Jim Stubbs

a beautiful piece of work. hopefully i will be able to one day make something as good. still new to smithing and in fact am still trying to get everything set up yet. one question i have is what would you sell something like that for. again beautiful work.

actually the first anvil doesnt sound to far out from price if it is new. you can buy a new 70lb anvil from the local farrier shope for about that same price and for the same weight. as far as prices go again it is what you want to pay. the other day on our local craigslist there was a Hayden Boudan(probably not the right spelling) anvil. the weight was 205lbs and the asking price was $1300 i looked again later that same night and it had been sold. now dont know exact price it sold for. i guess it is what you can find and what you are willing to pay. of course i am still on the lookout for a new(to me) anvil myself and check everyday.

thomas yeah they are a good bunch of guys.the annual picnic that is usually held at the cleveland county fairgrounds has been moved to my neighbours house. which is good for me. just have to drive around the corner. it is to be held i believe in April. there is a South Central meeting on the 18th or 19th of this month(whichever day sat is)in Blanchard also. Yeah i was going to try and make the conference last Oct but it was a week after i had really really bruised my left ankle and torn my left rotator cuff(though didnt know it at the time)after having an attic ladder assembly give way off the ceiling 10' up in the air. so hopefully i can make it this year. going to try and make some days at the state fair if i can. depending on how good the skills get that is.....lol... probably wont matter to much will go anyways.

well Nol Putnam's article is very good but i really dont know anyone who would pay over a grand for a fireplace set. at least not in my kneck of the woods.

here in oklahoma we can get it for around 140 a ton. now that is for our club members.i dont know that they will sell to non members.

i just bought this book last week. i am new to blacksmithing and so i have been reading/watching everything i can. i was lucky because i was able to buy this book at Half Price Books store. if you have one of these around you go and check them out. anyways i think i took two days to read this book and loved it. the descriptions and the pictures are outstanding. i love the fact that she has some projects in the book that goes from beginner onwards. i love the door pull. i am going to be building a storage/shop building and i plan to try and make these door pulls for the building. i have a couple other books that i have been able to find and so far i like this book the best. for a beginner smith i think it should be a mandatory book. for those who are interested Lorelei has a website, you can buy the book from her at this site. the web site is. www.blacksmithchic.com.

Mateo welcome to this hobby/craft. i am new myself also. one thing i have been doing is reading/watching everything i can that pertains to blacksmithing. that channel you are wanting to use as a fire pot should be ok to use but i would consider getting some fire brick to help keep it from breaking through. the best thing to use would be an old brake drum and then use the channel as table top. you could turn it over so the flat part was up and drill your hole for the drum brake and build your tuyere and dump gate and be able to attach your blower. now like i said i am new also and no expert on it but i believe that would be the better thing to do then use just that channel. i imagine others on here can give you more sound advice on this. making tongs is great. i just made my first pair with some help of course. i posted some pics of them in the introduction area under New Smith and first attemp. i would say one of the best things for being new is to get with a good group or even better a fellow smith. i have found that most of them are willing to help a newbie out. i think i have asked a million questions to my neighbour who is a smith. and has a great setup. the other thing is watch Youtube, you can find a ton of stuff on there. just put in blacksmithing for the search and go crazy...lol. so welcome to this crazy and exciting craft/hobby/addiction called blacksmithing.

Thomas well it is my left shoulder so it would be my cranking arm. hmmm i like the idea of the foot switch, that shouldn't be to much problem to make. i have to wire up the electric blower anyways so that is a thought to consider. as far as the Salt Fork group that is who i am with. when i went to the state fair last year and got talking to the guys there the one guy i talked with most i learned just lives around the corner from me. so he is the one i have been picking his brain on. i was wanting to go to some of the meetings but with the surgery and all i was laid up for awhile. i was able to go a couple weeks ago to one of the meetings with my neighbour. that is where i made the tongs. was great watching all of the smiths doing things. one guy was doing animal heads on things, another one made a wizard bottle opener. the one guy who did the animal heads did a baby buffalo on a RR spike and then turned it into a knife. i helped him a little bit with cutting the horns. after he was done i was looking at it and he gave it to me. still needs to be finished but i like it. and actually this same guy is who i bought the forge from. he had it in his truck. so yeah they are a great group. at least so far as i have seen. i just sent in my application to join them after i got back from that meeting. and actually there is a meeting i believe on March 18/19, it is on sat so whatever date that is. it is going to be in Blanchard which is about a30-45 minute drive from my house.

actually i was thinking of putting in a sliding door. i am going to go with traditional two doors for the storage and a sliding door for the shop. i have found a video of a smith making door hinges and i think that is what i will do for the storage part. and a nice pull handle for the shop part. as for the welding plug i can add that any time i want. my plan is to put in a small 60 amp 4-6 breaker panel and go from there. i can upgrade/expand any time i want/need to. as far an over hang i should have about a foot over hang on front and back due to the sheet metal roof pieces being 12' long each. so that should help with some storage of steel. sounds like a good idea with the outside storage. a good idea there might be to use some 4" pvc pipe with a screw on cap. that way it is kind of weather proof and easy to get to.

Hi Dan nice design for a blower. one question i have is i see you have a bunch of duct tape around it. is this all you used or did you use some wood filler or bondo? i would think if you went to a 1:1/2 ratio for the pulleys you would not have to crank as hard or fast. not sure on that ratio. so if your first sprocket was 6" make your blower sprocket 3" you would be turning your blower sprocket faster then what you would be turning your crank sprocket. less arm cranking with more blower action. again not sure if that would be right or not. but i believe it is. good luck

Hi Thomas that is funny with the allowance. my plans are to make the storage/shop like a pole barn style with a sloped roof. i am planning to use sheetmetal for the roof as this will cut down on the costs. we have some extra sheetmetal from building the stable. might have to buy one or two but that is ok. my plan is for the lowest end to be 7' inside. and the highest close to 8'. never thought of RR ties for a footing. sometimes they are hard to find around here. unless maybe i can talk the railroad into a few of them.and depending on price. my plan was to put in some type of opening for windows in the shop area. i was thinking of putting up screen and then getting some plastic/acrylic for a window in the winter. i could also put in a fan for ventilation that way if it gets to stuffy/hot inside. Oklahoma can get a little warm..lol.i figure i am going to put in a 60 amp panel to help with lighting,fans, etc. might be over kill but will allow for some expansion later on.

Hi Bill well i was thinking that with the little footing around the edges for the framing and the gravel inside and using the vibrating machine it would stay compacted. not really sure if it will or not. why i tossed that out there. like i said it is still in the planning stages so i have some time yet before i really decide. i still might just go with another concrete pad and put down some rubber mats around the anvil. definitely will be adding electrical to it though. and again going to be cheap seeing i will do the electrical myself. will have to make sure i remember to put a chase under the footing/pad to be able to get electrical into the building.

Hi Thomas thanks for the comment. i was thinking of using the hand crank first. i was also thinking of trying to make a gate for the electric blower to be able to control the amount of air flow that is delivered to the forge and thus be able to control how much air gets to the fire. yes i have found a good group to work/learn with. they are a ABANA chapter/affiliate. I found them when i went to the state fair and there was a demonstration going on during the fair. i believe this will be the 3rd maybe 4th year that they will be doing the fair. i am hoping to be able to help out with the fair a couple of days. hopefully my skills will be worth it by then. any toys, i mean TOOLS are always welcome. as the one guy i have been talking to said... you can never have enough.

Rainmaker i am also new to this wonderous craft called blacksmithing. i have done a bunch of reading and watching Youtube video's. i just bought a book that is called The Backyard Blacksmith, Traditional Techniques for the Modern Smith. the author is Lorelei Sims. i just finished the book and i think it is a great book. she also has some very nice projects at the end of the book that goes from beginner to advanced. If you can get your hands on this book i think it would be worth the money. I was able to find it at Half Price Books. not sure if you have one of those around you or not. but i do know you can go to her website and buy it also. not trying to promote her book or anything here. just think it is good for a beginner/newbie in my opinion. her website is www.blacksmithchic.com . good luck with your smithing.

Hi Guys i am relatively new to smithing. in fact i am still in the process of getting things together. i just recently acquired a (i think) nice little coal forge. i am still looking for a decent anvil. i found a small i think 35 lb one at an auction. figured it was better then nothing. i am including pics of the coal forge and my first attempt at making a pair of tongs. i had help with the tongs. i went to a meeting of a group of blacksmiths in my area and was watching for a while. i got to talking to the gentleman who was holding the meeting and mentioned i was interested in making some tongs. so after lunch he got down to showing me how to make one half of them. he showed me how to draw them out round them etc. then he turned it over to me for the other half. now the only thing i had made before this was a leaf that was well uuuggllyy...lol. anyways i got to work drawing them out, rounding them and what not. it took me a bit but i am kind of proud of them. so i now have my first pair of tongs to get started with. now i just need to get the forge set up and ready to work with. it might be a little bit before i can really do much because of having rotator cuff surgery back in january. i have been reading some of the posts on this site and i must say there are some very talented people on here. i am hoping to be able to put out as good a work as i have seen on here. i know it will take time but that is ok. ok here are pics of the forge and the tongs. the piece i made is the one with the little hook at the end. i do have a couple of blowers for the forge. one is a hand crank and the other is electric. not sure which i will use. any comments or suggestions are welcome. thanks guys