zero_sum

I need to build my 'Forge 2.0' I suppose, I have a collected some of the materials but I lack some of the tools. I'll work around and get it done though, I just need a full day or so I can give over to it, because working around takes longer. Buying stuff however I need to buy a drill press. I have little money that doesn't go to rent and bills, so actual machines are difficult to acquire. A drill press is so basic though I really need to just get one. Afraid of buying a poor quality one for not having the cash to buy what I should... I was going to buy a couple of 3 phase motors real cheap I saw in an advert and then convert them with capacitors. They I was going to build a belt sander from some plans online. Missed the opportunity though, someone jumped on it.

That anvil is incredible...I want one.

Wow, thank you for the gold!

I keep thinking ballista for some romans haha Nah, but maybe a spring of some kind, provide tension for something.

Weld a bolt on the end of the bar or heat the handle bar with a torch on the end and peen it over? That would stop it falling out if that's the issue.

This could be fun; book early enough and popping over to England isn't much more expensive than a Friday night out...I need to keep these dates in mind. Hard to know ahead right now for me though. I'd be a maybe/ pending yes. So a useless on the fence answer there haha. In general though, well done putting in the leg work to get things rolling! Things don't happen without people like yourself.

I had a woodworking teacher years ago that had a speech and a half ready for us as young 12/13 year olds getting ready to use power tools. Long hair (this just blew his mind, couldn't deal with it haha he had a nasty story about a partial scalping too), rings, ear rings, anything you can think off (most of which was banned anyway in my school). Everything he said was right of course, comical as the delivery was to us. He had one eye though, with a bad prosthetic, so it reinforced some of what he said.

If that thing is a reasonable price it looks fine to me. In negotiation I would be shocked by the abused horn and the general rusted state but internally I'd be happy out haha. I wish I had an anvil that big and intact. Mine doesn't have a heel from where the hardy would have been (abused by a previous owner, my unlces, good guys but xxxx...).

Grabbed this from the site. Lots of photos, high quality too. Album of photos by an Emma Sutcliffe (the events photographer) : https://www.flickr.com/photos/125218917@N02/

I only have one anvil. My grandad's old one. It's some london pattern weighing about 66kg with the heal broken off so whatever it was before that. Maybe 75kg at a guess? I think it was misuse by uncles a few years before I got it. Unfortunate, but it is still here and in coming years I want to repair it in my grandad's memory as well as for the project (for me, at my level, that would be a huge endeavour). The hope is I will have a larger normal anvil at this point so I can keep it as a working heirloom of a sort (no heavy work but small stuff to stay close to the spirit such tools are bought in). So yeah, grand dads and anvils haha.

I'd say this is the case. Just like rebar only needs to meet the tensile load required. Doesn't matter how it gets there. Could be fun to test the steel a bit though. See what hardening characteristics it has if any. Maybe it's brittle while forging, or maybe it will be a steel. <script type="text/javascript"> //

Haha, I just finished watching this on youtube; I am one of your subscribers so it was in me feed. In fact it made me think 'hey, I better go check out new stuff on iforgeiron'. Very nice video though, I love the production of tools. Thanks for taking the time and making such high quality media!

Thank you for posting this link...I mean I am looking at 100kg plus anvils if good shape for 300 euros or less! It is so good compared to the market in ireland that it would pay for the short ferry and the petrol to pick it up. People want 300 euro for a 80 pound anvils that have lost chucks from their edges here, some sort of inflated garden antique mentality. I luckily got mine free from my uncle because it was my grandads and he like the idea of someone in the family using it again after 40 plus years.

Thought I'd add a small story. A lucky escape one. I'm relatively new to blacksmithing and metal work. I was forging a small knife for my sister as a first real project. I was using a channel lock for tongs emulating videos I had seen on youtube. I was having difficulty holding it at a good angle as you'd imagine and it was pivoting a good bit too sometimes while gripped. What's more I had my anvil on a big round of a tree that was just two low so it had me bending a good bit. I should have just stopped using the 'tongs' and the anvil set up but I was excited I suppose. I had invested in some PPE so I had some glasses for looking into the forge. It was a hot day and I was taking them on and off to wipe my forehead. Ended up leaving them off for a couple heats and forgot about them. Next thing I know I get too comfortable and the piece of yellow hot steel bounces weird and comes straight up in the air at my bare face! I could feel the heat it got so close. The steel fell on the ground and sizzled in some wet leaves nearby. I just looked at it shrivelling and igniting leaves almost instantly, thinking 'that's me, that's my face if I let myself act the fool again'. It was a very good lesson. The right tools (more important than PPE in some ways if you ask me) and PPE. The girlfriend didn't like hearing about it, I'll tell you that much! Besides that I had some boots torn up by a wire wheel on an angel grinder, got away from me (wire wheels are the only tool that actually makes me a bit uneasy, feel unpredictable). Also

Very lovely knife. I want to get to this point. My first attempt at just a normal single steel blade has been crude and full of errors to say the least. When I crack that to a reasonable point I will make some damascus hopefully. You know when you are picking steels to use, do you pick from just knowing what steels work or do you pick from the properties (well this has Nickel in it so it will be good with plain carbon steel, etc.)? I wonder what exactly makes or guarantees a contrast. Any one have a place I could read and learn?