ThorsHammer82

Yup. thats what I was talking about. Thanks again for the help on this one gentlemen.

I would assume Dodge's is 1 piece and shaped by the CNC mill. It's nice anvil, as is MLM's.

our friends busted out one of those for roasting marshmallows at a camping trip. Needless to say, the good old fashioned stick prevailed yet again. Now if I could have found my telescoping rotating roasting sticks It would have been a more crushing defeat than it was with the stick, but still.

I swear the is the first question that comes out of everyone's mouth when I tell them I'm doing blacksmithing, or that I built a forge. "Can you build me a sword" either that or "when are you going to build a sword" whereas I would love to know I have the skill and ability to make a proper sword. I have not intentions of doing so. Partly because of the description above from charles, partly because I know currently I don't have the skill to make a proper sword, and finally because I don't have the equipment/manpower to pull off a proper sword. Maybe someday when I've got a power hammer and a 5' ribbon forge I'll consider it. but as it stands right now I've got no need for those pieces of equipment. My skills and abilities do not lend themselves to being able to produce anything of worth from them at this time. Now, I'll make some blades out of scrap on hand and be happy with it. but to make a proper sword not only do you need the tools and equipment to make one, but you also need the hands on supervision of a master swordsmith to get it right the first 100+ times. YouTube, and online forums just aren't going to cut it in my opinion. a proper sword was a utilitarian object. Not a pretty thing to hang on the wall. what you're describing is a pretty thing to hang on the wall. It will have little to no use if used as a proper sword. If that's what you're going for, that's fine. but it doesn't do a lot of good if you've ever got to use it. not that that's likely to happen, but you get the point.

was my word choice to colorful or are you refering the the forge porn? Edit: Not sure who edited your post for language above (#364), but Charles is probably referring to both. Terms of use link is posted are the bottom of every page

Holy XXXX! someone uses Google+?

DSW Knows his stuff when it comes to welding and the advice to not weld should be strongly considered as you run a higher risk of destroying the forge than you do of actually fixing it to your liking.

My welding shop is Thor's Hammer Industries. Not sure what I'll call my forge. May stick with that May go with Metal works instead of industries. Who knows. To give you an idea of why the name. I'm approximately 75% Norwegain/scandinavian. 20% germanic, and 5% of this that and the other so I identify with my Norse liniage more than most. Some friends started calling me the Norwegian about 10-12 years ago and it stuck. Than when I married my wife, my Italian father inlaw's name is Thor. So combining that with my norse liniage I had the perfect excuse to name my son Thor. Well we couldn't figure out a middle name that went with it (Father in law doesn't have a middle name) so we made Thor his middle name. And since the intent is to leave all my metal working equipment to my children I decided to call it Thor's Hammer. Mjolnir just doesn't flow off of most people's tongues quite right. at 6'5" and 245 lbs I think I do the name justice, though My wife would kill me if I tried for the bearded long haired viking look. lol. She might only be 4'10.5" and 110 lbs, but that woman will strike fear into the heart of the strongest warrior. and since we gave one son the middle name of a god, we had to give his brother a matching name. so I've got a 3 yr old with the middle name Thor, and a 15 mnth old with the middle name Loki. I may live to regret it, but its fitting.

John, chalk it up to a bad morning. No apology needed from you. I don't think we're recreating the wheel so much as we're attempting to make the wheel less expensive. Like Glenn said, for most, this is just a hobby. it's not what pays the bills, it's not needed to keep food on the table and the farm still working. It's not so much a lost art as it is a hiden art. yes there are still master smiths. but unfortunately they are few and far between and in far less demand than their knowledge and skill deserves. I honestly feel that it will be hobbiests that truely carry this trade into the future. Thats a sad reality. but it is what it is.

Glenn, I apologize if my statement came off a bit harsh. Like I said, I had a snickers I'm better. My complaint was more in frustration of a rough morning in conjunction with a off color response to the thread, as quoted above my statement. As many of you, and myself are aware there are many many explanations on here for any number of questions. I feel my frustration has more to do with people saying some phrase equating to "hey, go read it for yourself" without giving any real indication of where to find the answer they are looking for. I don't expect people to know exactly where an answer is. but maybe those with superior googlefu on this site can link to pertinent threads rather than saying "go search the site, this has been answered many times" or making a sarcastic comment such as "Why, it is almost as if blacksmiths of old had the same problems and found ways to deal with them". I know I for one have had issues locating information regarding questions. and have found that without knowing the exact phrase to search for I have to cast as wide a net as possible in order to find anything and than I'm searching for hours through threads that barely touch on the subject at hand or don't address the question I have to begin with. Personally being a father of three who works full time I don't have enough time to spend hours reading the site, and must resort to asking the question as it comes up versus digging for hours when I might not find what I'm looking for in the first place.

No Rich, for once you were fine. and actually included a bit of refreshing humor. but like I said, I ran out of grains of salt to take with the "cranky" ones. It's ok though I had a snickers bar. I'm better.

It's either going to be a post anvil of a power hammer anvil. Haven't decided yet. I got it because it's broken. The one on the machine now isn't much longer than this one. It still has the radiused curve on the edge that you wouldn't find on one that was beaten to complete crap. I'm actually REALLY lucky that he was willing to give these pieces up because in order to get new bits and anvils for the rock crusher and hydro hammers he needs to send the worn out ones back so they can be melted down for use in the new ones. If you compair the rock anvil to a new one it is REALLy worn down but I'm not complaining because it works great for me. I picked them both up, along with quite a bit of other metal from a local rock quarry for free. everything except the rock anvil and bit were scrap metal to him anyway. It's good to make friends with the right people.

isn't that exactly what I'm doing? learning form the experience of others to confirm my initial thoughts and move forward using tried and true methods? Sorry if I didn't come into this knowing the things that people who have been smithing for decades know and understand. The last I checked the point of forrums wasn't just for "good ole boys" to pat eachother on the back, but to share knowledge and information with people who may not know. Yes I get that there is hundreds of thousands of posts on here, and any number could have already covered just about any question that someone could have. But seriously, the amount of flack people get on here for asking a simple question is beyond rediculous. some of you guys spend more time ripping into prospective newby's than it would take to answer their questions in the first place. Thank you to everyone that take the time to answer question and spread you're knowledge. It's greatly appreciated by me and many others who use this site. and to the other guys. well I'm sorry, I ran out of salt this morning to take you with. I'll be sure to pick up more.

without knowing the exact hammer it came off of and based on a rough guess of the diameter at 6-7" it's either a 12000 lb or 15000 lb model so it's somewhere in the 75,000-180,000 range.

It's pretty obvious what they are once you've got them. and yeah, I've got the tool to drag them out. I think I'll go with a slightly larger fire next time too. to concentrated of a fire caused the problem this time so spread it out a little and I should be good to go. Thanks a lot guys.

yup. my main anvil is a rock anvil. It's actually only half of one. but it's cast steel that the rocks are thrown at at high speed and they shatter on impact. The post is actually the Tip of the rock breaker. basically a jack hammer on steroids. It goes on an excavator and it is used to make rocks that are to big for the other excavators/trucks to move into manageable sizes. I can't remember how many lbs of force it can put into the rocks but it's more that 100,000 psi if I remember right. I'll do some more research and let you know.

I haven't had any issues with them getting in the way or blocking airflow until I tried to make the fire smaller. But I was also at the end of the bucket so the dust that was in the bottom could have helped contribute to the problems. Hopefully the next bucket will be better.

Thomas, mind clarifying what you mean by rate of consumption? THe more coal, the more clinkers? It would be a shame if the only coal sorce near me only sells coal with lots of clinker issues... guess it's something I'm going to have to learn to live with. But I can say that the clinkers did stick to the bricks but there were far more (at least a larger mass) after the previous burn without the bricks.

ok, so Having done a couple of sessoins forging now in my brake drum forge I've noticed after I'm done along with the coked up coal that is left there is also clumped together chunks of "stuff" that almost looking like it's melted together. I can only assume that these are clinkers. What exactly are they, and what can I do to reduce the number/size I end up with. I added some bricks into my brake drum in this last session to reduce the size of the fire, and build it's height. This greatly improved my fuel consumption, but It also caused me to have issues with the work getting blocked by clinkers. Is this just something I'm going to have to learn to deal with? Or am I just doing something wrong? I could probably fill half a coffee can with the chunks I've pulled out over the last few sessions.

Not so much homemade, but more repurposed. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37487-it-followed-me-home-anvil-type-item/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/37486-it-followed-me-home-post-anvil/ I've got the first one mounted and cleaned up a bit. The post is still waiting to determine exactly what it will be used for.

I haven't had a hard time starting coal with just paper and some small piece of kindling. I do have a damper of sorts that kills of the air and drowns the fire so I'm left with good coked up coal for the next fire so that helps. just lite the paper pack the coal around it and turn on the fan. and away she goes.

did you leave the blower on the whole time? once it's burning you only need the blower going when the metal is in the fire, otherwise you're just wasting fuel. Also, the size of the fire, especially for the stock you were using was huge. As mentioned in your other thread, you need something to reduce the size of the firepot. bricks, or clay, or watering the outside edges are all common practices.

Don't mind Rich, the Crumudgeon part fits, though I think he's more a a journeyman than apprentice at this point. starting a new thread is the way to go, because really it's a different subject.

A properly designed Chimney doesn't leave much risk of lighting the roof on fire. Most are double walled and insulated. YOu should be able to just buy the "through" section at a local stove/fireplace store. Maybe even a hardware store.