EricJergensen

They use thicker section of 1020 to make up for the performance difference vs. 4130. I can't find any indication that the 1020 hi-tensile is is anything other regular 1020.

Frosty: you thinking of 15N20?

Ceramic blanket is likely your best bet. It's a much better insulator than a refractory cement. Make sure it's rated high enough in either case (2800°F or better). If you skimp on insulation, you'll pay forever in propane. I bought my first gas forge. I probably saved a bunch of money that way. Experts can build on a budget, but a beginner is likely to end up with something unworkable where nearly every penny was a complete waste. I will build my next gas forge, because working with and relining and tweaking that forge has given me enough experience to do that. I still plan to buy the burner(s), but that's mostly a time-vs-money thing. I'm currently enjoying forging more than I'm enjoying building forges ;-). FWIW, I use Inswool (2 layers of 1") for insulation with kast-o-lite to "armor" the interior (about 3/8"). In finding books, don't overlook kiln building books. Glass and pottery folk face very similar issues...

Just to be clear, the finish -- hot-rolled vs cold-rolled -- is not important, just the alloy (1045, 5160, etc). If you're buying new, hot-rolled will (probably) be cheaper (if it's offered in both finishes).

1045 or better

I got into blacksmithing because of a campout at historic Pawnee Bill ranch (in Oklahoma). My younger son, Elliot, (about 8yo then) was really interested in the smithy and we found out that they occasionally had classes. We got on the mailing list and about a year later took a class together. We liked it. I tracked down a forge, blower, anvil and 300# of coal and hid it in the basement without getting "caught". Santa set up the kit on Christmas Eve and stuck coal in Elliot's stocking. He thought is was just a joke until I said "go look in the basement"... What keeps me in blacksmithing - other than the great company of other smiths - is the visceral physicality of it. For a living, I'm a computer programmer. Pretty much everything there is very abstract and non-physical. I like the creativity of it, but I can do hundreds of hours of work and have nothing visible to show for it. It's head and heart but not body. Smithing brings all three together.

It wasn't a waste of time. You learned not to go to 600 grit in the future ;-). Even 120 before heat treatment is likely overkill. You might find some disagreement there, but you would be hard-pressed to find someone suggesting going beyond 120 before HT.

If the post-box (glass) annealer can get to a set temp (i.e. cheap controller), it'd be just fine for temper. No need to ramp up or down there. Multiple tempers is valuable. One light temper (too low a temp) will be good enough to give you time. (My little toaster oven actually will hit 550°F as indicated by the oven thermometer I stuck in there...)

Learn to hammer with either hand.

Zinc melting point: 787.2°F (419.5°C) zinc boiling point: 1,665°F (907°C) Until it melts, it's protected from further oxidization by a thin oxide layer. Even then, there isn't much in the way of vapor so you don't have airborne zinc oxide. Somewhere between the melting and boiling point, it starts getting dangerous. At boiling all you-know-what breaks loose, but, like Frosty says, you've left by then... I spent a fortune on black pipe in my first go. Wish I hadn't. It never gets anywhere close to 787°F in use.

Yeah, my toaster oven was $10 at a thrift store. You should add one to your kit.

With the light airflow that anvil is describing, your fire itself is just about at welding heat. So, when the brightness of the metal looks the same as the charcoal, you've reached welding temp. I find this fairly easy to judge at a glance. And, since it is relative, it's easy to do with welding shades on, in bright or dim light, etc. (Note: with thick metal section, you will need to hold at this heat for a bit to get full penetration.)

I hate to mention this *after* you've made a decision, but the TFS double-horned anvils 200# and over have the hardy at the horn and the pritchel at the heel. (The horn is also level with the main face). They do have the same "undercut" / triangular cross-section heel. Given more metal in the larger anvils and the round shape of the pritchel, it's much stronger than the 100#. I used the 100# version and saw several demonstrations done on it a couple of weeks ago. Wayne is right in all his points, but I still think it makes a fine anvil for light work. One of the demonstrators really liked the undercut. It is handy for operations like folding something back on itself. Pound for pound, I'm sure the Ridgid-Peddinghaus anvil is better. $ for $, tho, the TFS anvils look really good to me.

I don't use a wire brush at angle grinder rpms. I use a sander/polisher at about 1/3 that speed. Reduces the risk quite a bit.

I "second" Charles's suggestion. 6" is not enough. A side draft hood doesn't need to be over the fire at all, just close. You could even make a separate stand for the flue. Note: it does draw poorly until the flue warms up. I have an extra piece that hangs over the fire to help encourage the smoke to go in. I remove it after the fire gets going. That's probably a point you can ignore, as you work outside. I work in my basement and even a little smoke going rogue will get complaints from the civilized folk upstairs...

For many folk, in-seam works out to a good height. It's a number most adults know without measuring and is usually knuckle height. (This one dawned on me because mine worked out to that exactly and then I thought about how often we hold work with our legs for punching, etc.)

One point that has always bothered me is the description of cooling the burn so that it won't keep burning. Unless you have a super, super serious burn it *is* cooled to near body temperature by the time you can get to water. That nasty sizzle is water from your tissues boiling away and taking most of the heat. The surface tissue is near the water temperature within mere seconds of immersion. If it were really holding that much heat, you'd blister your tongue when you reflexively put it in your mouth ;-). However, the point about running cool water is absolutely on track and it does limit tissue damage. Cooling the affected tissue to below body temperature will reduce inflammation and related processes that continue to kill cells (apoptosis -- cells dying in response to distress signals from other cells, etc). And, it addresses discomfort as well.

Glenn: Homedepot or Lowes (as a potting soil supplement), a couple of years ago. Probably doesn't have asbestos. Yeah, family oven is bigger but gas (therefore producing H2O). I am debating that or my thrift store toaster oven that I use for tempering. The problem is 5 gallons will take a long time in tiny bits. OTOH, next hot & sunny (but not windy) day I could spread it all out on some sheet metal in the sun or even just set it on top of a wood fire that has burned down...

I recently made a monkey tool from 1045. After forging and hot filing, I annealed in vermiculite. It came out rusty. I suspect that the vermiculite is holding moisture (that's why it's in potting soil mixtures). So, I bought a lid to seal my vermiculite bucket and keep it dry. How would you dry it? I'm thinking of putting it into cookie sheets and baking it in the oven at maybe 350°F. Thin layers, so the heat penetrates quicker. Ideas on how long it'll need to bake? What about the temperature? Or, should I use an entirely different approach? Here's the monkey tool, since we're all addicted to pictures around here.

Did this about a year ago. These were my first attempts at forge welding. The loop & cut approach was used and only half took (first weld I ever attempted). Fixed with a torch and filler rod and some grinding. The stand was the last piece. The "collared" bits are to hide the arc welds ;-). http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37194-firetools-w-stand/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37195-firetools-w-stand/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37196-firetools-heads/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37198-firetools-handles/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37199-firetools-stand-top/

The basics of evaluating an anvil are rebound, rebound, rebound ;-). Well, rebound, physical damage (torch gouges, chips, broken horn / heel, etc) and thickness of top plate (on old anvils, new ones are single metal), but rebound is the most important. Even an anvil with lots of damage to edges is very serviceable as long as the rebound is good and you have a few inches of good edge on either side over the base. Price should go down accordingly, so you might consider it a good deal. You can test rebound by "dropping" a ball bearing next to a ruler and seeing how far it bounces (70% return is okay). That's semi-scientific. I prefer to test by tapping / bouncing my hammer because it detect thin or de-laminated top plate. The light bearing can be "fooled" by those. But to do that, you need a decent subjective feel for your hammer rebound.

Yes. Dumping your burning coal down the tuyere will do it, too ;-).

Anthony, How established was your fire? When I start a fire, I usually crank the blower lightly for several minutes to get it going. Then I putter about getting stock ready, tools out and in place, etc stopping every now and then to run the blower. It may be 20 minutes before I put steel in the fire. It's actually pretty hard to put out an established coal fire. All the heat in the firepot and coal keeps it going. Even if it burned way down and I pile lots of coal on it, it wouldn't go out (it would be useless to heat metal until the coal "coked", but it wouldn't go out). A young, cold fire on the other had will go out if you sneeze on it. How much coal did you add? I don't add coal to the fire. I rake in the stuff that's been "cooking" on the edge and add raw coal to the edge. That's good management but as I said above, it's pretty hard to suffocate an established fire. If those thoughts don't help, add more details and we'll take another swing at it ;-)!

You will have trouble slicing material from the faces with a bandsaw unless you anneal the head first. But, then you'll have to re-handle and redo the heat treating.

Even on an outside forge a chimney of at least 4' is nice. Smoke can linger when it's not actively encouraged to go away ;-).