arcc

I use pieces of file in mine, I've found it welds really easy.

Depends on if my son has been in my shed or not.

My ~75 pound anvil has took I'll put on it and has worked fine.

I've had for years the inward desire to forge metal, but didn't really take the steps to get into it until I met my future wife and father in law and they both forged. Now that I have my own set up my goal is to be what I've termed a "Farm" Smith much like my uncle who died far before I was born. Add in that my wife and I are trying to be a self sufficient as possible, blacksmithing just makes sense. I will succeed in my eyes when I can create anything we will need on our farm. I've still a long way to go.

When are you considered a Blacksmith? When people think or believe you are a blacksmith. When are you a blacksmith? Whenever you want to be called a blacksmith. When does it matter? When you are trying to make money or a trade union gets organized and decides to sue you for calling yourself one.

Isn't a coil spring high carbon? If so, probably too much heat.

Just plain old bricks work well for me also. They eventually crack and break, but they are easy to replace. Firebrick is likely a better option, but use what you have. My firepot is ~4 inches, but with a few bricks I can bump it up to 6-8 inches easily.

Have you visited your local steel place? When I was redoing my forge I bought 36" of 3" square tubing for like $6 and I don't know if it's the case everywhere but my local steel place is cheaper on round than square. Of course I had access to a torch and welder to cut and weld it all together. Although some places like the local hardware store here will thread the pipe for you.

If it were closer I'd head that way.

After reading the whole thread, I have come to a conclusion that I will still pick up my hammer tomorrow and forge something as I have thus planned. Weather and God permitting however.

Hey, at least his head has good rebound.

I don't know a lot about weapons, but I did forge a 4 tine pitchfork a few weeks back. I faggot welded the four rods together and hammered it out. After which I cut a piece of black iron pipe, drifted it and hammered the welded end of the rods into the iron pipe and forge welded it all together. Then I just spread the un-welded end of the bundle into the tines. I don't know about doing it with higher carbon steel, but it worked good and was easy enough for me to do it at my skill level(which isn't high by any means). Just an idea.

Learned that the hard way. Ouch, that one may be worse than being burned.

My firepot normally glows red when I'm forge welding, yet I don't see any sign of damage. I did burn the arc welds out that holds my clinker breaker in yesterday though. However, it held up a while and the welds were actually very small and not deeply penetrated.

It's pretty much just a rounded squashed cylinder that is raised and rounded on one side. I have welded a piece of rod on both sides so I can turn it. I'll try to post a drawing later,

I would go with a much deeper fire.

My coal has plenty of ash(and not much clinker) and it sounds like you are having the same problem I did. I just installed a "clinker breaker"(Rotating ash dump is a much better phrase) to my forge and never looked back. It is incredible how much it helped and well worth the time installing it.

My shed is 12x10, and while bigger would be nicer it's still plenty of room ATM. My shop consists of 4 beech poles, 2x4s and tin from Lowes and sided 1/2 half way with salvaged wood from an old barn. I've just wired up lights.

Lets see, my Wife bought the anvil, small blower and pole vice for an $150 before we were married. My first forge was was all scrap welded together. My second forge(the one I use now) cost around $60, my large blower cost $100 and my hood cost $30. My third forge is scrap. One hammer was a gift and the other I paid $8 for. My shop cost ~$120(nearly all for tin). Somewhere around $450 invested in everything.

No, that Canedy looks about the same size as a Champion #40, the other Champion blower is a good bit smaller than both. I have my smaller champion blower attached to a brake drum forge and I can definitely see how the lighter weight would be much more mobile, but it will wear you out for larger stock. In my secondary brake drum forge, it provides enough air to easily heat 1/4-1/2 stock, however I don't know about anything bigger. At least in my personal opinion a bigger blower is better all around.I cannot be much of help price wise because I bought my Champion #40 with a stand in perfect shape for $100. I would tend to think you could find a better deal that what he is wanting.

I have a small Champion blower just like that one and it works really well on my smaller brake drum forge. The thing about it is that it will definitely tire you out a lot faster than my Champion #40 attached to my main forge while producing a good bit less air.

No, steel with newspaper ashes.

My new forge. Light years better than my old one.

The most interesting thing we built was a Incenterator for medical supplies. Larry said it would heat enough to melt most medical waste and if not would provide enough heat to fully sanitize. It worked well, I helped build and demostrate it. Lets just say it would burn hot enough that in just with a small fire area it would sunburn you.

I worked with Dr. Larry Winiarski(Who invented them) when he come to Sifat for years building Rocket Stoves. They are extremely easy to build, however I don't think they would work good as a heater if made for cooking. The better insulated they are the better they work. One thing they can be used is what we called a saw dust heater. Using the rocket stove principle and some old coffee cans, you can set a heater that burns only sawdust and stays hot for hours. I still wouldn't quite use it indoors though.