JohnW

2. There's not a heck of a lot of difference in wood by the time you get it burned down to charcoal, at least not as far as I can tell. I know oak, mapple, or yellow poplar all work fine. If I was making charcoal for the king, I think I'd buy a couple barrels of hickory hammer handles. 3. It takes a couple minutes for the charcoal to get burning througout the forge. There's no penalty in putting the steel in before the forge is hot. 4. Too many questions -- I don't think so. Some people definely ask questions that aren't going to be answered. You didn't ask how deep to make the fire. I don't know. Maybe 8" or 12". I'd say make plenty of charcoal and use it generously.

AtomicForge, you asked, So a metal salvage yard what exactly do they have their? It seems all of the ones here are just for pick up and you cant buy what they have. Also are car junkyards good places? i mean can i find the stuff to make a forge their? I'm not a very good scrounger yet, but I've started the trip. There are some good auto junk yards and metal recycling centers in our area. My theory is that you just have to look until you find some good ones. With auto junk yards, you have to find one that will let you walk around and pick up and remove from the vehicle, springs and shafts, etc. and that will sell it to you at or near scrap metal prices. Most don't have time for this kind of business. Likewise, with recycling centers, you just need one that will let you walk around and pick up scrap, and will sell it to you at a good price. I believe my scrap yard buys steel from me at $.08 a pound and sells it to me at $.16 a pound. This works good. It's a way to lauder steel. Bring in those worthless brake routers, then see what treasure you can find at the scrap yard. There's not usually anything too astounding, but sometimes they have great angle iron, steel plate, springs, dies, and lot's of things that actally look like they could be put back on the market to do what they used to do.

Makoz, why are these knives so good for sharpening a pencil? It makes me think I don't know how (and that's a possibility). I partially whittle away some of the wood to make space(?) for a longer point, then do fine whittling on the point.

Great to hear from you Dunstan, and good luck to you in your future forging and tool gathering. Approximately where do you live?

Good job m_brothers. Nice looking charcoal. You seem to have a pretty good burn going in the barrel. What kind of air feed, if any, did you use?

Atticka, I think you're kind of missing the scrap yard owner attitude. You said they know the value of their steel. Yes they do. It's not worth much, it's scrap. If somebody's throwing away a new 200 pound anvil, well then that's a 200 pound piece of steel. I guess they will pay about $16 for it, and my scrap dealer would sell it to me for about $32. Now for the most part, junk dealers don't have time sell you a piece of steel, nor do they have much interest in talking to you. I know I wouldn't be too interested in strangers coming to visit me at my office. Now, someplace out there in Montreal, there's people that will sell you steel at scrap prices and give you steel just to carry it away. Mostly, this is just a friendly thing to do, so you probably want to make face contact, not e-mail contact.

Finding a suitable scrap yard might present some difficulties. Probably the majority of junk yards aren't interested in selling you a piece of steel, or letting you walk around to find one, or talking to you. Around this part of the country these type business tend to close at noon on Saturday. But finding a good junk dealer is worth it.

Although it's been explained dozens of times, I can't tell you exactly what A36 means, but about all hot rolled steel bars available today from new steel suppliers is A36. google for it. Yes, 6" x 12" block of A36 soundly anchored would work great for hammering steel upon. Don't do it unless you're rich. Rather, look at every junk yard in Montreal until you find one where you can buy scrap, especially walk around and buy scrap. Then visit it periodically (more frequently if they move steel quickly) until you find a good piece of steel. You're likely to find a round (cylindrical) piece sooner than a square piece.

Good luck to you, m_brothers. I've never been able to make charcoal quite that easily. I've tried that method a few times, but, apparently with the wrong air supply, which leads to a barrel full of wood or a barrel full of ashes. My wife tells me other men are smarter.

Well you don't sound like somebody that would be living in Lincolnshire. Is that Lincolnshire, IL? It seems like that would be highly urban and kind of tight quarters.

There's some story about the blacksmith grabbing the devil by the nose with his hot tongs.

Hey shuggs, what is a Risk Assement? Is that a formal report?

There's grinder plans at http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf

You will probably find a use for about any steel you have if you're forging. If you don't have a use for it now, just put it on the pile, or trade it for what you do want.

Jmercier Or, like ptree said, use a tee shirt. Just cut a 4" wide strip, and it makes a great head band.

Catch the 127 Yard sale next August

Sell it for scrap, buy something you like

Stilh and Husqvarna. Quenchcrack, your story reminds me of the guy from the hills that arrived at the hardware story to buy one of them there chainsaws because he had him some trees to cut. He bought one and brought it back the next day, slightly beat up, with the comment that it didn't cut worth a crap. The mood suddlely changed when the hardware man sent the saw to the repair shop to see what could be the problem, and his customer remarked, "what's that sound?"

Sure BBQ briquettes will work, but then lots of things will work. BBQ briquettes have no style. Buffulo chips have more style than BBQ briquettes. People might tell you lots of bad things about BBQ briquettes, like the bonding agent will gum up your steel, they don't get hot, or whatever. Actually, I think they will work just fine for you. Oh, by the way, (if you must use BBQ briquettes), I don't think you can get much milage from the fines. Coal fines are fine, but not BBQ briquettes fines, avoid pouring those into you forge.

Dang Adrian, it looks like a Picaso or something.

Outsider, -I beieve TL's video is very good and I believe his main motive is to inform and promote. He says that adobe forges may crack at first, but don't worry just patch it. They get glazed after a short time and then they won't crack (or scarely ever). -I don't think you will notice any difference in using hot air and regular air, or at least I didn't. -Your forge looks very nice.

Part -- the part the sailors didn't drink was the port.

Charcoal is superior to wood, no doubt. Making charcoal isn't rocket science -- it's just a good bit of work and time, and even requires a little bit of equipment. Very few good things just fall out of the sky and hit you on the head.

The heat gun will get too hot in the pipe, and melt the plastic etc.

Here's a couple fuller pictures Blacksmiths Gallery http://www.forgemagic.com/bsgview.php?photo=1724&cat=T&by=