edge9001

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

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

thoug i am by no means an authority on forge welding, it seems to me the base metal being what broke then it had nothing to do with the weld being made with borax or not. it seems like the structure of the original steel was comprimised wither from grain size being too large or exsisting cracks prior to the weld being made.

if your talking about what i think you are that stuff is awsome. what i know as water gel can be used to treat burns as well as to heat proof things. a gel that is about as thermally conductive as a vaccume(ie a void, not the machine). I've seen that stuff coated onto tinfoil then hit with a oxy/acet torch and still the tinfoil underneath was ok.

looks to me like in the fourth picture the "weld" (I'll call it that for now) that shows at the top of the picture is already starting to crack. it might just be the quality of the weld though. by that i mean it could be the weld quality or a crack...or both. your right it does look like it used to say foster on the second picture i agree use it as is. I would put as little effort into making that anvil usable as possible and devote the unused time and energy into finding an anvil that is in better shape, learn on what you have and then upgrade.... I am.

I agree completely. thread a rod that is long enough for your needs, in some way(depending on your needs, abilities, and resources) fashion a foot on the other end and get the ol gal back into service.

your right. from my experience, I melted down about 3 dollars when i was a kid using my moms grill and a soup can, the zinc liquifies and drips to the bottom, and the copper remains on top as slag. before i fully understood the fluidity of molen metal i tried to make a few things with wooden molds, unfortunatly, i never made the molds big or deep enough to work.

that is the exact design I was trying to describe. the top drum is an oven, the bottom drum is a fire pit. Like i said it bakes the wood into charcoal, while the fumes from the wood are used as fuel to help the process along. as for cutting the wood, just cut it down its length, think making logs into pencils or dowels, and then toss it in. the thinner it is going in the faster it will convert to charcoal. as for breaking it up into charcoal "beans" for lack of a better term that seems to be easier after the conversion.

If cast with a wax loss process, there is another idea involving use of wax duplicats and the wax welding idea. make several (ie tons) of the keys blanks from wax. make the sprue, that little addition to the top of the key, and a large cylinder maybe 1 1/2 inch thick "weld" all of these in a circular fashion to the wax rod. layer them. when done you should have several layers of keys radiating outward from the cylinder. take this and cover in a ceramic or plaster. heat this to melt the wax, pour it out and you will be left with a mold, several more coats of this ceramic mix and you will have a mold that will allow you to pour something like 30-50 keys at a time. btw if looking for a good source of zinc(i think it is zinc) new pennies are made from it and then electroplated in copper. gotta love that show "hows it made".

I do not have a honey do list... she knows better than ask me... i wouldn't do it until I'm ready to. our respective lists are the same except for order or importance. lol I do however have a honey don't like... you know those right, honey don't...beat the kids too much, burn down the house, ignore us for the forge, spend our grocery money on scrap metal, use the last of the gas in the car searching for "rusty gold"(ie anything to do with blacksmithing), ect, ect, ect. those are some of the items on the honey don't list. a few items on the list are there from experience, butmost of them are there as precautionary measures to keep me from doing something stupid. at least that's what she says. you guys and gals know the score. in a woman's eyes "behind every man is a woman rolling her eyes"

youcan straighten the handles without destroying the twist with a wooden or rawhide hammer. just bring it back to forge temps and make adjustment with the wooden hammer and board/stump/post instead of anvil and hammer. wood will move the metal but not enough to mess up the twists... just remember your straightening it not forgeing.

I got you one. I had to cut some old iron water pipes out of the way to replace with pvc. the only tool i had onsite was my angle grinder in the truck with a cut off wheel on it. While cutting the pipe, I noticed i caught the wall on fire, or so i thought. turns out someone had stuffed a whole full of loose steel wool. the sparks gat caught it on fire. luckily the wall insulation was was not anywhere close so all i had to do was pull out the steelwool. i let it do what it wanted to until i got the pipe cut.

I have one of those I haven't used yet, but my car coupler knuckle works well

It hasn't foloowed me home yet, but a little more coaxing and I'll have a smithy 3 in 1 lathe/drill press/ mill combo. I have a lady holding it for me I will have it in have by the end of october.

I wish I could weld like that. Very nice hawks, mine are limited to ballpeen hawks and the like.

just start with round bar and experiment. Although the cast perwter will give a more reproducable design. casting is not too complicated, watch you tube and ask around here you can find several ideas..

well I'mright in the middle. I have a healthy respect for the not so electronic and digital way of doing things. I learn as much about the original ways of doing things as i can before i progress to a newer way.. for example my forge has an anvil and a hammer, but no power hammer. I've have not earner the right to get a power hammer. well that an I can't afford one yet. lol at the same time I love my electronics and gadgets. I can live without them if required, but the way I see it. know how to operate without a gps and radio, learn the compass and maps but keep a spare set of batteries for the gps. just like using a watch or a simple stick to find a basic direction in a survival situation. these kinds of thing escape most people my age or younger.

I could use on of those if you have extras, phil. what do you want for one? pm me

I';m not sure iof this will work but has anyone considerd using the linseed oil/beeswax mixture that has been used for iron work coating. my thoughts are use that on the anvil body and then just set an oil dampend rag on the face of the anvil when not in used. then cover that with a towel to help guard against condesation. like i said not sure if that will work ort not but I figure its worth mentioning

yes my forge has two openings, one being the front door, the top half of the door opens, when it's closed only the 2inchx3inch opening. the second opening is around the burner, there is approximatly a 1/4 inch gap around the burner and the tube that is welded onto the forge body. the scale inside my burner is what is worrying me. am I burning up my burner? since I didn't build the forge I don't want to have to rebuild part of it untill I truely have to if I can.

the door is bolted on, I'm considering removing it alltogether, or possibly opening up the back to give me some pass through capabilities. if your right than one of those should solve my problem

I have a worse situation. i used 6x48 belts and 9 inch discs.only 2 stores in town carry belts and then they only carry 60 grit. in packs of one. gotta love that antique craftsman belt/disc sander. i can't find the disc anyway in town truegrit carries several

just be careful as some one already stated it will burn and you need the proper extinguisher to put out that fire. just in case. and of course let us know how it turns out