Joe Davidson

@ Dan C I'm think of using a ball valve to control the air

Well I'll add mine to here. I picked it up today, needs a bit of beutifying but it works which is all it needs to do :) It's an odd thing, it was a dog dryer, for large dogs. But when I saw it I instantly thought of a forge blower. A bonus is I picked it up for $15, a steal in aus any day :) Here's the pictures

Thanks for all the replies I feel like I am getting my head around this steel business. I think I will go with what you have recommended forgemaster, hoping to ring the supplies on Monday. @yahoo, that's for taking the time to explain the differences between American and Australian steel grades. Thanks for that link too, very helpful. Definitely going to save to favourites and print out a copy :) Thanks again for all the help guys, very much appriecated.

@ Thomas, Or in fact any one I was looking at steel grade comparison charts and could find one that fitted A -36 for an Australian steel. Looking at the chart that I found would any off the others do a similar job. That is if the chart has any relevance to the topic at all... The amount of steels availed is pretty overwhelming for me, but I would love to be able to know what I'm working with, so it's good quality. Then when mistakes come it will be because of me and not the steel, so I can't blame the steel. Though knowing me I probably still will :) but I'll know it was something I did and have to think over what it was Thanks again guys for taking the time out to answer all of my questions. I will certainly ask if they have any of cuts lying around that they don't what. Cheers

I'll give that a crack first then sounds like a good idea :) If it works then it does its job and that looks like it sure works. I'm hoping for something similar Thanks

Okay cheers, I'll give that a crack I'll be sure to have another read

Hi guys, I'm hoping to purchase some steel from a local steel supplies. How ever there are so many types of steel out there that someone like me, who is quite new to every thing that I don't know where to start. So my question is what would you recommend to someone for sizes and types of steel and all that sort of stuff for making tongs and tools? Also they sell 3mm black form sheeting, which I'm thinking on using for a forge table, with a brake drum set into it. Does that sound alright? I am stepping into this for the first time so any help would be much appreciated and I don't want to make a fool of myself :), although that is the best way to learn some times. I thought that if I bought it I'd just make it easier knowing what I'm working with rather then it being a mystery. Thanks Joe

Thankyou a million guys That is definitely the one :) Thanks again it is very much appreciated

I will give them a crack now I should mention that it was in somones signature

bet me to it mike :) Some photos of any markings might help here is some threads which might be able to give you a hand too '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Hope that helps you

hey everyone, I have a bit of a different sort of request to normal. A week ago i was browsing the site and came a across this great quote about how the world is losing the ability to use there hands. But now i cannot find it and Google isn't being very helpful due to me not being able to remember it very well. I think it was by Gandhi but now I am not too sure. I'm thinking on using it in a speech that i have to give on a topic of my choice. I will be speaking on how the hand trades like blacksmithing have declined due to how manufacturing having changed and what might be the result of this in the long run. So does anyone know the quote? any ideas on the speech would be appreciated too anyone has any ideas Thanks Joe

that is a very nice hammer, crisp

Okay thanks for the help guys :)

hey everyone, I've got my hands on some Hebel, which is some Autoclaved aerated concrete... apparently. What I know about it is just what Wikipedia could tell me and in there it says that it is a high thermal insulator. With this in mind is it possible for this then to be used as a fire brick or something or the nature? Thanks Joe

Most brazeal rounding hammers are about 4 to 5 pounds depending on the user

Looks great whirly! Great to see what is happening on the higher side of down under :) Very nice looking hammer too

Magnificent, both knives and photograph

Thanks frosty, Thanks for the great ideas :). The telescoping helpers is a great idea, I'll have to add them in to the plan, along with the tong clips and the shelf. Just a question, how long do your helpers extend? I guess it would vary on the work.

Hey guys, Well I'm designing a new and first forge and just thought I'd get some more experienced heads into the mix. The plans pretty much show everything so I'll cut to the chase. Are there any things you goes would recommend to go with this or changes. I'll mostly be using coke I think due to availability. Also how thick a plate do you recommend using for the bottom plate, I'm thinking 10mm but that might be a bit thick... So any preferences? Might add measurements 700mm by 500mm and 800mm high While I'm at it I might throw a pic of my anvil in just to keep things simple and joined :)

Coleman put your location in your profile so every one can know where you are from. What part of SA are you from? I'm a fellow south Australian Joe :)

Thanks guys for the quick replies. Thank you for the link John, and the picture. I was a bit lazy and didn't do a background search for this, so thank you the information is very helpful. It is exactly what I was thinking, although I doubt mine will turn out as well as the picture :) Thanks Charles as well, that is another thing that I probably would have asked about in the future so thank you. Thanks again

Hey everyone, I have gotten myself an 'proper' anvil and I'm in the process of attaching it to my stand (stump). Now I have a couple chisels and such but I feel that a 'proper' hot cut might be a really big help as I am cutting small rods most of the time. So here is the thing, I don't have the skill or materials to make a proper sized hardie hole cut off yet, so in stead I was thinking that I could use some coil spring that I have and make a small cut off sort of like a mini version of the hardie tool version. To do this I would taper it down, put it into the Pritchel hole and create the shoulders and then shape it into a sort of Brian brazeal looking cut off, as from what I'm seen they cut metal amazingly. So is there anything that would stop me from doing this? I can't see anything wrong with it but I thought that I should get some more experienced advise. I'd only use this on small stuff and then make a bigger one as I get better. Thanks Joe

I think it is Gary Huston on YouTube that makes one of these... Not entirely sure though. Nice work with yours, looks great Okay here's the link: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=uCKD9NA0pNc Joe

A very nice knife, the longer I look at it the more the lines show and it becomes more beautiful.

Thanks for this both Daniel and Alec. Love watching the both of you in your skilled endeavours, very inspiring for other young guys like myself. Daniel, great work with the video. The editing was magnificently do, it a pleasure to watch, with great skills shown in both arts (blacksmithing, and film) cheers again Joe