Butterfield

That looks great!

Sorry, I don't have any photos of just the frame. It's just 4 pieces of angle iron and two pieces of plate inside- I just laid out the bricks how I wanted them and cut and welded the steel around them, leaving the bricks removable/replaceable.

It looks like I have a simular forge, without the hood. I'd like to rig one up of some sort, I work outside the garage and have had trouble seeing the color of the steel in the sunlight. I added a little 10w oil to the open side if the blower (a little too much as it ran down to the ash pot and burned) - now it turns great. I lined mine with a layer if masonry mix, but as it isn't cast iron it wasn't neccissary. I also use some fire bricks to help get a deeper, contained charcoal fire, (I have a thread going with pictures). I bet the forge will work great, it took me awhile to learn how mine wanted to burn best. Happy forging!

So, I've been learning how to use my forge, with some trial and error and disappointing heats. I'm using lump charcoal because I am in town and plan on making my own. From what I've read here I needed a deeper fire, but I didn't want to burn a whole bag of charcoal at a time. So, I got some firebrick and made a firepot with an angle-iron frame: I've had a chance to use it yesterday and today and feel like it is working out well. I think a big part if it is just learning how to run the fire. Today I made a wall hook, hot chisel and round punch.

Thanks for the welcome guys

Hello IFI, I'm a new smith who has recently taken my first weekend class from David Norrie in Berthoud, CO (I highly recommend these classes). I live just south of Denver in Castle Rock and am also an avid woodturner. I first became interested in blacksmithing when I was a kid, my dad had a blacksmith friend and we used a lot of handmade camp cooking equipment at rendezvous. I decided to take the class to learn how to make some traditional woodworking tools, and have become very interested in smithing as a craft on its own. Just thought I'd take a minute to introduce myself, I've been enjoying this site for a couple weeks now. Thanks, I look forward to getting involved with the local smithing group too- the Rocky Mountain Smiths.

It looks like the face is 13.5" Edit: it looks like the 7/8" hardy hole supports the 100lb size as well, according to http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/anvils/hardy_holes.php Thanks for all the help researching the anvil, I like to think about everything this one could have been through. It came to me through my father-in-law who was also a great inspiration. All this motivates me to take more classes and learn to forge!

So, it is 21.5" long from tip to tail, 9" tall. The base is 7" wide and 8" long. The face is about 3 & 1/4" wide. I believe the hardy hole is 7/8". The only number I can see in the side appears to be a zero, which is far enough to the right that it may be the last of three numbers, 100?

I mixed it in a wheelbarrow with just enough water to keep it together and then packed it into the forge by hand and pressed it down with a piece of scrap. The grate above the blower was about 1/4" above the surrounding steel and I just put in a layer thick enough to level that out.

Great discussion. I'm always dissapointed when an item needs to be non-functional or decorative in order to be considered art. But then again I consider my Gränsfors Bruks axe a work of art. Does anyone here prefer the term "ironsmith"?

I like that I'll be able to look at them before I buy. They seem to be popular with farriers. I'll go take a look at them in the next few days.

I'm new to smithing and need a hammer (something between the 1 lb ball peen and 4 lb small sledge I have now). There is a local farrier supply that carries a 2 lb Bellota cross peen. I used a similair weight cross peen in my recent class. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on the brand? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000SDGV8E/ref=aw_d_detail?pd=1

Great shop, I like everything about it and would live to have one just like it!

Well, I fired up the forge for the first time this weekend. I've been running it on lump charcoal. Yesterday I was having trouble getting it hot enough, but today I made a small fire pot out of angle iron to contain the coals. That helped, but I think I am going to get some firebricks and make a taller, more contained forge/oven area above the blower. I'm getting it working though, I made this fireplace fork today (with torch welds). A little rough, but it will work for what we need.

Good to know, thanks for the advice. At least it will be easy to remove the thin cement lining if I need to. I am looking at joining the local blacksmith club, I'll have to find one that has meetings coming up. I live south of Denver and it looks like there is a group called the Rocky Mountain Smiths.