JMcCormick

You did not xxxx me off at all. On the contrary I would like to thank you for the advice. I am trying to learn this on my own and I need someone to tell me when I am going beyone my skill set. So again thank you for letting me know that this is a very advanced process. I think I will set the warhammer aside for now and start tapering bars and making snakes and such untill I progress more. Thank you again, and I will check out that slit punch in the tool forum.

How do I get the hole in the center of a hammer head for the handle? I am tring to forge a warhammer and I can not for the life of me figure out how Im going to make the hole for the handle..... Did I mess up by starting with a soild piece of barstock? Any help is very much appreciated!

Well this is my second try at the forge. I got the taper down I think. So far I have learned quite a bit form this site! Thanks to everyone for helping me with the explanation of how to taper. Anyhow I designed this one a little different. I think it looks alot better than my first try. Here are a few pics of it. Compare to my first try......

I am in Western North Carolina. Over In Asheville.

I do but I'm not sure how....

Well this is just a piece of rebar with some bends. I was mainly getting a feel for the heating process. First I started out trying to make and S bend then I thought well I'll make a snake instead. Then I though well why not take it one step further and try to flatten the rebar out and make a hooded up cobra..... Well as you can see I didn't get it flattened out alot. I am going to try and work on it somemore tomorrow. My neighbors were all out staring at my at about 9:30 since I was still just hammering away. I think they were getting mad at me...... ha ha ha ha ha. Oh well I was having a blast. anyway here are some pics.

Scranton is roughly 40 miles NW of stroudsburgh.

What part of PA? I have alot of famiy that live in Stroudsburgh!

MRobb, I did learn a very Important lesson. I had no clue galvanised meatals had the potential to kill a person! I was under the impression they would make you slightly sick and if you burned off the zinc before you got near it there would be no problem. I am glad I asked before I started that first fire! jmcustomeknives I am so pumped about all the things I can possibly make! Thanks for the replys!

So I'm sure you all are loving all the newbi question I have.... Sorry. I am super Interested in this hobby / possible future profession. I would have a fire burning now but I am removing the zinc from the pipes on my first homemade forge. I diddnt really know galvanized pipe was deadly! Thanks for pointing that out Ridgewayforge!! So as for my forge. What other kinds of things can I forge besides knives? Of course my main focus is knives simply because I am fascinated by them. But I am also intrested in forging anything I can with a brake drum forge. Also what is a good anvil for a beginner? I'm not looking for a $1000 french or german made anvile.... Just something simple maybe 75 - 100 Lbs. sufficent for a beginning smith. Any help is appreciated!

Привет мы друг! Где в России вы? Я из Санкт-Петербурга. Кроме того, ваша работа очень хорошо!

Cool! Thanks for the info bigfoot! I was looking into muriatic acid also.

I was going to burn the forge for a few hours outside awayfrom everything to get the stuff off of it. Everywhere I went either did not carry 2" black Iron or was out so I got the galvanized and figured a good long burn outside would take the stuff off of it.

Hello from Asheville, NC! I just finished my first brake drum forge. I am very intrested in smithing and would like to try my hand at knife making. I have a few questions though. What does HT, RC, and HRc stand for? Also Would I be better off using coke or coal? Lastly I have been told a good thing to try my first kinfe out of is a non case hardened file. How do I tell if they have been case hardened or not? Any input on these subjects is appreciated! A few pics of the brake drum forge I just built! Completed it for just under $40,