Tellburkett

Thank y'all for the input. I never work cold metal unless its thin (ladle bowls and such). I just want to take care of it as well as I can. Were soderfors heat treated all the way through or were they just case hardened?

Thank you guys! Im pretty excited about it. There's a 387 lb Trenton i was saving up for in KY, but I got impatient. I like bigger anvils because they don't dance around the garage when I'm working on the horn. The chain I out around it helped with the ring quite a bit. Another reason I like bigger anvils is bc I dont have a power hammer yet and I use a 10 lb sledge with a short handle to make quicker work with processing scrap. 150 is about the average here too. I hit some hard times during the summer with work being sketchy. I had to sell my 220lb mouse hole, and took a hit for it. But now that im sitting good financially, im wanting to build my smithy back up the way I always wanted it. Now that I have an anvil, im looking to build a tire hammer (thinking about the clay spencer) and a 2x72. This was my mouse hole. I read that soderfors have a tendency to chip on the edges. Do I need to be unusually careful around the edges? Its cast steel, correct? Im not finding a lot of information about it.

Picked up a 1926 soderfors 148lb today. It was pretty steep at 5 a pound, but its almost flawless. Anvil prices are ridiculous here in middle TN. People asking 4 to 5 a pound for anvils with flaking faces, etc..This should do me well for a while until I find my giant unicorn

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/31930-metal-garage-smithy-build/ my forge build. I welded my fire pots from 3/8 plate steel. I mig welded the corners but tigged the lips. Both did beautifully. Good luck with ur build. POST PICS!!

I sure hope that's the case vaughnt. Pugh is almost making me second guess my whole design. Does anyone have any references into the "science" of chimneys and hoods, side drafts, etc? All I've been going on is pictures and people saying yes that'll work great or no it won't work, but they never explain why.

Thank y'all for ur responses, and more for ur positive, constructive advice. I hate reading threads where people bag each others ideas. I had my dad draw out my idea for my hood. I'm posting 2 pictures, one a cad drawing and one of my inspirations off of this forum. ( I'm sorry for stealing these pics, but I figure it could best describe the route I am looking to take) Matto- the extra plate on the front that can hinge down is a fantastic idea. I think I might just go for that. Thank u. VaughnT- thank you for the kind words. This is actually my very first fabrication project and my first welding project. It has been a BLAST! Try it out when u get the chance. Some action pics! Nothing to do with my forge build, but these are my first 2 knives and my first big chopper blank.

Do y'all have any thread links that talk about it? All the ones I saw had just bits and pieces

Pugh I checked out ur smithy build. Very nice! I won't be able to hit THAT status, but I'm going to try my best. How deep is your table? It seems kind of shallow. Mine is 3'3". Probably a little overkill but it won't hurt anything. I'll take ur advice and go with 12" piping. I think I'm going to stick with my hood idea for now, build it, try it out and modify if I need to. What kind of paint did u use?( in my mind... Probably wrong, but) The only drawback to using a 12" pipe is creating the high pressure area inside the forge that vacuums out into the lower pressure air outside(similar to a carburetor in motorcycles) I know passing air aids in creating that low pressure, but won't a bigger pipe take away from that effect?

I've used an NC big face for 2 years without any problems. I just made knives on it though. The face has held up well. Make sure u strap the crap out of it though or you'll be chasing it around all day...... or picking it up off the ground.

I was planing on making a single hood going over the top with the bottom of it resting at 18 inches above the table with a 10 inch chimney going straight up out of the roof. Side drafts look pretty cool, but the wall it's on faces south and wouldn't get enough air passing by to create the vacuum needed unless I shot the pipe straight up. As I understand it, the more bends u have in a pipe, the less vacuum u have. I figured straight up and extend it 2 feet out of the roof. Thanks bombrey. I knew this was going to be a big project. I thought I might as well do it right and not have to rebuild it in a year. My wife thinks it is awesome that I " make something out of nothing". She helps me a lot with my projects. She broke off and started her own projects now. She makes things out of shipping pallets. But the most awesomest part ever is she wanted me to build her a forge 2! That's y I went ahead and built 2.

So I haven't really posted much on this forum. I've been reading so much and getting new ideas that I never had the time..... Annnnnnd let's be honest, I have nothing to offer. But I decided to build my first smithy. This is my first big thread so kinda bear with me. I started off with this forge. nothing too extraordinary, just another brake drum forge. It worked well but the drum itself was 8 inches across. And I'm intending on making mostly knives, so big choppers are out of the picture with this forge. So now I need a bigger one. But since I'm making it bigger, I need to make it permanent. So I made room in my garage for it. isn't my wife an excellent model? Next I went to the scrap yard to find a large steel table. I ended up coming home with a shipping crate. It was about the right height, depth, and width I was looking for. I can weld the rest on. Here is a mock up in the garage. so far so good. Now the hard part. To buy a fire pot or make one? Lets make one! 3/8" plate steel, a trip to a weld shop to cut the pieces, some late night welding and VUALA! 2 fire pots for under 50 bucks. not quite done when these pics were taken. My humblest apologies! 11"x15" at the top. 2 inch pipe hole. Back to the table.... Lots of cutting, cussing, grinding, hitting, and welding and the table is now done. mock up with my blowers. I think this will do just fine. Now I need to get to the hood and chimney. And THAT is going to be the hard part. And suggestions? Thanks for reading.