nogrodoth

Ok. Yes I did men laying it on its side:p sorry so thank you all:) hopefully ill get to start building this weekend:)

So I've been thinking more and trying to accumulate materials, and I just wanted to make sure.. will resting the anvil in a v in the sides of the box be strong enough to take the force of hammering? Or would it have to be supported somehow? thank you all

Actually I think both make sense, thank you:) And I think I agree, the should work fine without a wedge if I built the box right ill try to draw a design of what I think you mean

K I couldnt find a ruler so i just used a sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 paper for scale And i just looked and i think i found that anvil/steel lump.. hmm. Mine was hard to use on its side since its completely round but I guess I just wasn't thinking very well about how to keep it from bouncing or rolling. And ok. Forging a couple more spikes spikes shouldn't be too hard:P So I'll do that and unless theres a way to strengthen the small one ill only use it for tiny work. I do wonder why someone took the time to cut away all that steel on the base just to make leg-looking things though. And I dont know about mine-cart rail, it doesn't seem that small, more like someone just somehow cut long straight lines off each side of the rail. Also, I dont know it its important but everything but the anvil face is painted black. Maybe it was used as some sort of decorationish thing? Oh and I didnt get a picture of this, but the center beam part is a little over 1/2" thick. Is it safe to assume this is mild steel? And I have considered dropping the stumpy anvil in a beveled hole, but i'm fairly sure its currently out of my range of woodworking skills, unless theres a not too hard way to do it that isn't just drilling a billion holes in the wood stump until i had a 4" deep 6" diameter hole in it, beveled to just the right angle on one side.. though adding sand could help with that. Anyway, it seems making a frame out of 4x4s and 2x4s would be the best option. Thank you all:)

Ok. Though turning it over was a problem just because it would wobble all over the place, and would push out any wedges or things i put under it to keep it level. But if securing it like that would work then i should be able to flip it over. Thanks:)

So I just recently was given a railroad track anvil, shaped quite nicely and i believe a serious upgrade from my 30# cylindrical lump of mild steel i had previously been using, mostly just because someone somehow cut a beautifully straight hardie hole in it, as well as the fact that it has a horn. The only problem is, its only 10 pounds. The first problem I see is someone mentioned a "1/20 hammer to anvil ratio", which would imply I should use an 8oz hammer.. Is there any way to get around that? Set the anvil down in a wood stump to take stress off the center post/beam/thing? But aside from that, I've read the stuff on here about bolting it down to something big and using silicone/chains/magnets to quiet the shrill ring, but Im just wondering.. Im hoping to learn the basics of welding in the next few months, so when I do.. would welding the railroad track to the iron lump be something to consider? Or could it help to simply bolt the lump to the same stump the RR track anvil is bolted to? I'm considering continuing to use my 30# lump and use the RR track one just for its hardie hole and horn, but the face of the 30# lump is deeply pitted all over, and half of one face is angled down 20 degrees or so, as if it was dropped from ten feet up.. I know I wont need a nicer anvil for many months, I'm sure, but it'd be nice to be able to use the RR track one, so long as I wouldn't permanently hurt it by doing so. Soo I guess I didn't say all that the best, but essentially: how likely would I be to hurt the 10#er while working 1" thick round stock (much of the scrap ive found is about that size) or RR spikes, and would there be a way to prevent that? Will using a hammer thats more than half a pound hurt it? And how viable would welding/bolting the cylindrical iron lump to the RR track be? Oh and might anyone have ideas on bolting down the cylinder, were I to continue using it as an anvil? Without welding feet on it that is, though I'll probably do that when i have the skills/tools. Heres the lump: I'll upload a pic of the RR track anvil when i can Thank you:)

Ok. ​I've redrawn it, hopefully i can get some angle iron soon so i can see how it works out:) Thank you all:)

Ok. Thank you:)

What made me ask was the 55 forge blueprints, how they said the 'supercharger' allowed the smoke itself to burn.. "The fire creates a draft up the 6 feet of 24" diameter chimney and in doing so sucks in air through the opening. This fresh air then mixes with the smoke from the fire, (I have noticed the little tornados of air and smoke being mixed at both sides of the opening), the fire burns the smoke, which creates more draft from the heat, which pulls in more air. The end result is smoke being burned, and what is not burned is diluted with fresh air. The forge was designed for outside use so the 24" diameter chimney is not a problem. Using the same coal, same blower, same fire pot, and the same tuyere as the original 55 Forge, the 55 Forge with the Supercharger (the 55 gallon drum on top) produces much less smoke." Do you need a chimney/thing that big (~5'x2') in order to get that effect? And thank you for the extremely quick reply:P

So I'm building my first coal forge, it will be outside, essentially itl be just a table with a brake drum set into it. I am in a residential area so minimal/no smoke production would be great, so I'm just wondering is, will a chimney reduce the amount of smoke in an outdoor forge? Would it have a use at all? Thanks

Ok. Thanks:) I'll probably use a combination of both wood and metal, and ill take you guys' advice and take off the bottom pieces. Would it be worth it to fold part A over to thicken the table? And ill certainly be adding a stack to the chimney thing:p And having a drawing board would be useful, ill try that. Thank you:)

So I'm in the process of making my first coal forge. I was lucky enough to find an old broken hopper, and took a couple pieces from it which would allow me to make the design below with very close to minimal effort. The different colors are the different pieces which would be bolted/riveted together, all but the yellow one currently existing exactly as shown. The circular hole will hold a brake drum. 2x4s will be bolted to the purple funny shaped flap things coming down, as the legs. I guess I'd just like to ask what the design looks like from a safety/efficiency/usefulness point of view. The steel is 1/8", is that thick enough? The flat rectangular section of the purple part, the main forge table with the hole in it, is 37cm*55cm, or about 15"x22". Given that thickness and size, will it or anything else need more support than what is shown? I'd also like to ask about the purple rectangular flap thing labelled "A" in the diagram; what would be the best use for it? I could cut it off and use it later, I could fold it completely up so it might act as a wind shield, i could fold it up to be parallel to the ground and so elongate the forging table, either for coal or for tools or for both, or I could cut it off and re-attach it with hinges to allow it to act as a table/wind shield as needed, or Im sure there are myriad other possibilities.. But what do you guys think would be the best use of these materials? Is there a way I could make it smaller but have it still be just as useful? And all the components are drawn to scale. Hopefully I made it clear enough how it should go together.. Also I don't yet have the knowledge nor tools to weld, if that is relevant. I'm quite new to forging, so I understand it probably wouldn't be of too much benefit to me to build what looks like a more professional-style forge instead of, say, bolting legs on a brake drum, but all the pieces just seem made to go together like this:P Sorry this is so long, and thanks:)

Heyall, apparently the scrap yard near me (20 miles out of DC) doesn't let you take/buy anything metal, does anyone know of one nearby which does?

Cool:) I hadn't really been paying much attention to the curl, I guess I should have:P it was the point of the round taper so I was just trying to get it out of the way and the half-of-a-tong-handle needs a good bit more work to make it exactly what I think would be good, as far as i can tell, but i'm happy I'm not doing too awful:P thanks:) Can't wait to get back to my forge:):)

So I just finished my first forge and tried out smithing for the first time, might anyone be willing to critique my first attempt at tapering and drawing out? i was using the same 1" diameter bolt for all of this my forge square taper rounded taper drawning-out, I'm attempting to make a pair of tongs thanks:)