forging iron mounts

[R.W.D.]

Oh gee that sounds like a real hoot.  Today at my buddies shop he kept throwing firecrackers at my feet and my nerves are on edge anyway.  Most of the knife makers around here use propane forges.  They seem to all have charcoal forges also but mostly use the propane.  It's really amazing to watch them work.
Danny, that is a really nice setup you have and I love the old tools.

[nc_cooter]

Here's a pic of my gas forge. The stainless container on the left of the forge is my quench tank for knives.


Mike

[dannybb55]

I have a hand cranked champion drill press from e bay but I need a roof and some walls to get that ready. On the scrap bench with my vice is a Bickern with 2 spike headers that cost me 5 bucks and it looks like the 18th century ones. The side draught is all right. My prefered rig is a four foot great bellows and a bottom draught coal forge with a well made clinker breaker and a counter-weighted ash gate, and a 2 cwt anvil. That set up burns about two gallons of coal every 8 hours. the side draught burns twice as much. Metalurgical Bituminous pea coal runs me about 200.00 a ton or five feed sacks for 65.00. Propane can't compete. I'll post a shot of my old shop when I can find some pics.
 Ken, I cut an inverted u along the bottom of the panel on the inlet side and put a cast iron freight wagon bearing in there. The big end of the bearing is 3 inches in Diameter so a stove pipe fits in. The English style fire is kept in compass with carefully placed loose bricks and a water can. The advantage is that there is no real limit to what I can put on the fire and she welds better than any modern gadget. What I really need now is a good swedge block for butt plates and some fullers and top tools and a roof for it all.
                                           Danny

[dannybb55]

Hey Bookie,
I'll take you up on the offer just so long as you keep the ruffians beat back.
How hard is it to learn how to control/use a forge with coal. My buddies with the cowboy welding shop have a hand crank blower that belonged to their Dad and we can build the rest.  Between the three of us we have 70+ years of welding, sheet metal fab experience.  Believe it or not hand dug coal is fairly easy to get in our area of Arkansas.  A fellow that lives near us has a vein of coal on his property and sells it by the bag.  I guess around a 40 or 50 lb bag, a feed sack full anyway. Right now we're lazy and the acetylene torch is so much easier.
Stay on the square,
Ross

 
  Ross, how is the gas torch easier? When I forge a piece and quench it, the item is done, nothing else is needed. When you cut out something is it finished, or are you compelled to grind it and smooth it to get something usable? Also my tools don't really wear out like grinding pads and my O2 is free. I can light a fire and get a 2x2x10 inch bar of steel white hot all over and through quicker and cheaper than a gas rig. Torches are good for cutting plate and bar and somewhat for welding new steel but for making an entirely new shape out of a bar of iron, forging is still the only way to go. Get some anvil time at Penland or John C Campbell and you will be on the road to redemption.
                                       Danny
                                      

[J.D.]

Danny,

I can relate to the outside set up. Most of my equipment came from  farm sales,  pretty cheaply, even at the time I bought 'em. That anvil looks like my old Fischer bought for $45 35 years ago. Gotta love those farm sales. That same anvil would cost a LOT more these days.

I suspect that post vise leaning against the tree would work better if it were mounted right side up, though. 

Bookie,

How in the world did you adjust to the shrinking moon pie? I remember them being at least 6" in diameter and and at least an inch thick. I recently saw a box in one of the grocery stores and they shrank to almost half of what they used to be. Dang, I don't know how you can deal with the moon pie deflation. I didn't see the large glass bottles of RC Cola either. What's this world coming too, with the shrinking moon pies and RC in plastic bottles? America just ain't what it used to be. 

I  use coal bought through our state blacksmithing association in a largish portable forge that I traded a knife for. Don't remember the source of the coal, but it's prety good coal.

Thanks for the idea to quench the coke. I just let it burn out, so I'll try quenching it to see if it lasts longer.

God bless

[Steve Bookout]

J.D., Next time I'm back to the home state, I'll try and drop in.  Ozarks? Are you far from Versailles or Mack's Creek?
     I have a post vise mounted on a piece of 6" channel iron that has been cemented into a small iron farm wagon wheel.  The concrete gives good weight & stability [until you tackle something really big & heavy duty].  The hub was cut out enough to allow the channel iron to fit into the center. A piece of flat steel strip was welded into the inner rim so the channel iron could be welded onto to it to hold it upright and the spokes were left on to give the concrete something to anchor onto.  Since the wheel is round, I can roll the vise anywhere in the smithy with a little manhandling.
     As for the Moon Pies getting smaller, I am appalled with the situation.  I 'member as a kid, they was so big, Grandma had to cut'em into quarters just sos' we could handle'em!  One good thing about them getting smaller though.  If I don't have time to stop for a bite to eat, I can just snort'em. Cheers, Bookie

[dannybb55]

That vice leaning upside down is frozen, any ideas as to how I can unfreeze her without heat?

[omark]

That vice leaning upside down is frozen, any ideas as to how I can unfreeze her without heat?

soak with penetrating oil or a mixture of kerosene and ATF. tap affected area. be patient, this may take several applications.   mark

[Steve Bookout]

Danny, I use Kroil for really nasty items.  It is a penetrant and is the best I've ever come across.  Cheers, Bookie

[J.D.]

I second the Kroil.

So, Bookie, now you're snorting moonpies. Maybe that explains some of your...unusual behavior, but it's better than other things that could, and probably have gone up your nose...like too much coal smoke. 

God bless

[dannybb55]

where do I get some kroil?

[J.D.]

http://www.kanolabs.com/

Some gunshops carry it too.

If you can't find the Kroil, equal amounts of kerosene, ATF, and mineral spirits works good too, but this concoction is not quite as good as Kroil.

God bless

[Jesse168]

Instead of Kroil use equal parts of Acitone and automatic transmition fluid too free rusted parts.

Now Brookie ya got to remember everything seemed bigger when ya wasn't so big.  When ya was a 5 year old your mouth wasn't as big as it is now from all the lies ya done told BROTHER.

Just remember when ya rap the anvil it's a lot louder than hitting the pedistal in the East.

A lot of what yall have shown I see at yard sales.  I picked up a hundred pound anvil and a crank blower a couple of weeks ago at a yard sale.

I have a 30 gallon barrel of coke here that I've had for over 25 years.  I keep saying I'm going to build a forge but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I still do most heating of stuff at work where the propaine and oxy is free.
One of the benifits of working in a job shop.

Jesse

[Steve Bookout]

Brother Jesse, thanks for the "light" on the acetone and tranny oil.  Have used tranny oil on occasion and it does work albeit slowly by itself.  Must give it a try.  If you ever get an anvil that is dead, I'll share a method of rehardening them with you.  Cheers, Bookie

[dannybb55]

Rehardening an anvil takes a bonfire and an incoming tide, or just get a Fisher, they are always perfect.

[Steve Bookout]

Yep.  Fishers is good, but good anvils can be deadened through misuse.  We don't have any tides here in Corn Patch, but we do have a cow pond or two.   Cheers, Bookie

[dannybb55]

New anvils made in Birmingham, London, Trenton, etc were re heated past the tempering color after they had been ground true. The whole anvil was dumped in a heavy brine pond. If the anvil shattered then it went back to the foundry, if it did not then it was generally good for ever. This is why companies like Fisher and Peter Wright could guarantee their anvils for the lifetime of the corperation, not just the owner.