ThomasPowers

I remember when SOFA built their coal shed; seems like the EPA had a *LOT* of restrictions on coal piled outside and the "runoff"; but almost nothing on coal in an enclosed building; so...

Well the heat ray is great to sear in the juices! When I was at the scrapyard today there was a metal box chemistry kit, the box was in excellent condition but it was empty except for the holders. I really wanted to see what they gave for the atomic experiments!

When I put a fan in my shop today, a forging buddy sent a pic to another of our forging friends asking if it was a sign of the end of days; He's been forging with me for over a decade and never a fan in the shop before.

Where's my Hemlock smoothie! (I have a CIS degree and so avoid FB, Twit, etc as I know too much. IFI is about as much of a "social media" as I can tolerate.) J, did you see that propane tank I found at the scrapyard today that looks like someone was trying to build a forge from it. (Wayne Coe's website has instructions for making one that way...)

It's cooled down out here, next 10 days it's supposed to be only in the mid 90's degF, (35 degC). Sitting in my steel shop building this afternoon I was a tad tepid and I got to thinking of the several squirrel cage fans I had bought over the years for when I had electricity. Two of them worked and I set them up to point at where my shop chair was. Now less of an excuse to avoid work!

I've owned it 40 years and I expect my kids will fight over who gets it now I have made a replacement grill.

I got it cheap as the owner was tired of moving it every time he changed rental houses/apartments. Traded him a 125# PW, a screw/screwbox from a postvise and US$100 boot; so I had about 50USCents a pound in it.

Looks like they need holsters!

Perhaps I should say: magnets stick to my cast iron solid fuel BBQ grill.

Tell Ash it's the lead for your next "help wanted" sign. Scrapyard visit today 29# and they gave it to me for free! Some twisted 3/8" sq stock, 5' of 3/4" sucker rod with one termination, lug wrench, coil spring from farm equipment suitable for making scribes, couple of heavy duty tin cans, magnetic base for a whip antenna, 3 reflectors for my shop door, dome headed RR bolt, paint stirrer for my drill, horseshoe, gold ball, 9mm socket, and the bottom end for a pipe clamp---nice in that I have found several top ends but the sliding bottom ends seem to get lost. Just reading that George Armstrong Custer's father owned a forge (Blacksmith's shop). Then on to town only to find that none of the hardware places has the parts I need to redo the guest bathroom toilet. Sigh. Now one that didn't follow me home: BBQ sized propane bottle; looks like someone was going to build a forge!

Strange to think that Sir Winston Churchill was considered rather a failure prior to WWII and went on to become one of the best known and famous Englishmen in the World. Starting at age 65!

I've been online in blacksmithing groups from around 1990, (rec.crafts.metalworking, keenjunk, neotribal metalsmiths, anvilfire and IFI), most if not all of them predate the use of the "at sign" by a decade of more. So I guess you should be telling social media that they have got it wrong...Popularity does not make something "right". If I can't figure out a reply I can just read up in the thread until it becomes clear. As this site is not a company owned site but paid for by an individual, he gets to make the rules. Nobody is required to participate here and unlike commercial sites *you* are not a commodity being sold. Now if you are willing to "go with the flow" here, it is an immense resource. Learning how to effectively search can really speed things up. Example if I use my Chrome browser and search on: TPAAAT site:iforgeiron.com I get 429 hits *all* specific to IFI, no paid ads, bogus posts, etc. Like the "at" issues the search function imbedded in IFI's software is not the greatest, shall we say...go with your browser's search function!

Metal Shaper? I think the interpenetrating waffle pattern became more prevalent after they started using cast plates.

I've been moderated for a typo before; didn't stop me. Having stringent moderation is a feature of this site; I can have my grandkids read this site and not worry about what they may run across. (Or what their parents may run across!) You are, of course, welcome to leave; but you are also welcome to stay and try in the future to not to run afoul of the TOS.

When I worked at Bell Labs; I always claimed that your retirement benefit was calculated by sectioning your coffee mug and counting the rings...

Magnet will too.

I'm really wondering if it is cast iron; I did a bit of searching on the net and found grills with cast iron burners and grills with cast iron grills; but none with a cast iron body.

Not everyone has access to that.

Bolts that are plated are TOXIC if put in the forge. I tend to pick up good clean nuts and bolts at the scrapyard to have enough on hand to not need a trip to town for basic repairs and construction. Of course my shop is 20x60 with 10' walls and I still have a scrap pile; OK I have a couple of scrap piles including one just of real wrought iron. (Note it's on the side of the shop towards my bedroom and I'm not amiss to shot patterns in the propanel wall of that part of the shop... Glenn sells a T shirt with "In Rust We Trust" the motto of smiths that use scrap/scrounged materials. I tend to find stuff at the scrapyard because it's what I do for fun, that and working in my shop. I have an "allowance" I can spend for all my vices---including vises and it sure stretches farther at the scrapyard! Now what to do with the 3/4" cold rolled mild that the Wally lay-away shelves used to run on...

Build your own grate?

They sell electric pizzelle makers and I bet you can locate a cooker for the stroopwafel that you can use as a design basis for the iron. "Early American Wrought Iron", Sonn has good drawings of several including various ways of locking the arms together and fastening the disks. "The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi", 1570 AD has an example in plate 16. "Irons in the Fire", Rachel Feild and "Savouring the Past, The French Kitchen & Table from 1300 to 1789", B.K.Wheaton have multiple mentions but no examples of the hardware.

Any "historic houses" near you that might have one in the kitchen so you can examine it close up?

About US$818 for 2200 pounds; for coke; doesn't sound bad to me at all!

Does the other end work?

An important part of heating the forge is the dwell time of the hot gasses. They don't transfer their BTUs *immediately* so too much gas/air into the forge is just wasting fuel as you get the hot gasses exiting before they can dump their heat.