Timothy Miller

Looks good :)

What would have shone some brains on the part of the owner would have to drift out the eye of the hammer square before welding it on. Have you ever tried to free hand forge a tapered? oval not easy my friend... Yes its better than a RR track anvil but that is not saying much.

I don't see much improvement in function here. It would be a pain in the butt to forge tools to fit the hammer eye. It offends my sensibilities as a serious craftsman it makes me want to say mean things.

There are things beyond making money. If you wanted to get rich, forging metal is not a good career choice. The other side of the coin is being a flexible well rounded blacksmith/metal worker keep the doors of our shop open in hard times when others failed.

And trust me once you have the skill you will have little interest in doing this.

We upset a large hardie swage out of 3" square with 3 strikers into my 400 HB anvil and it did not move or loosen up at all. I challenge you to try this out and find fault with it.

You did good that is about 500 times more useful than a post drill.

I often buy used files at yard sales then send them to bogg's tool in CA for resharpening. They charge about a $1.50 per file. At most I pay a buck each for a file often a lot less. I have found a bunch of different patterns and cuts of files this way for about a third of the price of new.

Just pour some stem cells in your boot and grow a new one.

Depends on the kind of junk yard steel. Spring steel with Cr in it yes but other steels wont preform that well in the same role. Your only saving 3 to 5 bucks if you bought enough h13 to make the same tool.

Perhaps you should build a small coffee can gas forge and set a large sledge hammer head in a bucket of concrete then you could forge small tools as needed. I have a micro forge and I used a lot until I got my induction heater.

So here is a bit more. I swaged down some scrap wrought iron for the handle and managed to forge weld on one of the knobs I chose the oval shape because I think it looks better than round. It took a bit of rasping to get to shape because I did not have a die to form the shape. Perhaps tomorrow I will finish.

This is a discussion forum the whole point is to discuss hence the back and forth. It seemed to me the whole point was to avoid forging to make tools for forging.

Mark is pretty athletic and agile. He hits harder than your average bear.

I have used more than my share of salvaged material there is nothing wrong with it. But as a beginner using scrap to make tools I really struggled with heat treating and selecting the right kind steel to do the job. For example most springs are made from steel that is best oil quenched quench it in water and all of your hard work will be full of cracks. Axles are good for hammers, swages and fullers but are bad for hot cuts or slitting chisels because they have no red hardness. Or how about forging a cold chisel from coil spring that just wont hold a good edge no matter how you temper it it either chips or dulls very quickly.

Because they are cool.

I am a competent fabricator, blacksmith and some time machinist. I love all kinds of metalwork. But in my heart of hearts i am a blacksmith. I often fire up the forge in my spare time or steal a few moments in the work day to try out a technique. I do it for the love of gaining knowledge and skill. I do and have done straight fab work to pay the bills or where there is a opportunity to make good profit. Just 2 weeks ago I was making rails without any forge work in them. For me it is about ever improving your skill set and making what you want to make in an uncompromising way. The things I love the most out of all the work I have done are the things I took the time to forge and finish to the best of my ability. The things I threw together just to get the job done eventually end up forgotten in the scrap drum. I started welding and grinding pipe rails and drilling holes in I beams at the age of 20, but on the weekend I was pumping bellows on a coal forge at the local historical society without a clue of how to really make anything. 20 years on the only thing I regret was not learning more about real forge work earlier on.

Its not tradition or rules its a way of working and once you embrace it you will really see the value of it. Its a process driven craft. Working hot can often be faster than cold if you have the skills and experience. Cutting hot is still used in industry just look at any industrial forge shop or steel mill they cut hot because it is faster and cheaper. Purge the concept from your mind that this is that and this is this. You set up this wall between what is traditional and not it will hold you back from progressing for years. Try the hard stuff and learn it it will become second nature. Instead of reaching for the angle grinder all the time. A person comes to you and wants a strap hing for a historic home are you going to grind it to shape and weld on a pipe for a barrel. It will take longer and the result will be less attractive. I used to think like you it really stymied my growth as a smith. The first thing I think to do is stick a bar in the fire and shape it. The reason I would not use a angle grinder is because I would have to wait for the bar to cool down, abrasives are expensive, the tool is loud, smelly and shoots sparks everywhere. I can do the same thing at the forge with out a grinder I often use a rasp hot when the iron is hot enough it is faster than grinding.

I said the site is devoted to forging not only about forging. But that begs the question why is so much content here not about picking up a hammer and smacking some hot iron?

I do make some fabricated tools like bolsters and such but its just a hole in a plate not exactly rocket science. I find most of the time if I weld up a tool that will see serious forging happen in it, It eventually fails most of the time next to the weld. I much prefer tools forged from solid steel. I do use my mill to reface my power hammer dies from time to time. I have welded up bending forks and scrolling and bending jigs but this is nothing new. I guess what annoys me is this is a site devoted to forging and the thread is basically asking "how do I forge stuff by not forging tools?" Its like going on an organic cooking site and asking whats your best recipe for using canned beans. We should be encouraging every member to forge more not less and to stretch their skills. Its not about tradition its about having the skills to make what you want to make without doubting yourself or saying that's too hard. Would you tell a classical violin player that they wasted their time learning good form and studding the classics.

Ever forge chain? It is a good exercise in forge welding.

Form cold in your big fly press with a big oval ball in the ram and rubber or wood bottom dies. Use hand hammers to finish to form over stakes. All tooling nicely polished. Anneal as needed.

Why don't you forge a hook from some 1/4" round the right size and avoid the whole issue all together. Your a blacksmith right?

GRRRRRR!!!!!

I once saw a smith take a heat on a strap hing and punch 4 holes in it hot faster than it would have taken me to walk to the drill press and find the right bit. He only got that fast because he insisted on doing it the the blacksmith way.