Mende

I just recently turned 19. ..and I bet most of u know ure stuff much better than me . .

Thx for th info guys! Especially Frosty!

Glad that you are always here to help!

I could say that everything in my shop was obtained for 2000-4000$. Including the building it's housed in and such ...Plus the power tools and coal ..

But I would never sell it. I'd probably give it away to a good friend who likes metalwork.

All through my village everyone who ever owned a plow or went to the smithy to get a tool fixed or made said that the blacksmiths always asked for charcoal made out of plum trees (the trees that grow plums - not sure if there's an English name for it). The blacksmiths here always required that the client bring his own charcoal.

I recently made a batch of charcoal out of plum wood by surrounding a cylinder made of random tins with earth and lighting a huge fire in it. It was about the size of half of an oil drum and had an air intake at the bottom. When the fire was going strong ..I covered it and sealed every hole with wet earth and let it smoke away for 3 hours. 70% of the wood turned to charcoal.
It burned good but after 5 hours of forging I got and amount of clinker out similar to 3 baseballs.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to improve my system?
And has anyone here heard of cherry and plum tree wood as being good for charcoal?
Do you think that the incomplete charring of the wood made my forge produce so much clinker?
And what is clinker anyways? How can one stop it from forming ?
:confused:

Good man!. .You got everything! now all you have to do is build a fire and start hurting yourself

I was not talking about whether a hand forged tool does a better job than a cast one. .I simply said that I, personally, consider a handmade tool more valuable than a serially produced one because I think there is more soul in the first one. Also I like seeing the imperfection of a tool . .It makes it unique as no hand made object can be identical to the next. That can't be said for mass produced stuff that are only copies of a prototype.

When it comes to working performance I will always choose a good tool from a reputable brand and not use one I bodged up ..

I agree with Valentin. There is a lot more soul and energy put in something hand forged or hand made from start to finish then something that's been copied after a prototype and churned out in the thousands . .only for profit. I still would pay 10 times more for a hand forged ring from a gold smith than for a machine weaved gold chain from the jeweler.
I do not say that mass produced items are of poorer quality ( although some of them are . .think Japanese swords and knives) but they lack individuality and spiritual value.

Looks, smells, feels and tastes like Hell..but it IS Heaven.

I consider people who argue that it's cheaper at a megastore or stuff like that NOT WORTHY of handcrafted blacksmith's work.

If you work well enough and do a bit of advertising, you will attract people who understand that what they are paying for is UNIQUE and better than anything churned out by the millions. Only with those people is your work safe. If you can't find them . . better keep it then lower the price.

Like hdwarner and triw said "It's better to keep quiet and be thought an idiot than to open one's mouth and prove it."
"If a job's worth doing, It's worth doing well ( it's worth dieing for)"

Mine's about 4 by 5 metres...but hey. .it;s not the size . .it;s how u use it. . .unless we're talking anvils. . and I'm well endowed in that department;)

Forge shoes.. .

im having the same problem . .i built my firepot 2 deep
it works very well but when i need 2 heat long pieces. . .i have 2 put 2 much coal in it. ..and it's wasteful. . .so i was thinking about mashing up some firebricks and mix them with ashes, lime and clay and seeing how that works. I would just pour some refractory cement . .but i can;t seem to find local shops that sell it.

You can't turn lead into gold? HAHA n00b!!!

or u can take a round stock bar .. upset it at one end . ..flatten it. ... .draw out the handle ..twist and scroll it for decoration and roll the flattened end like you would roll a joint and cut off the excess ..

boob toob. ...i thought it was a bra or something .. funny nonetheless ..and why have air conditioning when your nymphs can fan you whenever you wish?

I saw a video with some dude making knives in his backyard. . .and I thought I could do it with RR tracks and a hammer. . and maybe a fanned fire. ...but after reading some info. .I realized I needed better tools. .so I paid some visits to the shut down smithies in my area and got some stuff. ..Built the forge myself . .from internet blueprints. .modified 2 work with hat materials I had. ...Now If I only had the time to use it :(

You guys should just let it grow until it gets 1 m long. ( yeah I'm talking about grass[wink]) then grab your scythe and reap it . . . and u get free animal feed. ..

If you don't have a scythe . .forge one. . I hear it;s a challenge. .and If you end up making a Grim Reaper type thing that can only be used as a weapon . .send it my way!:D

I don;t kno about you guys but when I'm workin on something .. I get thru 3-4 hammers. ..heavy at first ( 6 pounds) with a low hitting speed. .and then for the finer stuff I use 1-2 1-2 pounders ..with jackhammer speed . . They all have long handles but I think I'll hack em off really soon . .as they hurt my palm ..So I'm don;t know what my hammer type is but I can predict I'll use 4-6 lbs short handled sledges with a well crowned face. and 1-2 pounder with normal handles for finishings and finer work ( like scrolls and knots or ironing a kink out of a blade. . ) I don;t think I can have a hammer that I can use constantly and not change. .And the hammers I like are determined by my body and how I feel using them.

That was very smart of you!. .bet there isn't a puff of smoke in your shop now! ..i think imma try out your idea on my forge . .since it makes my boogers black ..

you have to heat up a bar of steel and use a wrench ( the specialized ones have 2 handles)
to twist it in different directions . .. to obtain those effects you have to use selective heating.

I hear you guys on the TIME thing ... i built my shop one year ago and lit the forge 4 times .. . school . ..and exams .. .

Speaking of which . .did I brag about getting in to all the 5 English Universities I applied for? ( I would have preferred America. . but the prices r huge there. ..for england one can get grants from the EU)
I'm going 2 Manchester Metropolitan 2 study Advertising and Brand Management so in like 3-4 years time . ..If any of you will be needing help managing your .. brands. ..gimme a call!

Well we are talking about a blacksmith's shop ...and unorthodox one indeed but it's still blacksmithing . .and about the North thing . .I don;t follow ..

What would it be like?. . Sam said he'd go for the Hephasteus volcano type one. . Frosty wants to somehow have waterfalls coal seams and scrapyards in the same place. ..etc.

I for one would also go for the huge cave inside the molten core of a volcano. .with the forge consisting of a heat resistant tube heated by a lava stream, carbon steel anvil in an obsidian setting, diamond hammers, ogre slave strikers, goblin engravers and chained politician polishers . .that use wet grinding stones and wet em with their tears.
Of course the weather outside would be extremely cold to provide me with a glacier to quench my werk in . .
Oh course we shan't forget the nymphs that live only 2 give you massages after a hard day at the lava stream ( forge) . ..among other things ..
Plus some children to test the weapons on .. (optional - . .we could bring in more politicians or members of whatever group/race/ethnicity you secretly/openly hate).

Cool werk dude! .. and nice "modern smith" get-up ...black t-shirt and dirty jeanz . .. and i love the shop idea ..so much so that imma start a thread on it:D