What did you do in the shop today?

[JHCC]

I have, and it has been very helpful.

[GhostTownForge]

1 hour ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

What type of coal are you using?

I am using bituminous. its a bottom blast. I'm going to switch to propane though, I just used it and the neighbors are already complaining about the smell, and I cant pile enough coal on top for it to stay hot.

so much for that idea. I just don't have enough room for a normal coal forge.

[Dave Murray]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:14 PM, Daswulf said:

Also a new style welded up cut nail cross design. 

Those are strange looking horseshoe nails, are you reworking them I use a city head or a E head nail when I put them in my horseshoe  crosses. 

[George N. M.]

Nate, if you can find it (try a farrier supply) you might try using coke.  I have used it for years to avoid smoke and odor problems with the neighbors.  It takes some different fire management than coal but it can work as a fuel very well.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Daswulf]

Hey Dave, with the crosses like the one I showed in my post those are "cut masonry nails" not horseshoe nails. They could be made from horseshoe nails.  Horseshoe nails are much harder to weld up because of the thin shank. 

Those are some nice horse shoe and nail crosses. I've made a few similar but less elaborate. 

[Dave Murray]

Horseshoe nails come in a lot of sizes and styles nowadays. You can get from a size 3 race nail up to a 16 draft horse nail the ones in my crosses are 5,6,7s.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[GhostTownForge]

12 hours ago, George N. M. said:

you might try using coke.  I have used it for years to avoid smoke and odor problems with the neighbors. 

The problem with mine is that it isn't big enough to keep the heat and get any hotter than a dull red hot, and I don't really have the room to get a large enough forge.

[Goods]

Nate, I don’t think this is a size issue. Overall you forge is bigger than my rivet forge and it’s easy to burn steel in. Looking at yours, I think you may have combined a few different concepts which aren’t playing well together. If you’re interested in improving it a switching to coke, we can help you refine the design.

(I’m pretty lucky. I live in town, but haven’t had anyone complain about the smoke, smell or noise. Even after I added my power hammer into the mix.)

Keep it fun,

David

[JHCC]

Just now, Goods said:

If you’re interested in improving it a switching to coke, we can help you refine the design.

And if you do go down this road, start a new thread in the Solid Fuel Forges section to document it. 

[Les L]

Das, thanks for the nail information 

Dave, those are some fine looking crosses 

[Shainarue]

Always inspired by the beautiful work posted in here. Those crosses are beautiful Das & Dave. The globe with the airforce rank turned out wonderful, Pat. And of course everything you do is exceptional, Alexandr.

[Pat Masterson]

Horseshoe crosses are really something Dave. Nice work. 

Thanks Shainarue

[BillyBones]

I learned today that hard and soft woods have nothing to do with how hard the wood is but rather how the tree reproduces. I learned this when i discovered that balsa wood is classified as a hard wood. 

Anywho, thought i would share that, off to Quad state now.

[Jobtiel1]

Some soft woods are also harder than some hardwoods, which can make it even more difficult.

~Jobtiel

[Justor JeiGallo]

Dave, those are absolutely gorgeous!

[M.J.Lampert]

Three new batches of hot sauce made with home grown serrano hot peppers, a mango with one bottle tamed down for my little brother, one with herbs and spices, and one with fermented peppers

M.J.Lampert

[JHCC]

2 hours ago, Jobtiel1 said:

Some soft woods are also harder than some hardwoods

Depends on how it grows, too. Slow-growth loblolly pine (Pinus taeda, aka southern yellow pine) is one of the hardest woods around. 

[Pat Masterson]

Hey guys. Getting ready to do the meridian on this globe and was just curious…now obviously it depends on how tight your twists are but if you take a 30” bar for example and put an even twist down the entire length I would imagine that bar is going to be shorter after the twisting. Is there any kind of know formula to calculate the loss of length? Again I’m assuming there’s not because of the variance in any given twist tightness but basically, using a wire, I measured that the meridian length is 26” from pole to pole with an even amount of space between the meridian and the sphere itself but right before I went to twist it this thought hit me so I held off. If there is no possible way of figuring out how much the twist is going to affect it then obviously I’ll just overshoot by a few inches, twist, bend it and then cut the excess off but I figured it was worth at least asking. 
 

[Les L]

Pat, I have not noticed much loss of length when twisting my stock, but I always start with extra to ensure I have the same pattern on the ends. I have not bent twisted stock in a circle. I would add at least 8 inches and cut to size after bending. Size of stock may make a difference. Your half circle looks great, did you do any before/after measurements on it?

[jlpservicesinc]

Pat really nice twists..  Great job.

[jlpservicesinc]

So, today finished the Skills and grills class sponsored by the NEB.. Beth Holmberg is both a CBA and ABANA instructor and she was the teacher. 

Great course and Teacher..  Learned a few new things and refreshed things I had forgotten..   1990 was the last wrought iron work I had done so was excellent having a very well schooled instructor on the subject. 

 

[Frosty]

Pat: Solid unidimensional, square, hexagonal, round, etc. won't lose length when twisted. Shapes, say 1/2" x 1" etc. can let alone things like angle iron. 

Twist up a few inches more than you think you'll need regardless, it's better having to trim than trying to get it gray hair exactly. 

Beautiful globe, your patience shows.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shainarue]

I had a very productive week. TwistedWillow has been providing a LOT of virtual assistance to help me get the little Bufco forge up and running. It's all cleaned out, E-clips added where needed, rust sanded off, and first coat of paint on most of the outer bits. 

Then I started working on removing the eaten up air grate so I could install a new one. Finally resorted to using the cutoff wheel so now I need to buy new bolts, lol

Next up is to attach the new grate and clay up the pot. Maybe hit the forge with paint just to get it looking nice and matching the blower, lol

Yesterday I cut up some boards to make a portable forge a'la Charles' Mark III JABOD forge. With a few tweaks that I'll probably hate, lol

I'm hoping to be able to try out the Mark III on Sunday. I haven't worked with hot metal in what seems like forever and I'm getting antsy. 

Oh, also I maybe had an incident with a wayward wire wheel attachment bumping my hand while I was sanding off the rust. I got a tetanus shot today, lol

[BillyBones]

Started a trivet. Got my ring made. Weld did not quite lay down on the one end but it is strong and tight other than that. Still need to tweak it a bit more round and punch the holes and put on the feet. That will be later today after Quad state. Also got a serving fork shaped, did the forging the other day, and started the grind on another kitchen knife. 

 

Found an old file out in my barn. Cleaned all the dirt and junk off it and figured it could be used for high carbon inserts. So i tried to make a axe and the bit crumbled. I thought maybe to hot so i tried colder, again it crumbled and fell apart. Long story short i have tried at a few different heat temps from cold to searing hot to forge this thing and it always crumbles and falls apart. This is not my first time using a file but it is the first time i have run into this problem. Is it me or is it just cheap unusable steel? 

[anvil]

22 hours ago, Pat Masterson said:

calculate the loss of length?

Yes it will lose length if you twist it. I make a test piece and keep it in my notes by the job. If your twist per length is the same, the loss of length will be the same. I don't know of a formula to figure it out on paper.

For measuring lengths of a curve, I think thats your other question, always measure the centerline of the curve. The inside edge upsets and gets shorter, the outside edge is drawn out and gets longer but the centerline length does not change. This works for tapers as well. And I couldn't be without my stringline for figuring these lengths. Actually I use a piece of 16 gage wire. 

So you have two different lengths to figure, first the twist length loss, then the actual length from your full scale drawing of the finished curve. 

As far as forging to length, I always get a good feeling when I forge to length and hit it right on the mark, not to mention the extra time you save for each cut you make. It adds up quickly when you have a lot of pieces, but hey, different strokes for different folks. Like anything, it just takes doing until it becomes second nature.

A good book for this is Francis Whitaker's "The Blacksmiths Cookbook. He has quite a few simple formulas for calculating changes for a number of details.

Really a nice piece!