Mende

When I'm at the country side. .and I can spend 2-3 months at a time there. .I don't miss TV or the internet or my PC as long as I have electricity for my grinders and drills

The country side in Romania is medieval ..except for the electricity.
It is interesting though ..that the resident blacksmith in our village died 2 years ago ..and his son in law took over .. altho he isn't that good. . he only uses an improvised welder and grinds off the excess . .

Then I built my forge. . .while I was building it .. I found out that some other "handyman" was building his. ..and now a boy in his 20 s is gathering tools and intends to build one too. He has a 100 kilo anvil with no horn ( broken off) bellows and some tongs and hammers. ..

I think they are old wrought iron anvils that were made individually a long time ago. ..and passed on .. .they do not appear to be production anvils.

I remember seeing that before. . by following some random links from anvilfire

Why Yes! Yes it does!

Orlando bloom redeems himself a bit in Kingdom of Heaven, altho he keeps beating on the anvil supposedly to keep the tempo ...

the main thing I hate is that he is introduced as a full time smith that's done nothing but beat iron all his life at the beginning of both movies. ..but he is small and skinny .. and you would expect a lot more muscles on someone with such a profession.

Also. .If you have the chance ... check out that episode of MythBusters in which they test the myth of exploding hammers.

The case hardening procedure they attempted sucked .. and they used a sucky Harbor Freight anvil that had CHINA written on it with raised lettering=>cast iron.

Welcome Mark! You have nothing to be ashamed of . .It is honorable that you want to learn. It would be rather shameful if you started saying you were a blacksmith and made up lies and stuff. ..

All of us here learn everyday and try to help each other as best we can.
I cannot call myself a blacksmith either as I just finished the first trials on my forge that's situated 25 miles away from where i live ..and I'm currently attending school. .so no time.

But in the time I have I also like to learn new things about this.

Welcome on board :D

Looks like a bending/scrolling/tinsmithing/anchor/mini anvil/swage/thingamabob/whachamacallit.

IF I only use charcoal. .do I need a clinker breaker? .. and if I use bituminous coal ..can;t I just periodically fish the clinker out with a poker?

We should send this over to Myth Busters or Brainiac. ..although I didn't like how they tested that exploding hammer myth. ..

one of you senior guys should go there and supervise them while they redo it

COOL! ..I wanted to make a quick hardie to keep me going till i find the time to make or buy an old fashion one. .

great idea!.

Has anyone managed to get a burning piece of coal between their toes?. . I did . .:D

I can go as far as to say it's sexy good work!. ..I used up a whole lot of grinding discs on mine as well. . .I smelled like steel for a weeks. ..when I got sweaty I rusted ..

Thx jimbob . .that really cleared it up for me. . .now I hope I can find or make one here. ..as blades are pretty much the only thing that interest me.. .

I was curious to know how do bladesmithing/ Japanese hammers differ from normal hammer? Are they easier to control? Why did the have to be shaped like they are?:confused:

Mine is 4 feet by 6-7 feet. .

I wonder how many hardhats he ruined before learning to do that ..

Sorry no help here I use my hands to crack nuts ;).

You could get wine from your neighbors from under you ( if u live in an apartment building. .)

Nicely done:D ..

work time/ energy/ anvils/ blacksmith friends/appreciation for his work/ beer/ beer/ beer/ hammers/ scrap metal

I think that it's retarded to do this...

what next? banning pipes, baseball bats and all hard long objects?

Maybe they will not sell you flat stock if they know u have a grinder. . and can sharpen it?. .

I mean .. one can buy scythe blades. . .lawmower blades, saws . .axes ..etc ..

.. even a hammer would do the job . .

Can;t they realize that if someone wants 2 kill someone ..not having a proper sword won;t stop him?

Well . .clay in the sense of wet dirt. . should always harden . ..
and it is the cheapest and most readily available thing around. .

I for one happen 2 have a pile in my backyard ... . .and the filling for my forge is made of it ..so as not to waste bricks and refractory cement ..

my forge is a clay block with a brick shell and a refractory brick firepot .. and some black pipe plumbing for air and ash ..

I never used clay for simulating a project but i do intend to use it for lost wax casting ( as soon as I get a crucible from a friend. . and pile up some bronze)

I find it also useful in making furnaces and ovens...especially if mixed with ash and straw ..contrary to popular belief . .you can heat it up and the straw will still keep it from cracking .

Has anyone seen the sword forging scene in Conan? ..

Or if you played Neverwinter Nights ..a "hero" gets a fully finished sword ..with fuller and with the furniture on it. .out of the fire. .and beats it hard ..and then . .cools it. . without changing it's shape. .

Also in the early episodes of Hercules. .. there was that hot babe blacksmith ..but who was looking at the forging huh?

Great work dude!. .Now all you need to do is put everything together under a roof somewhere. .away from flammable materials. . and start experimenting until you see what works well for ya.
After you see what works and what doesn't . .you can rebuild your shop exactly the way you like it.

The best way to mount your anvil would be a huge stump ..that would get the face to knuckle height ..second best would be to laminate timber with glue and long bolts and screws.. ..third would be a metal tripod with a laminated wood top . .fourth best would be an all metal . . chair thingie. .

Try to make it bigger in case you get a bigger newer steel anvil in the future ( you WILL want something bigger. . even if just for the heck of it. ..)
You are on the right track:D ..like the hook.

Well .. I saw a movie about slavers ..and they were being trialled for decimating the Mende tribe. It was an obscure name so I used it as my nickname in online gaming for about 7 years now. .

Although I recently met some Kenyans that told me it means cockroach. ..It kinda bummed me out .. but I'm to used to it to quit it.

If an axe has marks that look like they were made by casting molds. ..they were probably made by drop forging them. .( when you heat something up . .and put in between 2 dies and apply tons of pressure) the excess metal runs out ..and has to be cut off and grinded smooth ..

usually some marks are left ..

But I doubt anyone would even consider casting axe heads. ..as it would be WAAAY more fuel efficient to just heat up metal and forge it.

So you either have drop forged/hand forged stuff from bad or good steel.

everyone . .please correct me if I'm wrong here. .