Hephaestus

thanks for the info. where im pretty new at this type of thing and will probably ding it up anyway, maybe ill just leave it for now.

i recently scored a cast iron anvil (my first real one. yee-haw), and i was wondering if its possible to resurface an anvil with a grinder or something of the like. it seems to have been somewhat abused. its riddled with half moons and peen marks.

lately ive been using fist sized hunks of maple as fuel. does anyone know of a better strategy? i dont have access to coal where i'm at and ive also heard that alder is a very hot burning wood. any info would be great.

greek god of the forge. its wishful thinking on my part, im so new i dont even know what fuller means. haha.

any of you Americans or former foreign folk know how complicated it would be to immigrate to the u.s. from Canada?

my dream shop would have an anvil with a horn as opposed to my current railroad track on a stump. a bigger forge than my car wheel on a stool frame, and as long as we are speaking in terms of fantasy ; iron maiden would live there and always be playing a pump up song just slightly louder than the sound of a grinder or hammer blows, and a dwarven smith would live in a closet and always have helpful advice for novices such as myself... oh, and there would be a lemonade spring where a bluebird sings, a lake of stew, and whiskey too...oh wait, that was something else.

this line from vancouver metal band 3 inches of blood mentiones smithing somewhat. flash of iron, leather, spikes, and swords! mighty warriors with metal on their side! enemies of metal, your death is our reward! triumphant victory when you bring the steel to life

just curious about some stuff. right now ive just started off. ive got a forge made from a garage blower, a car wheel, and a decapitated stool frame, my anvil is a two foot piece of railroad track. hammers are a 3 pound cross peen, 1 pound ball peen, and a four pound maul. also ive got a shabby set of homemade tongs, a pair of channel lock pliers, and a restored vise i found in the woods. is this enough gear to to do much with, or am i missing something key?

i just started working with a masonary company last week and i noticed they go through alot of silica sand. anyone know if this stuff makes decent flux?

this thread makes me think of some advice i got from a metal artist i used to work construction with. (some of his stuff: Stone Metalworks :: Ornamental ironwork and wrought iron). he told me i would be sadly dissapointed if my idea of blacksmithing was standing half naked on a mountain with the wind in my hair while i hammered out a 5'X6'' dragon gutter. hehe. a little off topic, but if you really wanna confuse/amuse someone when asking if they know where to get an anvil, tell them you've had a road runner problem lately, and need it to deal with them.

it actually kinda reminds me of that. i was nervous and excited, and kinda worried about how it would turn out... and also it seems kinda like that because the first one wasn't so great and i think i have alot to learn. haha!

i'll try to get some pictures up soon. they aren't the most attractive pair of tongs, but they will pick up a RR spike easy enough and i aim for that to be my first knife-related project.

my hands are calloused and burned in several places, but i just finished a pair of tongs. my first project. thanks iforgeiron.com, couldnt have done it without ya.

eh, thank ya much for the info everyone. it's gonna help a lot. my homemade forge at the moment is a car wheel on a decapitated stool with an old blower from a garage hooked up to it, so coal seems the way to go. i have a lot of junk in the yard, and im cheap, so i think i'll definitely go the coal route. also, i'll update my info pronto.

its mostly just for the opening speed. but in that case, it doesnt make much sense seeing as how a fixed blade in a sheath is always open, but not illegal.

all mis-guided logic and idiotic fascism aside... this story really makes me think of mel gibson in face paint saying something along the lines of "they can take our swords, but they can never take our FREEDOM!!!". man, how am i ever gonna get a genuine Scottish claymore now?

hehe. when you said boar sword it made me think of a rapier-style sword i saw once from the anglo-boar war.

i live in eastern Canada and im just starting up an amateur backyard forge. anyone know where i could get borax? and now that i think of it, where would generally be a good spot to get coal? i dont think there are blacksmith's supply stores in my neck of the woods.