Glenn

We are fast approaching the autumnal equinox September 23, and the Harvest Moon September 26. This is a very important time if you are going to do any forge welding. For the absolute perfection in a weld, it must be made at exactly the stroke of midnight under a full moon on the Vernal Equinox when the Ying and Yang of day and night are in perfect harmony. So much welding is scheduled for this time that it has given rise to the phrase . . . " read more - click here"

Ask Mr. Daughtry how deep the charcoal in a charcoal forge should be. Look at the Blueprint BP0238 Simple Side Blast 55 Forge and change the design to the depth needed. You can scrounge a steel drum and a piece of pipe for little or nothing. Blueprint BP0133 The 55 Forge could also be adapted for use as a charcoal forge.

Put a piece of sheet metal (thin tin) say a couple of inches away from the hood surface. Leave a inch or so of free space at the bottom of the sheet metal. This will slow down the radiant heat.

Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing > LB0008 Reference Material Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing > LB0008.0001 Reference Material

May you catch all the cops either busy or looking the other way, and all the lights green. Drive safely. Prayers on the way.

I'm on my way to Toronto hospital. They say Mum won't make it through the night. Please tell everyone. Duck

A lot of folks are looking at old anvils, new anvils, and things called anvils with the intention of purchasing an anvil. One seller says it is unique antique, one of a kind, "like new condition" with a "good ring" and would be a GREAT blacksmithing anvil. It weighs (whatever) but has not put it on a set of scales. Another seller says he has an anvil in the back of a shed. Come on over and take a look. Please give us a list of things to look for when we inspect a prospective anvil. Are there any pit falls to avoid?

BP0318 Canpfire Tripods BP0280 Billy Hook (Tripod)

Please clarify. You get use of the facilities in return for making things for the farm. Where do the items go? Is this items for use on the farm, sale items with the funds going to the farm or for sale to the public, or what? If you make things for the farm to use, sell with the funds going to the farm, etc, your paying for use of the anvil, rent so to speak.

Just a black plastic 55 gallon drum to most folks. But to a blacksmith, it has possibilities. I found a nest of them and brought 3 home. One is already in use, the wife said it WOULD replace the old rusty steel drum used to store the plastic trash bags (remove the top and the drum hold 4 bags of trash) till the garbage man runs. 33% of my working stock gone, but the wife is happy.

Close as I could get without a spell checker (grin) This thread has developed into a Lesson in Blacksmithing LB0009 Living with a Blacksmith Good reference material. Thanks for the support. I am still trying to figure out how the new anvil works. Ahh the joys of blacksmithing. I did not realize that I measured by the dimensions of the old anvil for many of the repeat projects. Length of the face, width of the face, heel to far end of the hardie hole, etc. It is weird using a ruler to measure the old anvil for proper dimensions, so I can make the same project on the new anvil.

You will need an anvil stand for that rail road steel BP0334 Adjustable Anvil Stand

There are less than 4 days left on this auction. Thank you Rich for a wonderful donation !! (shameless plug) Someone is going to get a beautiful knife, it could be you. Funds go toward the IForgeIron site.

Anvilfolk This should give you some ideas on how to find a larger anvil. IForgeIron.com > Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing > LB0005 Blacksmithing Anvils Thomas Powers Applied Anvil Acquisition Technique (TPAAAT) Ask everyone if they know where an anvil is located. From there, put cash in your pocket follow the leads. When you finally locate the anvil, cash goes a long way toward transferring ownership.

Preheat the stack with a couple of sheets of flaming newspaper. Assemble the materials for the fire and just before you light the fire, put a couple more sheets of flaming newspaper near the stack to get the draft going. Light the fire and it should suck up the smoke. More stack height always works wonders. :)

Send me the drawings (dwg and jpg formats) and I can add them to the Blueprints. Better yet, as you build your grinder, take lots of photos and we can work that up as it's own Blueprint and add the drawings there.

The IForgeIron gallery handle take the large photos. It automatically resizes them for the gallery and for a thumbnail. Copy the properties of the image for use in the forum.

See the following Blueprints BP0157 Watering Can BP0160 Water Can BP0162 Water Can

Anvilfolk, not a problem, it is the job of a site admin to try to make things easy for everyone to find the information. Look at Iforgeiron.com > Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing > LB0007 Seeing colors. This should help a bit in trying to define what you see. But please tell us if you inside or outside and the type of sun so we can adjust our answers to fit your light conditions. I just made a 55 gallon drum full of charcoal to try it out in the forge. You will have to listen to the wisdom of others on this matter.

Take the bricks out from under the hood and put the hood as close to the fire as possible without hindering your access to the fire. This should allow it to draw better.

I moved this to a new topic so it would be easier to locate when searching for answers. How deep is your fire? What are you using for air to the forge?

US vs Europe / UK, Two items similar in features and construction, which would you buy? 26 votes on this poll. Foreign made if it were the same price as US made 6 votes or 23.1% I would pay $110 for US made instead of $100 foreign item 5 votes or 9.2% I would pay $120 for US made instead of $100 foreign item 4 votes or 15.4% I only buy US made goods if they are available. 3 votes or 11.5% US made if it were the same price as foreign made 3 votes or 11.5% Double the price and I would still go with US made 2 votes or 7.7% I would pay $130 for US made instead of $100 foreign item 2 votes or 7.7% I would pay $150 for US made instead of $100 foreign item 1 votes or 3.8%

Sandy Rather than round pipe, think of a rectangular cross section. The circumference C= pi x D is 6.28 where the 2 inch square is 8 inches. If you reconfigure the 2 inch square to 1 inch wide and 4 inches long, you now get 10 inches of outside distance (60% more). From the internet: As a rule of thumb, it takes about five square feet of optimized surface area, in a heat exchanger, to lower exit temperatures from the stove about 250

When I built our home, I built a double drum stove and used it as the only heat source for 7 years, including a winter at -20*F (very unusual for this area). We usually burned 15 to 20 cords of wood per season and stayed warm. We monitored the stack temperature as it entered the masonry chimney. anything below 250*F and it made creosote, above 400-425*F and the heat was wasted up the chimney. After several different ways to extract more heat from the stove, I found the KISS method (Keep It Simple and Stupid) works best. Cleaning the stove and leaving the right amount of ash in the bottom drum for insulation was not a problem, I built a rake with 2-1/2 inch teeth. NEVER leave the stove operational and unattended. The ashes have had enough fire left to restart on the 4th day after it was shut down. Your mileage may vary as each stove is an individual creature with different personalities.

I ask the original question, so I guess I better report back on the progress. So far I have removed two old artificial Christmas trees (in boxes), a 5 gallon bucket of clay for lining forges (now firmly dry and set up like concrete), and a wheelbarrow of loose metal, drops, etc. The trash man got a garbage bag and a half of old paper, cardboard, floor sweepings, etc. There may be hope yet, I just have to stay focused a while longer. On the bright side, I did take time to install a flood light over the main work table. (pun intended)