Rob Browne

Nice. The only word for it.

Very cool

Lucky :)

Where you from Sam?

No matter how much space you hve you always expand to fit the space available................

A leak between the pipe and the firebox will not affect a forge. So long as most of the air ends up in the firebox the forge will work. If it bugs you then by all means make a seal with some sort of refractory cement but its not necessary to fill all the cracks unless they are great big holes.

Simple and elegant. What else is there to say?

I really enjoyed that tutorial. The music over the top was a good touch instead of the hammer on anvil sounds we all know so well. Personally I would have liked your written comments to be more common. You put them in and they were really good then there were whole sections with no comments which would have improved the presentation. Good show :)

That's a serious firepot you welded up there Should be good for many years. If I were you I would really get onto finding some coal or lump charcoal as they are much better than the BBQ beads in the photo.

Listen to John B. The tabs allow for expansion and keep the surface level. A win win situation and sooooo simple.

Don't be ashamed of your tongs. They are servicable and will help you make many things including another set of better tongs. Make sure you keep them so you can see your progress. Making tongs is a great exercise in itself and a necessary one so you can tune your tongs to your work for safety. Love the shop setup but keep a real close eye on ventilation, lack of it can be a killer.

Check out the video in this thread for some ideas. http://www.iforgeiro...-granite-anvil/

A good one to show new people who keep asking about a "proper" forge and anvil. He does have an "interesting" method with hammering over his tong hand but the actual setup is a really good demo of how simple it can get.

I would vote for simply learning the basics of technical drawing. With a bit of freeehand sketching to get the intial design it then can be quickly transferred into a 3D drawing with full size plans for each elevation on board for comparison when working. It does not have to be fancy, just accurate.

Just scanned this thread for the size of the pieces to be welded and cannot find any mention. If this is a practice weld then make sure you are using metal of significant dimensions (old horse shoes are great) as thin metal cools VERY quickly and is hard to weld. Once you can weld the heavier pieces then you can progress to the finer work if that is your desire. Also, let it soak in your fire for a while to make sure its hot right through. This can take a bit of fiddling so the outside does not burn before the innards are hot enough but a gentle, steady air flow will help so your fire hot but not raging.

I will miss his posts. They were always full of valuable information and a little bit of dry humour. RIP Grant.

Really inspiring films. Looks like he loves cooking almost as much as smithing! As for his last object made in the film - brilliant.

I don't think the weight matters. If it moves the metal, you can swing it for a long time witout injury and you can swing it with control then its OK. We seem to get a bit hung up on what is "right" more than what works or is needed. If its working for you don't worry about the weight.

Till you get the doctor's bill for the crook back :)

If asthma is a consideration then a gasser is a good option. If that is not a goer then it looks like your wife is not going to be visiting you when you are banging away. I have seen 16kg bags of lump charcoal in Bunners and remember thinking it was an expensive way to forge. I think I would be looking at a gasser if I was you.

I wouldn't be too hard on it. Keep it and use it and refer back to it as your expertise grows. Great first go......................

That's one I have to catch :)

What are you going to be making on that bit of rail? If you are making small pieces then the rail will work quite well as it is, especially if you tie it down to a solid stump. Save your time for forging not building an "anvil" as any solid bit of metal will work for you.

Stick it in a bucket of concrete would be my suggestion.

Reckon you have the answer already. Use your existing method and put less sand in it to start with.