BackyardBlacksmithin

I just had the same issue with coke popping at me this week as well... My first time using purchased coke, I normally use just coal. Had a few pieces pop real good and actually bounced off my safety glasses. I will have to do like the other guys mentioned and just slowly introduce the coke from the side of the fire. And I noticed as well that it took quite a bit more air to get it to the same temp. I think I might just save the coke for when I'm doing forge welding, much easier to maintain a very clean fire with coke.

I just started moving into a bigger house and shop so no I will have a proper setup for my smithy. Now I gotta start working on a hood for inside the shop. I'm just going to save this one for outdoor demo's. Not to figure out how to make a 10-12 inch chimney that goes out through the wall of the shop.....

Now that's the answer I was looking for, thank you notownkid. So scrap the chimney idea.... Now to figure how to run stovepipe through the wall and up above the peak without spending a ton.

I will be using the forge probably 2 days a week. I have a centaur forge firepot and a champion 400 blower on it. I have a super sucker side draft now build for using outdoors that's about 4 ft tall. I want to build a better one that will pipe into this chimney since I wont have to be moving it around all the time now.

Hello, so I'm moving to a new place with a proper shop finally and the shop has an old unlined chimney in it. I would like to use it for my coal forge but I don't know much about chimney safety issues. I know wood in a unlined chimney is a no no, but I don't know if burning coal in it would be safe. I've spent about an hour looking through this forum but no luck so far.... Thanks in advance.

Like I said, not done yet lol. I did that bar that wraps around all the other ones as one piece so I had to take a guess on the length lol. And  yes a bit short...

Just started making a few of these for a customer who wanted a back rest for a widow frame that has a bench seat in front of it. There just tacked in place right now but you can get the idea, I love how there turning out. And that's only two pieces of 3/8 round bar, not a bunch of short sections welded together.

So what do you charge for one of those rounding hammers? Say 3.5 or 4 pounds....

I'm another one for the oval style handle with flatish sides. I get mine so my middle finger is almost touching my palm. And another trick backwoodsblacksmith taught me was to wrap the handles in the electrical friction tape. gives just the right amount of grip so you can relax your hand more and not have to keep a death grip the whole time. At very least take some light sandpaper and get rid of that slick varnish clear coat junk that comes on most handles...

Oh ya I have done that before on small crosses and things like that but I guess I never thought to do it so it makes it look like a solid color on the pedals, might have to try that next time.... Thank you

Ausfire: how do you get that brass finish on them? So those are steel with a brass finish?

great guys thanks for showing all of your work. I sell a lot of the single roses that are typically at a lower price point and I have a lot of requests to make a holder for them that will not cost an arm and a leg... I have made a few simple ones out of a horseshoe and mounted on a nice wood backer but am always looking for more ideas. I've been trying to make something simple out of a piece of pipe or something but have not made anything I'm very happy with yet..

Satyrsmith: I live in Albany, about 90 min south of you. I was actually up demonstrating in Portland a month or two ago. Over at the railroad heritage center by OMSI.

"this is not an original idea"

Told to me by Backwoods Blacksmithing when he was teaching me how to forge weld. Referring to how there are few original tricks and ideas that most of us have not learned from smiths before us, or that other smiths have already thought of as well.

Geoff: I love it, I had that happen to me last time as well, my full time normal job is a Deputy Sheriff. I had a bunch of young kids that were very obviously into some lets say... recreational substances, watching me forge and another fella that was I was having a conversation asked what I did for a living, as soon as the words "Deputy Sheriff" came out I looked and those kids were flat GONE, like I didn't even see where they went. I look at my girlfriend who heard and saw the whole thing and she is just laughing her backside off...

I was thinking of making some chain to use as a barrier and some poles. That way I could use the barrier as a kind of conversation piece as well. Just do it with hand forged and welded links. Keep them at a distance and give them something to look at and examine as well.

Not a bad idea, if I have time before I give it to the group to be used I might have to do that.

Hello and again welcome to the hobby that will soon overtake any spare space outside or inside for that matter that you have, Ha! I just started smithing a year ago just thinking that I would make a few things for myself, probably similar to what your interested in doing. But two things happened quite quickly, I ran out of room to put stuff I made and as I got better people started asking if I sell stuff. So here I am about a year later with a full fledged side business. I'm by no means getting rich but I have a hobby that pays for itself and allows me to buy and make stuff that I never would have before I started this.
I started with a chunk of railroad track that was given to me, the cheapest 2lb cross pein hammer I could find, and a jeep brake drum as a forge. And it sounds like you have two of those already. If I can tell you one thing DONT OVERCOMPLICATE IT. The simple fact is you need something hard to hit against, something hard to hit it with, and a fire to heat steel. The picture below is my first forge, a brake drum, old oil barrel turned upside down and cut the bottom out to fit the drum. Ran some steel pipe down to a small squirrel cage blower. Wired it to a ceiling fan switch to control the air speed. It was rough but I made a lot of stuff with that forge. Heck Id say if you were in the Oregon area I would just give it to you. For safety sake I would say the first project you should make is some tongs. If you search around there are a few good methods to make them that are very easy to do. I did the channel lock thing for tongs and I will tell you it sucks on a good day and is flat dangerous on a bad one. Good to have you and have fun!

I did my first demo just a few months ago, lesson number one I learned? I NEED something to keep the crowd away from my anvil and forge. I turned around for one second and I hade someone standing behind me turning the hand crank blower on my forge.... Really... get away from my tools......

Im pretty happy with it, that was the first time I have punched and drifted something that thick. Learned a lot and now its time to figure the next tool I need to make... Maybe a Brazeal style hammer eye punch.

Here is my first ever top tool. Started as one inch square bar. Punched and drifted to 3/4 inch, then hammered the bulges down to make the hole oval. Hot wax finish.

Ya I see a lot of things that I would do different next time, It came out ok but not happy with the twist but it was def a good learning project. At least got some good practice at forge welding.

So here it is... the forge welding went good, I did the 9 bar twist. The only real hiccup was when I was untwisting it, trying to get everything even was a total pain. Not totally happy with it bit I think it should do the trick.

I have not seen the twisted lengths made into a basket twist yet, though that sounds like it would look really good. The more I think about it I like the idea of just making a long tapered spike that I can attach to the trunk somehow. Sounds a lot simpler that trying to forge a cone deep enough. or trying to get a pipe welded on and get it all to look right. I'm not much of an artist unless you like stick figures but I will probably have a chance to make it in the next day or so and I will put pictures up as soon as its complete. Thank you all for the help an advise thus far.

I like the idea of using a spike, I could just weld and draw out a nice long taper say 8 or 10 inches and just zip tie it to the trunk of the tree where you could not see it from below, that would allow you to get a lot more contact area with the tree and maybe help with the top heavy part of it. If I remember right from helping with their tree last year it was a 8-10ish foot tall tree. And I will try to make a sketch later today when I wake up. I work nights and just got home...