Dan C

You are right Thomas, it is wrought. I slowly brought it up to an orange heat and straightened it. I finally finished mounting it yesterday. Hopefully this afternoon I can put it to work. This was the first time to work with wrought iron, what color should it be forged at?

If you haven't already done so, search etsy for railroad spike openers. You'll get a ton of ideas of different ways to forge them. Love the design you made btw, I plan on making some like that vs. the way I've been doing. Openers have been a big seller for me and the ones that I forged on my railroad track anvil was how I paid for the 190# PW anvil that I have now. I would recommend keeping any emails or letters you have from rail workers or the yard that you get the spikes from just in case it comes up and you need to show that you obtained the spikes legally. I got my piece of track and spikes by contacting a local railyard. I explained what I was doing and asked it they had a piece of track I could use as an anvil. They were more than happy to help and made a pile of spikes for me to have. Later I returned w/ an opener and a cold six pack of beer to say thanks (and to get more spikes)!

Wow, you got a really, really good deal on that one. It's a beauty! At some point didn't Hay Buden start making the upper half of their anvil all out of tool steel with the bottom half wrought.

Fire for Frosty's sake and my son & friend roasting marshmellows over the forge.

What you've suggested will result in normalizing the head and melting the handle. Unless you can separate the two and have a forge to heat the head enough that it is demagnetized (probably a bright orange, close to 2000 degrees) you're going to end up with something softer than what you have now. And if you don't temper it properly after hardening (assuming you're able to) you'll then have a tool that would be brittle hard which could be very dangerous to yourself or others around you. Considering that only Estwing would be able to tell you the proper method of hardening & tempering as it's unknown steel, it isn't something I'd attempt without having considerable experience.

Good advice above. I'm fortunate as most of my neighbors are my best customers. I'm also the one they come to when they need things welded and I either help for free or a nominal fee. I'm not the only noisy one on the block either, 2 neighbors have Harley's, and others do wood working. Their saws & power tools are louder than my hammering. The most complaints I get are from my wife, she's been very sensitive to noise lately so I've done everything I can to quiet my anvil (including sand & oil in the stand's legs), and save what I consider heavy forge work when she's gone, or midday when she considers the noise more acceptable. Right now I'd rather be in the garage working on projects but such is life. It doesn't hurt much that I take some of the extra money I make from selling my things and either give it to her to pay bills or surprise her w/ something nice. Your neighbor, I doubt you'd ever convert her, follow your passion and try to be considerate if possible.

The weight stamp is the only marking on mine...well except for a previous owner stamping his name on it. At least I assume that's why it has the following stamped on it. Mutt Allen 1979

Beautiful work Tanto! Makes me embarassed to post pics of my brake drum forge, but I will say that I love the ability of mine to lay large pieces of steel across the table onto the firepot and it's easily portable as I roll it out of my garage & onto my driveway. The first picture shows the frame which is then covered w/ 3/16". I later added a squirrel cage.for the blower. Later I lined the drum w/ refractory cement. The steel for the frame came from a wrecked firepit that I helped a scout working on his eagle project replace. As rusted and bent as the metal once it worked well, 6011 rods welded right thru the rust.

That's a nice one Chinobi! Is there a weight stamped on the outside of the front jaw, either 60 or 65 lbs?

pics didn't get uploaded that time...really nice vise for $40 Nobody, and I thought I did well!

I got this 4 1/2" one last week for $50. As you can see the leg needed straightening and the wedges were missing. Here it is after cleaning and some forge work. Around here one like this would probably get ~$150. I saw a similar one to mine restored as I did on craigslist for $100, it didn't last more than a day so they are out there.

Got this 4 1/2" vise last week for $50. A little elbow grease, straightened the leg and forged new wedges ready to work!

That cleaned up beautifully! I so wish I could take you up on this one. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/32822-for-sale-double-horn-anvil-w-upsetting-block-680-pounds/

Can wait to see what you did with the track. Saw your video of the spike opener and thought I'd share the tool I use for twisting spikes. It allows you to twist from the head or anywhere on the spike as I cut grooves in the jaws and then welded steel plates to keep the head from being able to slip out. I like your determination & resourcefulness. Keep it up! Here are some of the openers I've made. I also go to pawn shops and buy the cheap wrenches made in China to turn into openers which I sell at places like Auto parts stores.

Hi Frosty, I plan on using motor oil for when heat treating the files/rasps. That was just a test to confirm that it would get brittle hard. When something breaks in the quench does it just crack or shatter in such a way that metal flys? I did put a piece of cloth over the rasp before striking it on the anvil, just in case. Knock on wood, up to this point I've only had one forging that wasn't a success and even that I learned from. I had have a knife blade that was almost finished burn up in the forge. I ended up cutting off the blade and selling it as a bottle opener. Except for a few things I've kept to show others, almost everything I've made I've been able to sell. In a way I feel like I should be making stuff just for fun and to learn, but right now I need the extra income to finance another project & help pay bills so I make small, simple things that sell. While not always the most challenging I do learn new techniques or design new things to find another niche or market to sell to which brings up another question since I've highjacked this thread... What small items have you made that sell well? Pictures would definitely help, as well as even pricing info. Right now most of the stuff I sell is small as previously mentioned. Mostly by word of mouth, though word is getting around and people have started asking me to make specific things. Even though my forge is just an 11" brake drum forge, it is on a table built out of scrap metal so I was even able to straighten a large rock bar. I just found on CL a post vise in need of some forge work, I plan on repairing it and then selling it for more than twice what I paid.

Thanks for all the responses & information. I'll post some pics when I've had a chance to forge them into something.

Gardening tools and bottle openers have been good sellers for me. I use railroad spikes which I got by asking workers at the railyard in exchange for beer and then I use wrenches I bought cheap at pawnshops to make openers which I take anytime I go to an autoparts or similar store. I would put a vise as one of your top priorities. Please post some pics of the things you've made.

Good points Thomas which makes me ask the following question. To this point my forging experience has been making gardening tools, bottle openers & a few knives using HC railroad spikes. I recently got some Bellota farrier rasps that I want to make knives out of. I tested one by heating the rasp's tang to non-magnetic and then quenching in water. The tang of the rasp broke when struck laid across the anvil. When forging what differences should I expect? I know striking the rasp/file if under a dull red (risk shattering the steel) or heating too much and burning it up in the forge. Then of course heat treating will be different. I thought I would try a plain, small knife first to minimize the initial amount of time and effort. And I will have to try making one of the rasptlesnakes that you suggested in another post.

I live in Round Rock and watch the craigslist ads in Dallas, Houston and Austin. That one seems way overpriced. Now this 300 lb Fisher might be worth checking out. Same price, but looks to be in much better shape. 300 pound anvil. Fisher-Norris - $1000 Then there's also these two in San Antonio, same owner. Peter Wright 266 lb Anvil - $800 390 lb Anvil - $1000 One in Houston... Peter Wright 165# anvil - $500 The anvil I have I got by watching ads in Pittsburgh as I had a friend who lived there and was moving his house down. Seemed like up north they were less expensive. Maybe something like that would work for you? Good luck!

Good work and nice video! That was how I first started not long ago. Here is what I eventually did with my piece of track, it made a big difference by getting the majority of mass under the hammer and I still use it for edges & the narrow webbing. I also have a loose piece of track that is useful. Someone asked me to straighten a rock bar for them, which I heated at the bend and then use the loose section to press against the ground. It didn't take too long to sell enough stuff to buy a used anvil and blacksmith vise either, which you will find makes a huge difference in the time it takes to move the metal.

For the rasps I only tried the tang both with heat & quench and without. The old files I tested the working end of the file. Good catch, I didn't consider that being a factor. It'd be interesting to test.

For the rasps I only tried the tang both with heat & quench and without. Whereas the old files I tested the opposite end of the file. Good catch, I didn't consider that being a factor, but it could be. It'd be interesting to test.

For the rasps I only tried the tang w/o heat or quench, whereas the old files I tested the opposite end. Good catch, I didn't consider that being a factor, but it could be. It'd be interesting to test.

For the rasps I only tried the tang w/o heat or quench, whereas the old files I tested the opposite end. Good catch, I didn't consider that being a factor, but it could be. It'd be interesting to test.

Stefflus, did you forge the Save Edges into knives? If so did they hold their edge well and what process did you use to heat treat them? I plan on forging a knife out of the Bellotas and then giving it to a friend who hog hunts to test it for me. If it can hold it's edge while field dressing a hog it can handle about anything. I guess next I should see if they harden in oil. When you say fully harden, how do you know, compare spark test, inner grain, etc? I don't know much at this point about HT & hardness, but it is obvious that there are different degrees of hardness and how much you temper afterwards will depend on the type of steel, how it was hardened and how the tool is going to be used. Which using steel of a known composition makes sense unless you are going to be able to get a steady supply of a material and can take the time to experiment with it. Side note: Seems like the forum is unable to post additional replies that would normally go to the next page, or you just can't navigate to the next page if it's there. If that's the case then this thread is dead until the problem with the forum is resolved.