C.I.TR3

Anyone have any experience with the Esteem Grinder? Looks to be pretty popular over on the BladeForums. Wondering how it compares to a KMG? Thanks for any input?

Well, after building my first forge and finding a used anvil I finally got to start heating and playing with some metal. The hook was my first attempt at heating something up and moving metal around. I sure learned a lot about heat, hammering, etc. It is ugly but I am really proud of making it on my own with a forge I built myself. The ash tool was my second and am pretty pleased with the taper on this one. Next is to start making some tools like tongs and anvil hold down tools. The best news is that I only burned myself a few times and none of them were serious! Thanks to everyone for their help in getting started.

Still in the process of getting my first forge set up. Can someone please help me with how to adjust my forced air burner? I am not sure how to manage the relationship between the propane regulator, propane needle valve, and gate valve I have on my air supply. What kind of flame should I be looking for? How much space should there be between the end of nozzle and where visible flame actually starts? What is the best way to start making adjustments to get the burn I am looking for? What exactly am I looking for? I have seen a number of posts relating to doing this for venturi burners and thought I remember one for a forced air burner but for the life of me I cannot find it. Thanks for the help.

Thanks everyone. Yes, the forge ended up being overkill but the length of pipe was a scrap I was able to get locally so I figured why not. I agree that at this point I am going to focus on welding projects where the structural integrity is not critical to safety. As I am just getting started my focus is going to be on learning to make tools that I need. Also the welder is a Miller wire feed. I have had a good friend give me a few lessons on welding so I at least know what I am shooting for in my welds. It was fun to see them improve even over the span of this short project.

I have always wanted to learn to weld in addition to learning to forge metal so i figured what better way to start than to build my own forge. I have had an absolute blast researching what to build and doing the actual construction. I built this based around a 12" long piece of 10" diameter pipe. The forge will be lined with Kaowool and coated with ITC 100 which I am waiting to arrive. It will be powered with a blown burner that I am working on putting together. Not sure what to do about a floor/shelf inside. Any recommendations? Its amazing what a lot of grinding and a coat of black paint can do to cover up all my beginner mistakes. What can I build next?

Thanks for all the kind words. Yes, I guess I did get caught up in reading all kinds of "200 lb anvil for $85" stories. Long and the short of it is that I got a great anvil for a fair price. What's not to like about that. Plus, unlike most items I find for sale which seem to be 2+ hours away, this one was only a 30 minute drive. I am very happy and very excited to use it. I will do some searching around, but is there anything I need to do to protect it (i.e. oil for rust)?

After quite a bit of searching, I finally found my first Anvil. It is a beautiful 156 pound Peter Wright. Looks used but not abused and exactly the size I was looking for. It came with a solid maple base so I don;t have to worry about that either. It also came with 4 Hardie tools and a hammer. Cost was $450. $3 per pound does not seem like a great deal, but here in the Northwest anvils are hard to come buy and fetch a pretty penny. Relative to other items I have seen (high cost and poor condition) I am very pleased. Its only money right?

I have looked at the NWBA site and once things settle down from the summer (i.e. school starts up for my son) I am going to try and make a meeting or event of some type. We just took a trip to yellowstone and I thought for sure I would find one at an antique store or flea market along the way but no such luck. I am just starting so I know this kind of thing can take some time. Steve, I will drop a PM. I just looked at your site too and may try and get in for one of your weekends.

Great. Thanks Jim. I think I have found enough ideas to get started.

Thanks to both of you. Yes, Washington has grown a lot in the time I have been here (20 years... yikes). It is still a beautiful place to live. My favorite activity when family comes to visit is to drop crab pots in the morning, hike a glacier in the afternoon, then crab boil on the beach in the evening. Truly a northwest day. I will give searchtempest a try. Great tip!

Hello all, I am new and in the process of building my first forge. After doing lots of reading I have come up with the following design. 12" length of 10" diameter pipe lined with 2" of Kaowool and coated with ITC 100. The forge will have doors on the front and back and the front door will have a 4X4 opening in it. My original design was to have a piece of 1 1/2" pipe welded tangentially near the top of the pipe to hold a T Rex or Zoeller burner. I am sitting at just under 350 cu in. so this seemed like an appropriate size. Today a friend gave me a 70 CFM blower and suggested that I do a blown burner instead. I have read a number of posts regarding the pros and cons of each type and think that I would like to go this route instead. My questions are: 1) Is my design still a good size for blown burner versus a venturi burner? 2) I see lots of venturi burner designs, but am having some trouble finding detailed designs for blown burners. I have seen Indian's George's design and also thought about buying a blown burner from High Temp Tools. I have also seen Jymm Hoffman's design in the thread below but was looking for a bit more detail on how to build it? Can someone point me to a good detailed design for a beginner? 3) Will the 1 1/2" burner holder i was going to add for the venturi burner still work with a blown burner? I was going to work on that part tomorrow and am now wondering if I need to wait and do something else. I have searched for answers to these questions but cannot seem to find them. Any info and help is greatly appreciated.

Hello All, I have been lurking on the forum for quite a while and doing A LOT of reading. What a great wealth of information on this site. I am an aspiring beginner located north of Seattle Washington. At this point my plan is to be mostly self taught based on reading books (The new Edge of the Anvil and The Art of Blacksmithing) and websites but I am hoping to find a weekend class locally that can help get me started on the right foot. I know David Lisch at Studio 4 forge does some weekend classes and I am on his email list hoping he will do another one this fall. In regards to tools, I am learning to weld as well and have just started working on building a forge. After this post I will be heading to the gas forge forum to post some questions there. I am also searching for an anvil but they seem to be difficult to come by in the northwest. Based on my reading I have learned that the way to start is to tell everyone I am looking for one and to look on Craigslist. I have started on both these tracks. Anyway, thanks in advance for all the knowledge that is being shared on this forum. I look forward to learning more from everyone.