Joel OF

Yeah it's a great museum. Over the way was an old brick making workshop, I'd always wondered if clinker had any uses, the info board said it was used in brick making.

Are you exagerating or is that a real time? That's a genuine question, probably sounds sarcastic in plain text.

Yeah a jig is in the pipeline haha. I want to get the technique licked just doing it with anvil+tongs+hammer before i knock myself up a jig though, just so i know i can do it. I made these yesterday along with some more J hooks, they aint perfect but i'm getting there.

Cheers folks, not enough heat was definitely the problem, much easier today.

Cheers folks. At the end of the day as I was I driving home and pondering my mixed success I suspected that the metal not being hot enough was part of the problem because I did some without any fuss. Now some of you have suggested the metal wasn't hot enough, it kinda confirms it for me.

Oops i didn't think to take a picture of them before i set off home. They're perfect for the job, they have round grooves up the middle & side.

Hi, can anyone give me some pointers on how to curl small areas whilst using tongs? Today I tried to make a bunch of simple hooks like in the pic. My best overall effort was the one on the left however I prefer the fishtail curl and general hook shape of the one on the right. Unfortunately with the one on the right I didn't square up the round bar enough so the twist is lame. I reckon the hooks spent as much time on the floor as they did on the anvil as they kept coming out of my tongs, or if they weren't coming out of the tongs then I couldn't keep them in a firm enough position with my tong hand, (left), because as I was hammering with my right hand my left hand would be bouncing up in the air from the force...like a see-saw. I could form the fishtail curl ok, but it was the main hook shape I struggled with. My process was - taper to form the nail, square up a small area for the twist, form that nail head right angle thing, fish tail curl, hook shape, twist. Any help would be greatly appreciated! The round bar diameter was 8mm.

Just a few snaps I took on my phone today during my visit to the Weald and Downland Musuem in West Sussex. My phone's camera is lame so the pics don't do the place any justice but I thought I'd share them nonetheless. The museum is a great place and I'd recommend it if you're anywhere near by. The smiths were making a hinge for a gate. I think all the staff including the smiths were volunteers. The bellows are out of shot at the back. Here's a link to the museum, it's an open air site with 25+ buildings and it also runs courses. http://www.wealddown.co.uk/

Ok, I didn't realise it was so variable, I mistakenly assumed that good fire management would kinda even out how much fuel you went through regardless of what you were doing. That makes me feel a bit better about how much I've been using. Yep John I normally use coke, I just tried coal to see the difference and it's a few quid cheaper.

OK, fair dos, worth a shot. Reason I asked is because in the course of the last 2 days I've burnt about 25kg of coal (just under £12) using a hand cranked blower. I reckon over the last 2 days I've done about 16 hours of forging practicing sinking and raising bowls. Was just trying to see how my fuel consumption related to others.

Anyone know on average how many kgs or lbs of coal or coke they burn a day? I did a search for relevant posts but didn't spot any.

I didn't mean to suggest that it shouldn't be, this was only meant to be a bit of harmless fun and I didn't mean for it to sound like I was asking for short cuts.

I may be bending the rules but at the top left of the screen it under the site logo it says "Blacksmithing & Metalworking". If my pinch of salt became a handful with this thread then I made a mistake this time round, sorry, it was just meant to be a bit of fun. So that I could learn traditional hot cutting I made a hot cut out of a pnuematic drill bit, I cut it with an angle grinder and ground it down with an angle grinder, I think the end justifies the means. For novices it's just nice to know you can make the traditional tool you want by fabricating with only modern tools. I want to be able to do the traditional techniques but I don't feel the need to slavishly use traditional techniques to make the tool I need...I don't have the skill or know-how for that.

I've made 3 anvil stakes and 2 hammers out of miniature railway track and 4 bowl sinking tools from the bottoms of oxygen cylinders.

Just wondering what tools people have made without forging? For the sake of this thread lets say that hammering is completely off limits and that annealing and tempering aren't in the spirit of things but acceptable. To play the game 100% by the rules you've had to make your bits and bobs just with welders/grinders/saws/files/voodoo magic For the love of...(insert whatever you worship)...let's not make this a fabrication vs blacksmithing thread. Game on...

Hi folks, I thought I'd upload some more detailed shots and measurements for the sake of those who are interested in buying this little headturner, and in general for all passers-by to admire. Apologies to the Americans that are interested, the measurements are in mm. Unfortunately the focus went on the full length shot, the full length measurement is 290mm. I haven't photoshopped these in any way except to reduce the file size so they don't eat up too much space on the forum. Enjoy...

Well blimey, there's food for thought. If I'd known anyone here might have been interested in it I would have at least taken better pictures and possibly made up some great story to the anvil...I was swallowed whole by Moby Dick...and I found this anvil in his belly...and I used it to forge a knife to cut myself free out of his belly... I'd be curious to hear what others have to say as to it's size/purpose, and it goes without saying that I'm open to as many offers as possible. Now that I know folks on here are interested I doubt I'll eBay it, I've got a lot of help from folks on this site and I'd rather see it go to someone here. Maybe once as much light has been shed on the rarerity/purpose/general info of it we could hold a secret auction where folks PM bids or something, I dunno, I'm just thinking aloud.

Hi folks, can anyone give me an idea as to what anvils this small are designed for? I'm guessing they're jewellers anvils or something? Also, how rare are they? I do a lot of eBay window shopping and infrequently I see ones of a similar size that are listed as "rare", but I'm a cynic. I'd imagine that if there's any premium attached to this one it's because it's a Peter Wright and not because of it's size. It's 11.5" long and 20lbs, the face is only about 2" wide. I think the guy who did the weight stamping was hungover the day he stamped this. I've accumilated this along the way but it's got to go now as my boiler's just packed up so all luxuries are being flogged before I move onto selling my kidneys...

Cool. Your setup sounds a bit like this blokes, and he seems to be getting by just fine!

Ironically despite the amount of rain we get I live near Britain's only desert, Dungeness. It is a weird and wonderful place, it's like somewhere out of a post-apocalyptic movie. A nuclear power station, a house coated in latex, giant concrete sound mirrors from the 1930s to detect Nazi planes, a miniture railway, and a nature reserve...it's got it all. I've made 3 anvil stakes and 2 hammers with of off-cuts from the railway so far.

You are more than welcome to some of England's.

A well organised small space can be ten times as big as a badly organised big one. One buzzword drummers use all the time, (especially fast paced heavy metal drummers), is 'ergonomics'...save yourself energy by positioning things in the most convenient spot and use the correct technique to make the movement with as little energy as possible...so you can save yourself the energy for headbanging to the chorus. Just one thing...where's the forge?

Dale, that's exactly the reason I got a hand cranked blower. Good for evening out muscle building too if you crank the blower with your non-hammering arm!

Can you cut curves with one of these portable band saws or would you need something like a nibbler? Gundog, have you ever been to Machine Mart in Maidstone? I've never been but am curious about it. On their website they seem to do a mix of the cheap and nasty as well as respected brands. http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/2107fk-120mm-portable-bandsaw-230v?da=1&TC=SRC-portable+band+saw (Sorry to slightly divert the thread but what sort of thickness can a nibbler handle?)

In my opinion anything that sounds like you've got a mouthful of Pate du Campagne and a string of garlic around your neck is acceptable. I'm just as much French as I am English so I'm allowed to say that, before anyone starts...