Sounds like it.  Nice to have a source that stores their coal on a concrete pad.  I have found some strange stuff in 40# sacks of lump charcoal too.

Chimaera, lump charcoal is a fantastic fuel for forge welding. Just don’t give it too much air. Too much and you’ll just blow you charcoal out of the forge and have too much oxygen around you weld area. Build a deep fire and keep your part in the upper 1/3 of the fire.

David

TP- The primary reason is even if I can get some bituminous, the cheapest I've seen it is $.75/lb. There probably is a way to find it cheaper but Anthracite is under $0.15/lb, and I'm on a budget here. Also, my forge is not well designed for a coke cave. I may also be upgrading to a new coal forge or even a propane forge this summer, and I already have a bunch of anthracite that I need to use. I'll try to go to quad state this year, and if I'm still using a coal forge I'll probably try to pick some up there. I'll build up a lump fire and burn as low oxy as I can when I try the weld, but for general forging I've found the anthracite works well enough, even if it is a bit tedious with fire management.

13 minutes ago, Chimaera said:

I'll try to go to quad state this year

Hope to see you there. Remember, we’re all getting tattoos!

Remember John is getting a separate tattoo for each one of us!  Perhaps a page from the Champion catalog for each one of us?

A fire poker and shovel today and a bit of grinding on yesterday's blade. 23 degrees out, so cold. Not a lot of time this evening after work, shovel head is meh could use more symmetry and refinement but overall I'm happy with output today.

handles look awesome on the poker and Shovel they both look pretty slick,

fire poker looks like you split the end?

Only thing I’d do differently on the poker would be forge a point then fold over an forge weld,

that said they still look pretty cool to me!

Thanks yes I split the end forge welding is nigh impossible in my single burner gas forge and I didn't want to hassle with coal on time crunch. 

Nice work.  I need a set

Bits of WI. Bits of an old file. I am calling it: 

vilains petits morceaux friables

 

Perhaps a good vinegar bath and a nice scrub with the grinder will improve her looks and overall disposition.  Dropped the bloody thing in the snow three times while forge welding it. 

10 hours ago, Chimaera said:

The primary reason is even if I can get some bituminous, the cheapest I've seen it is $.75/lb.

If you would like the number to my supplier i get it much, much cheaper. How ever i buy by the ton. $215 a ton was the last price i got on it. Good stoker coal also. That comes to i think $0.11/lb i believe. To get it delivered i have to buy at least a ton. If i go to him he will sell what ever at $200/ton. So half ton would be $100 and so on. A ton of coal will last me about 9 months. And that is running my forge 20+ hours a week. He is located in Vandalia up by the Dayton airport. Or if you get up near Dayton hit me up and i'll  fill a bag or 2 for you from the pile in my barn. 

I finally ran out of ways to fail at fish hook damascus! In a way this is a follow up to the Can You Make Damascus with an Induction Forge? Thread I tried at least three times to make a fish hook Damascus knife for my pastor. I'm only a month and a half late for his birthday. He is an avid fisherman and has written many articles for the Louisiana Conservationist and Louisiana Sportsman magazines.

My induction forge heats fast, but cannister really needs to soak. I ended up using my coal AND induction forges. Coal is good for soaking, but heat is uneven and hard to watch. I used coal to bring up to close to welding and used induction to even out and raise the temp up TO welding heat. I repeated this about five times before I ever started to strike.

Another mistake was having too good a release agent. The white paint did a great job of not sticking to the billet, but the cannister would fall apart and the billet fall out before it was well consolidated. When I tried to get the billet hot enough to weld outside of the cannister it crumbled under the hammer. I thought it was "red short" but no, it just wasn't together. Like Frazer said - cow pies.

This time I cleaned the hooks in acetone, then soaked them in diesel. Put the cannister together and packed the 1084 powder HARD with a large C clamp. Soaked in coal fire/ induction repeatedly and mashed it good with my 50# LG. Cannister welded to the billet and held while I repeated the process several times. I still ended up with some cracks but I had enough to make the blade. 

I keeping with the fishing gear theme, I split a Styrofoam fish float and carved it down to give some width to the handles, epoxied them on, then wrapped 30# Cajun monofilament  line mixed with epoxy. The epoxy has a long pot life and is supposed to be UV resistant. Before heat treating I brazed the guard (made from brazing two lengths of 1/4" brazing rod together) and the end cap on. I did an edge quench and tempered at 425 for 90 min.

I debated with myself about whether to make the wraps neat and even or random. Semi random won out as I feel it will result in a better grip when slimy with fish guts. Etched with home made ferric chloride, followed up with Community French Roast coffee.

I won't say I'll never make another fish hook Damascus, but I'd have to have a LOT of incentive to tackle it again with the gear I now have.

Nice work, PB!

I had a fun couple of hours in the shop, working on a few different bits and pieces. Did some cleanup grinding on some chasing tools (no picture), started fitting a handle to the little axe:

And worked on a long-abandoned pair of tongs:

I’d messed these up a couple of years ago, but realized that I could reforge the bits and weld on some extra steel for the reins. While they’re not finished yet, there was one wonderful little part of making them: when my son decided to come out to the shop and strike for me. It’s only the second time he’s done that in the last five years or so, and it was great. 

I'd love to see fish hook damascus with it looking like there are fish hooks. 

Turned out nice tho. Glad you finally succeeded. Its a good feeling to go from "this just doesn't work for me" to "I Got it!" 

Daswulf - I actually tried that as well. I managed to weld a fish hook into a flat section of 1060 steel using induction. The induction would heat the bar which would heat the hook. But I couldn't do it twice in a way that looked good. I even considered heating an almost finished blade, pounding a fish hook into it, then filling the resulting groove with brazing. It didn't look all that great and it wasn't what I promised. It might be worth exploring more, though. I think I would just dremel the design into it. My pastor might have even been happier with that, but I'm stubborn. My stubbornness compensates for my lack of skill, so that's just the way it is.

JHCC - Thanks. I can hardly wait to see some of your C&R. The little bit I did has whetted my appetite for it, but I have too many projects lined up. My 50th anniversary was in December and I promised my wife a chest to store her quilts. I also have some yard toys to build and I need to work on an idea I have for a press.

Made the flat jaw tongs from the blanks I bought. Super ugly but they hold 1/4 and 3/8 really strong and 1/8 and 1/2 just ok. Either way I’m happy to add another set and itching to get the other four sets finished because literally every single project I end up angry at some point because of the way I have to hold the work. 
 

Also, anyone know what this tool is??

 

Yes, it's a flaring tool for pipe. Hang onto it; it's very handy for plumbing gas forges.

Nice job on the tongs. Being able to hold the work securely completely changes the game, doesn't it?

John is right. This used to be THE tool for copper tubing connections before compression nuts and shark bite connectors. I had to buy a set for making coils for my induction forge. I'm assuming that fewer physical breaks are better for electrical connections which is more important in induction coils than leakage of coolant.

BTW - If you get one of those China induction forges don't do what I did. I looked at it and figured it was a copper cooling system. In South Louisiana's hot, humid clime I needed something to keep algae growth down in my recirculating cooling water system. From my experience in corrosion control I knew that copper sulfate in water would protect copper AND kill algae. What I did not know until recently is that there is an aluminum heat sink inside that the coolant runs through. Aluminum is anodic to copper, so now I have a leak to repair AND I'll have to flush the system and find something friendlier to aluminum to kill algae.

Also good for flared connections on hard hydraulic lines.

To do hydraulic lines with it you will need the anvils to make double flares with. When you find them at garage sales, flea markets, etc. it is usually the anvils that are missing. There should be one for each size of line you can flare. 

The new style flaring tools are hydraulic and will make many different style flares. Quite an expensive tool but man are they sweeeet. 

One thing to look for on the old used flaring tools is inside the holes it should have "teeth" over time those will become worn down, especially on the larger diameters, and then when you try and flare the pipe it will just slip through. 

 

Ah ok - I see how it would work to flare pipes. Still confused on what the “anvil” would look like but I can look it up. I’m going back to my uncles shop for a second load though so maybe I can find them. 

In this context, the anvil is the cone that goes inside the tube to flare it out.

Ohh ok so I just have one anvil then? But there should be different sizes to match each size hole?

No, the taper takes care of that.

Lol ok brain was not working right. Had to stare at it one more time. Got it. Thanks guys.