Quarry Dog

Brushing pool acid (use a plastic wash brush) straight out of the jug works very well too. Just make sure you're downwind of the stuff and don't do it on your concrete driveway or you'll have to clean your driveway with the stuff to get the rust off of that too. Stuff works in minutes. Then just rinse it off and then rinse again in baking soda solution. If you don't do that you can watch the rust creep across as it dries. Leaves a great finish for painting which you should do immediately or it will be completely coated in rust within 2 days, even with the neutralizing rinse.

New meaning to peining a rivet, eh?

I have to agree with you on the twist tongs Arkie. My first pair of tongs was a set of twist tongs sized for 1/4" square. They were the 3rd thing I ever forged, right after my center punch and cold chisel. The hardest thing about them was drawing out the reins. Well, that and letting my hands heal after I grabbed the wrong end. All three of those tools are actually in my profile pic.

Hmm...crescent tongs? I know, spri g remover. But that's a handy idea. I might have to figure out how to make adjustable tongs.

If the flat is off to one side, do you end up with a lazy eye punch? I might just have to try my hand at a "crazy" wizard sometime.

I'd put that in your profile so that it shows up under that cool looking sword of yours. Otherwise people will ask that question again. You're a lot closer to coal country than I am. I'm sure someone has an inside source near you and will pop in here soon.

Question 1: Where are you? If you put that next to your avatar you might find that someone near you knows where good coal is. Question 2: What is the price difference between 50 lb bag of charcoal and a 50 lb bag of "Smithin' Coal" or similar bituminous coal. Find a supplier and then you'll have a good start toward an answer. If you can't find one, try a local blacksmithing group and see how and where they get theirs, and try some out with their guidance and see if you think it is worth it. If that fails, stick with charcoal since you're used to it. Question 3: Clean, hot, & hungry charcoal fire, or slightly messy, more contained, & pickier coal fire? Coal has to be coked (the volatiles need cooked out of it around the edge of the firepot)before it is useful for forging(green coal also smokes like crazy if you don't let it coke, like can't see the other side of the room smoke), but it doesn't radiate as much heat at you, and the fire won't spread too far past the tuyere. There is also the issue of clinker (noncombustible slag) that accumulates down by the tuyere and needs to be cleaned out every couple/few hours (for a bottom blast anyway, also depends on the coal). Personally, I love the stuff, but it is HARD to get anything good over here in California. My guild buys it by the ton from Cumberland Elkhorn out of Louisville, KY. 2 ton lasts about a year for 6 forges running 8 hours at least once a week as well as about 10 of us that buy a few bags out of the pile for home use. The stuff costs more in shipping than the coal itself. I think only Alaska and Hawai'i have a harder time getting it than us out here, thanks to us being the "cancer" state. Hope all this helps.

Hey Charles, would I be breaking any rules if I have 3/4" leaf spring and a 3/4" hardie hole and don't make my hot cut fit diagonally? I just recently got some and figured I'd ask.

That and if you have a load spike for whatever reason, you're liable to melt your lines out in less than a heartbeat. I've seen it happen at work. Your friend did you right with the copper. Dielectric grease on the connections for the copper isn't a bad idea. It keeps that black corrosion off the wire. This is especially true for welding leads.

Nifty trick. I'll have to remember that one. It just so happens I accidentally welded a really tight scroll onto itself a couple weeks ago...although, I'm not sure it counts as welding when you burn it that badly, even if it won't come apart for nothin'.

Google search smithin' magician / blacksmith's helper. The 45° C-frame style looks quite handy for a lot of different types of work. I plan to build one once I get some appropriate scraps from work. For a hoot, look up "Blacksmith's third hand" on youtube. I wouldn't advise trying it hot though.

What part of California are you in? Are you around San Diego? I know that CBA has a shop in Vista(I need to make it there sometime), there's a shop down in old town (don't know if they teach), and there is a shop in Grape Day Park in Escondido.

I honestly haven't ever used the "anvil" on a combo vise for anything besides straightening nails, and even then it isn't the best. A good flat piece of granite works better. If a good used anvil is outside your current fiscal means and/or ability to find, try to find a "pin" out of a piece of heavy equipment, or some other heavy cross section lump of metal that you can stand on end. If/when you find a "real anvil", you may find that you like your "lump" better. You wouldn't be the first.

If you twisted before you cut, I would suggest a wooden "anvil", or a 2*4 to cover the face. That way the twisted faces can be hammered into the wood without marring it up. A wooden "thwacker" is a handy thing to have for this sort of thing too, although I wouldn't suggest a nice wooden mallet. A hardwood scrap, or even pine, 2*4 with a handle carved out of it works well and is easy to replace.

Framed art nowadays doesn't mean that's the guy that made it either. A lot of stuff is just screen printed or similar anymore and only has a frame so it looks nicer. I've even seen some where you can tell that the sig was screened. No difference in texture.

Most of the tools you'll need will be ones that you will make, or conveniently realize you bought last month at a yard sale. Notable exceptions would be your Anvil (could be any heavy flat-bottomed lump of steel), your first hammer (hard to make a hammer without a hammer), and a vise (not the easiest to make.) Of those 3 things, I wouldn't worry about brands, as long as your anvil isn't an ASO (Anvil Shaped Object - made of cheap cast iron). Don't use a claw hammer, they are dangerous around a forge.

I got a coil off of a car spring tossed at me in the first ten minutes, shown how to draw a taper, and was told to do that with the idea of a chisel and center punch, which I still use on a very regular basis, although I usually use the center punch for chipping slag off of welds, and I use that particular chisel mostly as a very sharp 3/4" wedge. They're in my profile picture if I'm not mistaken.

Forbidden Kingdom. Good Jackie Chan movie, Jet Li's in it too...Oh wait, how'd I get on the credits? Well that didn't work. Admin can delete that last one...I wouldn't mind one bit. DSW: That reminds me. A lot of times I'll draw rough sketches of smaller stuff on the face up next to the shelf or a life size sketch along the far edge. I'll often mark measurements that I have in mind on the edge too. Or I'll mark progress like that. I had more but I'm semi-forbidden.

If you're looking for reference materials there are a few under the "Downloads" tab (in the dropdown from that little 3 bar icon in the top right corner on the mobile site). Farm Blacksmithing isn't a bad place to start. Also try searching "blacksmith", "forge", "heat treating", etc. on Google Books. There are lots of old books that are free download on there. I'm still working down the bunch that I downloaded almost 3 years ago.

Wow, that looks good. Did you do that? Full penetration fix? How's the temper? Rebound?

I've heard of special purposed bandsaws for production stainless that work on this principle. I think it was in popular mechanics or something a couple years back.

A center punch mark works well if you have the eyes for it, and doesn't go away unless you really want it to, or if you burn it off, in which case you have bigger problems. One way to get it to go awaywithout filing/grinding it out is to take a ball pein and just lighty pein all around it for a bit, or you could just leave it. Soapstone holds up untl just about orange. I hear white-out holds up about the same, but shows up better. Silver pencil works pretty well too.

Don't be afraid to try a smaller hammer, especially just starting out. Starting with a big hammer is a good path toward repetitive stress injuries. 8# is a light striking hammer for me. 20# is for when I'm dead serious and won't be at it long. I won't use either one handed. The biggest one I use for general forging is a 4#ish ”drawing" hammer that I made by grinding and polishing a 1.5" radius straight pein on one end of an engineer's sledge, and that thing really moves some metal as long as I keep a good heat. My only problem is that I'm only good for about a half hour with it. I have a 2.5# that I last better with , and I'm getting where I can knock around 1.5" shaft pretty well with that, and I'm better at isolating masses with it for some reason. I'm sure some of these weights will change as I get more as the years go by, hopefully for the better and faster movement of metal, but these are what I'm comfortable with. For very light work requiring a lot of fast light blows and little penetration, like bickering and planishing, there is this dinky little 1 pound cross peen I'm fond of that nobody else in the shop seems to want to have anything to do with. The first hammer I make will just like it, or maybe have a broader face. All of this said, if 8# works for you, and you don't fatigue overly fast from it, or feel strained at the end of the day (big difference between bone sore and muscle sore), keep on truckin'. Hope all this helps.

That stand looks great. I see you used those leather hammer loops. That had to cost a few bucks. Perhaps some old fashioned forged staples would allow you to stash them as replacement parts for your tool belt. If you made enough of them you'd probably have plenty of storage for a couple pairs of tongs too. I'm 6'1" and I like anvils right around mid-thigh (loose fist high) for most work that I get wrapped up in. I like striking anvils around the knees though if I'm going for full swings on large stock. Try clamping it down to some rubber matting, it took the ring right out of my anvil. Other guys will suggest silicon, or a fabricated pipe stand, I haven't had the chance to try it yet. As to the value, I'd say anywhere from $350 to $1000 depending on the market in your area and how good you are at haggling. Maybe even $1500 if you're real desperate in a very anvil poor area. Speaking of area, where are you again? Oh yeah, East Texas. You'll probably hear that question a lot until you put it in your profile so that it shows under your avatar. All said, nice find, sharp looking stand.

You should see some of the "pins" on construction equipment. On the bigger stuff it isn't uncommon to find "pins" that are 4"+ and at least a foot long. I hear they're made out of pretty decent steel too. I think one of the mechanics said probably 4140, though I wouldn't quote me on that.