the iron dwarf

7 degrees c here today as the high, expecting cold weather soon, a little bit of wind and rain recently and more to come

cornwall is the southwest tip of england Jim my forges use a ball valve to control the flow, you can get a 2" to 12" diameter fire on mine with the depth of fuel and airflow

bouncy castle blower, that is what I reccommend to people who want a cheap one to go with the forges I make. . which area are you in Dan you need to do a bit more than just fill a bottle with CO2, I have come accross bottles in the past with broken valve spindles, they turn freely with nothing coming out but the bottle is still full so I test for that first, also there is often a flammable gel in fuel gas bottles to give the gas its smell, mostly only a tiny ammount, and once I got a CO2 bottle with petrol in it. test and be safe

sharp drills drill easy, blunt drills get hot and get soft so you have to cut off a good bit before sharpening them again. good quality drill bits work out a lot cheaper. a friend only uses cheap ones and had a job drilling hundreds of holes in 1" plate, he got through a bucket full of drills and it took him days, a similar number of holes in stainless just as thick took me 2 drills and half a day ( my drill bits cost 10 times what his cost each but his cost more than 10 times what mine cost in total even without the extra days work allowed for ). also get a chart of cutting angles to sharpen drill too and laminate it ;)

I know where toby is but will leave that to him to decide to post that, needless to say he is in the same country as me. a few more questions Toby, and the answers may help us help you. what tools do you have access to and are competent to use? do you have a suitable workshop space? what skills do you have already? any friends or relatives that can help you with this?

I have sent several messages and emails to try to explain that you cannot just become an experienced smith in a couple of days and have suggested he has a go to see if it suits him by making something simple like one of the very crude and simple bottle openers I have done but in these days of instant gratification few have the patience to learn a skill and he wants to make a knife and swords. I am no expert and will never be as good as a lot of those here but I can make a few little things and im learning all the time. I might make a few triangles later this week for events later this year :)

what are you intending to make, large things, small things the working part of an anvil is mostly about the same area as your hammer face depending on the type and weight of the rail you have, make a base for it and cut it off at a suitable height, for heavy work you may want it low but for light work you may want it high 125 lb is a good weight to start mostly through history anvils did not have horns but if you look out for a worn out tooth from an excavator bucket you will have something useful you can weld on

have a lot of tools in the trunk of your car but just take in what you think you will need

moony has an advantage, out there it is nearly hot enough to forge so he did not need to raise the temperature much, :) here it is much nearer freezing so may be harder work

have sent you a pm toby, top right of the page, the envelope

am only a beginner but inspired by things I saw I made a few for stocking fillers, not as good as any others I have seen here but they all open bottles. they are made from 8mm square or round ( about 5/16th" ) they seemed quite popular so may make more better ones in the future to sell

dont know the original use, one of these did have a plate on with makers name and other details IIRC it said they were for diving.

the lower half acts as a receiver on a compressor, as you pump it fills the lower section compressing the spring and meaning you can get a steady stream of air, there is no mechanical linkage between the 2 chambers, there is also a spring inside the top chamber. have seen a few of these bellows before.

the lower half acts as a receiver on a compressor, as you pump it fills the lower section compressing the spring and meaning you can get a steady stream of air, there is no mechanical linkage between the 2 chambers

got them at an event a couple of weeks ago and am going to try them with a forge

abrasive for anything hard, I use shss in a thomas cold saw for mild and have a small power hack saw for other stuff

wednesday 1st, if anyone is in the area and wants to visit and have a play im up for it forge, fuel, metal and tools are here. contact me if interested. Dave

any more progress?

it may be 'very difficult' but that may mean it is not impossible I am no expert and cannot offer much help. you want to come to work, a lot of those on the way here dont want to work, they just want everything free so soon there will be more friction, the rest of europe sends us all the people they dont want we have unemployment here, we have illegal immigrants, lots of them and we keep letting more in. I hope you find a way.

sorry multipost

multipost

depending on what you are making it may be good just stood on end, fix it to something so it dont fall, grind a radius on it so you have the choice of a rounded edge or sharp. the part you use on an anvil is normally only as big as the face of your hammer so it may seem odd but you can work in such a small area and do things in the past most anvils did not have a horn, maybe get the worn out tooth from a excavator bucket and weld that on for your horn

for you on that side of the pond it may but not from here

OK for those interested I will be having a bit of a bash at my place tomorrow afternoon, if you have never done it before and want to try a bit of forgework?, experienced and want to make something? or just want to watch, it is all free. contact me if interested im near Kettering in the east midlands just off junction 7 of the A14

I will find homes for some soon, I am not as good at making things as most of you, I do a little forgework but im mainly a welder who makes forges and a few tools. of the 3/8 ones I probably have 2000