Ed Thomas

Fabien: The Fairbanks has a hole in the same place. I've never seen anybody use it, but it does look cool. Maybe it provides a safe spot for mice to watch as you forge.

Andrew: Now you've heard lots of good opinions about welding equipment for welding. Since you posted this question in the Blacksmithin' Forum, I am going to assume your primary reason for exploring welders is for your forging shop. I've said before that in my estimation, the torch is more valuable to a blacksmith because it does more than cut and weld.

With welding tips, you can provide localized heat to bend small parts and soften rivet heads for forging. This is often hard to do in a coal forge when the parts are inside of a larger structure such as a table, and is usually impossible in a gas forge. With the rosebud tip, you can heat larger pieces exactly where you need to do adjustments, bending and twisted. Controlling sheet metal is much easier with a torch than a forge.

The torch is also very handy for warming a project after you've cleaned it all up before putting on a finish. I sometimes use the rosebud like a garden hose and sort of "wash" the project just enough to make a finish flow and dry onto it.

Wherever you need a specific point of heat for working metal, the torch can usually provide it, making it a very useful complement to a coal or gas forge.

My experience is ONLY with acetylene. If I were starting out with no gas torch set, I would certainly look at the other gas fuels. They are all much more stable fuels and the tanks are sometimes easier to own and/or get filled. Some are probably cheaper to operate. The biggest drawback is that I think none except acetylene weld very well or at all. But each gas choice requires some different torch gear, so it is worth exploring before you buy to see what suits your specific need.

I will also pass on advice given to me that I ignored and you probably will also: Buy a good NEW set. Don't buy a cheap set, and don't buy a used one. By going cheap and used, I've spent enough money to buy two or three good new sets by now, trying to get what I wanted and get stuff that worked at all.

Andrew: Do NOT try to cut 1/2" from each side. When you don't cut all the way through, you can get uncontrolled spewing gouging with molten crap going everywhere if you don't know what you are doing. Just get a larger cutting tip for the same cutting torch body. They don't cost all that much.

The Lincoln AC 225 "tombstone" or "buzzbox" has been around forever. It is sold nearly everywhere that welding stuff is sold, including Lowe's. On sale, it is usually just around $200. There are 5 of them on ebay right now for much less than $200, and almost every farm auction I've been to has a welder of some sort. The 225 was/is very popular for the price. You will need a 220V 5A outlet.

The MIG is the LAST welder I'd get as a blacksmith. I have one, and it is handy, but it is the least flexible, the easiest to break, and the easiest to weld badly.

If you learn to weld with a torch, then stick, TIG and MIG welding are a piece of cake.

Ron: In order: Yes; Don't know; Yes; No.

If you watch an experienced blacksmith using tooling made from simple carbon steels, there is a near-dance that goes with working and quenching. You don't let the tool linger in the hot piece, but rather get on with it quickly and remove it frequently. For instance, if you punch a hole with a coil spring punch by hammering till it bottoms out on the anvil by feel, the punch could be at a soft red heat by that time and will mushroom in the bottom of the hole. Now it is stuck, and as you frantically try to get it out, the hot piece begins to cool making a nice shrink fit around your punch. By the time you surgically remove it, you will have to completely rework the punch before you can use it again. So punch quickly, cool quickly, and dip in some coal dust to make a lubricating barrier before putting it back in the hot work.

Don't know anything about your Tungsten Bar.

S-7 is great stuff for tooling. It is an air-hardening tool steel designed to take shock. All you have to do is forge it and let it cool in the air. There is more elaborate heat-treating if you want to, but that is sufficient for hand tools for blacksmiths.

A 3/8" hole is not too small for slitting and drifting. I prefer to slot punch rather than slit, but either one is routine.

Ron: Coil springs are usually the easiest to get and the most convenient shape. The newer the spring, the better. Once a spring has been cycled a few million times, it can develop some stress fractures that will show up after you heat-treat and start using the tool.

Most of the time, the coil springs can be simply hardened and tempered as water-hardening steel. They are fairly forgiving to work with, in other words.

They don't really take heat all THAT well. You have to keep them cool as you work by working a bit and quenching the tool as you go along. Not a big deal, and second nature after awhile.

Fabien: I don't know about your specific hammer. The arrangement of yours is much more like the Little Giant or Fairbanks opposing coil springs than the leaf springs in the Beaudry hammers with which I am familiar.

But in principle, the springs should always be in some tension. A mechanical power hammer works by throwing the weight up and down without a direct link to the frame. This prevents the impact of the hammer from repeatedly shocking the rest of the hammer.

In order for this to work properly, the weight of the ram must be always under the control of the spring. If not, there will be at least one part of the travel where the spring is slack and the hammer can be unpredictable. Finding the right tension is part of tuning it for best performance.

Here are a few links that aren't much direct help, but do show pictures of other spring arrangements if you rummage around:

Little Giant Hammer- Nebraska City, NE

Forging Hammer Sales and Service Network

Wendy Gardner and Power Hammer

The last one was to see if you were paying attention. :)

Have you checked to see if they will deliver? I can get deliver of a minimum of 3 tons pretty reasonably. It's nice to having someone show up with a dump truck and dump it in one pile right where I want it.

Make sure it is pea coal. Anything much larger is going to be a chore breaking up every time you need coal for a fire.

Make sure it is not stoker or furnace grade coal. That stuff is adequate, but not much fun to use. If you can verify that it is metallurgical grade of some sort, that would be nice. If you can't get the quality of it, try a modest amount before you commit to a large pile.

A 5 gallon bucket holds about 35 to 40 pounds of coal. A day of forging for most home users in a decent-sized forge will take about that much. So a 1/2 ton of coal will probably last you at least 25 hard forging days. If you only forge on most weekends, that is close to a half year's worth. For occasional weekday forging and forging every weekend, you will still probably get three months out of a 1/2 ton.

A 1/2 ton pickup should have no problem hauling 1/2 ton of coal. Just put a tarp or plastic on the bed if there are any holes, and put a tarp over it to keep the coal dust from annoying the other people on the road.

Personally, I'd go get a 1/2 ton in my pickup and, if I liked it, try to get delivery of as much as I could afford and store.

Nothing has happened. It is still up and running as always.

Peyton: Aim to get up around 300 cfm if you can. I think below 200 cfm just doesn't have the oomph. Squirrel cage blowers are okay, but I prefer a paddle-wheel. My experience is that a motor speed of 1400 to 1700 with a 12" paddle blower is about optimal for a single forge. It is quiet and strong.

I find compressor air to be noisy and extravagant and not anywhere near the control for forge operations. What you want is a steady pressure in a pipe the size of the hole in the bottom of the firepot. Not expanding, not constricting.

Years ago, I had a hand-crank hooked up in a 'Y' gate with an electric blower to the forge, thinking I'd want to use the hand-crank every now and then at least. I never used it. So I disconnected it and never looked back. When you are doing serious forging for hours or all day, it seems pointless to add one more tiring task when electric blowers are available. As I've said before, you can get better air control with a simple slide gate and a decent air supply than you can with a manual blower. When I step away from the forge with the heated iron, I shut the gate and don't use any more fuel than with a hand crank.

The only problem is that you said: "...for a portable application".

I don't bother to use an electric blower for a demo forge for several reasons:
1) As often as not, there won't be an electric outlet handy.
2) I can usually count on at least one person available to turn the hand crank.
3) I typically won't be doing serious forging.
4) I have to do something with the hand crank blower since I don't use it in my shop.

If you don't like your rivets, just take them out and replace them. They are easy to remove. It looks to me as though you over-worked the rivets. If you set them cold, it is easy to work-harden or fatigue them.

If you set them hot, did you use an O/A welding tip? If so, back off on the heat and bring them up more slowly, aiming the heat down where the rivet passes through the hole. Often, with such an intense local heat, the outside is burning before the inside is even very hot. Then set the rivet with a few well-place blows rather than pecking it to death.

If you heated the rivets in the forge, good for you. But you have to be quick! It helps to warm up the piece so it doesn't suck all the heat out as soon as you insert the rivet. Again, don't peck at the rivet. Set it and be done.

It is also easier to clean (file, brush, sand, etc) the pieces when they are separate than after you attach them.

Mike, that is a Fisher anvil. It is a good workhorse. The history is that Fisher wanted to produce anvils in the US at prices that competed with the imports. He perfected a method of casting iron onto a tool steel plate (rather than forge-welding a plate to a wrought base). The result is that Fisher anvils perform very well, but do not ring. The giveaway in your case is the bolt holes. Look for an eagle emblem on the side. Unless it is a contract anvil (made to be sold under another name or to the government), it almost invariably had an eagle cast into the side. There will probably be other cast numbers somewhere.

That is only true if you actually get rid of the marbles. If you simply remove them from the bag and put them somewhere else, then you really still have all your marbles and are not a blacksmith. Although I personally think one should not take shortcuts to success, It is much quicker to put the entire bag someplace safe in your shop. You will likely bury them and forget where they are within a very short time, effectively losing all your marbles. Then you will be a blacksmith, albeit a cheater.

And of course that made me chase down this link:

Lycos iQ | Where does the phrase ‘lost his marbles’ come from?

P180: You can get some hammers from several places. I personally like doing business with Blacksmith Supply. Here are their selections in raising hammers:

Blacksmith Supply

If that link doesn't work, just go to:

Blacksmith Supply

and follow the hammer link on the left.

As far as being happy with the handle, that is not the hammer's fault. Eventually, you will have to shape and set your handle to suit you. The original handle on any hammer will almost always work loose after time, depending on your humidity changes and usage. Then when you ask here about putting a new handle in, you will get about 3,000 different replies on the best way to do that. I prefer to set mine in epoxy.

Also, raising hammers are not very hard to make. Nobody knows better than you what you want in these specialty hammers, so you are more likely to shape it for your needs than an off-the-shelf hammer. Buy one or two and work with them for awhile. Then you can see what you want different in making your own.

Good luck.

Daniel: You live about 20 miles from me. I think you are strange. However, you are in good company as there are several strange blacksmiths in our area. Welcome!

I have no trouble controlling air with either an electric or manual blower. Usually the problem is that people improperly size the blower or do not make a good gate. With a proper air gate, you can vary a good electric blower from a whisper to a blast just as easily as with a hand crank, and usually with more consistent results.

You don't want holes any smaller than the ones you drilled, or they will clog too easily. The only purpose of a grate is to suspend the fire above the tuyere, not to block air flow. I have had better results cutting 3 long grooves in the plate rather than drilling holes, but they both work fine as long as you clear the clinker out from blocking the air every now and then.

When you close your air gate, does it in fact block all or most of the air? If it leaks by, it doesn't take much to keep a fire going and if it leaks a lot, you'll consume your coal at a noticeable rate.

Rivet forges are different than most shop forges in that they usually don't have a separate fire pot. So you have to mound the fire ABOVE the grate more to compensate. You might be consuming coal at a reasonable rate, but not feeding it in from the edges to a middle mound at a reasonable rate and amount.

What size and type is your blower? What kind of gate are you using? What kind of coal? How are you building your fire? When you say you burn it quickly... do you have a different experience with a different forge to compare it with? All these questions and more...

Your problem is usually easier to correct than not enough air, by the way. I'd say we're just going to be tuning what you already do to fix it.

Ludo, I think Gary identified the problem -- you must be using anthracite. I don't use the stuff, but expect you could keep it going better by building a deeper fire, and keeping the boundary pretty well insulated with more coal. Since good anthracite is nearly pure carbon, you probably don't have any clinker; just some ash. Is that what you see? If the "coal" does not ever burn away, you might have a very bad grade of anthracite coal that is practically slate. I tried some of that once and it is worthless for forging.

You might have some luck occasionally blending some wood and charcoal with the fire even after it is started. Keep the fire mounded over; don't let it get hollow in the middle. Keep at least a trickle of air to it even when not in use for heating.

This is what I'd do with anthracite; though as I said my experience with it is limited.

You can also get 3" stainless flex pipe from truck repair facilities. It is used to connect the exhaust.

That looks stamped and cast, not forged. I can't imagine that it is Whitaker's work.

Stretch: That shop sure puts out some beautiful work. Thanks for sharing the link. There is some very inspiring stuff there and I congratulate you on being part of it.

Don: When I'm not trying to heat a piece of steel, I close the air supply off by shutting the gate, but leave the blower running. In my forge, the butterfly valve I made leaks JUST enough to trickle in some air around the edges and help keep the fire going at a slow perk.

When I say I leave the blower running, I mean while I'm working with the forge. When I stop for a 4-hour lunch or to do layout or whatever, I bank the fire by pushing the fire together and piling coal around and over it, and turn the blower off. If you bank the fire, it will smolder and cook all day long and then some. No need to shove a piece of wood in it, as is sometimes advised.

The gate allows you to control the air flow from zero to wide open and anything in between. When you put a piece in the fire, you open the gate just enough to provide the air supply you want for the type of heating you want. When it is ready to forge, you simply shut the gate and take the piece to the anvil. The nicest gates let you push the valve closed with a lever using your knee in case you are bringing two pieces out of the fire for welding, for instance.

In my opinion, the gate is ESSENTIAL with an electric blower on a forge. Every time I work at a forge without a gate, it is an exercise in frustration.

Don A: You probably already know this, but too much blower is FAR better than not enough. The best way to set up the air supply is to have a good strong quiet blower that easily runs continuously. Then use an airgate of some sort to control the air between the blower and the forge. I have a butterfly gate in mine right now, but slide gates are probably more linear air flow and easier to make. Plus the slide gates usually don't leak as much. The aluminum slide gates sold for dust collection systems works okay.

Plain Old Bill: Do you mean the the blower that is currently listed as BP-50vs? I've used that in two separate shops and it is a nice blower. But I feel that the motor speed is too high on it. A 1725 rpm motor would be better for most single forge applications. In one shop, that Centaur blower is used to run two forges, which is probably about right. The old Buffalo and Champion paddle blowers are basically the same blower, but usually don't run as fast. By using a slower motor, it is quieter and seems a bit stronger air flow without quite the volume. As you say, the Centaur blower is very nice, though.

Ron: I have several flat metal tables I've made for welding and layout. But the handiest one when space was a factor uses a 3 foot diameter 1/2" plate. With only 3 legs, it is always steady regardless the floor surface. For a welding table, I prefer a small machinist vise rather than a leg vise because they rotate to hold the work.

At one time, I had an open grate for cutting as part of the circle, but found it just as easy to clamp work to the side of the table and cut off the edge. Now the top is just a flat round plate I picked up from a scrapyard. I think it was a temporary tank or manhole cover because one side is diamond tread and had handles welded into it.

My layout table is thicker, but for a small welding table, I think 1/2" thick is fine. If you make something you like and find after awhile that you want something different... well, just cut and weld till you like it again. There aren't any rules on homemade tables that I know of, though some common sense on height and rigidity probably should apply.

Don, keep your eye out for an old hand-crank or electric blower. All you need is the paddle fan and its housing. Look for Champion or Buffalo, but there are others. The paddle wheel fan usually takes a long 1/2" shaft, and a washing machine motor shaft fits perfectly. In various tailgates I wound up with several electric blowers, all of which had bad motors. The broken ones are fairly plentiful and cheap. So are washing machine motors. I forget the exact speed but it's probably 1200-1500 rpm... and nice and quiet. Sometimes I wash my clothes in the forge when I forget where I am and the fire is especially clean.

You will still have to make a stand and fabricate or forge the parts to hold the motor and the housing, and to mount it so the fan blades are exactly right in the housing, but it's pretty easy. I've been using mine trouble free for several years, and I actually prefer it to the Centaur Forge blower for a single forge operation. When it dies, all I will have to do is go find another washing machine and steal the motor.

Don, I'm rough guessing about 1/8 hp or less at that amperage and voltage. That's not super strong, and the motor speed is a bit high for a forge blower, but I bet it would be an adequate blower for light casual use. Note that it is rated intermittent use, which wouldn't work for how I use a forge blower. I turn the blower on and leave it on, and control air with a gate.

At that price, it beats the crap out of hair-dryers, vacuum cleaners, leaf-blowers, truck heaters, and gerbil cages that seem to be the recommendation of many beginners. I hardly ever notice Surplus Center offering a 3" outlet blower, which is a real plus. For serious forge work, you will probably want a stronger, bigger, slightly slower blower rated for continuous use, but that blower is not an especially expensive experiment.

When the blower is too weak, you have to work hard to keep the air path open and the fire especially well-maintained. Even then, it can be frustrating trying to get anything substantial to forging heat, much less welding heat. Sorry if I'm preaching to the choir there. :)