March 9, 20251 yr Got contacted by a magnet fisherman. These are all light gauge spikes and a wrought iron tire. They are all from a railroad bridge that had been torn down a few decades ago. Not sure what to do with the tire but I'm thinking a few more masks may be in order. Also had a 7 foot long steel pipe. Gave him my number and a bottle opener.
March 10, 20251 yr Chad, the spikes may be wrought iron or steel. Spark test them if you haven't already. Because of the fiberous nature of WI due to the slag inclusions you can etch it and get a "wood grain" pattern similar to pattern welded steel (aka "Damascus") You can do some cool things with WI for knives where you have a WI body and a high carbon edge welded on. Because WI has the silicous slag inclusions in tends to be "self fluxing" and welds easier than a lot of steels, particularly the high carbon weird alloy steels. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."
March 10, 20251 yr A mask with grain from etched WI would be very cool. Just make sure it’s screaming hot when you forge it, otherwise it will split, especially in such thin pieces.
March 10, 20251 yr George, I did a break test on one and it wasn't wrought but that doesn't mean there isn't some in there. I also explained and showed him in that rim what wrought iron looks like. He'll be calling me when he gets some. Said he had a couple hot spots where he pulls them out. In the mean time I may be spending time in the Handy Railroad Spike page.
March 10, 20251 yr Chad, I just made myself a pair of the Ken's Custom Iron RR spike tongs, and I like both the design and the quality. If you're going to be doing a lot of spike work and don't already have appropriate tongs, I'd recommend checking them out.
March 10, 20251 yr +1 on Ken's spike tongs. Cheap, easy to put together and quite effective design. I recently taught a class to my engineering staff in forging spike knives and needed a bunch. Was able to knock out (7) of those in a single day, including drawing out reins.
March 13, 20251 yr This probably won't follow me home, if only because it would take up far too much space in my shop. (Not to mention being a wee bit overpowered for forge use.)
March 13, 20251 yr That fan seems fine. Just use a 55 gallon drum for its waste valve and install a little rheostat on that. You’ll be blown away with how much you like it
March 14, 20251 yr For 2 grand it had better fix breakfast before I would buy it. Of course I've always been frugal. I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~
March 14, 20251 yr You could set it up and run 30 or so forges simultaneously or maybe run 10 forges and ventilate the shop or three. Frosty The Lucky.
March 14, 20251 yr Based on the radial impeller configuration, that is a relatively high pressure blower, not a high volume flowrate. At 30 HP, I wouldn't be surprised if it had been used in an industrial setting for dust extraction from a large wood shop or the like. I do use a similar configured blower for my forge, but it is only 1/2 HP (and is still rather overpowered - but I had it handy).
March 14, 20251 yr I use an impeller fan electric mattress inflator and it's way over powered whatever I'm burning though it's great for getting a camp fire rolling. When I was going to garage, yard, etc. sales I them picked up for maybe a buck or less. I have 12v dc and 120v ac.. The 12vdc are great camping or smithing in the field. You can get them at big box sporting goods stores in season and find them cheap at yard, garage etc. sales in the fall. The deals at close outs in the big boxes are usually very reasonable. Frosty The Lucky.
March 14, 20251 yr I'll bet it'd work for upside down sky writing, aim it up at the clouds and rearrange them into words. Of course you could blow the fall leaves, branches and small fallen trees to the next village too. Frosty The Lucky.
March 17, 20251 yr Our school has recently opened a new building and the Art department have moved. They got a new pottery kiln as part of the new fit out because the old one was rusting to pieces. It has all the shelves and other accessories they need, so the old spares were going to be dumped: Almost a dozen intact kiln shelves (19mm thick x 25cm x 55cm, or 3/4" x 10" x 22") and several large but broken pieces, a few pieces of kiln washed ISB and a nice metal drawer that will become my new, more compact JABOD! Not to mention, I will also soon have a set of map drawers from them that are surplus to their requirements in the new digs! One very happy smith here! Cheers, Jono.
March 17, 20251 yr Goodness Jono, you're on a lucky streak here. I hope you bought a lottery ticket! Frosty the Lucky.
March 17, 20251 yr A declutterring neighbor called to say that he had a bucketful of tractor rake tines.
March 18, 20251 yr I picked these up yesterday. Not sure why as I have plenty. Perhaps I will rework some into more specialized hammers. The claw hammers go into a "collection" I have of those. I will put a handle on the little cross pein one, third in from the top right. Oops! wrong forum - should be in the" followed me home." [mod note: fixed it.]
March 18, 20251 yr Are you allowed to make large things with the rake teeth? Seems like you should only make things that are... tine-y
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