Knife maker man

I was thinking of something like this. I don't know if I'll keep it this way or make it more square.

That's a really good looking knife!

Hello all. Ian still building my forge and will post pics soon. Just wanted to throw it out there, if anyone wants to build a forge from a big rig brake drum, I get them free fairly often. I live in central California. Lots of leaf spring also.

Quick update. Thank you frosty and red. I went and read all of the solid fuel forge posts and looked at lots if picture. I have a much better understanding now.

You are most certainly right. Your description sounds easy to make and I'm sure perfectly effective. Deffinetly sounds easier to clean than mine. For the bottom of the bowl, keep the plate? Or should I get something more like a metal grate? I never had a fireplace until I was older. My being yeld at was for grabbing a screwdriver and dismantling the toaster, microwave, sterio, etc.

So if I cut the end off and welded on a larger nipple, and let the air just go straight up, it would work better? Would a rigged up leaf blower be ok to use?

Sorry, the last post I saw was Jim's before the last post I made. I do have a T were the pipe L's off. I am thinking that the internal pipe setup may cause problems getting old ash and stuff out. Hopefully not too much trouble. The picture of the forge helps some, but would he have any internal parts that can't be seen? I am actually one of the mechanics here. I've been here for 8 years and can only think of twice a rear axel being thrown away. I don't have nearly unlimited amounts of broken leaf springs and lots of brake drums. Ultimately if I need to scrap it and sart over I'm ok with that. I love building things. And I appreciate any advice given.

That makes sense for sure. Creating more volume is what I was attempting to do with the funnel. With the tube going into the funnel I capped it off and then drilled holes on the sides so that the air will be pushed to the walls of the funnel. The attempt is to create even air flow going to the bottom of the drum. I plan to drill more holes on the bottom plate. I haven't lit it up yet, but I have hooked up air to it and air comes out pretty good. I also have nothing to compare it to either. I don't personally know a single person who does anything like this. All I can really do is try it out, see what isn't working, figure/find out what to do to fix it, and try again. Improvise, overcome, and adapt as I've been taught.

xxxx... Good point about mushrooming the tools. For air I was planning to attach some kind of electric air blower.

Hello everyone. Like some of you, I am also new to blacksmithing. I have made several knives via the stock removal method, but am eager to forge my own blades. I uploaded a picture of a forge that I built and a RR anvil I made. It's 24" long and I got it for free from a coworker. I work for a trucking co, and my boss generously said I can have whatever I like from the scrap metal bin. So I got a large brake drum and scrap metal for the forge. The only thing I bought was that brass valve. I have read on here that an anvil can bend/break at the hardy hole, so I made hardy tools that extend down to rest on the base. The 3/4" hardy hole I made is just for keeping the tool in place. You guys think that should work? I'm fixing up my backyard and can't wait to get started making more knives.