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.

he wants the anvil for a crafts fair he said.... anyways it seems like too much work to take it. he should be happy with his 7 kohlswas, though

Hey guys, I'm going to be visiting Joe (technicusjoe) in Europe who wants me to bring my 95 lb Peter Wright. I'm wondering if it would be possible to put this anvil into my checked bag without having it confiscated. Would the TSA hassle me if I brought it in a backpack as my carry-on?

I use mild steel, but I've heard that 5160 (car springs) works well

I'd recommend using a hairdryer.

the "two men and a pickup truck" hypothesis is the exact reason I keep my shop as simple as possible.

I have a set of hammers (about $100 for all of them)
a box full of files and chisels ($10)
a homemade forge ($80)
a peter wright ($270)
hardy tools (self made, $50)
a russian cast steel ASO ($100)
a leg vise ($100)
about $660


that's about a month of work at a minimum wage job, plus months of searching (though, I don't think I'll ever buy another ASO)

I have been curious about making a living from blacksmithing, and I'm thinking of driving around the country, going to camp sites, trailer parks, etc, to make and sell my wares there. Any thoughts?

very nice, I've seen this. Unfortunately they're using mild steel, so one of the parts came out differently from the original, because mild steel doesn't split as well as wrought.


Excellent work, though, I've always wanted to make a gate

I suppose I could start with cast iron (fining it first, of course) then add mild steel halfway through the process in order to bulk up the mix.

thanks for the advice, I know this is probably not profitable, but possibly much easier and predictable than the bloomery process.

I'll try it out with various different charges, building materials, designs, etc when I get back from my vaccation

I've been using expensive short lengths of mild steel from True Value for the past 6 months.

Where does one find cheap mild steel in the US?

economic viability is irrelevant to the topic, I'm just wondering about the process itself

How many customers do you have who'd be willing to pay for real, homemade wrought? This is not a trivial thing you're talking about. Even if you do get it to work, and work well, there's going to be a lot of labor involved and you'd have to charge a significant premium on your work to break even. I mean, I think the reason no one is supplying new wrought on a commercial basis anymore is because not many people are willing to pay for it. Of course if you want to do it just for the experience, that's great. But if you want it to make economic sense, buying antique wrought may very well be the smarter way to go.

well, I'm thinking of making the blooms into wrought iron bar stock and making decorative work out of it. If people are going to be calling my work "wrought iron", I might as well use it so that they're correct for once.


Also, I love working with wrought (at least when it has a constantly low carbon content), it's like butter