Ridgewayforge

This is one of the things that I love about this site: The amount of collective wisdom and knowledge passed on to the younger generations is staggering. All of this is good information, and is worth a read for any beginner, I would say. I would add to the notion of being hard on yourself to make sure and keep some early work, instead of fixing it. It serves as a marker of your progress.

First of all, you will want to use bituminous. Lights easier than Anthracite.

Cast Iron would be better, granite would be even better. some steel would be better, even if a sledge hammer. In a word, no. It would not tand up against the hammer blows. But, you could try it. For $3 a bag, you might be able to let us know how it worked. But I would say no.

Having tried my hands at a few different crafts in the recent years, I've found two things of interest. First, a given person might have a natural propensity to a given task, in this case, a natural talent for blacksmithing. A person might NOT have that natural gift, but they can still achieve much in blacksmithing. The second thing that I've found to be true is that whether or not you have a natural skill at blacksmithing, you will not go far without deliberate practice. This is to say, that unless you set out to achieve a very specific skill, you might learn it, but nowhere near as fast as if you went and dedicated an hour or five to practicing that skill. Repitition is boring, but necessary. Therefore, I would like to pose a question for discussion: What is the best way for a budding blacksmith with limited formal education or oversight to practice the craft deliberately? ~Patrick RidgewayForge

Also, have a chiminey that sucks the fumes up and burns them away. Look up rocket stove or kelly kettle designs. There is little to no smoke, and charcoal is probably your best bet. Big restaurant supply stores and other chain stores carry bbq charcoal, which is perfect! Just watch out for the fire fleas that fly up. Again, a hood and chiminey will help. (burning charcoal is much more fun in my opinion. It is faster than coal but puts out more radient energy. Keep that in mind)

Here's what I'd do, if I were you. I am also 18 and have managed to delve into this great art! You can probably find 50 gallon drums and a hairdryer on craigslist for about US$10, and that is all you need, plus a little bit of pipe, to get started. If nothing else, get a 10 lb sledge hammer head to use as an anvil. But don't forget to ask EVERYWHERE. Every car shop, every farmer, every business man you meet. Use the TPAAT method. Look it up, there are some posts on here about it. As far as scrap, Cincinatti might now have some, but Lowes will have some stock steel that is good for starting out for relatively inexpensively. It will take money, if needed don't shy away from even a minimum wage job just so you can buy metal, IMHO. The biggest secret once you start going is this: DELIBERATE PRACTICE. And plenty of it! Oncce I discovered that I needed to work on a specific skill set, and I set out to doing it, I improved vastly. You will too! But, even a piece of sheet metal will hold fire. A pile of firebricks will, too. A hair dryer or small car fan can give the air, and so can a plastic bag. I used a 5 gallon plastic bucket lid for about a year. Hard work, but now I appreciate my blower. Perseverance is the key, reading is the key, and doing is the key! We all look forward to seeing how you are going to overcome this obstacle, which is a very real and doable possibility! Good luck my friend! Happy hammering!

A large forge table can be easily fabricated out of angle iron and washing machine shells. Then, drop a firepot in and you have a quality forge. Check out Fiery Furnace's forge for an idea of a good basic forge. Just a table with a metal pot in it, basically.

Keep a sharp eye out! I got mine for $10 from a nice old man cleaning out his shed. Keep trolling the CL!

Usually I empty my tub out every week or so, since its just a bucket of water. But it is amazing how much can acumulate in that time!

Well, if it is not getting hot enough, add more air. Fuel only controls the depth. Coke WILL get very hot, but will also require constant air. Try adding air and then let us know how it works.

Looks good, a good set up. Charcoal will spread without airm so you might want to invest in a movable shee metal piece to keep the charcoal localized to the air. The main question: Does it get metal hot enough?

I found out that making them sharp slices through the envelope whereas you want to pry open the glue on the back. I like the blunt one best, although the leaf design makes a nice clip for carrying in a pocket. The sharp ones are good for opening coal bags, feed bags and cutting apart rags and cutting string.

The original firepot for a Champion 400 is the Whirlwind firepot. I own one, and IIRC, the inside is 6" deep. At the bottom it is 4" X 3", I think. The top is 13X12", rectangular. Wierd dimensions, but it seems to work real well. You should check out some plans and read up on fabricating a firepot. There are some good posts on that subject here.

You should get a one pound ball pein hammer and just go over the face with light taps for maybe half an hour to an hour, just to get it hardened. You want it to be evenly hardened, not with some dings in it.

Over the years you might get swayback on your anvil anyways. If you have some flat faces, don't worry about it. You now have more working surfaces to use. Besides, unless it is a large convex shape, I don't think you will have an issue. 3/16 from end to end is not terrible. You probably won't notice it, and I would say it is not worth the effort or regrinding.

I would like to throw out a consideration: Why not make the hot cut out of a mild steel body and chisel a groove in the top before it is sharply pointed, and weld in a piece of leaf spring. Is this idea a doable one, or should it be rejected altogether in favor of a solid spring steel hardy? I would like to understand the reasons behind this.

While it is true that mild steel will hold up for single use punches, it is good practice to forge all of your punches out of some form of carbon steel. Spring stock works well, and you will find it lasts much longer. It can then be sold or given away or kept for an odd job years down the road.

A good heavy chain wrapped around its waist should deaden its ring. Be sure you do, or at least wear ear protection., From personal experience, I can tell you that having tinnitus is not fun, and I would gladly reverse it if I could. Use ears and eyes!

ndnchf, that is a beautiful forge! There is a good post stickied on here about fire making, and I also wrote my own as a blog post on my blog on how to make a fire. Be sure to keep the coal covering the metal, espeically when using the mousedoor in the back. It is a nice addition, by the way! The whole thing looks like a mighty fine piece of kit to use. But, show us what you made with it! We love to see things like that!

The work that she is doing is quite nice. I might have to *ahem* liberate some of those ideas and implement them in copper! (Its tough being at college and not smithing!)

I am going to make an assumption here: You annealed it becuase the face is work hardening welding rod, and you wanted to stress relieve the other welds, which is why you did not harden it. Am I correct?

One thing I ask you to clarify: Is the table top held in by the copper nails, or is there a bar it rests on?

THe finish on these is exquisite! I hope my skill levels can reach that level one day!

I saw metal being heated for the first time in the Boy Scouts at Philmont. I didn't think too much of it at the time. Later, I would make fires in my back yard, and I loved to make the fire as hot as I could. I would fan the fire until it was too hot to get near. One day I thought to myself, "Why don't I see what happens when I put a Railroad Spike into the fire?" I did, and it came out glowing red. (I used ice tongs to pull it out of the fire!) Naturally, I considered hitting it with a hammer. I aquired a 4 lb sledge and went to work. At that time, nothing happened of any consequence. But I loved the glowing metal. so was hooked. I read online about blacksmithing and started looking into it in a big way, eventually finding this site. I learned and read and read some more, and finally bought by Champion 400 blower last summer, and have been advancing ever since. I love it. I am hooked for life, and am seeking to gain the skills and abilities to make me a master smith. That is my goal.

That is really good! Is it just A36? And how did you case harden it?