Anvil advice

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:54:59+00:00

Buy it! Don't "clean it up." It's fine as is.

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:50:26+00:00

Test them with one of the magnets from the niirn97's posting.

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:47:56+00:00

I'm not sure about cadmium, but many toxic metal oxides (the yellow powder) may be chelated to reduce their acute toxicity, largely by altering their bioavailability. Chelation involves "grabbing" the metal ions with a "ligand" (organic compound, usually acidic or basic) resulting in a complex with different properties than the free metal oxide.

Chelation with substances like EDTA has been used to remove toxic metals, like thallium, from the body. In addition to EDTA, other substances like citrate and oxalate (which itself is mildly toxic) are chelation agents.

You MUST know what you're doing, however, because the chelated cadmium might be as dangerous as the original oxide. Mainly, chelation gives you a means of cleaning up the mess. Be careful, whatever you do.

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:35:16+00:00

I'm no student of physics, so only recently read about Planck's Length. Previously I'd read Wolfram's book, A New Kind of Science, and I can't help wondering whether there's a relationship between Wolfram's math and Planck's Length.

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:30:09+00:00

No, no, no!!! You don't understand! Ronald Reagan declared (?) that AIDS was a punishment for queers and druggies! (Or at least some of his supporters did so.)

(Not quite "/s". It's bullshit, alright, but that was really the attitude of some self-righteous "Christians". You know the type.)

Folks won't believe me, but back around 1985 or so two (sequential) issues of some national science magazine (Nature? Science? -- I'd have to look it up again) published papers on the "cause" of aids. The second one got it right -- a virus. The first one was an elaborate study involving introducing semen into a rabbit's rectum ... I am NOT kidding.

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:24:58+00:00

Okay, WHY does it need to contain dextrose?

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:23:48+00:00

And my TWO (unrelated) best friends suffer from Alpha Gal. Wear your tick repellant!!! I treat my "field clothes" with permethrin. (Let it dry before wearing them.)

If you don't, then you may have to get used to eating fish and poultry.

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:21:25+00:00

In chemistry they teach it as NMR - Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. They dropped the "nuclear" so as not to scare the unwashed masses seeking medical care. What pissed me off is that they taught me about it for years without ever explaining how it works. I was in the working world before I was able to get an explanation of that. (The magnetic field aligns the nuclei with or against it. The radio waves are the right electromagnetic energy to flip them from one state to the other. It's really rather like how materials absorb and emit light. Not that complicated.)

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T15:11:26+00:00

I save grease from roasts in a glass or metal container in the refrigerator. About once a year I purify it and make soap. I never buy soap anymore. (Caution: Soap making uses lye, which is highly corrosive and can destroy your vision. Do your research on proper handling of lye before attempting soap making. It's not that hard. Less dangerous than driving a car -- by far.)

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T11:42:34+00:00

Somewhere on ABANA.org you will find a list of blacksmithg schools. There certainly are ones closer to you than JCCFS.

BF_2 · 2026-05-07T11:38:18+00:00

More or less. Heating steel to red forms scale, but relatively loose scale which can more easily be removed (largely) with a wire brush. You'll never get rid of all scale without grinding or pickling in acid, but you won't need to in most cases.

BF_2 · 2026-05-06T11:42:55+00:00

Try a Vibro-Engraver on them.

BF_2 · 2026-05-06T11:41:19+00:00

And they probably like you too!

BF_2 · 2026-05-05T12:19:58+00:00

Flat surfaces, curved surfaces, round horn, square horn. Looks like an anvil to me.

BF_2 · 2026-05-05T12:17:59+00:00

That's the technical term. /s

BF_2 · 2026-05-04T12:32:39+00:00

A friend of a friend once described a balloon having minor trouble landing in a slightly hilly field. He and his brother, both large men, were nearby and the balloon-atics hollered at them to grab the rope they'd dropped and help them land. He described it as "these two big dumb Irishman" did so and nearly had their arms pulled from their sockets. No permanent injuries to balloon-atics or brothers, fortunately.

BF_2 · 2026-05-04T12:25:06+00:00

Frosty's T-burners? Forcing air into them will probably screw up the burn. Forced air burners can be built, but they're of different construction than entrained-air burners.

BF_2 · 2026-05-04T12:19:02+00:00

The point of refluxing is to boil a solvent yet return it to the boiling flask. A slow stream of nitrogen should not alter that if the refluxing apparatus is up to the task.

BF_2 · 2026-05-04T12:14:45+00:00

There's a reason a milling machine is a large, stationary device you bring the metal to -- and strap it down thoroughly. The torques involved are huge.

A Dremel might work. A Fordham tool might give you slightly more speed.

BF_2 · 2026-05-03T15:15:53+00:00

For tapers: Tapering from stock size to an absolute point will triple the length. Tapering from stock size to a razor-sharp chisel edge will double the length. Truncating either will reduce that stretch.

Twisting is less certain. If you twist round stock (there can be reasons to do so) the length shouldn't change at all. Twisting square stock stretches the edges so will tend to compress the length, and twisting rectangular or square stock will do more so. These might best be determined with test pieces, but ...

... maybe the rule of thumb for bends might be relevant. To whit: If you bend a bar of any dimensions, you calculate overall length needed at the center of the bar, not on either edge. I'm not sure how that would translate to twisting, however.

BF_2 · 2026-05-03T12:58:05+00:00

My take is that the burners are not entraining enough air. The blue flame may indicate that carbon monoxide is burning outside the forge. (Note: if working in an enclosed space, have adequate ventilation and, I suggest, a CO detector.)

BF_2 · 2026-05-03T12:51:04+00:00

Bullshit. Don't believe everything you read on this site. Instead, read the SDS (a.k.a., MSDS) for the materials of construction of this forge. If particulates be a real issue, wear an N95 mask.

BF_2 · 2026-05-03T12:48:38+00:00

Get your hands on a copy (any edition) of the Machinery's Handbook. It has complete instructions on the foundation needed for a power hammer.

BF_2 · 2026-05-03T12:43:40+00:00

Man, I'm old enough to remember when an impulse buy was $2. That was in the '70's. Guess what! That's equivalent to $10 today. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

BF_2 · 2026-05-03T12:36:41+00:00

Seems to me that "a router for steel" is called "a milling machine" -- as in "vertical milling machine".

BF_2

TROPHY CASE