Backwoods Blacksmith

10 or 12 inch adjustable open end with handle welded on the end. Adjustr real easy and are cheep to get. No teeth to grind.

How To Make a Blacksmith's Bellows By Robert M Heath. Centaur Forge $5.00

I wear the blue ones under my welding gloves when welding in the rain. Which you have to do if you live in Oregon.

Go online and check out the Miller welding site. Lots of information. Also check out the Victor oxy/act site. Both offer how to books also as they contribute to many welding and cutting classes. Good luck and practice, practice, practice.

I sure don't mind helping someone out. But they are going to have to get hot, dirty, and sweaty.

Joshua; I smithed for 10 years before getting a 50lb LG and a treadle hammer. And made some good money. Not great money but enough to buy other stuff. Most of my work was for muzzleloaders and Ren Fair types and a few Craft shows and county fairs. I had a coal forge that was portable and an 80lb Hay Budden anvil. This outfit was light enough to get in and out of the garage and load on a trailor as I did a lot of rendevious and reinactments. Once I got the LG my work scope changed and I started doing heavier and more elaborite pieces. When I moved to Oregon I left the LG with my good friend and blacksmithing partner. I am now trying to do iron art. OH BOY!!!!. And I am replacing the LG with a Kinyon style that I am building myself. I think what I am trying to say is that things change and your intrest or the market changes. A power hammer is nice to have and makes a big difference if you are doing heavy work or production. But you don't have to have one to have fun or to make money. An induction forge would be very nice. Do you need one at this stage of the game? Start with the basics. Have some fun, make a little money. Save it. When the chance comes for a good deal jump on it. The self contained hammers are nice if you don't need a compressor for anything else, but if you use air for anything else you might look at building one. Check with the metal shop instructor at your school. It would make a great school project. If you are intrested I will donate my plans for the new style Kinyon hammer to you when I am finished building mine. Whatever you decied to do, have fun and learn all you can from as many of the fine smiths out there.

I have 4 large coffee cans full and I still have to make or modify them to suit.

Sold my welding maching and started my air hammer project. I am now waiting on the shuttle valve and the clevis for the cyclinder. Sent the dies out for heat treat Tuesday. Will post more when finished

I finish forging the blade with a flatter and the pack the edge. This is how I get the forged blade as smooth as I can before grinding. I use the belt grinder to semi finish and then draw file and use sanding blocks to finish. In the old days I did use a big 12 in bench grinder to rough but still had to draw file to get flat.

Very nicly done. thank you so much.

How much crappy rock do you think Lenardo used up before he attempted David? Anyone can grind a knife badly. If you don't want to use mild steel use wood the right size. All good steel is expensive and pattern welded steel, more so. Why risk messing it up until your skill level is high enough to do the job correctly.

Well it sure beats a hole in the ground with deer skin bellows. Nicely done.

Good job with the tool stands and cabinits. Well worth the time and effort. I think I will follow your example.

After having a short slitter fracture that had been made from a coil spring I have started anneling after cutting to length and straighting. After forging and welding a handel {if necessary} I polish and reheat to gray and let cool to normalize. Then heat treat. I have found that the extra steps of anneling and normalizing remove any stress. If nothing else it gives me piece of mind. I try to make several tools at one time and normalize at the end of the day. This way I can shut the forge down and leave the tools in the forge to cool overnight. When using my coal forge I heat up a fire brick or a piece of one inch plate to dull red, put the tools on them and cover with kaowool and cool overnight.

Too big for me. WOW

Good job. A lot better than my first attempt

I made kitchen knives for my sisters and mother using O-1 tool steel. It is easy to forge and is very forgiving to heat treat.

As I needed to rehandle my 4 lb I went ahead and reduced the size by grinding into a rectangle shape with the corners knocked off. After seeing how the ergonmic handles were shaped I tried to do the same. I thought that the grip was too small and the handle too short. Plus it was terriably smooth. I wraped it with friction electricale tape like we did with baseball bats. After using it all day today, my hand does not hurt, I have no blisters and in use I found that the handle is not too short.

The side draft that I built had the blast in the rear. I was continually getting stuff blown into my face and the heat seemed to spread up the steel faster. After I changed it to draft from the side the problems went away. However, I started with the bottom draft fire pot and I was never really happy with the side draft. If I was going to be useing charcole exclusivly I would definatly go to a side draft.

I use a standard vegtable can with 6 1/8 in holes drilled in the bottom. I cut off the upper 2/3 of the can and attach a handle. This way I cannot use too much water and then I only sprinkle the outer edges to keep the fire from spreading. When I add green coal I sprinkle it to aid in the coaking effect. The idea is to sprinkle not quench.

Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is just too neat. Great job

I have tried to forge chipper knives. Very tough stuff and will crumble if too hot and fracture if too cold. Not recomended for forging.

I have forged 10 leaves using the method shown above using 5/8 square. Now I use a plasma cutter and 14 to 10 gauge. This allows you to work the material cold and have very little clean up. I have made about 300 grape leaves and many others using the plasma cutter and it has more than paid for itself. I like the look of hand forged leaves and if you only had to make a few they make a nice warmup in the morning.

Good thinking. Looks great. Plus, I like tools that serve double duty.

I like O-1 tool steel. Forges easiely, quench when non magnetic in oil. No drawing temper. Comes in all major sizes. I get mine from Enco.