It followed me home

[ichudov]

Hey Igor, Nice score. I most likley will not make it up in Sept this yr. Job change screwed up mommas vacation.
Will holler when I am up again.
Ken.

Well, maybe next year.

i

[Bentiron1946]

That's a nice little torch for making jewelry also handy for fixing the plumbing around the house, good score on all that stuff. B)

[Rodney Skinner]

my swap meet haul today!




well I am having trouble attaching pic... :(

[Jacques]

I've always wanted a belt grinder and has started to collect bits and pieces from the junk yard to build one.
But a while ago I saw this belt grinder at a tender sales company's website, and made an offer, sight unseen and got it.
It is in quite good condition, except the switch is broken, but I bypassed it.
It took me about 10 hours to strip it down and clean of all the rust and reassemble it.
The head rotate so you can choose between a big wheel, small wheel or platen.
Now I'm the proud owner of a industrial belt grinder with a 1.5 kw motor.
I paid about $300.
And of course I just had to clean and put the safety warning back.

[Bentiron1946]

That sure looks like a good sturdy machine to work with on knives and such. :P

[Dick L.]

Real nice design with that rotating head. I've never seen one like that before.

Dick

[Bentiron1946]

Mr. Skinner, Sir! where are the photos of your haul? We're still waiting eagerly for them, Please? :D

[Frosty]

Mr. Skinner: If you click the "Use Full Editor" button below the "Fast Reply" window there will be a "Browse" button below the window that appears. Click "Browse" look through ther picture files on your computer and select the pics you want to attach and then click the "Upload File" button. I only have luck loading one pic at a time with this method but after uploading a file just click "Browse" again and repeat. Try not to upload big files though they tend to be screen chokers. Regardless though, any pic is better than no pic!

Frosty the Lucky.

[Adam2519]

Hello all

My name is Adam, I live in Australia and have recently been bitten by the Blacksmithing bug.
Have been reading madly and collecting bits here and there for my brake rotor forge and steel stockpile. So here is some photos of whats followed me home the last couple of days.

I was pretty happy finding this coil spring with 4 feet of straight rod.


These I am told are from a Volvo truck, used at steel works in Wollongong, the truck is rated for loads up to 32 tonnes



As you can see the leaves are an inch thick and four inches across. The ones I have range in length from a foot to three feet long.


All these were free from a spring maker that has a skip full. All I had to do was ask nicely.


Here is my forge, 44 gal drum was on side of road for council clean up. Brake rotor was free from my mechanic.

[Ratel10mm]

Adam, welcome to IFI. Where are you? Also, please add yourself to the Oz roll call thread, Dale would appreciate it. And, if you're free at the end of October there's Get Hammered at Moony's forge south of Sydney - there's a thread titled Get Hammered for that. :)

[Adam2519]

Thanks Ratel10mm.
I will go to Oz roll call and look into the Get Hammered.

I have already planned out a hot cut hardy tool and fuller, a cold chisel and hot slit?(chisel) and a punch with one small piece of the volvo leaf spring. Any suggestions for future projects using the rest?

[edge9001]

They followed me home I swear!!! thats the story I gave my wife, and I'm sticking to it.

I just got my new tools home today.
1. A custom build 20ton press cleverly disguised as a 20 ton press bender. I figure if I fill the gap at the base of it with a large chunk of steel, then I havea nice surface to mount to for a press, and the upper half I can make a thing to clip to it.


2. My first propane forge minus the regulator and hose. The door to this thing is thicker than I thought it would be at 1/2 inch. and there is no "pass through hole" in the back wall but, for my current purposes, that's fine


3. old antique craftsman "power" hacksaw. I just don't yet have a motor to run it. I'm thinking of repurposing a washer or dryer motor. I have both around here somewhere


and without pictures I have a Victor cutting torch with three new tips and circle cutter, a pair of asbestos gloves, and the plans that were used to build the propane forge.
I got all of this for $200. and to beat it all the guy who built the forge and press and then was nice enought to sell themn to me is a retired machinist. hehe, that means quality built products for me..hehe


can any of you find anything wrong with this forge or anything else here other than the insulation not being coated. give me some feedback guys, I know with this bunch I might regret that later but lets here it anyway.

the best part I only had to drive 9 miles. The family and I went camping 9 miles from this guys house so the rest of the travel time was already accounted for...lol

[Aaron J. Cergol]

I work at a hardware store, and every chance I get, I talk about blacksmithing with customers. Always gotta do it, if only to get my name out there, but I often hear "a friend of a friend has an old anvil collecting dust..."

anyways, I talked with an old timer about 6 months ago. He was fascinated by what I do, and I had him out to my shop, and he really enjoyed himself. Well, hadn't heard from him in a few months, and he stops on by a few days ago telling me he found someone selling old wagon wheel rims (the big metal bands) for $5 a piece. the next day we stop out there and I pick up 20 of them, the seller let me have them all for $50! The guy who told me about them is a bit of a pack rat himself, and has tons of old metalworking tools-that he has no room for, so we'll see where this leads to...

So now I have 20+ of these old rims. I don't quite know what to do with them yet, but it was a good deal, and I didn't know how long they would stay. any ideas on what to do with them?

Aaron

[edge9001]

youcould always make and sell some old style wagons. they would be great for re-enactments, or even smithing carts for shows. After all, someone had put some hard work into making that metal into a wheel, take advantage of thier hard work. OR... just cut em up to shorter pieces and just add it to you stock pile.

[pkrankow]

Wagon tyres were often merchant bar, or rather low grade wrought iron. Knifemakers prize the stuff for furniture because it etches to look like course weathered wood.
Phil

[Dave Hammer]

Tire Rims...

If your tire rims are wrought iron (and most are), the refinement (finess of grain) may vary a lot. I have tire rims that are poor grade wrought, and rims that are of the highest grade wrought. I like to use poorer grades (stronger grain) to make small objects (key fobs.... etc), then etch them to show the grain. I have used better grades of wrought with high carbon steel (nicholson files) to make layered steel and have had good results.

You are extremely fortunate to have that stock, and you bought it at an amazing price. If you haven't forged with wrought iron before, you have both challanges and treats ahead. Forge it HOT.... Lower grades of wrought will crumble if forged at too low a temperature.

I made the wrought iron key fobs.

I forged a layered steel billet (wrought and files), then a good friend of mine (Dan Boone) forged the dragon.

[Bentiron1946]

edge9001, that's a nice little power hacksaw you got there. I have one like that but has a different name on it, slow as mud when it comes to cutting stuff but you just put the blade down and go do something else. They do give you a nice straight cut. I put a 1/3 HP dryer motor on mine and it does just fine with that old slow motor. I paid about $20 for mine from an estate sale thirty years ago if I disremember incorrectly. ;)

[edge9001]

found another good deal today. nothing special though, just a 4ft wrecking bar for a dollar at my local flea market. not sure yet if its going to be added to my scrap/stock supply pile or left as a tool and used as a prybar

[Aaron J. Cergol]

good to hear, I figured I got a good deal.

Dave, very nice work, and beautiful grain patterns. what did you use to etch it?

It just so happens that an old friend who got me into blacksmithing will be in town for a festival this weekend and I'll be working with him there. I'll bring one, and ask him to help me play around with some W.I.

Aaron

[edge9001]

Today I got these things from a guy,I only paid $100 for all of this. the gentlemen is around his 60's he said his grand dad used to be a blacksmith and this was all of his things. I got the blower and almost got a post vise and 90# anvil. He could find the vise and sold the anvil last year to an antique shop in alabama. there were even an few hot cut chisels


A stack of hand saw blades key hole saws and a couple of circular saw blades

A few grinder stones the larger one has asquare hole in is, I figure I'll mount it on a piece of wood.

a few draw knives and a ... forge fire pot thinggy....the name escapes me

several tongs nail nippers asome shears and a few other misc tools

several pounds of lead

several scythe blades and machine pulleys

I have no idea what this is, Any one have a clue....please

this blower is a champion blower and it works beautifully, is as smooth as can be



I have a box the size of a red brick only 3 inches longer full the these things. folding knife parts, and one nearly finished knife.

[Max Mulholland - Tetnum]

you have a ducks nest fire pot they are fun to work with

[edge9001]

yea, that's it....I knew someone would remind me...lol
any idea what the other unknown tool is? I've seen it before I just never knew what it was

[Max Mulholland - Tetnum]

might be some type of tensioner or sheer but i am not sure some else may know

[edge9001]

anyone have or can make a drawing of how a duck's nest fire pot is used in a forge, I can't figure out how this was set up, and I would like to use this and my new blower and set up a portable rig on my trailer(another on of my cobbled projects, made from a frame with expanded steel covering and car axle, and some scrap 2x2 square tubing I scounged. The way I see it with the floor of the trailer being nothing but steel grate it make a perfect portable forge trailer since there is no wood to burn in it, and any sparks that fall will not stay on the trailer.

[Frosty]

I don't have a picture but will make a sketch if I can't find a pic in one of my books.

Till then, a duck's nest is basically a depression in a clay forge table over the air grate. Sometimes they're no more than a depression 2 or more inches wide and one or two deep. Sometimes they're like a crater with a rounded rim wall but still only an inch or two deep. The crater rim helps keep the iron above the oxidizing level in the fire.

I have a couple coal forges with duck's nests rather than fire pots because I prefer the easier versatility in size and depth. I use fire bricks around the duck's nest to make a custom sized and shaped fire pot from small square, large and square, long and narrow or sometimes covered to make a closed oven.

How I make duck's nests is to first clay the forge table or pan with clay mixed with silica sand at about 3 pts clay to 1 pt sand. The sand reinforces the clay and makes it shed moisture quickly and limits shrink checking as it dries. You've seen shrink checking if you've seen a dry lake bed or mud hole, the cracks are the result of the clay shrinking and cracking.


The biggest trick for successfully claying a forge is to use as little water as possible, only just enough the clay will pack hard. To determine if you have the right moisture content you use the same test you'd use for testing green sand for casting. Take a handful and squeeze it HARD. It should form a hard lump leaving no clay or sand clinging to your hand. If it does the mix is too wet, add some sand, mix and leave a day in a sealed container to equilize the moisture content or "temper" in caster parlance.

If it only leaves a little dust or small crumbs on your hand that brush off easily good. The next step is to break the lump. It should break cleanly in half without crumbling. If it crumbles it's too dry add a little and I MEAN LITTLE water by spraying it over the mix. Mix it very thoroughly and leave it covered a day or better two in a sealed container to temper. It takes longer to equilize moisture when you add water.

Okay, once you have the right moisture content, don't worry it isn't an exact thing, no dirty hands and no crumbling is good enough. The next step is to spread a layer about half again as deep as you want the finished layer in the forge pan or bed. for instence if you want 2" clay bed lay at least 3" of mix and smooth it evenly. Getting too much is okay, it's EASY to just scrape excess off while it's darned hard to add mix and get the two layers to bond. So use a little more than you think you'll need.

Next, use a wood mallet or a not too heavy single jack sledge hammer to ram the clay hard. Just use the mallet like a hammer but if you use a sledge hold it with the handle straight up and ram it like you were plunging a toilet or tamping a driveway so as NOT to damage the forge body. Ram it till the mallet or hammer bounces.

Before you ram the center cover the air grate with something to form the duck's nest. In the field one time I found a split 3" granite cobble that worked perfectly. Other things will work just fine like a 2-3" pipe cap laid threads up over the grate PVC will work fine as will almost anything that will prevent the rammed clay mix from blocking the air grate. The whatever you find needs to be just large enough to keep the whole air grate clean. so if you have a 3" air grate use a 3" cap or whatever, if it's 4" use a 4" one or whatever. This is a common sense thing.

Lay the duck's nest form (cap or whatever) over the air grate so the finished liner will form a bowl with sides that taper wider as it rises like a soup bowl. You'll need to poke clay mix under the sides or the form will move when you ram the clay. Now use the mallet or the handle of the sledge to ram the clay mix HARD around the form, ram it till the rammer bounces.

Okay, now remove the form and use a strike to clean the clay bed. (another caster's term a striker is a steel bar like a thick ruler that's used to shave green sand till it's flush with the flask" A steel ruler works just dandy, better even if there's a dish to your forge pan because a ruler will bend. Once you're stricken the clay smooth and uniform use a piece of burlap and burnish it smooth. The smoother it is the less clinker or slag will stick to it and the stronger it'll be. Getting it shiny would be excellent though maybe a little overkill. Still shiny isn't a bad thing. Now use an old butter knife and score the clay 1/4"-3/8" deep so any shrink checking will follow the score marks. This allows you to control the cracks and put them where they won't hurt the forge's operation. In a round pan I score it like spokes in a wheel from the duck's nest to the outer rim. In a square one I score it from the duck's nest, first in quarters to the center of the flat sides and then to the corners. Score it as soon as you've finished striking or burnishing. Burnishing is NOT necessary it only helps, it's not critical at all.

Last step is to let it dry completely maybe taking a couple days or longer depending on local humidity. If it's humid where you live hand a light bulb over it, setting a small fan at a distance won't hurt but do NOT go overboard and try to force dry it quickly or it'll shrink check heavily.

Once it's dry enough, a finger nail scratched bit will blow out from under your finger nail as a puff of dust. Perfect. Okay, now it's time for your first fires. The first fire should be smallish wood 2x2s being max and only enough blast to get it burning well then let it burn and go out and cool. Covering it with something that won't burn while burning and especially afterwards is GOOD. You'll want something that won't burn to cover it anyway or rain will damage it ruinously. Second fire is same as the first but larger wood and let it burn longer, a couple hours is good. Cover and let it cool again.

You can do another wood burn if the bed's dusty or you can just lay coal and have at it. With a duck's nest start the fire slowly to allow the clay liner time to come to heat before you really crank the air. This'll help control heat checking. Heat checking is almost assuradly going to occur so the score marks are even more critical in use but don't sweat it if you get some cracking. All you need to do is fill large cracks with dry clay mix and tamp it in with your finger and it'll be okay.

I hope that's less confusing than it sounds, it's a pretty simple process in principle but a little fussier in practice than intuition says. One of the best aspects of a clay lined forge is if it breaks up on you just break it out and do it again.

Frosty the Lucky.