Mike R

Southshoresmith I am almost done with my forge and think I have some coal so I will do that as soon as I can. Will I damage the anvil if the hardnes is not right?

I will find a ball bearing and try again. Thanks for the info.

thanks guys I didn't have a bearing so I used a steely marble. I suppose that is the same thing. I got about 6 inch bounce with a 14 inch drop on the main body and about 4 inch bounce with 14 inch drop on the horn. I also hit it with a hammer. Part of it rang fairly loud and part was a little duller. Should they ring the same all over? Senior Moment Member, I had a hard time with the search function on Anvilfire.com. Never did find the test or the values but I searched IFI and came up with the test info. If you have a link to the values I would appreciate it. As for the edges I get that they want to be rounded but would it make sense to weld where the big chunks are missing?

Hey guys i followed the links thru several pages and didn't find what I was looking for. The lisk to a list on this site of coal suppliers didn't work so don't know it that is still posted some place or not. Does anybody in central oregon have a bag they mite sell so I can get sarted? Also I am thinking about running up to Chehalis WA to get coal from Central Fuel Co. Any body got an opinion on his coal and is anyone interested in spliting a load in Central Oregon if I go? I am in Redmond. I called Central Fuel and they are getting 12 cents per pound for bulk now.

pics of new anvil

Got my first anvil today. Price was right, got it free from mother in law. It says Peter Wright on the side and has a 3 on the bottom under the horn and a 0 on the side at the front. I put it on the scale and it is 62 pounds. I am fairly shure it went thru the forest fire that destroyed the home it was in. Not shure if it was outside or went thru a structure fire whene the garage burned. Would this have damaged the hardness of it? I am going to use it as it is what I have but the edges are preatty beat up. I have access to an arc welder and hardplateing rod, should I lay some on and grind it back to square? can't seem to get pics attached. Will try agean later Thanks Mike

I relative has an old forge with a blower that had a crank wheel on it. The crank wheel is totaly busted up and the blower crank appears to be busted off flush with the blower case. Can this be fixed and just put a handle on it? I know nothing about blowers. Was planning to use an exhaust motor out of a 90% gas furnace for blower but from what I read a hand blower is more controlable and possably use less fuel. Pic of one similar is attached. pic of forge like shirlys.pdf

I quite using search and just went thru the posts and I found a lot of information I missed. It seems the drum I have may be a little deep however lining was suggested as it saves fuel. It seems I mite be ahead to use the larg drum and line it to the size I need (still not exactly shure what that size should be)? I saw some info about clinkers sticking and makeing the fire deeper to stop this. I will need to look at fuel type available to determine the size to make it is what I got from all this. Glenn, I saw a lot of different grates from the bar accross the hole to floor drains and the drilled plate I saw on a post hear. I just saw a post about aiming the air to the center of the pot with a triangle grate to control the heat and size of the fire. I did look at the 55 forge also, thank you.

Lining sound like it mite me a good idea. I am just going to drill some holes in a piece of steel plate like I saw on one of the posts for a grate. I will be using some type of electric fan for now. I have a couple of small fans or I may use a hair dryer. What do you mean by a grate fire?

do charcoal and coal take a different forge design? I thought a fire pot was a fire pot.

Hello My son and I are just starting on this for a hobby. We are going to build a forge and have been looking for tools at second hand sales and such. The question is what size brake drum to use for the forge. I have read what I could find and looked at the posts on hear but I havn't seen any discussion on the advantages of different sized drums. We have an option to use a truck drum that is about 16 inches across and 8 inches deep. It seems to me that bigger gives more options but is it going to waste a lot of fuel? Can I just build a small fire in the bottom or do I have to fill it up to make it work properly? I am figuring on using coal of charcoal I suppose. I really havn't had a chance to research cost and efficianies and such. Any info on where to aquire fuel in the central oregon area would be appricated. I want to get the forge built in the next week so any input on size is appreciated. Thanks Mike