AndersMJ

When I get my air supply (hairdryer), I reckon my little shop have set me back ~700 bucks (keep in mind tho, things are more expensive here). But the joy it'll for sure grant me with for years to come will be all worth it. Besides, I'd like to think that those money will come in again one day in the form of sold products.

Here's just a few pics of my shop. It's not very large right now and I still need a few odds and ends to get it going, but it's all minor details from now on. I fabricated the table and got help from a friend who lives close by who happens to be a boilermaker.

The bricks are for normalising, the bucket is filled with water for hardening, cooling, etc. Need to find one to hold oil. The big mason's bucket is materials. And then there's the tool stand behind the anvil. Originally it all faced the other way but the barn opening would be behind me and I decided I want to be able to see who enters.

It feels like the flue has enough draft although after mounting it all, I read that the space between the flue and the top cap should be the diameter of the flue or more. It's a mere 4-5 inches now, but in any case, I'm gonna buy a carbon dioxide alarm. (btw, where should I put this?)

Only need an air supply now for the pot and to shorten down and fasten the anvil to the floor. :)

Thank you for watching.

I'm building a little shop in the corner of my parents' barn. Convinced my dad that we needed a metal working area and that evolved... Probably going to do the ventilation system this weekend. I'm gonna lay some brickwalls to contain the sparks more. The total 'shop' area is probably around 16' x 16'.

The head was finished with Berchwood casy's plum brown finish. It is comonly used on muzzle loading firearms. The handle was burnt then rubbed with the old blacksmith finish of bee's wax, turpintine and linseed oil.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Now I just need some more tools to put in there.

Hello out there.

Just wanted to share with you guys what I've been making the last few weeks at my tech college. It's very heavy, around 165# I'd say and there's not even tools in it yet. I'm planning to spray paint it with a blue color, is it advisable for me to grind the surface a little with an angle grinder to make the paint stick better or is that not necessary?

It's mostly TIG welded, but the handles I did with MAG.

Need to put some wheels on it now.

I guess point no. 3 is a product of point no. 1?? ;)

My anvil is not that heavy but I have a fairly heavy stump under it and it's pinned down to it with steel bands so it cannot move whatever I do to it. Physically it should give it more mass without actually doing it.

Oh, just found this



Whoops. :o

Just found this free to download book on blacksmithing and having just skimmed through it, it looks rather good.

http://www.hct.ac.uk/Downloads/cp_blacksmith.html

I tried searching the forums but don't think it has been posted before.

This is just my humble opinion as I'm not very experienced in life yet, as some might argue :) (i'm 23). However, I think a lot of us young people are in doubts when it comes to career choices. In my case I simply didn't know what I liked to do and was afraid of choosing the wrong trade. Today after high school x2 and having a few full time jobs, one as a surveyor and one as a construction worker digging down district heating, it's much more clear to me (farrier). Some of my friends knew what they wanted right after high school and therefore went straight to university. I can't help but think though, that they lack some real life working experience that can only be gained through having a job. A job or two will also help you decide whether you prefer to work alone or in a team. I like working alone.

One thing I've found is that a lot of people will have presumptions as to your career choice, i.e. if you went to high school you must go to uni or whatever and there's no way in hell that you can have a physical/practical job. This is BS and I've had to ignore these kind of people in the past. High school will make you more mature as a person and also expand your network, at least that's what it has done for me. Career wise it's useless for me right now, but life wise it's probably a good thing to have in your baggage.

Just my 2 cents. :)

Sheath pics forthcoming in the next few days.

Anders - You're not the first nor the last to comment on larger knives in the outdoors. I can't wrap my head around why the Scandinavian design is so appealing to many folks, either. :) The difference preferences shall forever remain a mystery to each other. I have no problems with big or little knives, as long as the fellow with it finds that it suits him and he can do the tasks he wants to with it well.

That knife has some fine lines even though I will never understand why American survivalists and the like prefer those 6-8" blades - too big for fine work, too small for serious chopping. But I'm from Scandinavia and our knife culture differ by the fact that we usually never go past 4 inches for a blade.

Yes I can but had my mind set on smithing coal at 39$ for 55 lbs. But you're right, charcoal would undoubtly be cheaper so maybe I should just go buy some charcoal and start with that.

I purchased this used anvil today. It's hard to come across good used anvils in Denmark and I didn't want to buy a new one as they are way too pricey. It has a nice ring to it when you hit it just right and you can tell it's quality. It weighs exactly 110 lbs, but I plan to take it off the stand, cut the stand completely level and sand it, put the anvil back on and use four perforated hanger irons to secure it. The stand weighs around 45 lbs.

I got a hammer and a tong ordered, the forge is long done and ready, I've found a lot of steel for forging and only need some coal now.

Very nice and calm video that made me relax a lot. Please keep making videos, they are some of the best around in my opinion.

I really like the look of that hawk, the long handle just made it better. How did you harden and temper it?

Just a suggestion for a finish.

The blade is covered in dijon mustard and then wrapped in cling film. Let it sit for a day or two and it should stain the steel this way. Could do this with a hawk too.

Yes, very inspiring.

Good job on that. I'm making my own forge too at the metal college I go to.

Very nice job.

We have them at my metal college too, scattered around the shop for when you need to hammer a little on a piece of metal. Unfortunately we don't do any hot work on them though. But it's the exact same model, seems like a nice anvil.

Oh ok, thanks for clearing that up.

Steels can crack from beiong worked at the wrong temp, as in below or above forging range or welding range. as for normalizing Before forging? umm not sure how that would repair bad metal.

Can't the cracking be solved by normalizing the steel 3 times, as I've seen people here suggest, before forging it?

I've searched this site and others on the internet for some tempering charts for the most common used steels and so far I've found one for O1 and one for 5160. Now my problem is that there's several tables for a given steel our there, so which is correct?

Can someone tell me if these tables are correct?

-Anders

blacksmithing.txt