jayco

Here's the fire tools I use regularly.
I made most of these several years ago and always intended to make nicer ones.....but these work and haven't broken or worn out.......

Left to right...

A sprinkler made from a stick of wood and a soup can....a roofing nail is driven through the edge of the can into the end of the handle.
I've made 4 or 5 of these in 35 years.....they keep rusting out.

A rake made from 1/4 in. rod and a section of metal refrigerator rack.....the old ones were made of steel

An ordinary little poker with wooden handle

A little scoop made from a piece of heavy aluminum sheet and an old hammer handle. I made it curved to fit in 5 gal. buckets and to clean out my round bottomed 'wheel' forge.

A 20 in. long piece of angle iron I use as a slice sometimes.........The end is flattened.

What's confusing maybe, is that I might use the scoop to rake coal into the fire....or I might use the slice as a poker.

It just depends on what I need to do at certain times........and what tool happens to be in my hand.

James

LightSeeker,welcome to Iforgeiron!
You say you 'stumbled upon' this site?
I happened onto IFI two years ago and have been here ever since.
I'm in Greenup Co.......North Eastern KY.....there's a bunch more Ky people here as well.
Also, I've discovered that some of the smiths here are originally from Ky, but now live in other states.........so....you got company!
Enjoy your stay, and if you have any questions........just ask.
James

Around 25 yrs. ago, I was helping my brother-in-law do a sorghum making demo in Wilgus Ohio. It poured rain all that weekend, so no one was really able to demo much of anything.

Near where we were set up, there was a guy doing a smithing demo under a tent. Since none of us were busy, I got to talk to him a little, and discovered he was 83 yrs. old at the time!

As I recall, he was quite capable of using his favorite 2 lb. cross pien, but had his grandson along to move anvils around......to do the heavy stuff.

After I told him that I 'did a little smithing'.....he commenced to explain forging techniques,tempering,calculating bends, forge welding, and much more in a period of about 30 minutes.
I never even knew his name, but every time me or the wife pick up the little parring knife in the pic, I remember him....and how alive he was at 83........he how much he loved the craft of blacksmithing.

And yes, I've wished a thousand times over that I'd had a tape recorder, or better yet, a movie camera to have recorded that meeting.

He had a lot of different demo items there to sell, but the elegant simplicity of the little knife caught my eye. It's a real simple construction....bandsaw blade, piece of maple, and a harness rivet I think.

It's been my wife's favorite for 25 years, and has cut up unknown quantities of vegetables and literally truck loads of apples( we do apple butter making demos.)

I'm always looking for demo items to sell myself.......might try to make a few........probably have to charge more than $3.00 though
That's what he was selling them for back then.

Meancoyote, looks like you're making progress to me!.The last pics I saw of your new shop, you could see through the walls.....now you can't....that's progress in my book.
I like the idea of the metal construction.(my new shop is a wooden structure).
In one fell swoop, you've greatly reduced the chances of your shop burning (old wooden shops are quite vulnerable to loss by fire.

And you don't have to worry about termites and rot!

By the way, I haven't gotten any more work done on my shop, lately.
A whole bunch of other jobs have come up that must be finished first.
I've been using the break in shop construction to think about how I want the forge to be set up. There's no time lost in careful planning.

Your new shop is looking good!

wolfshieldrx, welcome to Iforgeiron!
There's lots of folks here interested in blacksmithing and metalworking in general.
I've been hobby/smithing for 35 years, so I can identify with your 'addiction' comment.

You might click on the 'user cp' thing at the top of the page and post your general location in the world........there might be other blacksmiths near you!

If you have questions, just ask.
enjoy!

I've been thinking of what material to make a heavy rectangular style firepot from for my new forge. I've got a stack of tie plates. It would require 4. Some serious A/O torch work and some arc welding would be involved.

Haven't even laid them out to see how it would work yet, but it looks possible. If I get it done, I'll take some pictures.....

Curly George, that canning jar opener is a neat idea........I gotta make one for the wife
Thanks for posting that!

I'm interested too.

James Flannery

Thanks guys for all the great suggestions. I'm gonna try the linseed oil(boiled, or mixed with turpentine).
I'll try the glue also.
I enjoy a good experiment. I'll be trying these different ways to secure handles.

I had always done mine the old fashioned way........wooden wedges.....and most of the time.......it worked.......but lately not so good.

As far as just soaking the hammer eye in water.....yeah, it works....but only temporarily.
As the wood swells, the wood fibers are crushed, I think........shortening the life of the handle.
But I must admit....I've done it.......when there was no time to refit a handle.......

It's been hot and dry here all summer. The handles on too many of my hammers,handled punches and chisels are getting slightly loose.

Is there some way of getting a little moisture to the wooden handles? Just some humidity to tighten them up?

I would prefer not to have to re-wedge all my handles, since I'm sure the problem will end as soon as it rains here.

Would an application of linseed oil do the trick?

I have a pile of lump coal out in the open.....on the ground. The problem with that is that the coal tends to sink into the ground after a year or so.

I also have numerous plastic and metal 5 gal. buckets filled with coal.......also outside.
The problem with that is that the metal buckets rust out rather quickly.....and the plastic buckets fall apart after a time.

I guess I need to either build a coal bin.......or use the coal faster!

Dave, have you tried adjusting the bottom bolt,( the one with the screwdriver slot and the locking nut)?
I have a smaller Champion blower.( I don't know if mine is like yours or not....so this may not apply),

Any way, the adjustment of that bolt is a little 'touchy' on mine.
If I loosen it more than an 8th of a turn.......it rattles.
If I tighten it more than an 8th of a turn.....it gets really stiff.

Good luck....hope this helps
James

rhart84, welcome to Iforgeiron!
There are 'Getting Started' sections on the front page with lots of good info.
If you are 'into' blades, there sections on the forums page where that is discussed. You are welcome to jump right in anywhere you like.
Don't forget to check out the friday night 'Knife chat' at 10:00 P.M. in the chat room.

There's lots of info and lots of friendly folks here...and Lots of READING to do....
ENJOY!

Irnsrgn, the forge looks good.
Glad to see that even after retiring from blacksmithing,you're still trying new ideas.
Be sure and give us the pros and cons of bottom blast vs side blast.
Since I've never used side blast, I'm particularly interested in how they compare.

Welcome to Iforgeiron, MetalMuncher!
A lot of us are on 'dialup',(myself included) which makes things.......slow........but we manage.
If you have any questions, just ask.
There are lots of friendly folks here to help.
Enjoy!

Highlander,looks like you found some blacksmithing history!

One thing I noticed years ago while exploring old barns and sheds is that if the dirt is soft........heavy stuff may have sank in the dirt so much as to be completely covered.
I try to have a little hand rake or trowel with me on these kind of archaelogical 'digs'.
I've never found, say, an anvil that way.........but you never know!

Ky Boy, glad you found an anvil.......and from the pics, appears to be a pretty good one.!
Congratulations!

Bentiron, so far there are no building restrictions in my county. There was some talk about 'zoning' the county about 10 years back, but nothing came of it. No popular support for it.
This is pretty much farm country where I live.
The nearest town (6000 people ) is 10 miles away.

I think that 'develoment' and 'progress' are slipping up on all of us a little at a time.
The neighboring towns have restricted communities, 'gated' communities, and such as that.
For the time being, we who live in the country can count ourselves lucky.
I read with some dismay that so many of our members can't forge in the backyard, can't burn coal, can't make charcoal,.....some cannot even have a shop at their home at all.
I guess one could chalk it up as the 'price of progress'........but I have to wonder if the price isn't too high.......

Now........down off my soapbox....

Thanks CurlyGeorge for the well wishes........I'm having a great time planning the new shop!

Meancoyote, it appears you are well on your way to a new shop...with unique design........do keep us updated.....this looks interesting!
James

Ironman1, welcome to Iforgeiron!
The 'Getting Started' and 'Lessons in Metalworking' sections on the home page have very helpful information for those just getting started in blacksmithing.
This is quite a large site with lots of info.........and a lot of reading to do.......Enjoy!

No problem Ironrose, If I had a bunch of telephone poles, I'd use 'em.
If I had access to a lot of plywood, concrete blocks or bricks, I would use them also.
I adapt to what materials are available........the stuff I'm using just happened to be right here on the farm, and FREE!
Having a little 'history' attached is just an added bonus

James

As I prepare to move into my new shop, I've been considering all kinds of changes to my forge setup. I think I will be using a different forge than I have been using mainly for more than 30 years.
It was time to dismantle the old forge and clean everything up to see how everything looked.

this is a 20in. truck rim with a little round firepot(old and cast iron) bolted underneath.

There had been a fair amount of deterioration to the bottom of the forge, but mainly the pieces of plate I had welded over the wheel slots had rusted through! I had been patching the holes with scraps of metal, old bolts, and yellow clay for some time.

Surprisingly, the wheel and the firepot are in pretty good shape, and ready to be used again!

And yeah, I brought pictures.......

Since some folks have asked questions or commented on the materials I'm using, I should explain.....I hope this doesn't get long and boring........but here goes........

All the materials (posts and lumber) have been recycled from an old tobacco barn that fell a couple years ago.

Before I was born, in 1950, my dad had a sawmill less than 200 ft. from where I'm building the new shop.
The posts were all round poplars that grew right here on the farm. Only the bark was removed before he used them. They are 30 ft. long. I only had to cut up 2 to make the 6 posts for the new shop.

Dad also sawed all the 2 x 4's and 2 x 6 's and the 'inch' lumber....1 x 6 's ........1 x 8 's, etc.

I should mention that much of the 1 in. thick boards are what we call 'tie siding'.
Dad was also in the business of sawing 7 x 9 in. x 8 and 1/2 ft. cross ties.
Depending on how the log was sawed, there were often 7 in. wide or 9 in. wide boards removed as the log was brought to proper dimensions.

The cross ties were sold and the boards were used as siding , or as we call it 'boxing'. I know.....the terms are confusing.

He sawed all this lumber on an ancient circular saw mill powered by a worn out Packard motor.
He built a 38 ft x 75 ft. tobacco barn from all this lumber. The barn stood until 2005.
I spent all my spare time for several months pulling nails and stacking lumber.
I have enough left for another shop as large as the one I built.
You never know.......I want to build on!

I had also saved metal roofing as well, but my wife insisted I buy new metal for the roof.......probably a good idea.........

It's a new shop for me, but it's already got nearly 60 years of history......
Just thought I'd share.

James Flannery

X-Force, you pose an interesting idea........one worthy of experimentation.
I took a look at your sketch and thought "HMMM....There's something new here!"

I may be looking at it all wrong, but I'm thinking the forge itself could be a piece of flat plate, a wheel (with the unneeded lug bolt holes filled with mud, with holes or slots for air to enter the center of the fire.

The 'bucket on the bottom' is what is different.
If the horizontal air pipe connects 4 or 5 in. up the side of the bucket, there would be ample room for the ash to collect from several fires.
When the bucket filled enough to clog the airway, then just lift the cold forge off the bucket, empty the ashes, and your good to go.......I think!

There would need to be some sort of seal around the top of the bucket to force as much air as possible into the forge( I'm thinking mud)

It seems to make sense that whatever amount of air entered the forge, it would escape up into the forge.The only thing I'm not at all sure about is would the blast into the forge be focused like a traditional forge or would it just leak out in all directions making use difficult? That's a good question!

This is an interesting idea.....I'll have to try this!

Longhunter, I placed these posts on field stones, though it would have been much easier to get them plumb in post holes. They're nearly 60 year old poplar barn posts and would rot in post holes.

Valentin, the 'blessing' idea is a good one.......I need all the help I can get!

Guys, thanks for all the compliments and suggestions.

I have pics in the Gallery of the 'build' so far, and there will be more as I progress.



Here's a pic of how I had to brace the posts to get them to stand plumb.