John Martin

Nice forge.

Why is the title "Chili Forge Tabasco Haba

Diamondback forges heat incredibly evenly, no hot spots!!!. I HT with my forge as well. With their floor, you don't have to worry about flux hardly at all.

I swear by my diamondbackironworks forge. It's a two burner knifemaker. Forge at around 4psi, and weld at 6-7psi. It should be your last forge that you will ever need. However, I have never used a chileforge, so I have nothing good or bad to say about them other than that a lot of people who have one like it.

My bladesmith teacher that I am learning from, has a small one burner gasser that he can use for differential results. He will heat the spine up, and then take the air hose and blast the knife but the blade area, hits the spine, tang, everything. It reaches about 45RC that way, then lets it cool. Then heats up just the edge area and quenches. We did that on my last knife. Edge area 62RC, middle of blade 53RC, spine 44RC. Thought it was a pretty cool trick that works, and gives you the spring steel, and hard edge.

Pictures of the whole thing!!! :)

Oh why did this thread come up, I can't believe that I posted those. Oh well, at least I can look back now and see my progress and improvement. Plus like a week later, I broke all three of them in use, lol.

I welded up my last damascus billet, 1"x1"x5" and welded at 6psi. It doesn't matter what size stock, you just have to let the stock soak up the heat... Mine is very efficient.

what a waste is so true..poor anvil... put it in a glass frame

Another one for any of the diamondbackironworks forges. I have the two burner knifemaker. Forge at 4psi, and weld at 6psi.

local steel supplier.

We are heating the steel with a 7"x7"x12" gasser that we are building right now. Our press.... Welding process will be top and bottom, 1/2" spacer in between 100% with 7018 which is the correct rod for 4140-A-36. Weld around, chip, weld around chip, etc... We are also going to be building a HT furnace similar to the 55gal drum one this summer later on as well. Then we'll do the cascading water just like they did in the old days. Then we'll temper in HT furnace, and take to a friends for rockwell testing and milling of the face and machining.

Edit add-on:
If this doesn't work, then we will keep fixing our problems until the first anvil is satisfactory, and then move on to the next one. This is going to be a long and challenging project, but we will take it one step at a time, and overcome each problem one step at a time. If anyone is interested, we will be documenting this.

It will be used for ornamental blacksmithing, and a little bladesmithing. Also, tongs and hammer will be made on it. But it's designed more for blacksmithing

Starting with 3x3x24" 4140, and a piece of 3x8x18 A-36.

Sorry, frosty I don't have any drawings, but I'll hae pictures of the face up within two weeks. We will start the forging of it next week sometime.

Wow, my friend and I are going to make an anvil this summer, actually probably down by the end of June. Anyhow, there are so many designs with so many different features. Our anvil is going to be in a top and a bottom, and then 100% welded at the waist. But to get to the point, I wanted to know fi you guys could critique our anvil design.

We are planning on a 3" face, and 30" long face, and 14" tall. Total weight at 200lbs. Style kind of like a euroanvil. Minus and clip and upsetting block. The pritchel hole has been moved back, and we have added a drawing face to the anvil. It will help a lot for those who do a lot of drawing over the horn and are sick of the anvil bouncing, it also puts the full weight of the anvil below the drawing face. The hardy hole is right before the horn. We have already made a mini version from 3/4" sq stock. It was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot. Some of you might wonder how we are gonna forge the anvil. We are using a press...but from what I've said, can anyone critique it or improve it?

Thanks in advance...

I don't know, I've never heard of 5160 in large stock, but of course, I'm sure it is. I just wanna know for sure what you(Bill in Oregon) want to talk about for 5160.

This 1045 and 4140........but 5160 for what?

Matt, no one is fussing over anything, this is merely an open conversation as to who likes what and why, I only posted the properties, so that people might learn more about the two.

Yes, you're right, most people can't HT is as it's supposed to be within 10 +/- of the suggested HT range, but a lot of us can get really close to that. anyhow, do you have a preference?

Which do you prefer for hammers, dies, heck even a homemade anvil, chisels, punches.

Note: This is between just these two steels, for those of you who have H-13 for dies and what not, great, it's better than 1045 or 4140, but this is just between the two steels.

Here are some properties of both...

1045: Carbon 0.42-0.5; Manganese 0.6-0.9; Phosphorus 0.04; Sulfur 0.05; Tensile Strength 95,000 PSI; Yield Strength 56,000 PSI

4140: Carbon 0.35-0.43; Manganese 0.75-1; Silicon 0.15-0.35; Chromium 0.8-1.1; Molybdenum 0.15-0.25; Phosphorus 0.035; Sulfur 0.04;
Tensile Strength 140,000 PSI; Yield Strength 90,000 PSI;

Right off the bat, it looks like 4140 is a better overall steel, plus it has more toughness than 1045, but price can sometimes stop you, so which do you prefer and why?

I like it a lot chris. Great memorial piece for your grandpa!

Okay, so than does anyone have any suggestions for a place that I cna get one that is 1/2" or 3/4" x 12"? I Have found some on the internet, but they are like $70. I don't think that is cheapest I can get one for though. Thanks a lot guys for all of your input as well.

Okay, before i get asked this question, yes I have used a power, LGs, but never an Appalachian style.

My power hammer will have an 8" stroke. My question is, do I have to make the stroke adjustable or do the springs flex, but how do I make is so that I can forge let's say 4"(large knife billet) stock all the way down to 1/8"(finished width for blade) without screwing up the motor system and linkage?

Do I have to make it adjustable? Because if I have to do that, that would really slow things down. Anyhow here are some pictures....

Obviosuly, the first picture is it all the way down.


This picture could represent a larger billet or working with hand held tooling.
http://www.appaltree.net/rusty/images/super_rusty.jpg





This might sound like a really dumb question, but i honestly can't figure this out. So how do I make it, so that I can forge different stock heights with this, or do I really have to make the linkage at adjustable heights on the wheel? I take it that maybe the linkage in the middle of the drive in the blue picture would do the adjusting?

Here is another one: Saltfork Craftsmen

Well, this is our current pricing for a completed shop. 24x24 Total: 1800 - - - 24x16
Total: 1400 Cut each price in half and that is what each of us will pay. We are really looking at the 24x16 size. Cheaper and plenty of room if laid out well.

Yes, it'll be inside the shop. I'm thinkg taking 8ft, and having a 8x16 or 8x24 space. Concrete on top of pea gravel. Never get any fog hardly. Sure there is a day or two during the year. Stock will be stored in the eaves of the ceiling. Propane forges as well.

-Don't know if this should go with the "Dividing Workshop Space" thread or not.

This will obviously depend on what kind of work you will be doing, but how big is big enough for a two person shop, that won't be doing large gates and items like that. The two people will be doing different work. One will be bladesmithing, while the other will be doing mainly artistic stuff, trinkets, small tables, small gates, blacksmith tools.

The shop will have a clean room, for finishing and for tools/machines that need to stay away from the grit of the forging area.

Does anyone share a shop with someone or forge with another person that could chime in? My friend and I were thinking 24x24 or 24x18. Is that to big? To small? We are gonna save up this summer and split the cost to buy one of those DIY kits. It is easily affordable if we both save up this summer. Also, this will be 20 feet from a river. The area for the shop has also been elevated 3ft. Higher than our record flood heights this summer. Will rust be a problem?

So if anyone could chime in and give some advice about this it would be appreciated.

Mods if this is in the wrong place please move it.