dablacksmith

ya well i have had a person (someone who should know better) tell me "old time swords were made from a steel like mild (lo carbon) steel! and tried to get to agree wile talking to a customer! had to sat no that steel for swords was better than that...this same person is currently forging out swords to sell out of mild steel...people have no shame !!!!

might check out this page www.polarbearforge.com/grinder_kit.html I built one and really like it.

I have a anvil with a 5th foot that is probably the oldest thing i use... next oldest is my finnigan and mgowan  power hammer it was built between 1903 and 1907...

i would look for a used anvil. should be able to find somthing in the 75-125 lb range for 2-300 dollars ...its time to network! ask all your friends all your relatives ,coworkers ect... someone has a anvil at a price you can afford...a farriers anvil will work to start in fact a good piece of steel will work..keep looking ! if you end up with more than one pick the best and sell the other... might check with your local blacksmith group for meetings there are usually stuff for sale . good luck!

1 do not use the inswool save it for a propane forge.i have built several forges i like a inverted four sided pyramid for my firepot . it can be as thin as 14 ga for a portable forge (went to 1/4 plate for a permanent one) the size depends on what your working on . i usually use plate for the rest of the top with at least a 1 in lip. pipe for legs.anyway hope this helps.

first problem... hf anvil shaped scrap metal...probably what was going on is that the 2 lb ball pien hammer was bounceing of the steel your were forging and not transfering much of the blow thru to rebound off the anvil. the 3 lb hammer being heavyer hits harder so does not bounce off the steel being forged .You are getting more work done with the heavyer hammer but ...you need a better anvil .. one with a hard face ...even a unhardened chunk of 4140 would work better...

i had a special order for one once did not take a pic of it tho...

sawyers anvil used to tune circular saw blades ... knife makers like them...

tumbler...kept me away from the wire wheel.

new belt sander (on the way) possably hydraulic press...

my last hammer i used tapicon concrete screws ... it was a 50 lb little giant and i believe they were 5/8 x 6 .they were easy to use just drill the concrete with the right size hole and use a inpact wrench to tighten them down. seems to be working well so far....

here is mine i use a die i made..

it was tonto as in lone rangers sidekick who was a Indian so it was made in India!!! ...

first ...DO NOT PANIC! you may be a beginner but to 99% of the public YOU ARE THE EXPERT!it really does not matter to them if you are just learning the hardest thing you will likely run into is explaining that you can not reforge the broken piece of cast iron or pot metal.It will be fun just bring entheusiam and injoy! good luck make money!

1040 is not really a knife steel...to low carbon.

for most work one with a firepot... if you just want to heat rivets flat is fine....

you can clean it with 4 ot steel wool and oil ... go lightly . also there are extremely fine wire wheels that can be used to clean ... they are pricy but useful .you can purchace them at gunsmiths supply houses like brownells. clean the bore throughly ... a shotgun of that age used blackpowder rounds and blackpowder is corrosive. If you want to make it fire the safe thing is to get barrel inserts that will resize it to 20 ga . gunsmiths can do this tho it is spendy!and remember early shotguns used paper cartriges and different leingths (some were 2 1/2 some were 2 9/16 ect) . I have friends who load they're own shotgun shells with blackpowder and shoot damascus shotguns but they have throughly checked out the barrels.what can happen is corrosion can get into the damascus and cause the barrels to delaminate (split open) not good .. also early on people did not understand the difference between the blackpowder rounds and the modern (higher pressure) rounds and the difference between paper shells and plastic . the forcing cones are different between the shells.using a modern plastic shell in a old gun setup for paper greatly increased pressures and caused failures (kaboom).that is why people say not to shoot damascus shotguns.

1-2 heats depending on if its morning or evening...

for blade smithing you could use a sledge hammer head mounted to somthing solid or get a large lump of scrap ... any of those will work better than the boat anchor that you were lookin at...you could use this http://www.oldworldanvils.com/anvils/4x4.html  and its only a few bucks more .

ya if the grate is raised above bottom of forge it can burn out any grate ... gota make the grate the low place on the forge ... also what did you make the grate from? how big an opening ? coke burns hot so might go with a thicker grate ... last one i made was out of 1/2 round rod with about 1/4 in gap between ...good luck!

i have heard that they were found in burial mounds but not known if actually used

well as far as finish i am leaving that up to the customer ... I do hope someone wants another as i learned a lot from making this one...billy there is no way to get somthing that big to the Puyallup economically ...Moving it is a major chore... the wings and head are removeable but its still big and bulky and she bites!(has all kinda of poky stuff everywhere)

here are some pictures of my largest project to date... Also the longest as far as time spent. it took over 4 months and has over 900 scales .this was ordered and will be heading to Idaho. It is on desplay at the arizona ren fare at the blacksmiths booth.

sounds like your over gripping hammer... it takes time and practice to swing a hammer without gripping it hard ..i have my hammer loose in my hand till the instant before it hits the metal... takes practice but you will get a lot less tired . whatever you do gloves do not help.

last one i made from 1x 1/4 strap came out pretty good...