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.

*stop* *before* you make the unrecoverable mistake! As you get tired you are more likely to really screw things up; but we all want to finish just a little bit more and so are prone to wasting *all* our time by creating a total disaster.

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.

Could you post a pic. or a drawing of the rotating ash dump? Thanks.

I would go with a much deeper fire.

Well I think it is bituminous, but I HATE it!!!!!! It won't form a clinker, but the it will become a white ash that won't burn, go though the grate, or "blow" out. So if I start using it at 7:00 Am, then at lunch (11:00) I got to put out my whole fire, and rake out all the ash, then after lunch restart my fire.

Thankfully though, I found some better coal, that was free!!!!!! :)

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.

Thank you Arcc, do you mean the champion works best on the small break drum versus using it on the main forge. I dont know the number on the champion forge pictured above but im guessing its a #40.Whats the difference between a 40 and a 400. Ive been searching around and had alot of hits on the champion ( repairing/use of etc...) but there isnt that many hits on the canedy royal western chief. My ultimate goal is to build a semi large stationary forge. I dont plan on ever moving it. I would use my gas forge for that. Are those prices reasonable if there in " fine" working order. BTW- both these come from a blacksmith whos been forging for over 30 years. He had them in storage until i inquired about them. I trust him. As was mentioned by Matto, the canedy is the cream of the crop- im just worried about repairing it ( when it need be) because of the limited info out there. Please remmember , i am very very new to all this, so if my logic is off, i apologize . Thank yall- much--Marekz

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.

Is that granite?

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.

Aprovecho,a non profit organization in Cottage Grove Oregon,developed what they called a rocket stove years ago that was made from tin cans with a pair of tin snips. Not as nice as Dean's stove for sure but I do have the plans if anybody wants to make a neat LITTLE camp stove. If you visit Aprovecho's web site they also have a larger stove in production for Third World countries to use that don't have much fuel.
These may not be in the same class as the DK stoves but they are probably worth a look for folks who live near Oregon..