Doug C

Here are the books Beautiful Iron: the Pursuit of Excellence (Spiral-bound) - available at Amazon by Francis Whitaker (Author) Blacksmith Craft - available at Pieh Tool The Legacy of Francis Whitaker, A - Vol. 1 $US52.00 Author: Dixon 8 X 10 Hard Cover 800 photos and drawings 157 Pages

The guy who taught me to do this had me do it somewhat like Mike-HR described except it was all done on the anvil. Do the bend to 80 degrees. Push some metal outward at the corner. start pushing it back into the the corner over the far edge of the anvil. He mentioned that there is a book that describes how Francis Whitaker could do it in one heat and that the book gave a good description of the process. Anyone know about book Whitaker or any of his devotees may have written?

If you are an ABANA member the last two issues of Hammer's Blow had very detailed instructions on making tongs with lots of images. If you are not a member you can still order back issues on their site.

Stunning. Wish I had half the imagination and abilities. Hey, I would probably settle for a tenth.

For $70 I can get about 400lb of coal, 13 buckets, so coal it is for me. Plus I am a tight fisted old cuss and want the most bang for my buck. Also an old brake drum forge is cheaper to make than one of those gassers!!! But I have to admit I would really like to try one out just to see if there is a difference in what you can do and how well you can control your heat. I bet that each has its place, strengths and weakness'.

Good work. Looks like a heck of a draft. I used a white plastic bucket to crush the coal. Pour it in, crush with an old piece of two by four.

I would be a happy man if I could do one half as well. Nice job.

My favorite is the 2 pounder / cross peen that came with the forge I bought from a friend aunt. My hammer set is pretty small: 3lb Cross peen 2lb cross peen 2lb ball peen 1lb ball peen

My neighbor's yards. I live on a half acre lot in the center of my town. Fortunately the view never distracts me from the work at hand. Unforunately it means I won't be building a new smithy anytime soon!

sack.....full of the coal I love to burn

wick....as in a candle

Adrian, Pretty impressive work. More inspiration for we newbies.

Leo, There are two or three steels supplier near me that I can go to depending on the type and quality of steel I want. Take a look on line for your area or in the yellow pages for steel suppliers or welding shops. For specialty / tool grade steel there are a number of online suppliers who charge by the inch or foot. Also you will come to find that dumpster diving, trash picking, junk yard surfing and friends and family or a good supply of scrap metal that can be turned into all sorts of things. Do a search in the forums about scrap steel and you will find lots of help.

Started this winter. The bug got me I am out at the forge a couple of times a week. Read everything I can and have taken a few classes. Work all day as a desk jockeyl It is nice to come home, fire up the forge and actually make something.

Nook....where kooks hang out when not smithin or playing word games..

While smithing last week I looked up and got my forge's name 'Red Tail Forge' for the hawk circling overhead. Pretty much where ever I move there seems to be Red Tail Hawks. So it seems like a safe name. Cummings' Forge just doesn't sound good.

book...I gave him a copy of the Good Book to help heal his foot.

Look...as in Hey look at that guy with the rope loop holding his foot on.

On my prior post I meant to say heat the iron up to the middle of the three shades of yellow. If you are going to be Heating until you burn the metal, as JohnW suggests, do it in a controlled way. A slow constant air flow so you cause as little oxidation as possible, use the same size stock for your experiments etc. One variable changes at a time. Keep trying and you get there. I can consistently do a fagot and loop weld. Will start playing with others. Oh and don't forget to scarf. Lot's on the web and in various books about how to do that. I was ready one article that basically said welds that are not scarfed will fail at a much higher rate and welds done on metal where the on of the surfaces is concave will almost always be too weak to last for long. Anyone else got detailed technique to share. It would be interesting to know how other folks do it.

Hoot as in ..Man did you see the band saw cut off his foot. What a hoot.

I have earplugs in so all I hear is the echo of my thoughts bouncing around that empty skull of mine. Plan on running power to the forge this fall. Then we'll have music.

JAFO, When he gets into boy scouts there is a metalworking merit badge that can be earned doing blacksmithing. If I had known that 35 years ago I'ld have a lot more practice at this.

Frosty, My wife Deb says I act like a child all the time so I may put that banner on my signature. At 48 I still feel like a kid inside its just the bones and joints that are feeling their age. Good to see so many younger folks doing this isn't it?

Heat as in what you get from that forge you just built.

Doug C...My whole name is Frederick Douglas Cummings. Gone by Doug to avoid confusion with my dad who was Frederick. If I say something I ought to be willing to sign my name to it. It keeps me from saying too many foolish things.