Rob Browne

Before even starting that project, make sure you will not end up in trouble with the law. Those things will get you a trip to the cops VERY fast here.

Cheers

$300 starter price!! For that money you could make a real beauty out of bits 'n pieces.

Go to a good hardware and get one of each flat bastard, mill and flat file. A half round bastard and mill file. A round/rat tail bastard and mill file. All up seven files and you should be able to take on almost any filing project with that lot. Remember to keep your files clean and covered so they don't bump together. Don't force them into the work, let them do their job steadily and use your strength to guide them not force them. Once the filing is finished then its down to stones and emery paper.

Remember, practice makes perfect BUT they are talking about a LOT of practice.

Boy, there must be some money in horse shoes to allow tooling up like that. Imagine the overheads and the cost of a different set of dies are used for each size.

When comparing those shoes produced to the hand forging no wonder I used to modify commercial shoes when I used to shoe horses.

Cheers

Just make sure its thick!

It will work but the cutouts in the side may be a bit too low as you will have to build up the fire to get the necessary depth. I do this in the rivet forge just by filling it with coal and pushing it in to the fire as needed. If this is the case do what I did and weld a couple of strips into the cutout at the correct level once you have used the forge a fewe times. This may be made a bit "worse" if you end up lining for forge with some clay, while it helps shape the base of the fire pot it also raises the fire level.

The tuyere will work but I find a few bars of rebar welded in rows works better than holes in a plate. I found just holes get clogged too easily.

The size of your ash dump should not matter to your air volume. Just seal it up and the air only have one way to go. Better too large than too small.

Consider welding a couple of bits of pipe on one side at the cut out so you can mount a frame for long pieces to lay on while heating.

All up, a functional forge from bits 'n pieces.

Cheers

You could use some fire cement to seal it up, especially if you are using a hand cranker. Many often have valves on electric blowers to reduce the air flow so it would not matter if you were losing some air here, just open the valve a bit and you would have plenty of air.

Basically, it depends on how "neat" you like your forge to look and what type of blower you have hooked up.

Cheers

I'd stick to your rail anvil for the moment. Keep looking around as that one is in VERY ordinary condition and US$200 is a lot of money.

Cheers

Great set of tools you are building. My only comment would be to smooth the saddle so it won't tend to leave as many marks on your work that you have to fix up later.

Cheers

That is a nice functional knife. I'd be proud to call that my first one!

If its industrial coke you are using and not breeze (coke from coal in the fire) then I would be lighting it with a small kindling fire. This will give it plenty of time to really get going, then you only have to keep the air up to it.

Cheers

If you are getting into really/fairly heavy hot work why not build your own pot out of fire bricks. Or does your forge have to be portable?

After the other feedback my comment would be to keep an eye on the location of the rivets. The first one is very close to the edge of the timber handle. Bet it does not cause you any trouble but its weaker and, to my eye, does not look as good.

Cheers

Great idea for those of us with small anvils. I spend lots of time setting up hardy tools to sit on top of the anvil body where they rattle around but are sited on the strongest part of the anvil. Why I never thought of this is beyond me..........

Try sitting it in a drum of diesel for a few weeks. Every now and then pull it out and try turning it. Eventually you will succeed.

My two boys are 13 & 11. Both forge on and off but they have plenty of time to get up to speed if they want to.

Looks like a really nice anvil but then I tend to do light forgings and not much heavy pounding.

Cheers

Some great ideas there. Consider at least some parts stolen :)

Have a dig through the Solid Fuel Forge threads. There are quite a few there about blowers of all types.

Cheers

You can make your forge out of any stones that take your fancy as long as you line the firepot with some clay or refractory.

Cheers

Bruce,

Is there a way for us underneath the world to get a copy as well?

Thanx

Just use the Teusday Night Blueprint link under the Forum Feedback link on the front page.

Cheers

And lo, an anvil appeared from a scrap yard like magic.

Fantastic find. Stick it on your sand filled base and you are well and truely set up.

Cheers

If you think about it the important thing with anvils is to have LOTS of mass under your hammer. If you have a heavy anvil then it has that mass built in and a tripod base will work for most hand forged work. However, with a relatively light anvil like this one I would be going for as solid a base as you can find as the base is effectively adding mass to your anvil. So a sand filled one or a solid stump is the go in this case.

Just my two bobs worth.......

Mine is set about 2" higher than my knuckles as I don't work on heavy stuff.