connor bachmann

welcome to ifi! before you heat your metal, make sure that the fire is glowing orange to white. railroad spikes are sort of thick compared to the stock that a lot of beginners work with. It should take a few minutes to get it up to heat at first but once you heat it up, it'll be faster to reheat (unless you cool it down completely).

if i may say, that is a fine looking tool. I'm thinking of forging one myself someday. Mine is going to have a tang that will be burnt on though

if I were you, I'd use an angle grinder to cut half of the way through then lay a side over the edge of your anvil, or a stump (widthwise) and hit it with a hammer (while still full hard). You could also cut all the way through with an angle grinder. Please note that i've never done this before, it's just an idea that i'm pulling out of thin air

pics?

ok. yes i'm using lump charcoal, homemade in fact. I'm not sure about direct or indirect charcoal though. my forge is a bottom blast with a shallow firepot. it's made from an old grill. the air source is a hairdryer. I tried using that, then i tried using a brick construction with a hand pumped mattress inflator. then with a hairdryer again. neither are getting a welding heat. I'm using charcoal produced through the direct method, should i attempt to use charcoal produced with the indirect method?

Hey everybody. My coal supply has run out until the winter and, at least for now, I'm back to using charcoal. I don't remember how i used to forge weld with charcoal. I used to be able to, and now I can't get anything above an orange heat (which is also problematic when working with wrought iron). I'm wondering if anybody knows if i need to use a certain type, what air blast to use, insulation, etc. Help would be very much appreciated

oops, didn't attach

I don't have any decent pictures of my main anvil. It's a Peter Wright, though. at 95 lbs it works pretty well here's my only picture:

I'm in the middle of forging a sword from a high grade of rebar. It works well, and despite rumors, it has a consistent carbon content. You could try carburizing wrought iron into blister steel and folding it like damascus. You could also pile a few files and weld them into a billet, then draw it out into a flat bar.

Save up your money, go on Ebay, get yourself a Peter Wright, you'll never regret it. hold on to your good anvil and never sell it

I know this is an old topic, but I'd like to give my $0.02 I started out using a rock, I continued using a rock and was still able to make some pretty objects, along with the staples (hooks, nails, etc). Then I was using a russian cast steel ASO, I was able to make some better art work, but I still needed the skill to back it up. Now I have a Peter Wright, it is an excellent anvil and I move metal much faster, but it still requires skill, much of which I still need to learn. A Peddinghaus/Refflinghaus would be like the Rolls Royce of anvils (Kohlswas are Mercedes'), and metal would move very easily, forging would be like butter, but you can't make better shapes on those than you can on my russian ASO if you have the skill. That's my Two Cents

They might have a few questions as to why I'm carrying an anvil.... they obviously don't get those much.