tlreif

Yes thats exactly how I ended up doing them. I got to the point where I was getting very similar results. Thanks for the comments.

I decided to make an old school tool box to take my tools to old cow town museum when I work the blacksmith shop. So in that theme I figured why not make my own nails and hardware. I consider my forging skills to be decent. Not as fast as many. But certainly faster than a lot. And fairly acurate in getting the results i want. But I must say making nails is a very humbling experience. I have watched many videos on utube where it is done in one heat. Well I was unable to get it in one heat. It takes me 2 heats but I am getting accurate results. I guess practice will do it. I certainly can see that it is a great forging practice. Thoughts? Happy forging everyone.

You could also do what I did. I built the clay spencer tire hammer. And for the Anvil I laminated 14 7x34 inch 1/2 inch plate. Then welded a 6x6x2 cap on that. This gave me an anvil wight of 491 pounds. It is a 50 pound hammer and works extremly well.

I don't use the sidearm burner I use the t- Rex style burner. (I make my own.) But I would think the placement of the orfice would be similar. On mine I like to have the tip just even with the bottom of the air holes. It seems that I get the best performance there. I would try yours there as well seems like a good setting. Hope this helps.

When I first started I had the horn to the right. I am right handed. But somewhere along the way I have switched. I dont know how or why but that is how i am doing things these days. But i do have to say that I can use it either way.

Thanks. My wife says I do too nice of a job for the trade items. I told her I should always do my very best. If I cant do a nice job then nobody gets anything!

Nice score!

Thanks guys. Wow Thomas! You are much faster than I am! I guess I should cut down on the dancing in between heats! That darn radio! Lol

Hello everyone. Here are some things I did this weekend. I was supposed to be cleaning my shop in preparation for hosting our monthly club meeting next weekend. I did get my daughters closet doors repainted and the door knobs that I forged for her put on and the doors hung. At least that got those items out of the shop. But the forge and anvil was calling out to me. The first piece is a bottle opener for the trade item for the meeting. The spatula is from Mark Aspery's First book. And the last item is a coffee mug tree that a customer wanted. I finished that last weekend. She said she wanted something twisty.......Hmmm....I was having a hard time coming up with something and my daughter and I was talking about it and she came up with this idea. She drew a picture of it and the customer liked it. I really thought it was going to be easy. But I have to say it kicked my rear for a while. It took 2 try and several hours of anguish but I finally got it like the drawing. I finally got it to work by taking the rods and making them into a circle and then pulling the circle out. This gave the twisting effect i needed.

I agree with Bigfoot. The over all concept is good but maybe the last scroll on the end larger to connect the top to the end. This would be a long flowing scroll. And then you can put a smaller scroll on the inside and collar it to the main. Would be cleaner and more refined looking. Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for your kind words. And thank you for being of service. I have a great deal of respect for what you do. The story that you sent a link for was amazing. I am very proud of my son. He served in the marines for 5 years and now will serve his city that he lives in. I dont think it gets much better than that.

Yea I guess I should have put in the dimensions. It is 42 by 42 inches. My friend is so good with his airbrush the flames look real. I do wish I could do that. But its funny he wishes he could do what I do too!

Hi all! So my son is graduating tomorrow from the fire academy. Each class builds a plaque to hang in the classroom. Now my son is even more competitive than I am. which by the way is very. Anyway he came to me with an idea and he and I designed and build this plaque. I forged the Pike poles and did a rope twist ring and I had my daughter weld together the ladder. I have a good friend that did the paint and lettering. My part as far as forging goes isn't anything special but with the paint and how it all came together I think is very nice. Not much of a blacksmith piece as a whole, but I thought I would share it here. There are many great craftsmen on this site that I thought would appreciate it. Let me know what you think! As always all comments are welcome.

This is looking great! I am very interested. What is the diameter of the blower fan? I am looking forward to the final product. I will be buying the kit from you! I was thinking of making one myself but i was going to machine the whole thing. Thanks for doing this!

Hey kansaspiper. Are you from Kansas? If so what part. The reason why I am asking is I have built one and I am hosting a meeting of the csma in march. You can see what I have done.

It looks fine to me. I am sure you know this but when you are doing long twists use water to cool specific areas to isolate the part you need to adjust. You are doing very nice work! I enjoy your posts. Btw. I am parcial to the reverse twists. I have a tool that I made to do it in one heat.

I have a 260 pound two horn classic. It's a very good anvil. It is similar to the paddinghouse but cheaper. The rebound is really good.

I agree with you Monster. It does seem a bit frustrating. I guess from my perspective I would rather do without than to buy cheap and have it fail after one use. I'm talking the cheap tool stores like harbor freight for tools in general. As for the used tools, we all want to buy as cheap as we can but we want to sell it high. For this reason I purchase my major tools new. My anvil new, fly press new, motor for my power hammer new. You get the point. I just find it easier and less of a hassle to look at a price and say ok I have to save this much money and it is mine. Just my 2 cents.

That's the beauty of this thing. Ask 10 different. Smiths the same question and you get 10 different answers. None of which is wrong. So age plays no part in it. It's all how we perceive things. Good job! And keep posting!

I will jump on the tire hammer band wagon. I built the Clay Spencer Hammer last summer. If you have access to a lathe,mill and or drill press, and a welder you are in. I used 1/2 inch plate that I had laying around for the anvil. 14 plates cut 7x34 inches with a 2 inch thick 6x6 piece welded on top of it. It looks good and works great as its mass is much more heavy than what is called out. any way I have under 500 in the total project and that includes a new 1 hp motor from Automation Direct. I tend to go over board when I build things so looking good is important to me. It comes from my father who was a perfectionist. If you like I can post some pictures later as I am at work right now. I can tell you that I am thrilled with the results. Our club has a 50 pound little giant and this blows it away.

ITC100 is a ceramic coating designed to not only coat the liner but to actually make it more efficient by keeping the IR energy inside the forge by reflection. It works quite well and you will see a marked improvement in your forge performance. I mix the ITC100 pretty thin. Slightly thinner than sour cream. I find it goes on smoother this way. Keep it stirred up as you are using it. I use a paint brush to apply. You will want to make sure your paint brush is wet with water as well. I put 2 or 3 coats on. Let dry and cure between each coat. By cure I let the burner run for about 5 minutes. Let cool and apply again.

It is found under the refractory coatings . Right above the ITC products button.

Glad to be of service!

I use satonite on mine. You can get it from Ellis custom knife works. I put about an 1/8 to a 1/4 inch. Cure it and then coat with ITC100. It make a hard shell that has proven to be very durable and hasn't cracked in the 2 years I have been using it.

If you find the right steel supply you can build the clay Spencer tire hammer for under 500. I did. I bought a new motor and the bushings and stuff in the plans and still came out under 500. I find this to be a great power hammer. Our club has a 50 pound little giant and the tire hammer hits harder and has way more control than the little giant. IMO.