I want by mounding it. With the 4" I have an optimum depth, But it will take some getting used to, after working with a 3" pot.

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Optimal size also depends on how large of stock you are working.  I have one large forge that seldom gets used, a previous owner burnt a railroad rail in two in it.  Till I get my powerhammer up I don't want to work stock that large by hand!  (My minions also encourage me not to work stock that large!)

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Finally finished my forge and anvil stand today, with all the shops closed its pretty hard to get the simple things like grinder disks and sawblades. Also gave my new stick welder a try, what a difference that makes. Almost got worried I lost my touch, not a single of the welds I did with my old transformer looked anyway close to good, first one I tried with my new Inverter actually popped of the slag without me touching it (like I was used to when I was a welder)

Almost lost some hair turning the forge on the first time, did not expect the first flame to get out of the forge so far (0,4 mpa is may to much gas), real design flaw on those Devil Forge burners, the valve is so close to the burner you can not turn it off when the flame is yellow, got to look into that for a next version of my forge.

Got a piece of 8mm rebar (rather waste that then my "good" steel) pretty yellow, but no way near welding heat I think, will try some tuning and get a video online tomorrow. 

6 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

 (My minions also encourage me not to work stock that large!)

Since when are minions aloud a opinion? 

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22 hours ago, twigg said:

JHCC, looking good! I like the switch box to keep out the dust.

Thank you!

I’ve been having trouble logging into the forum, so here is a much-delayed image of the motor from the vertical bandsaw mounted on the horizontal:

8A528A81-03A8-48DA-807A-85A5325AD766.jpeg

Next step for the horizontal saw is to add some of Kim Thomas‘s modifications; for the vertical, to replace the tires and some missing bits of the guides. 

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Yup back in the pre-cell days he was heating some RR rail for a project and got a call in the house; ran in and said "Can't talk I have steel in the fire!"   Ran back out and it had burnt in two.   I was buying a different forge MUCH smaller rectangular cast iron one for US$75, (back around 1982), from him and saw the big one and asked about it.  He said he couldn't sell it at the same price as it was bigger, how about $80?  It was originally a downdraft forge and was missing the original hood and was using a hood for a Volkswagen bug...had a 220 electric blower someone had converted to 110 by sawing the bearing off and hooking a pulley and 110 motor to the 220 motor shaft. (Now replaced.)  Moved it way too many times over the years; but I have a project coming up that will need some large stock hot....

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I got some time in today before exam week starts.

I made a metal scribe trying to replicate Joey vds's one. Not quite happy with how the clip turned out, but I've only been smithing for half a year so it's just something for me to practice on.

IMG_20210105_191225.thumb.jpg.c5c1c5c12b608defa598c19cccde5cba.jpg

And also started on the backplate of a norfolk latch for my new shed/smithy in the new house. 

IMG_20210105_191238.thumb.jpg.18f387a9f672024aad68ad8210533cca.jpg

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Hey guys- I have a question. Why don't anvils have holes in the base? Isn't the goal to get the anvil down tight? Why don't you just bolt them down? Does it ruin the structural integrity? I was just thinking about how much easier it would be if they had holes, and it's not hard to drill a hole in it. Get a good cobalt bit, go easy, no problem. Why then? 

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I would think it's just an extra unnecessary step in making them. One can easily make a strap that wraps around the feet/waist and bolt/screw that down. Or if you're using a wooden stand, a large nail or staple that can be driven down into the wood holding the feet in place.

I don't think it would affect the structural integrity, unless you drilled a really big hole that is. There are just much easier ways to hold it down that don't require any modification of the anvil and are just as effective.

However, I do think some anvils do indeed have holes cast for mounting them. I don't think it's very common though.

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Ok. Just seems like the easiest thing you could do is throw in a bolt. And, totally unrelated. Wrought iron. What is wrought iron? It's got a weird wood grain texture. I've heard that's from silica slag? What makes it so expensive, and why do people want it?

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The basic design predates easily available bolts. Very old anvils, say Y1K,  tended to have a stake that went into the stump.  Staples are fast and easy to forge compared to making a number of bolts.

Wrought Iron is a composite material composed of high purity iron and iron silicate slag in physical association, not chemical or alloy relationship.  Think of it like fiberglass gooey iron and ferrous silicate glass.   The iron silicates may be 1% to 3% or more by weight, (higher grades usually have lower amounts) and are distributed in the iron as spicules of which there may be 250 thousand per square inch.

The composite nature gives it different properties, rust resistance, ease of forge welding, if etched a wood grain pattern---most noticeable in lower grades, it also has significantly different properties along the rolling direction and across it. (So much so they came up with bidirectional rolled plate to try to even it out some.  I have a sample when broken instead of the green stick fracture it has a "platy fracture".)

As to why: It was what Blacksmiths used up until Bessemer/Kelly steel was invented in the 1850's and was used even after that, last company making it going out of business in the 1970's!  So if you are doing "Traditional" blacksmithing you should be using real wrought iron; right?  Doing historical replication; pre 1850's  Real Wrought Iron.  It's been used in smithing over 10 TIMES longer than mild steel!

OTOH; it's not as strong, it can be a pain to work especially cold, and the grade makes a huge difference in how it works; but is usually not evident in the scrap stream when you buy it.  (Yellin specified triply refined wrought iron for all his metalwork!)

There is a small hardback book called "Wrought Iron, It's Manufacture, Characteristics and Applications" by James Aston and Edward Story that goes into details but more on Industrial use rather than Ornamental use.

Note just like everything found in a department store's Linens Department is now made from cotton/poly cotton but are called Linens as they used to all be made from linen. Wrought Iron today refers to items made from mild steel; but were once made from real wrought iron.

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WI is expensive because it is no longer produced (in large quantities) and the people selling it online are generally doing so at a premium. It can be found relatively easily though depending on the region.

Yes, that is caused by slag inclusions in the steel itself. Its very easily identified by a score and snap test where you can clearly see the almost stringy nature of it rather than the grainy texture of steel. It's very fun to work with. Soft under the hammer and easy to forge weld together (those slag inclusions can act like flux when welding). However, it will shear apart if worked too cold which takes some getting used to.

  

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Mr. Frazer,

Much of those  "slag inclusions"  are iron silicates.

Hammering the iron forces some of that silicon out of the mass of iron.

The more that mass is hammered the "purer" the iron becomes.

Highly refined wrought iron frequently underwent three separate heats, and a lot of hammering, hence its cost.

And yes it is a joy to work with.

SLAG.

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On 1/1/2021 at 5:59 PM, SLAG said:

Epoxy resins were first to close up incisions and debrided wounds, in field hospitals,  in the Viet Nam war. It first used by some creative surgeon, as a jury rigged on the spot fix.

Uh . . . Not so Noble Slagster. You've misremembered, the surgical adhesive that became today's "super glue" et al. is "Cyanoacrylate" NOT Epoxy and it was developed after it was discovered during WWII. It's discovery was one of those serendipitous lab accidents that turned out so well. It's been a long LONG time so don't quote me but IIRC they were experimenting with making plastic and got glue. 

The super glue used for false finger nails contains anti bacterial and fungal compounds, so if a person doesn't want to keep a tube of the expensive surgical glue in their tool box the fingernail glue helps cover infection issues. It's amazing stuff I have tubes stashed in all my tool boxes.

I like the way my hide gradually pushes the hardened super glue out of the wound as it heals from the inside out. Makes for minimal scaring too.

Good stuff but doesn't replace PPE. I thought the maille gloves were called "oyster shuckers." 

Frosty The Lucky. 

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Mr. Chimaera,

Old iron tools, and parts are frequently made of wrought iron. I bought a batch of it,  from a smith on I Forge Iron who got it from the demolition of an old bridge.

Mr. Powers has mentioned that he frequently procures it from old wagon tires.

In other words, wrought iron is out there you just need to learn to recognize it.

SLAG.

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