HWooldridge

I make gigs from the springs off overhead doors. I heat and unwind the spring, straighten a bit, then bend two long pieces to make a four point fork pattern (two "U" patterns with a leg in the center of each for the mounting shank). Since you aren't forging, you can grind a barb on each tip and weld the backs of the pieces together. No need to heat treat if it's high carbon as you don't want it to break on a rock. I forge each point and barb in a heat, then lay up and forge weld the two shanks in another heat but this might be a stretch if you haven't done it before. Takes me about 15 minutes to unwind the stock and another 15 minutes to make the fork so two per hour is reasonable. Years ago, I picked up about 30 pieces of 1/4" round high carbon steel at a scrap yard and made a bunch of trash spikes and gigs from that but it's all gone now. This is actually one of those few jobs that goes faster with hammer, forge and anvil than most other methods.

The spikes might well be wrought iron. Spark test to see. Wrought iron yields a very low spark stream colored orange - dimmer and less in number than mild steel. Grind a file, then your axle, followed by a piece of known mild steel and finally your wrought iron specimen. Compare the sparks and you'll have an idea of what it might be.

First pic is my main "battle anvil" mounted on a concrete block. I built the forms and poured in a couple sacks of quik-crete. The angle iron base holds the anvil from walking and a few tools. The anvil weighs 250 and the block weighs 280 so it's a lot of mass. You can't see it very well from this view but the opposite side has a shelf to hold small items. BTW, I am right handed but prefer the horn on the right so this is the side I see when working. The stain on top is oil. The other two pics are of the Brazeal brothers rigs which they use at demo's. Their anvil is a block of steel set on edge and configured with with different surfaces for different jobs. The other has a very small anvil and vise with plenty of room for tools. A good example of their thorough understanding of the forging process combined with thinking "outside the box".

Thanks for the replies - I'll try some of the recipes.

Cracks can start propagating from scratches that occur due to grinding - either before or after quench. They act as a stress riser and the amount of stress in a hardened blade can be significant. Not annealing between forging and hardening processes can also cause cracks.

I have a customer who wants an "old world" look on a forged iron port-cullis, which in this instance is best described as a rust color. They call it "bronze" but it's a little redder than my view of that.

I'm looking for solutions for producing a nice, deep rust finish on a fairly large and complex piece. I already use Birchwood Casey's Plum Brown on little stuff but it's too cumbersome for my patience in anything of size. I have heard of using Clorox, ammonia, acid, etc. Old gunsmithing books talk about damp boxes with light bulbs and such but I figure some applied chemical would work better. I tried a muriatic acid solution but the color was not consistent and the acid has to be removed before the finish coat. In a perfect world, I would sandblast all the scale and get a good soft rust going then card it with a soft brush, followed by clear coating with urethane or acrylic.

Actually not a bad anvil. I'd make a block for the hardy hole that has some decent corners (but no sharp edges) and leave it alone for now. I can't comment on history - maybe someone with Postman's book?

I agree with IronWolf, having repaired about 20 anvils over the years. This is not as bad as several I have seen. I would sandblast the nooks and crannies to get the crud out then weld up with MIG until I was within 1/8" of the surface, followed by a hard facing rod on top until there was enough material standing proud all over to allow grinding back flush. Lacking MIG, I would use 6011 as build-up but would sandblast again before hardfacing to completely eliminate slag. As IW said, the preheat is also important.

That is very difficult to answer as it depends on what you are willing to spend. I have had people ask all sorts of prices for tools - some ridiculously low while others had me scratching my head and laughing. If the blower turns freely and has no bearing noise, the hearth is in good shape with no cracks or holes and it is in good overall condition, then it could fall in a range of $50 to $250, depending on where you live and a host of other factors - like how badly do you want it?

If you mean metal lathes, most turn both ways - forward and reverse. Forward is rotating toward the tool holder, which is typically on the operator's side. The headstock holds the spindle (the part that is powered and holds the chuck) and is on the left as you face the lathe with the tailstock is on the right. The spindle can be reversed for various operations but care must be used with a threaded spindle nose because it is possible to unscrew a chuck - not a good thing. Other types of spindle noses are locked and will not unscrew in reverse. Wood lathes also rotate toward the operator so the knife is forced down against the tool rest when taking a cut.

Ron, What used to be the top of the hopper is 30" in diameter but you don't need that much - it's just what I had laying around. A buddy of mine made a steel box 18x18x18/16 that he stuck on the bottom of a piece of 12" duct and it works like a champ. He has about the same size cutout as mine but the side that faces the fire is tilted forward a few degrees so the bottom of the box is 18x16 but the top that fastened to the duct is 18x18 - hope that makes sense. IMHO, the important parts of good smoke elimination are a large stack (at least 12" diameter - square is better), a tall chimney to pull strongly (at least 2-3 feet higher than the roof peak) and getting the lower end near the fire. The other odds and ends to box design can be fairly flexible.

This one has a 12" round galvanized duct. The side draft is an old material hopper, turned upside down, with a cap welded to what was formerly the hopper top. I cut a U shaped slot in the hopper and put a very short lip at the top of the cutout, which helps channel smoke when the chimney is cold. There are a few fire bricks inside the hopper that also help draw after they heat up. This chimney does occasionally smoke at startup but most everything goes up the stack once it gets hot. I proved this one day by sweeping about an inch of very fine ash and coal dust from the inside of the box after a couple years of regular use. Apparently, there is a little vortex when the stack draws because most of the soot is on the left rear side. This was cheap to make and works quite well. Many years ago, I started with 8 inch duct and worked my way up in 12 in - there is a definite difference in drawing ability so my advice is to get the biggest stack you can find.

I'm glad you are OK and I applaud your parents - they sound like sane, pragmatic people who realize a freak accident when they see it. I had a real weird deal happen once. My first forge was an angle iron frame about 30x36 that was lined with firebricks and had the firepot sitting a little left of center with coal spread all around the hearth. The sides were 1x4 pine boards screwed to the frame so the coal didn't fall on the floor. I used this forge for a couple of years before the incident occurred. I had worked all day long and shut down as normal, letting the fire die out naturally while I cleaned up and then watered everything just to be sure. I left the shop and went home, then returned in a couple of days. When I walked thru the door, I smelled a peculiar burnt odor that I couldn't place. I surveyed the shop and finally noticed the sides of the pine boards were burnt thru on every side and ashes were on the floor. After two days time, the boards were still smoldering and hot but not burning openly - more of a slow char. I poured water on everything and started tearing it apart to see what happened. I eventually discovered a thin layer of fine white ash between the coal and the bricks. After much cogitation, I concluded that over time, a layer of fine coal had built up on top and between the bricks. That last fire had ignited this dust but at a very slow rate and the water had done nothing to extinguish it. It slowly and methodically worked its way across the hearth until it hit the pine boards, which then caught on fire. They eventually burned thru and the embers fell out onto the floor (fortunately it was dirt and there was nothing else to burn). This was by far the strangest fire I've seen. I later talked to a family member who is a retired fire captain - he said fire does some truly odd things at times. He agreed with my basic theory on how it happened but neither of us felt I could ever recreate it on demand.

I buy cobalt for general work and TiN for most hard alloys - usually domestic make from MSC. I often buy what most people would consider very expensive bits on machining jobs, which subsequently paid for themselves several times over by not breaking in the middle of a run. You get what you pay for...

I helped restore a local agricultural smithy which had a selection of sledges. One was a 28 lb head - probably a quarter hundredweight as Bruce's are half hundredweights. I used this hammer to strike for another smith - it was too big for direct forging but was the cat's meow for struck tools like swages. All you had to do was get it high and give a little assistance on the way down. This shop also had a 350 lb anvil set about two inches lower than the other ones in the shop - I assumed this was to employ the sledges on top tools (either that or the primary smith was pretty short).

I feel your pain. I've lived with substandard coal for years because it was cheap and plentiful at the time - so I bought several tons about 20 years ago. Well, I got what I paid for...however, you are in good coal country so it should be no problem to find quality stuff. The only good thing about substandard fuel is that I got skilled at making it work over the years and I really appreciate good coal... I'd post a pic but my camera is kaput right now. Maybe someone else can provide examples.

People have personal habits and preferences on this subject but I'll share my thoughts. Some of it depends on the coal quality. It sounds like yours will coke properly so that's a good start. In addition, if it has a lot of fines, then water is almost a necessity to get the fire right. If it's stoker size (buckshot up to golf balls with few fines) then you can burn it without adding water, but most coal cokes better with some moisture and it provides a degree of fuel conservation. I start a fire with dry coke mixed with a bit of green coal over a ball of lit newspaper. Once that is going well, I add more dry coke on top so I get a fireball about 6-8 inches in diameter. At this point, the fire is going well so I can add green coal that I presoaked with water. Before starting, I typically fill a 5-gallon plastic bucket with coal and add a half gallon or so of water - it doesn't have to be exact. The wet coal only goes on the sides of the fire so there is a trough down the middle. The work is laid in the trough with some dry coke raked over the top. As the work is moved in and out and the fire burns down, I rap the sides of the fire with the edge of the shovel or poker. This ensures that burning coke is driven into the fire as it burns hollow (i.e., the already lit inside is pushed in - not fresh fuel). More wet coal is added to the outside and the cycle continues. If I'm not forging some weird shaped piece, this sequence will work all day long - or at least until a clinker builds up. The mound eventually gets to be 4-6 inches or so above the top of the firepot and there is about the same amount inside the pot under the work. This insures the work is completely surrounded with hot fuel, which is subsequently deep enough to burn off the excess oxygen. I primarily use a poker to work the fire, which is shaped more like a rake on the working end, and a shovel to move coal. I also have a very small poker made from 1/4" round with a short bent tip - this is for pulling clinkers - and a small spoon for fluxing. These are the only tools I use when tending a coal fire. Those are my 1000 words - I'll let someone else post a worthy picture...:-)

I grew up on 6011 so that is what I use for almost everything when stick welding. For some reason, hard wire MIG seems to forge into "invisibility" better than stick rods - maybe it's the lack of flux or maybe because the puddle ridges are usually smaller. I have MIG welded a joint then forged smooth on more than one occasion and it typically works well.

Strine, It's an El Nino winter in the Pacific so that might be jacking with you. We have also seen many extremes here. We just had 2 inches of rain over the weekend but prior to that, it had been many months without any appreciable rain. Square hay bales were up to $9 in some places (was $3 the year before) - of course, nobody except the irrigators had any. Global warming is here to stay for a while so we are liable to have some more crazy weather before it settles down(?).

Excellent work for your first pair - looks better than most of the ones I ever made...you will also find that this style of tongs holds better than flat jaws on most work. I didn't see it mentioned but in general practice, the proper length to leave for a typical round rivet head is 1-1/2d, so a .250 diameter shank would need .375 sticking out to get a balanced head on a factory rivet. If you punch the hole and leave it a bit large, you will need more sticking out because the head will upset into the hole. I usually drill the holes so they are precisely located and sized. Along the lines of what Strine said, I use factory rivets and cold fit everything to my liking, put the rivet in place with a couple taps to provide a minor upset so it won't fall out, then put it in the fire with the factory head upmost. The whole assembly gets hot but the rivet gets hottest. Remove from the fire, flip over on the anvil and firmly set the rivet head. You can then peen the head or finish it with that rivet set you made before starting on the tongs (grin). Another good thing to make with the rivet set is a backup to place on the anvil to support the head. Makes nice clean rivet heads. I have also made some that had a countersink to the rivet hole. These are hammered close to flush and then ground or filed smooth so the box joint is clean (like a pair of Klein pliers).

For tool racks, I build frames out of 3/4x3/16 flat iron set on edge (in various LxW sizes) and then weld the same size material inside the frame so I have several rows (similar to JPH). This configuration works for both tongs and hammers. I do not use many hafted set tools so about the only thing I have with wooden handles are hand hammers but counting sledges, I have about a dozen total; maybe 40 pr of tongs and a myriad of chisels and punches. Instead of handled tools, I have several pair of "ring" tongs that I can hold short bits in for struck tooling.

I can't speak to charcoal but I began pursuing my interest in blacksmithing at age 23 and had to have cataract surgery at age 42. That wasn't a bad thing since it turned out well BUT I do believe the fire in my coal forge damaged my eyes over the years.

I prefer large flat dies with radiused edges but I have and use a lot of saddle tooling. My 100 lb mechanical PH has 4x7 dies with at least a .250 radius on all working edges. Some years ago, I was fortunate to also own a 25lb LG. I put some aggressive drawing dies on it and used the big hammer for everything else. I eventually sold the LG and made a set of drawing dies for the other one - having two hammers was a convenient arrangement but I don't miss the little hammer.

I feel your pain and have had dry spells where it just won't come together. The funny thing is that I have had days where I couldn't walk through the shop without breaking or ruining something and others when nothing could go wrong (I call that "Zen forging" - it's almost like a meditative trance). I worked a little last night and had a good session so that's a blessing... Taking a long break can help. Your subconscious will remember the movements until the next time but sometimes the conscious mind needs a breather. Something like a month if you can spare it. Doing something very trivial can help. Clean the shop but don't light a fire - just piddle a while and go back in the house. Forge something very simple and repetitive. Make 10 J-hooks or something similar - you can always use them somewhere or sell in the future. This also disconnects the conscious mind, which is your worst enemy right now. Use your frustration to climb to the next level - anger can be a good thing when channelled properly. Good luck and let us know how you make out.