Tom W.

I lowered the hood over the forge so the smoke and gas goes up nice. No more CO alarm sounding. Now I have to practice identifiying the critical temp of 1095 as I have been missing with my hardening attempts.

You mean mounted at the top of the chimney? I am willing to put in a proper exhaust system. This was a prototype that failed.

Thanks for all the input folks. I ended up bed-ridden soon after I posted this. The stove and forge/hood never shared the pipe. The pipe was 6 inches. The chimney is plenty big. The hood over the forge was a prototype and it proved that it would not work. I can still drag the forge outside but here in Minnesota that's about to become a pain. I am willing to run a straight pipe up through the roof. I will start looking for 12" piping. I have a handyman pal who can help with this. Ha, no problem. I certainly AM endangering myself. At least I had the common sense to have the CO detector out in the garage. I was able too open the door and put a fan outside blowing in. But once it's 0 degrees, that will be very oncomfortable. For now I am going to drag the forge outside. I aslo heard that providing the forge with a rich source of oxygen (outside air) may help the fir burn clean.

So I got a small hand-pump forge and it works great. I wanted to be able to make a hood for it and vent it out the existing chimney in my garage. The problem is that for now there will be two 45 degree bends to get to the chimney. My carbon monoxide alarm went off every 20 minutes or so. I just couldn't get enough draw up the vent to pull all of the exhaust. So now I am looking for input from other members. Would a straight run up through the roof be substantially better? Perhaps should I employ a fan? Here's the wood-burning stove leading to the chimney: Here's the forge when in place with the metal hood: Railroad track anvil:

Just found out my neighbor across the alley has a 100# anvil in his garage and he'll give me a deal. Fingers crossed.

I may join the guild. I blew through some charcoal tonight. So I bought a forge off craigslist tonight and I am pleased with it. I got a couple spikes red and a couple files bright orange. It's an antique cast iron forge with a hand pump. I got it with a hammper and some tongs for $200. There's my big expense (christmas cash) I can easily hook up a hair blower to it down the road. The railroad track will do for a while as a vice. I can't wait to do more on Sunday. Knives and tongs! I'll post a vid when I get everything together...

Thanks all for the input. So I perused Northern Tool and saw the reviews on crappy, "affordable" anvils. I had been warned. I found scrap a place in town with a couple small (50#) anvils for $200 each. Yowsers. While there, I stumbled upon a piece of a train track and I thought hell, I could use this thing. So I got the tain track chunk, a hatchet head and several files for $35. Picked up some real charcoal a 2# hammer at menards. I roughed out a knife tonight to prove I could do it, but I now need to make a decision about the forge. I COULD make do with the fire pit and a hair dryer, but there's some sweet old cast iton forges on craigslist... I think if I heat a file to 1800 degrees in my fore pit I may lose the fire pit!

Thanks guys. I live in Powderhorn park, in Minneapolis. I am learning at Iron Tree Works, near Bethel.

Anyone know where in central MN/Metro I can find an anvil? I am just getting started and I need some equipment! Thanks, Tom

I just started my blacksmithing lessons last Monday. I enjoyed it very much and i am chomping at the bit to get going. - Tom