BeaverDamForge

I have a broadaxe marked "cast steel", I don't know if you'd call it a "reproduction" but it was certainly used. I have also seen cast steel chisels and slicks. Dad says it's good stuff (I was skeptical at first), he knows his tools pretty well. Good Luck!

I live next to a railroad, so strangely enough most of my stock is 3/4 x 3/4 x 6" ... I made these candle holders from spikes. Trying to forge the flanges of the head down without making cold shuts is a challenge. Plus a lot of drawing out - hammer practice for a noob. Glass doodads can be found at Goodwill for next to nothing. Good Luck!

Frosty, I've been wondering - what are you going by when you judge efficiency? Amount of wood used? Thanks and Good Luck!

Thanks, Frosty! Good to hear from someone who has done this. Several points I'll have to consider there. I may have some questions... like would more chimney on this setup help? Or do I need more firebox too? As it is, if I put too many chips in the chimney I have to pump the bellows pretty hard to avoid thick smoke (gotta have the flame above to burn it off, and it has to stay pretty hot to keep that going). When pumping the bellows that hard, and the pieces of charcoal in the firebox get pretty burnt out it starts coming out the front in chunks as they get lighter. Lump charcoal does the same thing (plus it starts popping; probably moisture in it), so I've never gotten much heat from it either. I don't mind ash and little embers flying around but don't let the chunks land on you. I have considered (in a larger setup) actually putting a retort in the chimney. I guessing that would be a little more efficient, but would it make enough? Thanks and Good Luck!

Nice! I want to get into doing things like that. Good Luck!

Thanks for the welcome, guys! Ted, you make some good points. I had a friend who was a knifemaker, and I've been to shows with him and collected a few knives, unfortunately only one of his. I had thought about becomming a knifemaker but I needed income at that time and there is a lot of competition. I would have needed to make more knives than would have been fun in order to survive. Trying to make a living is a good way to ruin a hobby. I'm not sure what got me going this spring. (edit: I'll take that back, I found the ODBSA website. An offer to learn blacksmithing with a local club that has no dues, only a small contribution at each meeting you attend. A good friend joined at the same time, that helped too.) AM: BFD might be more appropriate... Good Luck!

I suggested heating from the middle merely to shorten the time it takes for a long punch (the one I made is about 10"). The struck end wouldn't be hardened unless you quenched it somewhere along the way so it shouldn't matter. Use a low heat for tempering, I think it was said that it only takes 400-650* to run the colors. A propane torch or gas stove is enough. Too much heat, and they'll run too fast, not stopping where you want. The demonstrator I saw (Charles McRaven) told us not to requench as it could harden the parts you don't want hard, but I wonder if the temp is really high enough. He did say you could lay the piece on the anvil to slow the colors. Good Luck!

I'm a noob to forging but I've seen a demonstration on heat treating. What I'd do is heat just the business end to non-magnetic (or however you judge the heat) and quench it. Then heat the piece from the middle (or the other end if it's short) to run the colors. The tip should just turn the color you want. Do it slowly or you may have to do it again. Good Luck!

Yeah, it is a little close. I'm thinking of moving the forge to the right and away from the house. The bellows will be a little more protected that way. It might make a chimney a little easier too. I'm figuring it out as I go. Thanks and Good Luck!

Thanks! I didn't really get involved in blacksmithing to make knives, I want to learn to make colonial style door hardware and other useful things. Of course knives are fun to make and making anything is good practice. The third one is better, the handle is more aligned with the blade (from above). Good Luck!

I'm just starting out, here's my setup. I built a box bellows out of some scraps I had around. I've got the forge configured a little differently now, using pine chips instead of charcoal. I'm going to try to make a hand crank blower from plywood. Good Luck!

I've thought about using them but they're mostly green. Might work better if you had a place to let them dry first. Good Luck!

I use wood chips in my forge, converting them to charcoal in the "chimney" now (my latest configuration). I have another brick on edge in the front now, so I can fill it up with wood chips. I'm using seasoned bull (Virginia) pine, 2-4" long, and various shapes and sizes of chunks. I'm not getting above orange heat, but at this point it doesn't bother me. As I get more experience I can probably solve that. Good Luck!

Hi there! I'm a beginning blacksmith, I found ODBSA last spring and started attending the meetings. I've seen demonstrations by Charles McRaven, Dan Easley, and Elmer Roush, had a day of hands-on instruction at a coal forge, and set up a small forge of my own. At my forge I've made a hook, a hot punch, a few knives, started on a pair of hinges, and a pair of tongs. I also got a few hours in at another coal forge at Danny Ward's Farrier School earlier this month (ODBSA "Challenge"), and made another partial set of tongs. I use a box bellows (first thing I made for it) and my forge is just a bunch of firebricks stacked up. I tried hardwood lump charcoal but couldn't get much heat without a lot of popping and throwing embers out. I found that chunks of wood worked as well or better. Through experimentation I've started using a chimney arrangement and adding the wood (now using bull pine) chunks at the top so they're charred by the time they're in the actual firebox. I haven't been able to achieve more than bright orange heat but that's OK for now. The anvil I'm using right now is not very good, a piece of rail that was given to me. It had a flat sided "horn" cut on one end which I rounded up a bit but would need a lot more work to be really useful. Too much of the bottom flange was cut away and the top is rounded off to one side since it's used rail. I'm looking for a better anvil, thinking about buying a 286lb Euro Anvil. That would be my first real investment. Here are a couple of the (rustic) knives I've made, both of these came from a spike. The smaller one has some cold shuts (from the head of the spike - DOH!) so I didn't bother to heat treat it, it's a "letter opener". I did quench and temper the bigger one, so I can test my work. I'm working on a larger one from a whole spike for a friend. All of these balance at the junction of the handle and blade, although I didn't test them until they were annealed for sharpening. Thanks for the forum, I'm sure I'll be learning a lot here! Good Luck!