Blacksmithing Anyone? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Blacksmithing Anyone?

First you gotta watch a couple episodes of Forged in Fire

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A stick welder would be pretty handy on your farm along with some all purpose rods
You could start out with rebar for the poker, and a small piece of rail road makes for a cheap anvil
 
+1 for a welder. One of the best tools I own. Not because I'm a good welder but because the ability to join metal is almost magical. If you can look past the mud you can see the racks I welded up for the killer. I also welded up the hiway peg/tool tube combo. But be aware that once you own a welder it's much harder to throw out anything ferrous.


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A friend of mine who was mentioned earlier in this thread runs blacksmithing classes.
Thak Ironworks. Www.Thak.ca

His shop is just north of Waterloo. About 15 minutes from the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market.
 
I think spending a couple days at a blacksmith class would be fun, educational and you could learn what you need / don’t need to play blacksmith .
There is an historic blacksmith shop right in downtown Milton that opens and does tours and such on a sporadic schedule , seeing a guy do a forge weld is fairly impressive


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A friend of mine who was mentioned earlier in this thread runs blacksmithing classes.
Thak Ironworks. Www.Thak.ca

His shop is just north of Waterloo. About 15 minutes from the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market.
Awesome thanks for the information
 
Interesting. The colour chart is helpful to have on the wall until it stays in your brain but most of the rest of the sign is confusing and quite useless. Interesting information but not something you need on the wall. Hell, 25% of the space is dedicated to anvil designs and most people use the one they have or can find. It is very rare that someone is buying a new anvil and gets to pick out the size and style they want (and even for those that do, that is probably a once in a lifetime event).
 
That is an interesting chart. I think I may look into a small forge and anvil to do some rebar work etc. Just for fun.
I'd like to get a welder in the future as well. So many projects and so little time (and money)
 
my highschool had a forge and anvil for welding class. It was alot of fun.

The forge was built by a previous welding class and just ran off coals with a little compressed air hooked up to an air hockey type bottom.
 
Silly question...does anyone in this forum know how to weld on brass? My mom has an old damaged lamp, that I would like to fix for her.
 
Silly question...does anyone in this forum know how to weld on brass? My mom has an old damaged lamp, that I would like to fix for her.
Braze? I guess conceivably you could do TIG but I haven't seen it done. Repair will be visible in either case, does that matter?
 
Silly question...does anyone in this forum know how to weld on brass? My mom has an old damaged lamp, that I would like to fix for her.
Proper brazing is not hard to do but it needs the right tools and some practice (I have done a tonne but don't have a torch for it today). It can also be soldered (plumbers do it), but instead of tin actual silver (ie Ag) solder may work better for something that needs strength but I have never silver solder on brass.

Epoxy may be your best bet, depends on what needs to be fixed.
 
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+1 for a welder. One of the best tools I own. Not because I'm a good welder but because the ability to join metal is almost magical. If you can look past the mud you can see the racks I welded up for the killer. I also welded up the hiway peg/tool tube combo. But be aware that once you own a welder it's much harder to throw out anything ferrous.


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Hmm can anyone buy a welder? Curious what you have? I've a couple of things I'd like to weld. I wouldn't get a lot of use out of it but it's something that's not to expensive.
 
Hmm can anyone buy a welder? Curious what you have? I've a couple of things I'd like to weld. I wouldn't get a lot of use out of it but it's something that's not to expensive.
Welders don't have to be expensive. What do you need to weld? That determines which welder is best for you. Also how much power is available. 240V opens up your options and lets you weld thicker metal.

If you are welding inside, MIG is probably the easiest to use but requires a gas bottle which is annoying in canada due to gas companies wanting you to rent the bottles. For occasional use, that makes cost per job high. Flux core is mig without the gas but looks like hell and doesn't like thick metal. Stick is very versatile and cheap but a little harder than mig to get a pretty weld.
 
Hmm can anyone buy a welder? Curious what you have? I've a couple of things I'd like to weld. I wouldn't get a lot of use out of it but it's something that's not to expensive.
Yes. You can buy one from crappy tire that just plugs into 110v. They also have spools of welding wire with the flux included making it almost idiot proof (I said almost). As easy as MIG w/o the gas. These are probably good enough for anything you will need. Mine can be turned up to "40amp" (meaning it should run on a dedicated 40amp service which I don't bother with) at which point it will weld reasonable thickness ( and easily blow holes in thin stuff).

You're more than welcome to come by some time for a demo (hands on!) but I'm sure there are folks much closer that will offer up chance. But if not....
 
Hmm can anyone buy a welder? Curious what you have? I've a couple of things I'd like to weld. I wouldn't get a lot of use out of it but it's something that's not to expensive.
Yes, lots of places sell them from PrincessAuto/CTC to.... wire feed flux core (FCAW, Flux Core Arc Welding) is where most start these days (used to be stick). It will weld Iron/Steel. Mine has the capability of shielding gas (GMAW, Gas Metal.... aka MIG) but for convenience I do almost all FCAW as organizing the gas bottle rental is a PITA... My machine can also weld aluminum but it needs a spool gun and the correct gas, can't be bothered.
 
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Welders don't have to be expensive. What do you need to weld? That determines which welder is best for you. Also how much power is available. 240V opens up your options and lets you weld thicker metal.

If you are welding inside, MIG is probably the easiest to use but requires a gas bottle which is annoying in canada due to gas companies wanting you to rent the bottles. For occasional use, that makes cost per job high. Flux core is mig without the gas but looks like hell and doesn't like thick metal. Stick is very versatile and cheap but a little harder than mig to get a pretty weld.
I need to patch up something inside one of my HD exhausts. Probably aluminum (guessing).
Garage isn't 240v. I don't think I want to do this in the house.
 
Welders don't have to be expensive. What do you need to weld? That determines which welder is best for you. Also how much power is available. 240V opens up your options and lets you weld thicker metal.

If you are welding inside, MIG is probably the easiest to use but requires a gas bottle which is annoying in canada due to gas companies wanting you to rent the bottles. For occasional use, that makes cost per job high. Flux core is mig without the gas but looks like hell and doesn't like thick metal. Stick is very versatile and cheap but a little harder than mig to get a pretty weld.
FCAW is actually better than MIG for thicker material (or combo), it gets a bad rep as most people know it from entry level machines that cannot do thicker material and you need to deal with he slag for multi passes on undersized equipment--that is the machine not the technology.

And remember if there is slag you drag... and the polarity of course.
 

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