It followed me home

[Farmall]

well, I checked up on the burn rate and found a document on the EPA's website - the MSDS sheet for Goex Blackpowder.  It says "...In the open, trains of black powder burn very slowly, measurable in seconds per foot. Confined, as in steel pipe, speeds of explosions have been timed at values from 560 feet per second for very coarse granulations to 2,070 feet per second for the finer granulations."  So, yes, it was a slow burn.  wanted that strong push into the log to crack it.  Just as a matter of interest, modern Det Cord burns from 21,000 to 24,000 feet per second.....just a wee bit faster.  I know there are probably some explosive experts on here, so I won't try to explain further. 

As part of my career involved forensic investigations, I have investigated a few explosions of varying types over the years.....always interesting to see the effects and the propagation velocities and strengths of the pressure waves.  Back in the 80's investigated a natural gas home explosion that destroyed one house and damaged 39 others.  All older houses built in the 1920's with wooden siding - the houses across the street from the one that exploded looked fine from the outside (except for the blown out windows) as the wooden siding was porous and let the pressure wave through - but inside - the drywall facing the house was blown across the rooms.  Interesting effect.  luckily no one was hurt in that incident.

one other thing - our old black powder wedge looked like this one I found on the web.  Ours is up at Dad's so not readily available for photos.

[George N. M.]

If you lay out a foot or so of black powder and a foot or so of smokeless powder and light the ends the black powder will burn much quicker from end to end.  So, the movie trope of laying a train of black powder to blow something up while giving a person time to escape is pretty bogus, unless it is a real LONG train.  This, of course, is unconfined in the open air.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Shainarue]

23 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

If it doesn't turn or makes ugly noises the first thing to check is for critter nest's behind the fan. If that's clear you may have to clean the gunk out of the gears with some Kerosene.

When she first pulled it out from the corner, it was completely seized up. A quick look inside and it was completely caked with mud dauber nests. So that was an easy fix. Once I got that cleaned out, it turned but made an awful tinking noise. I brought it home and tried getting it apart. The best I managed was getting the fan cover off - which revealed most of the issue anyway. One fan blade was hitting the rivet heads (probably from me clearing out the nests). I adjusted that blade and it swung clear. Held the cover on and spun with my finger - still clear. Crank with the handle though sounded kind of like a low toned grinding. Couldn't figure where to add oil so I just used my finger and added some around the spindle of the fan, figuring it would seep its way down - and poured about 1/2 a cap full into the screw hole of the motor housing unit. Removing the screw did nothing for assisting in removing the housing cover but I figured it was at least a hole that went into that area so good enough. It sounded much better after that.
Eventually, I need to take it all off again and soak it to work the ages of rust free and maybe then it will come apart for me where I can inspect the gears & bearings and grease appropriately. 

[George N. M.]

Shaina:  The way I approach disassembling something with which I am unfamilar is to try to figure out the order in which it was assembled at the factory and work backwards.  I suspect with yours that to get into the gear box you will have to remove the outer fan cover, then take the fan off the shaft, take the inner fan cover off the gear box and then you may have a way into the gear box.  They had to have some way of getting the gears into the gear box when it was assembled.

Good luck and if you have problems post some photos and we may be able to help.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

2 hours ago, Shainarue said:

Eventually, I need to take it all off again and soak it to work the ages of rust free and maybe then it will come apart for me where I can inspect the gears & bearings and grease appropriately. 

Ive worked on several of those little bufco Buffalo blowers an brought em back to life, an I still got a couple hanging around the smithy,

a word of caution on the sheet metal stamped Buffalo blowers, they have fiber washers/spacers in them, 

be very careful as they can and will crumble an disintegrate on ya!!!

And when it happens the blower gears won’t be at the right spacing and the blower can lock up on ya mid use!

It’s very aggravating ask me how I know! Lol

Those blowers are awesome but I have had to fix a few small issues with them, 

I’ve come up with some fixes though for those models that hold up really well so if ya ever run into problems lemme know

[Shainarue]

Hmmm, well now I'm wondering if I should even try to open it up! 

[ThomasPowers]

Scrapyard run today, not very much new.  I just picked up a tap handle, some rusty barbwire, a piece for a bending fixture. Then while waiting for the owner to return and weigh me out I spotted about 1' exposure of a heavy wagon tyre  buried in one of the piles.  After getting permission, I managed to get a piece of rope around it and over to the trailer hitch on my truck and extract it without cataclysmic pile issues; 3' in diameter 3" wide and about 3/4" to 1" thick.  I'm hoping it's real wrought iron as it would stack well for making hammers once my power hammer is running.  (About 65#  according to my ancient bathroom scale---also from the scrap yard.)   Total today was US$14 for 77#---he knocked off the 40 cents in change. 

Tap handle cleaned up nicely, all steel, USA made.  The bending fixture is a round plate with a band welded around the outside; but with a 1" gap where the ends would meet.  It cleaned up nicely too.

The tyre spark tested as real wrought iron.  Now to get a powered method of cutting it into lengths for use.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

On 9/6/2022 at 4:04 PM, Shainarue said:

I can inspect the gears & bearings and grease appropriately. 

Those use oil, not grease. The oil port should be in the gear case above the crank handle. If I remember right it is a push button to oil it. You might want to start a thread in the  Forges Bellows & Blowers section, with some pictures.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/150-bellows-blowers/

I don't think it would be a good idea to take it apart without help. A new thread may get you that help and make it easier for folks interested in blowers to see it.

[Jobtiel1]

Thomas, that wrought iron is a nice find, its a lot of iron indeed. Did they generally use highly refined wrought for wagon wheels or the poorly refined stuff?

~Jobtiel

[ThomasPowers]

Generally, in my experience, they used very coarse WI for tyres; probably resisted deformation going over rocky roads better.  Smiths wanting a lot of "visible structure" tend to like etched wagon tyre WI.

[JHCC]

I don't know about resisting deformation, but it certainly would have been cheaper.

[ThomasPowers]

Higher grades of WI are more malleable than lower grades; why some brands of anvils are known for sagging more after long years of being worked on.  Lower grades are more prone to fracture though.

[JHCC]

Interesting.

A couple of the big WI tires I've picked up are made up of a number of shorter pieces welded together to make up the full circumference. The spots with the welds have some very nice grain.

[Jobtiel1]

I got a WI wall anchor recently, like 30 by 50 mm bar. Very coarse stuff It cracks open at the slightest mishap. Would also make sense to use some more bendable stuff since the wooden, often oak, church frame in this case moves with the elements it would be nice that the anchors can give a bit.

I made a san mai knife a few weeks ago using the stuff and the grain popped out pretty nicely.

~Jobtiel

[Mothman_c3w]

Just drove 260 miles, round trip, for this Racine Model 816 power hacksaw. It needs a new motor pulley and a belt; the sprocket safety cover and part of the stock gauge are missing, but the action is smooth and everything else looks to be in fantastic condition. I even got a couple extra blades with it. Looking forward to getting it up and running; I have a pile of train rail begging to be cut up.

 

[bluerooster]

Well, I'm typing on my cell phone so please disregard any misspelling of words.  

I've been away from the forge for some time now. And working out of town doesn't help any.  I did, however, have a couple of things follow me home. They will require restoration before I can use them. But should be fun to play with when finished. 

Now I need to find some 1025 thin wall tubing, the fuselage needs a few pieces replaced.

Also, I must apologize if the pics are too big. I have no way to resize them on my phone.

[ThomasPowers]

Strangest anvil stand I've seen!

[Justor JeiGallo]

And I was happy to find an old gas grill on the curb to make into a rolling propane forge cart. Bluerooster brings home a (almost whole) plane! Nice!

[Frosty]

Wait till you see the propane forge he makes from it. Rolling propane forge, INDEED.  

I'm willing to bet he didn't pick it up on the curb on trash day.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Looks like a fun project but how much can you do yourself and how much has to be done by someone who is FAA certified?  And how much will you have to do such as having components inspected to get an FAA airworthiness certificate?  Is that crash damage on one wing or did something hit the plane while it was on the ground?

If you use it to go to blacksmithing events you will probably have to take your light weight, freeze dried anvil.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Rojo Pedro]

Nice saw Mothman!!

[JHCC]

Mail call!

Blacksmithing-themed T-shirts (two for me, one for my son):

Flashback arrestors for the oxypropane torch:

[JHCC]

And in today's episode of what did NOT follow me home, I'm in Maine on a business trip and found time in my schedule to swing by the famous Liberty Tool Company. Alas, there was a note on the door from the proprietor that an emergency had called them away five minutes before I got there. Oh, well.

(I had stopped at the Trash and Treasures Barn in Searsport on the way, but all their smithing stuff was waaaaaaaaay overpriced.)

[JHCC]

Used book store find:

[Frosty]

Oooh COOL!

Frosty The Lucky