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hi guys the people who i bought my coal from went bankrupt i guess i was on of their few costumiers. i herd that you can burn corn for black smithing. i have never tried it. i live in a small Mississippi corn i have a lot of and i can get it cheap. now how hot does it get, how long does it last compared to anthracite coal,and how bad s the smoke? I have tried charcoal but that goes to fast, forge welds do not work as well, there are to many flames, and sparks for my liking. i can get cracked corn that the farmers can not sell by the ton for free.

hi guys did you read that this is a display piece. next of we have to talk about carbon steel in guns. in older guns soft steel is what is used not brittle carbon steel. when black powder ignites it explodes with great presser. carbon steel will crack. soft steel such as wrought iron will bulge and hopefully not go with the powder.that is why it was used in the us military for so long. spring steel will bend not blow up that is why i asked about the leaf spring.now on to tools i have everything i need except a rifling tool. i would not like to buy one first of all this is a display piece. second of all they cost in between $550 and $5000 dollars where i looked. one of you asked where i got my welds tested. I have a friend in Tennessee who was an engineer. He tested building materials to see what they could stand up to. he helped select what to use for newer sky scrapers. he owned all his equipment. so when he retired he had it left over so now he plays with them in a pull barn. he is a nice guy, but he does not do much any more. he is old and does not feel well the doctors all say he is fine. and by the way twine coated with lard was first choice when making a mach lock rifle back in the 1500's. an inch of twine coated with lard can burn up to 25 minutes.

thank you for all your comments. i can make very good forge welds. i have got them tested once. they are just as likely to brake as the rest of the steel. all i am wondering is if the steel is suitable for a gun. i know some of you are gun smiths. maybe i will ask this to some more gun smiths. do any of you know a good website for gunsmiths. I have mild steel RR spikes.Spring steel can flex more so there for less likely to blow up. I know my welds with spring steel are strong but i don't know exactly how strong. would a Chevy suburban leaf spring work better. i am going to make a mach lock rifle. a piece of twine covered in lard is cheap. also is more reliable then a spark. I am not this dumb but i knew a man, who bought i flint lock pistol he fired it. it did not go off so he lifted up his flit. while he was doing that his pan caught on fire and went into the barrel. the hole where the fire went in shot out a stream of fire that burned through his finger. again do any of you know a good gun smithing web site. if any of you are gun smiths can you recommend some good steel for a gun. with a couple bucks some Coffey, doughnuts, and i pizza i can get pretty much any mettle once i got titanium form my scarp yard.

I respect that you don't want to see me injured. I live in the Mississippi delta and, due to floods and the way sediment packs on to each other makes the availability of good flint go down. Based on your profile it appears that you live in Virginia. It's very different in a delta, than in a more mountainous area. Here there is not a lot of flint, at least not in pieces big enough to make a sparker out of. I guess that it may be the easiest part if you don't live in a delta like me. If you've ever searched for a spool of flint in a swamp, you would know it's not easy. I think I might just make it a matchlock instead.

coal is better for what i do ,but i can agree coal is hard to get. i heard that some people can forge with swamp gas it seem i little far fetched. after all it is just a Mississippi legend.

do you have an anvil, a pair of tongs, a hammer, and a set of chisels. that's all you need to do basic metal working.

thanks guys you are a lot of help. what kind of wood do you use i used to use oak but that did not work well. i am using high carbon tool steel for broad heads.

i can buy borax. my skill is not the main limiting factor. its the fact that i do not have all the tools. i can find flint but a good piece for striking a spark, well they are few and far between. it sound like you don under stand what properties the flint needs to have to strike a spark hot enough to ignite black powder. sure my skill is not that of a master smith. I knew that before a stated this post. I do know some substitutes for borax but they all are not as good. I was going to use borax for the pistol. I did not want to spend as much for the Damascus steel broad heads.Matt Bower can a black smith find out info for more than one thing at a time. I mean is it ok with you if not i wont i mean just tell me. if its not ok with you i will stop.is it a new law declaring that all blacksmith shall find out info for only one thing at a time or thou heads shall be chopped of. PS: just because my status on this website says newbie does not mean its true. i fond out about this site last week. the computer thinks that is when i started blacksmithing.Well its not true.'

thanks i am buying off of Ebay. I checked Walmart they did not have it. i live in a small town Mississippi they do not carry much at my local stores.

Hi guys do any of you know a good substitute for borax. I am about to make some Damascus steel. i have borax but, it is expensive.

thanks for all your comments i use black powder. i have made guns from pipes before. I know how to test them safely. I do not use as muck powder as i could. would spring steel work better, and i promise that if i make it i would show you the pics. where can i find him i am going to make a pistol. i decided to make it as a display piece. i might strap it to a tree ind fire it 300 feet away down into a dried up pond. Probably not but it depends on how it comes out. it is going to be flint or match lock. flint if i can find some.

I have been forging for 3 years now. I have made lots of stuff tomahawks, bowie knifes, spoons, and arrowheads just to name sum. I have never made a gun so i was wondering if a rr spike would do. I under stand that the metal needs to be soft. RR spikes are soft. I under stand this is more dangerous than any thing i have ever made. I do not want to blow my hand off . so I would like some advise on steel and tools. I live in a small Mississippi town so i do not have many tools just a lot of steel. I have round bar stock of many sizes, will that do the job of forming a rough bore? thank you for all responses and have a nice fall !