relichuntr

Here in South Carolina in the Midlands, we have a nice mix of hardwoods and softwoods available. Recently a neighbor cut down a bunch of timber to clear-cut some land he sold, and of course left huge amounts of smaller trees laying all over. I cut and hauled a number of different oaks, maple, poplar, ash, hickory, and cypress to use in my charcoal forge. Since my forge also doubles as a retort, I make my batch of charcoal right before I start working metal. So far, I've found that a mix of softwood poplar and ash with oak and hickory makes a very hot sustainable fire that last for several hours at forging heat. I cut my wood into 'stove wood' lengths, and then split them as I lay the fire inside the forge firepit. It's kindled by a combination of twigs and pine straw, and then by controlling the air flow at the point of gas release and combustion. They all burn very clean, and work great. The previous advice about use the trees/wood available; sure. All my fuel costs is really the effort to cut and haul it. If you have the capacity to make your own charcoal, this is what I've learned.

Like AnVillain said, "...getting started forging is the main thing...". I don't have a 'real' anvil, either. I use a large block of dark green granite with a smooth face, and it works very well. Centuries before the steel anvils of today were developed, folks used stone. It might not have all the variety and convenience of the current incarnation, but you can do just about everything you need to with it. Best of all, it cost me nothing but effort to haul it home and put it up on the stump!

Solomon's mine kept its diamonds, barely got out of that alive. Lost the girl, but finally made it home. Found another girl, but, alas, no more treasure. Thanks. It is actually an aggregate of elements from several culturally-different Iron Age smithy set-ups. The result is pure me, although I have to acknowledge the debt to the far-smarter prehistoric smiths who developed them. So far all this operation has really cost me is about $6 in string. Everything else was just paid for in sweat. The dome (I will provide pictures as soon as I find out how to post them) was donated by a friend who had it lying in his yard, and wanted to get rid of it. Originally this project was going to be a fired clay dome-and-chimney structure, but this is so much better. It also makes its own charcoal (functions as a retort), fires ceramic vessels (functions as a kiln), and can be set up to melt with a crucible. I have been taking pages of notes the whole way through its construction and metamorphosis, and photographs. As to my work, sadly I have not had the chance to really start making pieces with it as of yet. The first ceramic project was to fire a replica of a heart-shaped Bronze Age crucible, so that melting and pouring copper could be done. The only iron work has been to test the heat range with a railroad spike, and it did that just fine (even with the absence of forced air, just natural draft). My first project will be to make a set of all-purpose wolf-jaw tongs so that I can stop using a pair of channel-locks. Then a punch, chisel, and second hammer. THEN I can actually start making things. It's all about making the tools to make the tools to make the neat stuff. But I will, and I will be glad to share my work with all interested. My whole objective was to make myself a smithy that utilized only the raw materials I had available to me around my home steading. So far, so good.

Hello to everyone. I just found this site today, and decided to join it. While I am not by any means a professional blacksmith, I do enjoy the art and the craft of working metals. By profession I am a professional archaeologist, which means that in better economic times I spend all my time in the field digging up the past instead of enjoying working iron. However, thanks to economic downturn (unemployment for an extended period of time) I have finally been able to manifest a long-time dream and construct myself a forge and place to work once more. It's not very sophisticated by contemporary standards, but by mine it is paradise. It is based around a semi-subterranean pit lined with fired clay, paved with quartzite, and covered by a large steel dome. The tuyere is of fired clay molded around parallel bamboo sections, and the fuel is charcoal. Air power is from a box bellows. The anvil is currently a solid block of Carolina granite mounted on a large stump. It works great and I like it. I hope to learn a lot from all you folks here at the site, and am more than happy to share anything I can with anyone who asks. Looking forward to a very productive and enjoyable tenure here. Thank you one and all who have made this site possible. Alan Quartermaine Kirkland