Everything Mac

Cool. Best of luck with it. Reading back my last post I didn't word it very well. I meant to say that you could cast the flat portion of the roof as well as the upright or "post" section on one side so that it's all one piece. With a bit of stainless bar in the posts it could then be bolted to the floor portion. Hope that makes sense. Those stainless needles arrived by the way - they're a lot bigger than I was expecting, maybe 30mm long and 1mm diameter. They look more like shavings from some machining than anything else. All the best Andy

Ah well there's no rush eh. Like I say you'll be surprised how often you use it. All the best Andy

Fair enough bud. Get that welded up ;) Andy

Looks great so far. You won't regret spending the time on it. All the best Andy

Ok Joel, it's really not too hard at all. You mix it with water and treat it like mixing concrete. It has a tendancy to clump though and you get dry bits, so get in there with a mixing attachment or a bent bit of 1/4" round in a drill. You get a good working time but I couldn't say how long exactly. half an hour maybe? It seems to start getting hard after a couple of hours. I always leave it a couple of days to dry thoroughly before doing anything with it but that's been purely because I'm busy rather than anything else. There's three types: dense, insulating / light weight and medium weight. As I understand it all, Dense makes a good heat sink / is toughest so makes a good floor. Insulating, is obviously insulating like ceramic blanket or boards, good for your roof. Medium weight is a mix of the two. I'd try and get the fine grade if I were you. I've been using the coarse stuff and it is quite course. Maybe vibrating it or something would help but I've no way of doing that. I'm also told you should mix in stainless steel needles which can be bought by the kilo at castreekilns. I've literally just ordered some which is why I mention it. They're supposed to help bind it together and add strength. -Just thinking, if you can add stainless steel needles, I'm sure you could add something like a stainless steel cage to the mould. Think something like the rebar cages you see on construction sites. You could cast the entire shape for your roof with the right design. Welded up from threaded stainless you could bolt your roof on. Just a thought. All the best Andy

Looks good bud. You'll be surprised how much you use it. ;)

My 2p if I may. Youtube is a double edged sword at best. Indeed I concur with much of what has already been said. My main gripe that I see with all online content, not just videos, is presenting opinions as fact. And the apparent total lack of understanding of which is which. "This is the "best" bla bla bla" "It's an English anvil so it must be a Mousehole" "you need sharp edges on your anvil" "That's definitely a such and such brand of xyz" "This is how you forge xyz" There's a handful of youtube blacksmiths I enjoy. Some are entertaining, others are more educational. I think the more popular characters have a duty to further the craft and promote safety and education. If they don't know how to do something they should be making that perfectly clear. The issue is however the old you can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Andy

A cracking press. I quite literally grew up using a Denbigh No. 4, making parts for my Dad. It's still in daily use today and he must have had it at least 20 years. The Denbigh's arm is cast, the posts for the ball weights were not only tapered but octagonal. If your ball isn't original you might have a heck of a time trying to get it to fit. All the best Andy

*Nope I'm talking rubbish - you can get 1400*C board but it's twice the price and castreekilns are out of stock. Andy

Almost certainly a cast iron ASO. BUT as they go that one doesn't actually look too bad. That said I agree with @JHCC - a good set of tongs for example make a world of difference. All the best Andy

Not too sure off the top of my head. The only board I've come across is only rated to 1260*C. Board also has the same issue as blanket in that the fibers are carcinogenic when dislodged (when being cut for example) - Bricks are the way forward for me. Saying that board certainly makes life easier for your roof. And as long as you wear your PPE when building the forge you should be fine. Andy

My only worry with that is that you would have a weak spot in your insulation at the corners. I wondered if a beefed up "C" frame design with a hinged door on the back say 9" wide. Then you'd have 3 open sides and would still be able to fit long sections of wider material in. I'm not sure I if you're on instagram Joel but "Jorgenhaal" recently built a very nice gas forge with big arches for the door pulley system. Not exactly KISS but looked cracking. All the best Andy

Looks good to me. When you say you want to have doors on all 4 sides though, how are you going to support the roof? Or are you having it open on 3 sides with a solid back? Grade 26 bricks are what I've been using. - Well that's not strictly true. I've been using ceramic blanket and a dense castable refactory in my little forge but the mk2 version I'm building will be using the grade 26 bricks. I believe the 26 are better at insulating than the higher grade 28's. You can't go far wrong with either a dense brick or castable floor backed by some insulating material. I've gone for a 2" block with an inch of blanket under it, which should be ok. 3" insulation brick walls / roof. I'd be very interested to see what door design you come up with. All the best Andy

Fully agree. Make sure you're happy before you hand over the cash. £200 is a decent price these days. Looks like there may be a gouge in the face but there's plenty of space left on it. 28" long? that'l be around 2cwt. I've also done a video on identifying what your anvil is made of here: All the best Andy

Explaining the real basics for the beginners out there. Cheers Andy