Klorinth

Beautiful work.

That is an absolutely amazing shovel that your friend made. Beautiful! Yours is very nice as well. I preferred a little longer handle and a smaller blade. Light and fast.

For large stock I used one similar to that. It was tapered to a narrower point. Maybe half that one. Same basic idea. Everybody, the shovels we use for professional tree planting are much heavier than your standard store bought, backyard garden shovel. They are thicker and higher carbon content. They get pounded into the ground 2-9k times a day every day for months. I wish I still had mine. I passed them on to newbie when I finished my last job.

Welcome to the group! As an ex-treeplanter I fully understand what you are asking. I modified all of my shovels. I had short/medium/long D handles for some jobs, and long poles for others. I modified the blades from wide spades used with huge bare roots (6"x18"trees), down to skinny little spears for plugs (4x10cm usually). A bench grinder was my friend. I never tried to adjust the angle though. I am a total newbie here so I am not able to offer any usable suggestions. Frosty and many of the other will be able to help. They have more than enough experience. I expect you are going to need to learn about the heat treating of a shovel.

John, those are exactly what I was thinking of. To be honest I'm glad I came across this thread, it has given me an idea for another project. I need a leg hook.

Only the working ends. The shaft should be light and flexible. The ends would need to be thin but still have strength.

LOL! Figures that when a Shepard and a Blacksmith are talking about a shepards hook they are most definitely NOT talking about the same thing... What are those for? Hanging bird feeders and potted plants? I was actually thinking of a shepards crook. Used to catch sheep. I use one when catching my sheep.

So I have made some progress on my RRT anvil... The welding is ugly of course and there are inclusions, but so far it seems to be fine. I did preheat the whole thing, reheated during the welding, and then I slowed the cooling done by keeping it heated for an hour then cooled for another hour. Now I just need to get a stand setup for it. I need to do the same for the other anvil as well.

Sorry, answered my own question about the difference between the two kits... One has everything and the other does not.

How reasonable is it to think that as a total newbie I can learn to use one of these units? I can certainly see the benefits just for cutting, even if I didn't use it for anything else. i picked up a cheap little Oxy-MAPP kit to try the idea out. It can only cut up to about 3/16" but it was an interesting experience to use. I have another set of bottles to play with before I decide if I want to put out money for a proper setup. Due to my work I already know the Praxair guys here. I prefer what I have been reading about the propane units. I keep 3 small tanks around all the time so it would be easy to dedicate one to a cutting torch. Charlotte, is there any difference between using their Cutter PAC vs the Pipeliner? Looking at the website I don't understand the difference.

I'll have to keep that in mind. Thank you

That makes sense. I have coal... So slag is a given... That means having sand or ash in the bottom to protect the bottom... In that case should I build in a 1/2" for this? A little sand bed on top of the bricks? Have the tuyer 1.5" off the brick?

Absolutely fabulous!

Keep going Scott, and remember to show us some pictures. I am making plans for a future forge like this. I would love to see how yours turns out. Charles, you have mentioned a couple of times the tuyer being 1" or so off the bottom of the fire pot. I have seen others say the same thing so I assume this is based on lots of experience. Can you explain why this is? I understand why you don't want it lower, but why not any higher? I'm just looking at understanding not improving anything.

Thank you for the info Buzzkill, very helpful. And same to you Frosty. Informative. I learned something new.