First Fire in the forge, and weld.

[m_brothers]

Well today, when I got home from work around 3, I went straight outside, fixed the post vise, and fired the forge up. Overall it was a really productive day.

The draft is amazing, it's like a vacuum. I went through 20lb of charcoal in about 3 1/2 hours, so it costs me about $2.84 an hour to run the forge. Today, I just worked on tapering and getting cleaner cuts with the hardie. I was limited to tapering and scrolling, as I only have two pairs of tongs, I'm ordering steel to make about 6 different kinds that I need right now. One of them will be a specialized one for holding the head on the end of railroad spikes. My younger brother joined me around 5 and he did a really good job of taking round stock and turning it into flat stock, and then hot-cut the flat stock off of the round stock. Here are some pictures of me forging. Not the best pictures....or technique ever. LOL. I still have to raise the anvil and level it real good.

NOTE: I DID NOT WEAR SAFETY GLASSES, I ALSO HAD SANDALS ON, GOT A NICE BURN CUZ OF THAT. I AM GOING TONIGHT TO GET ALL OF THE PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT. I AM NOT AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW IN THE PICTURES. SORRY.

-John

[m_brothers]

Here are some pictures of my younger brother forging.

I also did a faggot weld in the forge as well. I have some pictures of it as well, not the cleanest weld ever, because I did not have any flux (I use borax). It welded really good on one side and not so well on the other side. You can tell in the pictures. Oh and the picture of the blower is how wide I have to have the air-gate open to forge weld. Otherwise, it's closed for general forging. If I open 'er all the way, I can literally blow charcoal and wood up into the air. The forge and blower are amazing. A special thank-you to Art(Finnr) for the blower, anvil, post vise, and misc tools, and to everyone for their support and encouragement. Forgot to mention that I got some wood, and am going to be putting a shed up with my dad this weekend. Will take pictures.

The first picture is the two pieces after my first hot cut in a long time. Otherwise the rest are of Owen forging and hot cutting, the blower, and faggot weld.

NOTE: THE SAME GOES FOR OWEN ABOUT THE SAFETY EQUIPMENT.

-John

[Sabre]

nice!!!.........

[Archie Zietman]

Very nice!

two things: EDIT: I just read the words again and realized that you know the anvil height is too low.
also, if you chop up your charcoal into thumb-sized pieces you will get a denser fire, it will serve you better heatswise (your metal will heat quicker) and it also looks much much neater.

great work guys! keep it up!
be merry,
Archie

[m_brothers]

Thanks Archie, I know the about the anvil height. Hate where it is right now, but either have to get a taller stump, or fab a stand with my welding teacher. And I'll make sure to chop and break the charcoal up into much smaller pieces. It was bright orange to a dull yellow most of the time while forging, camera doesn't do a good job catching the colors of the metal, and it was really bright outside. lol.

-John

[Archie Zietman]

My anvil height had the same problem. I just jacked it up by sliding a few flat paving slabs and wooden board between the stump and the ground.

[m_brothers]

Oh good idea for now, I'll just jack it up with bricks. And then once the shop is put up, I'll get the stand fabbed up.

-John

[Doug C]

Good work. Looks like a heck of a draft. I used a white plastic bucket to crush the coal. Pour it in, crush with an old piece of two by four.

[keykeeper]

Looks like you and little brother had a good time. I know you mentioned getting proper safety equipment, so I'm not gonna harp on ya for that. You'll find when you have some closed toe shoes on and pants, you can step up to the anvil and really get hammering. It'll maximize your hammering to a whole new level. How scale down the shoe or between the toes isn't very fun, eh?

Keep on forging!

-aaron c.

[Frosty]

Your forge looks to be working very well all round John. Well done.

Seeing as you've acknowledged your safety gear situation I won't chew on you for it. THIS TIME!

Everyone gets hurt now and then no matter how careful we are but there's no excuse for being careless. Whatever you do to yourself, just don't get your little brother hurt for lack of basic good sense gear.

Once you have long pants and shoes on you can lose the tongs on pieces that long and everything will get easier. You will need to cool the end you're holding onto once in a while but that's no biggy.

What are the pieces of yellow painted angle iron on the tong rack for? I may like the idea and use it.

Congratulations John, you've got yourself a real live, honest to goodness smithy.

Frosty