Marc1

Agree, particularly with the 2 lb. Unless you're built like a tank, avoid the 4 lb and even the 3lb for now.

i have seen many threads on the subject of beginners projects and the question seems to come up from time to time. Many good ideas are suggested yet what surprises me is the inordinate number of new members wanting to forge knives. What is it with new blacksmith enthusiasts and knifes? is there a TV series over there that encourages this activity? Are knifes particularly expensive? Not only is forging a knife a difficult project and I am not even getting to swords ... it involves so much more non forging work that it is hardly a best newby project if at all, after considering the other side issues involving knives. Then you get the ubiquitous "learn by forging your own tools". Another no no for someone barely able to make a barbecue fork. So, what would you consider a project that will provide a learning journey for a blacksmith enthusiast? From what I see at blacksmith gathering in OZ, most new people forge barbeque utensils, fire minding stuff, camping gear, hooks etc. What was your first time ever project? 50 years ago, at age 15 I started working with an Italian blacksmith. He made ornamental stuff like gates, beds, railings, window grills etc. with lots of scrolls. My job was preparing the scrolls start. I did the fishtail end with a cross peen hammer and started the center of the scroll so that it would hook on the jig. I did that day in day out. One day I decided I wanted to make something for myself and asked the master what he suggested. Premoli ... that was his name, knowing I had some woodworking skills and a carpentry shop to exercise it belonging to my father, told me to make a chest in wood and bring it over to make all the hardware for it in his shop. I thought it was a good idea and asked what size should I make it ... in my mind I was picturing a large pirate chest. He told me ... make it 8" long by 6" wide and 5" high .... boy was I disappointed. A miniature chest! And in wood! However I made the chest in cedar, and when it was the time to make the hardware he gave me miniature chisels, some sheet metal, drew a sketch of hinges, lock, straps and handles, and after work, I could do bit by bit sitting at the anvil cutting all the little bits, then clean them up with a miniature file, make the square head nails, and all the rest. After many weeks the project started to take form and for the first time I had started a project I could master and finish. Wasn't forging, and could hardly be called blacksmithing, but was a form of artistic metal work that gave me a lesson in patience, (little) hammer control, general aesthetics, filing, shaping and self esteem. I remember as if it was yesterday the master asking me what was I going to do with it. I said I will give it as a gift to my wife ... I was 16 then. Did I give it to my wife? yes I did 10 years later, and she kept her little bit of jewelry in it for another 10 years or so until a burglar raided our home and took it with him. Perhaps it is time that I sit at the anvil once more and take another lesson in humility and make another miniature chest to replace the lost one and give it to her ... may be this time all metal.

That crack makes it almost worthless. If you post the location and phone number of the owner I may buy it for scrap metal ... Seriously now, that anvil is worth north of $3000 over there and some $5000 down here

Cutting disk with power tool brand on them, dewalt or makita for some obscure reason are the worst you can get. You would think they would be the best. No logic. Buy Pferd, German brand distributed all over the world, relatively cheaper and decent quality. As far as using cut off disk especially the 1mm thin ones, great to cut thick steel, No good to cut thin sheet metal, They brake easy unless you have an extremely steady hand. Best is to use thicker disk say 2mm. The abrasive wheel needs a certain minimal surface to grind on, if you cut a flat bar that is 2"x 1/4" the wheel has a minimum of 6mm to grind. If you cut thin sheet metal the thin wheel will engage the metal at such rate that it will break apart.

Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills and can not be anything but personal. To think that one way to do things is better than another is not intelligence, it's bias.

Hi Scrambler. I am interested in that product. However when I search for Heil all I get is a list of earmufs with a microphone for racing or microphones and audio stuff like that. I know of hearing protection used for shooting with electronics in it but they range from $300 to $1000, one at $50 seems very desireable. do you care to post a link?

Sure Glenn, when it comes to anvils it's an easy short list for new anvils. Second hand is the usual gamble. I was thinking more in availability then recommendation. Who is the local blacksmith supplies store? Blacksmith depo, Centaur forge etc. Surely no one would expect a warranty from you because there is a list on your website. Plus if you get the supplier to advertise, it is his ad and you are even further removed from the recommendation. Just my 2c ... oh you don't have cents ... so my 5 pennies.

As far as powertools, if you can find made in Japan or Germany or Switzerland, you are safe. Most of the old good brands are now made in China. Milwaukee and DeWalt included unfortunately. Bosh Blue and Metabo if made in Germany are good. Fein Is good. Having said that, it all depends from what you want to make. If you are forging small stuff you will use your powertools very little so a cheap grinder, will serve you for a long time and may be it's not worth buying expensive powertools. I Use Makita cordless tools and Milwaukee 5" rat tail grinders. Have a string of grinders to avoid changing disk, then I use a series of pneumatic tools with the compressor. Great when you need to go into small spaces. A magnetic base drill press from Fein I found in the local pawn shop prooved invaluable for large projects but clearly a luxury same as my cold saw. I also have a long list of woodworking Bosch blue tools, but that is besides the point. My drill press I bought from a factory closing down, made for a local tool shop in Taiwan. Bullet proof. If you can buy a large stand drill press ex industrial you won't regret it. I can't comment on blacksmith tools since I had mine for yonks besides a couple of Blue cross peen hammer I bought a few years ago and I seem not to be able to stop buying anvils ... I will soon run out of space for them. However you have a long list of blacksmith suppliers in the US. I wish we had one decent one here. All we seem to have is farrier supplies. Wouldn't mind a nice new rounding hammer. Your blacksmithdepot sells Jim Poor rounding hammers for yeeks $195 ... I feel poorer already Anyway, a list of trusted suppliers would make a lot of sense and they could pay the site some publicity money I suppose. Not sure Glenn agrees with me on this one. I say ... Pecunia non olet ...

The trick is to say, repeatedly ... what you want and where to get it, many times over, months before.

True, or you can mill three channels to the center so that you get 3 raised areas and you have a stump on a tripod of sort. Never rocks.

I wouldn't bother making something like that nor to set a price to it. It is well known that one off bits of bent steel or one off repairs are worth very little in the eyes of the customer. Whenever I get a neighbour dropping in with a piece of steel in need of a weld, a bend or a reshape, I either say I can't do it or I do it for free. I have a good story about that. I had the whole house carpets ripped off and floorboards installed. Big and messy job and had to call the floor sander twice, first to sand the particle board to glue the floor boards, and second to sand the floorboard themselves. Not cheap at $4000 from memory. The sanding dude, could hear me working in the shop and the next day brought with him the shaft of a lawn mower that was broken and bent. I said sure I can do that. Didn't take long but was a bit involved because it was also worn so needed extra weld and heat and forge and grind and file ... anyway. I did it because I can. Funny part came at time of me having to pay him. His face was an open book. He was terrified that after what I had to pay, his repair was going to cost a bomb. So he had an elaborate speech as to how he thanked me for this little quick job I had done for him for free ... oh my ... it was so funny that I did not mind having really done it for free. Moral of the story. There is no money in repairs or minor domestic fabrication, unless you specialise in repairs and get them all day long. Second moral of the story is ... always align your anvil according to the location polarity.

Perfectly valid question. A list of blacksmith suppliers. No on this website unfortunately. Need to google it. As far as scrounging for tools. Sure you can do that if you are so inclined. But there is nothing wrong with buying your tools and the rest of what you need. Contrary to popular believe, survivalism is not very practical. Some have fun doing that though. Each to his own.

I agree with the German pattern and I add Southern German with upset block and shelf, but that is preference for a pattern and the question is "most useful weight" and that relates to what is the person going to forge to start with and in the foreseeable future. A bit of a stretch. Perhaps it can be answered with a minimum weight rather than ideal weight. Whoever has started with a smaller anvil and gone to a bigger one will agree that ... making a sweeping generalisation, bigger is better. So I say ideally don't buy anything smaller than 150 lb because it is reasonably small price wise, and will serve general blacksmithing task for a reasonably long time even life time if the projects don't grow too large.

oh my ... that looks like a time bomb to me.

I am constantly buying tools at the pawn shop or Gumtree. In fact each project seems to be an excuse to buy a tool for it. Don't get much chance at the scrapyard because they stopped all the scavenging activities for fear o the ubiquitous lawsuit. I think the most tragic purchase was a professional petrol Honda driven brick saw to build a pizza oven ...

Interesting how different languages cater for things in different ways. Besides the last picture of a metal frame for a building that is done by a builder, the other products, window grill and gate are made by a metal worker or fabricator, however if you go to Spanish, grill and gate are done by a "herrero" in Italian by a "fabbro" in German by a Schmied, yet if you translate back into English this expressions would be blacksmith yet we all know that is not an accurate description since blacksmith refers to a more narrow activity then what a "herrero" or a "fabbro" does. Schlosser in German is not Schmied, but the use of German words in Israel may have changed a bit. Spanish has another expression for the one making metal frames and even metal furniture like office furniture calling that "carpinteria metalica" or "metal carpenter" involving more bending and sheet metal work. Language adapts to the local culture and changes with time. There is not one right or wrong way, just the way it is. Post away and have fun:)

Well if you only have one power tool one hammer and one tong, you wouldn't be doing much forging at all, but conceding you mean besides your forge and anvil (and drill press and welder and expresso coffee machine) I go for 5" grinder 3 lbs Cross peen, and wolf Jaw tongs. By the by ... I notice most say 4.5" grinder. Is that the common size in the US? We do have 4.5" grinders here but they are more the DIY choice. The 7" (grinder) is hard to find. then there is the widow maker at 9"

Hi Dutch, great buy! ... is that a clinker breaker that turns or just goes up and down? you say 400V ... is that your 3 phase supply? I thought you guys had 220v and 380v for single and 3 phase (?)

Jeff ... forgot to comment on sharpening mower blades. When I did use to sharpen them, I first did so following the chamfer from the manufacturer, that was one face flat, the one facing the ground and the opposite tapering down. This way the edge was closest to the ground. When this shape in theory gives a better cut, in practice with irregular ground and stones in the mix, the edge receives the most damage. After a while I decided to change this and started to grind the taper the opposite way, taper up and edge on the top face. This way the edge lasted longer. I was very surprised when years later I bought a set of blades that came ground this way from the manufacturer. They had copied my idea !!

I agree with any possible weight. I have two PW, one is 230 and the other 405 pounds so not a standard size. As far as quality, they are good anvils but they are not tops. Usually the german or swedish anvils are best and PW are somehow softer in comparison. Not that a hobby smith would ever feel he was shortchanged.

Yep ... and you will find plenty who believe pencil have led in them or used to, including my rather ignorant primary school teacher who also told me in no uncertain terms that in the year 2000 all cars would fly. Just to clarify, pure graphite is an excellent lubricant and rather expensive. Plumbago is it's poor cousin. The modern version of Graphite as lubricant is molybdene disulfite

Ah yes, furniture and steel are different story ... well not if the furniture is steel of course ha ha ... anyway ... plumbago, yes that's the problem with google, it (he?) does not really know everything. ... yes get that every time I mention it. There is an interesting story on graphite, lead pencils that never had lead and the current use of plumbago in metal casting. We used plumbago to coat almost everything we produced when I was ... well a bit younger ... and I also had a bit of a thing with chainsaws and felling trees. My chain were wearing out a bit faster than I wanted so I decided to add plumbago to the chain oil. After all it's graphite right? Wrong. My chain stretched out horribly in a matter of minutes. In fact it's a mixture of graphite and clay. The product sold in powder form is usually produced by grinding broken crucibles and someone told me also electric motor brushes. i don't really know if it is true but certainly not a good lubricant. That I know PS Plumbago was a very common product not too long ago to rub wood fired heaters, stoves and anything domestic that was cast iron, and also I am told steam locomotives, but that was a bit before my time

Easy ... start using your left more. or is it your right? Anyway, start using the other one more.

Mm ... something missing here ... no mention of restoring it?

On a different note, if an over hardened blade brakes and digs a hole in the body of the deck, you can test the hardness ... ding= not very hard, point poking out= harder ... only a hole left and blade sailing straight through = much harder ...