azIRonSmith

I've got both and haven't used my chop saw since I got my bandsaw. Chopsaws are loud, hot, and dirty. They have a very large kerf and are okay for accuracy. They are great for hardened steel and mystery alloy steel. Bandsaws, are quiet, cool and have a very minimal kerf. If properly adjusted, they have excellent accuracy. Just make sure you get good blades if you get a bandsaw.

OMG, I read the title and my mind went to a different place. Looking at those I saw golf club "irons" made of pipe and thought wow, those are neat old fashioned golf clubs!!! Is that how they made them way back then? LOL.

Right handed, horn to the left. I do use the horn to round things up and it feels "correct" to have the horn on the left. You don't have to move much to go from horn to anvil face in a good position. With the horn on the right side, you have to be at an awkward angle to go from horn to face unless you take a step or two. As for the hardy tools, that also depends on where your hardy hole is at. I've used anvils that have had the horn/hardy hole on the same side of the anvil. I was taught to always ALWAYS take the hardy cutting tool out if you aren't using it. That really should be for all hardy tools if your not using them. They may not cut you but they may crush or impale you.

I kept thinking alien horseshoe crab. Nice looking with a extraterrestrial feel.

Might want to verify your shipping costs. It may end up being cheaper buying an anvil locally than having it shipped across an ocean. Just something to think about.

Looks good. You may want to taper those tips at the ends. The abrupt cut off of the round rod looks more like the factory cold bent stuff you get at Pier 1 etc. I'm assuming you forged this hot? If so, you can get some really pointed ends and scroll them about in what I call little curly Qs. Makes em look more realistic. Also you may want to think about doing some vine textures. It will make the metal rod look more "organic". Good job on the first time ornamental work. Keep it going.

Hmmm. One on my long list of projects to do. I was going to hand forge the "black" side with steel and machine/lathe/mill aluminum for the "white" side. Kinda of a yin/yang thing with old tech hand forging vs. new tech electric machining. I have got some round steel rod and aluminum rod for the material. Just need to get my butt in gear. Thinking of maybe using some dies/fullers for parts of the hand forged items. I think the best thing to do is model some up in clay to see what you can do by hammer. I would imagine some filework to get details might be used. It just depends on how refined you want your pieces to look. Too many projects, never enough time... ;-)

BTW, nice hammer too.

All of my hammers are reshaped drilling hammers or small sledge hammers. Just anneal first and the metal bandsaw and angle grinders are your best friend. ;-) Makes easy work for diagonal peens. Yes, the hardest thing to making a hammer is punching/drifting the eye. Not to mention the finding of the right material at the right size. Starting with the right material (hammer head steel) and right size/weigh with an eye already correctly punched will save you hours of forging/punching before you even get to the shaping. In the time you would make one hammer from scratch by hand, I will have completed three to five. Don't even get me started on making the punch and drift for the eye let alone tongs that are big enough to hold the hammer head ;-)

Yeah and you might want to come up with another title. I could post a "Look at my junk" post and people might get the wrong impression ;-P.

Sounds like you're getting plenty hot. You really don't want it so hot that it melts your metal. If you want to do any regular forging that might actually be too hot! Between yellow and white seems to be a good range for gas forge welding. The real question is it may be at forging temperature but is it at forging conditions? What does that mean? Is the metal clean and scale free? Is the atmosphere lean, neutral or rich? Have you fluxed the metal properly? All of these questions need to right in addition to just having a certain temperature. I would suggest you do a simple forge welding test. Put a piece of 1/4" round rod and weld it to itself. Then you will know.

Also, the knife end was definitely forge welded. It was not dipped in the brass to make the blade. Only the handle was dipped. Either way you will need to learn to forge weld.

Hmm. After watching that video, you might just be better off forge welding the cable for the knife and the end for the handle. Then just brazing the wire handle with an Oxy/Acetylene torch using some brazing rod and flux. Much safer. The brass really just added more of a highlight than anything overly functional. If you just want a minor brass highlight, you can just use a brass bristle brush and brush the handle while it's still at a black heat to give it brass highlights. Both methods are much safer and easier than having molten brass to dip into. All it would take is one drop of sweat to drop into that crucible and the steam explosion would send molten metal all over the place. Of course no one would sweat with a 2000+ degree forge right next to them right? ;-)

Yeah, kinda funny how that works. My time = big $$$, your time should be small $. ;-) Just like most of us blacksmiths like to make fair money by charging for our hand crafting skills/time, we shouldn't have the WallyWorld mentality when it comes to other craftspeople. I agree Gerald, $49 sounds very reasonable. Would you be offended if I only offered $1.99 for a hand forged broom handle? There's only about 25 cents of metal in there and down at the Crate and Barrel I thought I saw some wrought iron candle holders for $2.99. off>

It's possible but not worth the trouble both $$$ and danger wise. You might get away with a home made crucible for aluminum or maybe brass but for steel, you really need a good commercial crucible for steel. You don't want to find out that your home made crucible has failed you when you have a load of molten metal in it. If you're lucky it will only be your forge that gets destroyed. If unlucky, you could be destroyed. Speaking of forges, those for metal casting are usually set up differently than those that blacksmiths use. Get a real crucible from a reputable source. They really aren't that expensive. You can get exactly the size and the proper rating for the type of metal and temperature you need. Just think of exploding molten metal flying everywhere if there is a failure and how much money you saved by DIYing it. Definitely not worth it. Also, it sounds like you are new to metal casting. This is not something you want to do without lots of knowledge and lots of safety equipment/procedures in place. Not trying to scare you, but it is a very dangerous hobby if you don't know what you are doing. Of course aren't most hobbies that involve fire are? ;-P.