Doug C

Online you can get it at McMaster-Carr. Also see if a member your local blacksmithing group has any for sale. NEB just has a fall meet and someone was selling 3 foot lengths of 1045 for $10.

Wish I had been interested in blacksmithing when I did my Eagle project. Nice work and one luck eagle to be given this opportunity.

Picture of the olive tongs when you are done please. I bet I could sell a boat load of those to the yuppies around here!!

Hope thats won't slow down your hammering!

Even though I am an IT guy I prefer pencil and paper. I can take it with me to the forge, coffee shop, work etc. I agree with an earlier post. Take a drawing class. You are not painting the Sistine Chapel so you should be able to come up to speed pretty quick. Software takes a fair amount of time to learn compared to basic drawing skills. If you are set on using software and money is an issue Sketchup is a nice tool. I know several folks that have used it an done some amazing things with it. They just had to spend a lot of time getting to know the software. I think Frosty has it right, get some graph paper,a #2 pencil and go to it.

Just finished making some brackets for a hammock out of railroad spikes for someone I work with. Looking for the next project.

Great article Glenn, recently I found out the the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority still employees full time smiths to repair the subway fleet here in Boston. I wonder what other cities employ smiths full time?

This looks identical to my anvil which is also about 160LB. I don't hold it they way you are too often! Nice anvil but the heal rings like the dickens.

Harold,
Remember that in the old days the low man on the totem pole in a blacksmith's shop had to weld all the scraps together. Once you have the technique down it is not hard. Just save yourself some time and have someone show you how. My own opinion is that people make a big deal out of forge welding when they shouldn't. Just do not expect to be a pro at it any time soon. You should probably start with a different kind of weld than the one you are doing. Also remember that for as many smiths as there are each will probably have is own welding technique.

To start with get some 20 mule team at your local grocery ( it is a laundry detergent enhancer). You will use this for flux.
Build a good fire and keep it clean. No clincker.
Start by making a short taper into the end of a piece of steel.
Bend the piece of round steel back onto itself.
Heat it till it is orange and then apply flux to the seams created by folding it back onto itself.
Heat until the to a bright orange, dull yellow.
At this point time is of the essence. Move quickly but deliberately.
When you pull the steel out of the fire the flux will be smoking like a cigarette if it is at the right temp
Tap lightly but firmly from the bend towards the taper. Hitting hard will not help.
Repeat the flux through weld stage if required to to seal the seem along its full length.

After you get that down make a loop in the steel and weld just the end so you have a handle. Endless possibilities. Good luck.

Harold,
Besides practice the best thing you can do is find a local blacksmithing group, join and participate. Here are two in PA.

PENNSYLVANIA ARTIST BLACKSMITH ASSOCIATION www.pablacksmith.org
PITTSBURGH AREA ARTIST BLACKSMITHS paaba.net

Also see if someone offers lessons. Even if their site does not mention it you may be able to convince a local smith to give you lessons.

Working with other folks is not essential but can really keep you from making more mistakes than progress.

Glad to have another interested soul on-board. Good luck

The smile says it all. I wish I had taken up blacksmithing when my kids were younger so I could have made them that happy. Job well done.

I found this site from the uk ( http://www.justears.org/ear-defenders.asp ) look for the musicians earplugs. 180 pounds which is $276. I think Mark Aspery was talking about this sort of plug. Here is the description from the site: Custom made noise suppression plugs with varying filters for different attenuation.
ER-9 attenuates 9dB, ER-15 attenuates 15dB and ER-25 attenuates 25dB of relatively flat sound reduction across all frequencies.

Nice work. I'll have to add this to the list of projects. And good luck with the welding. It is pretty easy once you get used to it.

What a nice gesture. He looks like one happy guy. I bet you both will feel better.

Sam,
This is a great tutorial. I guess I know what my next project will be.

First look at the pictures and it was obvious that the railing belonged there. Really nice work

IFI has gone through lots of changes over the past few years, overall appearance, etc.
Does anybody have screen captures of the old IFI incarnations?
It would be interesting to see, memory lane etc.

Here are a few from 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006

Sukellos,
Could you post a close-up picture of the mouth? That is really nice.

Just do a search on formula here are a few results...Maybe we should collect all of these and put themm in the Alchemy and Formula forum.

When Blueprints are back go here for drift size info: I Forge Iron - BP1051 Punch Calculations

Rivet length to width ratio(thanks Glenn): 1-1/2 times the stock diameter is a good place to start.

Scroll Collars

Calculating radii

Chimney Diameter

Proper Anvil Height

I agree with Frosty. The breakdown pics are really great. I will definitely try to use the same technique in some project. Just need to figure out which one.

I just want to throw my two cents in. I do software development for a living and what Glenn, Andrew and everyone else has done in such a short time is nothing short of amazing. I think that we already have a better site than it was, it is just different and will take time to get used to. Given the fact that this is an all volunteer effort we should be even more great-full to these folks.

And Glenn, while I did not help in the effort if you want to PM me I'll be glad to make a contribution to the fees you dole out to run the site. Maybe we should all pony up a few bucks to help the effort and take the strain of Glenn and company.

Anyway, thanks and keep up the good work.

Looks nice. What is the candle cup forged from?

Looks good Paul. Shop looks way to clean. You need to get busy and make a mess out there.

Hi, I was wondering where the blueprints came from. Also I just bought an awsome door that is kind of old worldish. I am needing to make a door knob for it. I was thinking of trying to modify a comercially bought one and basically just using its internal mechanisms. This will be the front door to my house. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Derek

Derek,
The blue print for this came from Alex Bealer's book The Art of Blacksmithing. This has been a fun challenge. I will finish my latch up this weekend. Waiting to see what Tom has dreamed up for the next challenge.

Doug

Hi Tom,

Enjoyed the video. It is great to put a voice to the face.
Enjoyed meeting the wife. I'm way behind you on the learning curve, so I enjoyed watching, but I won't be accepting any challenges for a while!
I forged on Thursday and Friday, but the weather has turned here -
so I have switched to shoveling snow in my 'spare' time.

Bill

Bill,
Trying these challenges forces us to learn some new stuff. I still have some work to do on this project but working on it has been fun. If your up in the Lawrence area give me a call. Maybe we can work on one of these or some other challenge. Tom did a great job on the challenge and the video. He says he has a nother good challenge for mid-january. Can't wait.
zDDoug