edge9001

There was one smith in an IFI shirt and his friend working together, as next to them a younger smith working on teaching his friend. these are the couple of guys I spent most of my day with. I now you four told me your names when we met, but like i said my geriatric memry prevents me from rememmbering. WHO WERE YOU!! lol

ok guys, unfortunatly I am very bad with names and I have a geriatric memory at 30. I met a few of you at the hammerin in blairsville this past week end.
I know randy was there, but who were the rest of you. I'm sorry I can't remember, I remember your faces just not your names.

I have two forges. one is a propane forge i bought from the original builder. the second one is my solid fuel forge. my solid fuel forge is a brake drum forge. mad efrom the brake drum off a ford van. I have yet to find a need for a larger solid fuel forge yet.

like you said short answer is yes get both. in my opinion the more variety you have the better, but hammer control is more important than how many hammers you have

I have a 3# cross peen hammer, and both large and small ballpeen hammer. as well as a 32oz machinist hammer.

hmm, looks like a tool, and i was made from steel. yep that would be tool steel. lol

looking good

where did the picture go. it was on here a few hours ago.

ok guys forget the bug spray, get the hammer!! Nice job!

how the heck do you guys find these auctions. I have tried all the major auctioneers in denver and I have never seen any blacksmithing stuff whatsoever.

small auctions, and farm/feed that host auctions. if there is a lot of useoless items and rusty stuff, hang around. if not it's 50/50

what do you mean by the anvil having church windows?

that seems to the the answer to thse question posed by this thread. only for a forge running soley off of gasoline, I recommend perhaps using an old car fuel tank instead of the urn. with a little enginuity(spelling??) you could also rig up the original fuel pump, float valves, and fuel gauges and have a safe way to monitor the fuel levels. if used indoors i would out it near a wall and mount the tank outside for safety.

just my 2 cents

Sam Salvati

love the quote. many have different opinions on the matter but me, I will have a hand on my ar-15, the other straping on the pistol and then grabbing the bug out bag...i dare anyone to kick in my front door. no telling what they might find staring back at them. AR, 9mm, grenades.....home made howitzer, its just hard to tell. might even be my hammer and a glowing slug o steel.

if any of you remember my last knife. the deeply curved blade I put a cord wrapped handle on.

it was made from the same stock. I have a fairly long piece of this stock and I cut this knife off if it.

I got it down to a good thin blade fairly easy with the gas forge and a hand hammer. also quenched in a n iced brine it has made a nice blade, of pakistani comercial blade quality. You all kniow those blade, the cheap little available everywhere knives. it just takes time to do it by hand, and well for me learning is something that takes time anyway so doing it by hand allows me to get a better feel for the steel and I can't blame anyone or anything if it is screwed up, ecxept for me and my learning curve. If i were to use a striker or a power hammer then I would be able to blame the machine or the help if my blade didn't turn out the way I want.

as the title says a first sword is coming, and i have not got enough experience to try it.

Like i've seen several time, knives are easier than swords and niether should be attempted until you have experience with the basics. I just can't wait any longer.
soon as I get my propane refilled I'm am going to attempt a sword. I have a piece of 1x 1/2 mild steel that is just long enough. I think mild will be best as to reduce the cost of what will most likely be a failure.

I hav ejust got the itch that needs scratching, so I guess we will soon see just how good or bad I am at this point. gotta start somewhere right.

now to settle on a design. I will post pictures along the way.

b. e..a utiful

yet another movie reference...bruce almighty. gotta love it

autions are amazing things. you can find something you want and no one else either knows what it is or wants it, and you are the only bidder. it those cases your opening bid never gets challenged. and we all know you start bidding at an outrageously low bid. on the other hand there is an anvil on pristene shape with all of us blacksmiths at the auction and it ends in a bidding war. at tht point it is no longer about a good deal it is about the bragging rights of winning the the coveted item.


Ive seen a large drill press in excellent condition go for $40 to a kidas well as a small china made tea set go for over $100 to a little old lady. auctions are amazing and sickening at the same time.

compared to mine thats amazing! heck thats amazing anyway. great job! I have yet to try a second one. I have a hammer head ready though.

my first ballpeen hawk was made in the fire of my first brakedrum forge, and I was still getting the workings of it down. now I think my next one will be made in my gas forge.

that was my second guess. I love the old movies.

I agree.. Canned beer is a sign of the Poxyklyps. (apocalypse) Bottled beer or death!!!

watched max max one too many times?

yes unfortunatly it does get a bit warm in those summer months. I have yet to see during winter months. I have to shore up the roof before it sees snow or i will not have one.

I agree with the subterranien shop, if only i could afford to build it. I live on a giant clay ball so all i really need to do is dig out a huge hole and then light a fire in it...hehehe then I'll have a nice ceramic bowl for a shop. (don't nail any pictures to the wall)

hmmm 1% humidity, i haven't seen that low since iraq. here in goergia, we have a "low humidity" when it is only raining softly. swamp coolers down here are when you have a case of beer on ice and your in the swamps. instead of those things you guys use

lookin good, wish i could get all those barrels I would love to have all of that storage space.

you have a shop!!!, When I started I had an anvil, and a hammer, and a hot hole in the ground, work with what you have until you can make more. Don't for one minute think you can't,

I started with my charcoal forge supported by 2 cinderblocks set on my kids red wagon. all of this in my front yard. later I built this shack around the site. so I never moved my smithy from it's original location just secured it from thieves and weather. my smithy started with the build of my brake drum forge just a brake drum and a air pipe using a leaf blower as an airsource. after i saw it worked I went and bought a hammer from HD and then went looking for rr track sections, instead i found the rr coupler knuckle i am currently using. the military has taught me a very important phrase to live by: improvise adapt and overcome. this is how i face all problems in live. I improvised a smithy, adapted used materials and overcame the heat

Glad to see you have a shelter. Dads are always good for having stuff laying around that hasn't been put to use yet. Just ask my kids. Enjoy your shop!

Tim, you have a door? As soon as I figure out how to affix a door to the oak tree I work under I will worry about walls and a roof. It's going to be a cold winter .
Me thinks a shelter is in order.

you do make a good point. and that is why despite the condition ofmy shop I am still proud to have it.

for anyone who thinks their smithy is poorly builty or not in good shape I invite them to come work in mine.

my walls are built from reclaimed frames I got from out local trade center after a company was done with the wood. the are just a 2x4 fram with braces in each corner. I put an extra "wall stud" in pace to help hole everything up. one of these on each side, the front wall was built in a similar fashion from the small amount of scrap wood i had on hand. my door is three scrap strips of plywood nail to two cross peices of 2x4 with a poorly made hand made hinge. the wall are covered in reclaimed tin sheeting. the roof ij just some of trhe same tin just set on top to help with the rain. there is no back wall as my smithy is set up against my house.
after all of that my wife found a can of red spray paint and named it the man cave. mostly due to the fact she is afraid to walk inside. keeps saying she will get burned or cut on something.

here are some pictures.the chinmey for my charcoal forge is made from some of the same tin. it isn't much more than a smoke hood that opens up to the out side. but is work to keep my skithy safe while burning my charcoal forge.
My shop

my selfmade poorly constructed hinges

the door


now after all this I am still proud of my little smithy for several reasons first I built it,
second I made a workable smithy with the few materials I had on hand
third it works for now.
forth even though it looks ike a hollowed out remenance of a cow found in a pasture. It does keep my tools locked up

I will eventually purchase materials to make a better one, but for a free building not bad. inside I have room for my charcoal forge, my propane giant, a work table my anvil and sander and my lincoln 225 welder as well as various supplies and materials. I even keep 3 or 4 20 lb bags or lump charcoal on hand at all times for the charcoal forge.

use the anvil as is or make any repairs you feel confident in doing. there really is much you can do to that anvil that already hasn't been done to it. It is a great on to learn on as there isnt much you can do to mess it up.

I would learn on it and look for an upgrade. this way you get the use of what you paid for, you get to learn, and at the same time be on the look out for a better cared for used anvil.

always remember a bad anvil is better than no anvil. atleast it's steel not stone. although that wouldn't really be bad as long as it was servicable