MattBrooks

It seems I revived a thread. Since I got all this attention, I don't suppose there's a smith near Denver willing to rent some shop space? lol

Ha! An excellent try. 

I know this thread is years old but I live in an apartment currently and the only place I can set up is public land. Read into your local fire codes and check with the forest you're setting up in to make sure you are legal. I have a LP forge and since it isn't a "solid fuel" I and can be shut off rather than extinguished I am totally legal. I don't set up where I might bother people and I do look out for the current fire danger and fire bans, In my area if stage 1 bans are in effect I cannot work which kinda sucks but I understand rules is rules.( I'm also a Wildland Firefighter so I have a decent idea of how to burn a forest down and how to avoid it) The real downside is moving my 250lb Hay Budden from the back of the car to the stump and back every time. And waiting for the forge to cool before I pack up and head home. But if this is your only option I say do it. It's a bit of a pain but worth it so I can forge. This is what it usually looks like, the forge was a bit close this time and I ended up moving the anvil to save my right leg some toasting. 

P.S. I do have a quench bucket it's just out of frame, definitely a requirement if a ranger or some such wants to have a chat with you about what you're up to. Have some means of putting out a fire.(water and tool, like a shovel or hoe...or a pulaski  

Hey Chris. Ah I think I see now. So I need to separate the bar and work in another type of steel?

Awesome, thanks for the help fellas. I'll do a post with pictures if I manage to make anything decent.

And what do you mean slip something between plys?

Do you know if had to forge them together first?

So, I work on a wildland fire crew and we have about 10 old 28" Stihl bars that will just be tossed, so I snagged them up and am now curious if any of you all have attempted to forge with them. I know it's laminated and hopefully there won't be air gap issues when I try the weld but its trash anyway so what xxxxxxx, right? If any of you guys or gals have played with these and can offer advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

P.S. welding chains as well, we got a lot 

Watch the language

Thanks so much for all the replies, I truly appreciate it.

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone could guide me a little here. I've got 500lbs, give or take, of coal that got drenched when we had a few rainy weeks here. Since then I tried laying some out on the asphalt in the sun to dry it out but couldn't get any of it to light in the forge. Am I going to have to trash all my coal or is there something I can do? Also, how does one trash that much coal?

Thanks for reading.

Frank Turley, there's a fella near me that makes farrier's aprons, I can see if he'd be interested in expanding his clientele to blacksmiths as well, I wouldn't mind having one myself.

I have never been before but it sounds awesome. The registration and accompanying fees are for all attendees correct?

This sounds great, I've never forged a blade before but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in them. Good on you guys for passing on the knowledge. I look forward to learning

-Matt

I'll pass that along, thanks.

A friend of mine has an anvil marked "wright" and it has an H on either side towards the bottom. He believes it is a Henry Wright(who was copying Peter Wright's design before he got his patent in 1852ish?) He is getting into antiques and asked my opinion, I know very little about anvils so I pass the question on to those more knowledgeable

-Matt

As a fellow beginner my advice is to think in the fire. Plan your hammer blows while your work is heating up, it helped me a lot in reducing my number of heats

Very good work sir, I particularly like the pattern welded one 3rd up on the right.

Welcome aboard. I'm over in Mechanicsville, your lucky enough to located near Keith Hicks, the smith who gave me my first lesson on blacksmithing and sold me my anvil. Look him up and give him a call(MMM Fab & Forge). Best of luck.

-Matt

Those look mean, did you draw out the strap or weld that on?

Just found a place in Virginia that sells whole barrels, good times.

Yet another question, sorry I have so many. I think I'm going to make my own firepot, would y'all suggest a square or rectangular one? I feel like the rectangle would be better because I could heat longer pieces better, but I am not sure if I'm correct in this assumption. Thoughts?

Alright, I'll look into those, thank you. Also I know its probably above my skill set right now but can anyone offer advice on forging my own hammer. I can't find one that I like in a store and the ones online are over $100 so I would prefer to make one, plus I would like to know I made my own hammer. Any help is greatly appreciated

Well I'm actually in Mechanicsville

Thanks, and coal

Hello everyone. I was told about this forum by the smith who gave me my first lessons on Blacksmithing and sold me my anvil. I want to get acquainted with more smiths in my area and learn as much as possible as well as get advice and tips from you guys. As I mentioned before I do have an anvil, I also have a space for a smithy but I'm still working on buying/building my forge. Any advice on forge making would be greatly appreciated along with any other advice

Matt