John Martin

Cool. So did your dad smith to, or just your grandpa?

Cool. What are you making your forge from, is it in a shop..like brick...or is a portable metal one?

Mill Mill Mill

So what are you going to do with it? Just save it as a family/blacksmith heirloom?

He lives 215 miles from me. to far. I contacted Postville and they gave me Dan Naumann to call, does anyone know when or how long it usually takes him to reply to you?

This weekend, I went with my family to a flea market and i found a 90lb anvil for $160 amazing low price. The anvil was in working conditon, I brought 100 dollars with me, and i asked my dad to pay the other 60 and i pay him back. But no. It was a real cheap one to. Ticks me off.....anyone know where you can find some anvils really cheap?

My anvil isn't level, but it is fairly flat, I just adjust my swing or hammer grip. As long as I hit square it doesn't really matter. I think.

Is that handle wood or metal? Either way, very good job. It's amazing, your eyes go crazy over the coloring. Really Good.

The Elder M Brother

Is Cast Iron useful??? At all? and if so for what? From what I've heard, you don't want it for forging.

Wow. Really good advice, i thought the anvil would jump slowly off of their working surface and fall on them. Like when you hammer, it can jump a little bit sometimes.

Yeah. i know a site that shows the damage of leaving a forge running for a while and then lighting it. boom boom. so,does the blower work well? or does it just make the plume bigger?

By the way, do you login as hidden? cuz whenever you are on, you don't show online? :)

okay. i went to their site and couldn't find anything about it, so i'm kind of hoping that you will post something about it. my dad said that he would take me. and then like 60% of what you learn is from trial and error...practice.....i know when and where and how to get to it, but i dont know the time....hours....

the elder m brother

Yes, nothing is better than getting away from it all and doing some light or heavy smithing.

has anyone ever heard of the dragon's breath? It's when you use a gas forge, and those invisible flames that seep out through that one tiny hole that isn't supposed to exist. they can seriously burn you or start you on fire. Also never let a gas forge run for a long time without igniting it. It creates a mini gas bomb housed inside of your shop.

Flea markets can be one of the best places to go to if you are a blacksmith. They have so many old tools or unique metal crafts. I can't believe it. will post pictures from this weekends pull in.

From a distance, it looks nice. But, yeah we need a closer look.

I've learned not to put the air below the fire, it usually doesn't work that well, the sides work really good for me. use charcoal. yes, i said charcoal. cheap but effective. make a pile of like 5in tall, 10 in wide and so on, and that should get plenty hot enough for copper. Put tyhe charcoal on, then suffocate it in lighter fluid. then put some on the end of a stick, light the stick, and touch it to the fire, it's a mini bomb, but it gets it going. then turn the blower on about 30seconds to 1 minute after that, if inside, make sure that all doors and windows are open...for ventilation. if that doesn't work, well it doesnt, but it should that's what i use, and i've left a piece of steel in it to long and i melted it in half....hehe.

Okay. I really hope I get classes somewhere.

Sorry Glenn, I don't know or understand what you mean.

I finally found a Postvile in New Glarus, left them an e-mail, and im gonna leave a phone call at centaurforge.com

What would the price be???

I'm still searching and can't find anything.

I'm just using steel instead, same price, 1045 grade.

Oh. Metals Depot is also another good site, and it is way cheaper.

Which is better? Cold Finished or Hot rolled?