u/forgedcu

I've been having trouble with my forging press. I ran it with a single acting cylinder for years. It started acting up, and not retracting properly. After trying a bunch of things, I swapped out to a double acting cylinder. I just got it hooked up and it still doesn't work right. The two stage pump extends it rapidly, but it retracts very slowly (5× slower) I had the valve checked out at a local hydraulic repair place and they said it was working correctly. The 1/2" hose for retracting is brand new. Should I swap the hose ports on the cylinder to see what happens?

I just got a 100 gallon stock tank from a retired metalsmith. This had been used for decades as a pickle tank and quench tank. I need to use it as a pickle tank, but it seems to be plated with funk. There is a metallic lasagna like coating of metal on the bottom. It is fairly well stuck. After a mechanical attempt to remove it I soaked it with straight vinegar and scraped it again. Now I am soaking it with straight CLR. It doesn't seem to be doing much. I will only be pickling copper, so I guess I shouldn't worry too much about the iron, but I'd like to clean it better.

Any ideas what would cut it? Sulfuric acid? I'm currently broke or I'd buy a new one. I have shows coming up and need to pickle some 24" pieces asap.

I face the daunting task of moving my shop and home to a new place soon. I am excited to be there be dread getting there. The new shop has an oil furnace and a proper chimney. Can I tap into this chimney to vent my single burner propane forge? I would love to finally able to have a properly vented forge. I'd make a nice hood for it, and could install a damper to open only when burning.

Second pic is some of the stuff I have to move.

edit to add: This is a separate outbuilding 150 feet from house. I would turn off furnace while using forge. Permit isn't needed but I would definitely hire an engineer if I were doing this.

I'm moving to a new shop and need to figure out what to do with my air hammer. When I built this shop I made a 12" reinforced slab isolated from the main floor. It held up well but the three hours of tamping wasn't enough because it sank about 3/4".

The new shop is existing, with an unknown floor thickness. What can I do to isolate and protect the floor?