Jakebob

its iron with a steel work face.

ok the other day i made this knife and i just got a little anvil. i think it is meant to be a knifemakers anvil, it weighs 20lb and there is a symbol on the anvil- it is like a diamond- with a c and an o in it... does this mean anything?

these are the pliers that i made

Good news, today i had the opportunity to talk to a few blacksmiths at a festival, it turns out there is a blacksmith supply store not more than 30 minutes away from my house. They offer classes there too, im in luck. as for the monitary situation it is looking up a little, im selling my boob ladies, i should make some more money as long as people are interested in voluptuous paperweights. :D

Ok on aluminum casting (im no expert by any means btw) An investment casting is a casting in where a wax pattern with sprues attached, like a ring or in this case her is "invested" in plaster of paris, the investment is then placed in a kiln, or something hot, to melt/ burn out the wax and dry it completely. metal is then poured into the sprue, and the plaster is chipped away when it is cooled. however i cheat on my simple plaster of paris castings by just pouring the plaster over a plastic matrix and just letting it dry afterward- since there is nothing on the back of "lady" i can just use that as an open mould. then i just dry that in a dehydrator, then pour. but for 3d things you need to do wax. I also plan to put "lady" on ebay just to see how my castings do, as i need cash to buy blacksmithing stuff. As for the difficulty of aluminum casting id say its pretty easy, it takes less skill, but alot more time overall with blacksmithing. I started out melting in a flowerpot, cast in concrete in an ash bucket, with charcoal. i also do most of my castings in greensand, just my detailed things like "lady" in plaster.- id say if your interested give it a try. check out melt metal, home metalcasting, backyard metalcasting Also i hope to build a forge to better suit my needs soon, out of furnace cement- i want to put a notch in either side, so i can heat metal on more places than just the end and i want it to hold up. am i going wrong with refractory, as i am a foundry guy and concerned about insulation, will something out of heavy steel work too?

i use the piling horizontally, and i hammer in the center where the vertical peice is that connects the two horizontal peices, that is the only place where there is some rebound, and it dosnt make such a loud noise when i hammer there too. ok thats one of the things i made so far, its not much, and i think it looks better in person, but i still think its good for a second blacksmithing attempt- i just wish i had a forge that would allow me to heat all of it. That holds up a tiny windchime in my tomato patch now btw. oh... the second photo isnt blacksmithed but i thought you guys might get a kick out of it. its one of my aluminum investment castings.

Hi all... im jakebob. I just got in to blacksmithing and i am still amassing supplies, i was directed here by one of the guys at backyardmetalcasting and it seems like a nice place. anyhow as my smithing goes i use wood pellets in a small forge i built thats powered by compressed air, i need an anvil mostly, and i use an old building piling to hammer on, but it has crappy rebound and makes a deafening noise. ill try to post pics of some of my stuff later once i figure out how to work this forum.