Gergely

Hi Thomas! I don't understand what does "tightening it down" mean. (I understand the words but the down part is confusing.) Is it when you are closing the jaws by rotating the arm? Thanks Greetings Gergely

Hi All! First of all I want to tell you how amazed I am by your generosity. I did expect some help of course but offering this many ways and sacrificing this much time to my little problem... - I hardly can thank you enough for all your efforts. By Saturday evening the situation is the following: I made a prototype piece from the 10x10x94 mm stock checking if I'm able to do it. Also I wanted to show something to the project members. I got this: It's a bit rough around the edges but the essence is in it. Although the people liked it the manager and myself agreed it was too big and heavy for a key fob. I was thinking to go with 8x8 mm stock but also struggling with problems: 1. Cutting 8 mm thick stock 60 mm deep with hand held grinder is pretty risky = slow. 2. If I do the work much faster as with the prototype I can produce a piece in 30 minute. 100 pieces go in 3000 min. That equals 50 clean work hours. It is very utopistic to hope I can have that much work time. 3. I had that thing in my pocket and it was not good. Even if it's smaller it won't be comfortable. I was thinking how to curve or smooth the lines but you can't change a logo. So JNewman hit the nail on the head. I try to convince the manager about it being a good idea. Thank you very much for your kind help! I will report what happened on Monday. Greetings Gergely

Hey Guys! Got the other one! :) Bests G

Hi Friends and thank you again for the help! You really help me think outside the box. I tried yesterday 1forgeur's method - It worked very good, thank you for that. I produced a prototype and showed today to the project manager. It was recieved well but it needs to be smaller. Chinobi and GottmitUns: Wonderful idea - I try to find that kind of stock! Yahoo2: This was exactly my safe net solution, although the same problem with joining without welding it. Dave and Alan: Unfortunately there is no plasma oor water cutter in this region. It would make the whole stuff pretty expensive to find and use one. :( And the product must be hand forged. Yves Rashelle and Spanky: You gave me the new safety net idea. The U and V shapes did not show to my eyes. If I can't find heavy weight expanded stock I go with that. I try to have a pic from the prototype to show you guys the product. Sometimes soon, hopefully... Bests to all, and if you got something more I'm still very pleased to hear/read it... :) Thanks Gergely

Thank you so much guys for being so fast and helping minded! I'm on my way to the shop now, so let's try the new perspectives! If you got more please keep 'em coming. I'm capable to produce more failures :) G

:D I have had second thoughts about it... I'm leaning into that direction. :) G

Dear All! In spite of my limited forging experience I may have a chance to get a bigger order. A local project needs a hundred key fobs shaped after its logo. I said I give it a try although the time we have is very short: 3. of october. You can see the shape in the picture. Also the sizes are shown but for sure's sake: longest curved line is 50 mm, shortest line is 8 mm, the lower one with the right angle in it is 24 mm, and the other lower straight one is 18 mm. I tried it two ways: 50 mm 10x10 square stock cut into three parallel sections on one end up to 30 mm. The 20 mm uncut section drawn down to be the longest top line. - Total failure. 50 mm 10x10 square stock cut into two parallel sections both ends up to 22 mm. The cuts placed as they are in right angle to each other. (As in a split cross.) - It was complicated to do, and the result was pretty awful. The center where the lines started from took very big space thus screwing up the whole shape. I think about two pieces of slimmer starting stock bent to shape and tenoned together. The 8 mm section may allow this as it could be the tenon. The two longer lines (the 50 mm and the 24 mm) could be the longer stock and mortise it for the shorter stock. What do you think? I have only handhammers, vises, angle grinder, no help, no flypress. No welding allowed. Any help is very much appreciated! Thank you in advance. Greetings Gergely

Hi Matei! Very smooth work! I like it bigtime! And a respectable ars poetica above. "Welds reforged" - you said. What kind of welding you used that you can forge later? Gergely

Hi Guys! I got this little baby just yesterday. It was a story kinda showing things start to work around here as I have hoped: I made friends with the local turner. He is the only person in this small town who shares my craziness for steel and steelworking, scrapyards etc. So yesterday morning he said he saw a legvise the day before in the scrapyard next town. I called the scrapyard - and they somehow have remembered me torturing them repeatedly for blacksmithing tools. So the big man told the smaller man to put the vise aside for me. Later I drove there to pick up the vise. The only information was though that it's a not too big vise in unknown condition. When I arrived and find the right guy he said that actually there are two vises there - good start. So I looked to those vises and found that one of them is this: I don't know much about leg vises but I remembered something about tenoned mounting bracket ones being quite old. It is also very intact - except the "leglessness" which is very typical here in Hungary, and it needs a new spring. 003 picture shows the screw box being welded/soldered to pipe from plate stock. As I lightly wirebrushed it with a handbrush copper colored shine has appeared on it. It may be because of the soldering, isn't it? And the inner thread in the box looks like it was welded/soldered, too. It has a nice heart shaped mounting bracket which doesn't show well on the pics. So I'm very happy with it. (The other one was a bigger "modern" one. Its screw box was welded in the screw eye and the moveable arm didn't move. I decided to take only the screw with its washers. The whole package costed 4$, hehe) Bests to all and thanks for watching! Gergely

250 kg JEB falls also into the "wow" category! Price range is pretty wide here, too. But with luck you can find the right piece at the right price. Ie. there is a 75 kg Peddinghouse only 30 km from my house - flawless condition german two horn. Asking price is 200 € but I really hope we can agree on lower price... (So just have to find the money for it ;) ) Bests Gergely

Hello Matei! Thank you for posting these awesome pictures! They also confirm that JEB - certainly - has made real big sized anvils. I have never seen bigger JEB than 100 kg before - but what have I seen all together?... :unsure: Hey and those are some very pretty knives on your website! Nice work! Best wishes Gergely

Hi BF and welcome! If you look around here in the different sections (Forges, Anvils, Member Projects etc.) you can find way more info than only answers to your questions. As for the anvil problem: any - literally any - solid steel block works very well as a good beginner's anvil. Most popular choices are: railroad track piece (lying or standing), forklift tines as stump anvil, cube shaped pieces. I very much recommend to look around at the local scrapyard. I hardly can believe that you come out without a functional anvil substitute if you get the permit to enter and dig. Well, and you have way much time to find a real anvil then. With no hurry you can even pick the best one, no need to rush into a bad purchase. I wish you success in the process and then be careful - hot steel is highly addictive material ;) Happy hammering! Gergely PS. You are going to be told by others (not by me) to put your general location into your profile, - because we are everywhere, closer than you've ever imagined. B)

I was wondering about the same just yesterday! Although I think the Bardarbunga volcano is on uninhabited territory, but still... Hope you are well! Greetings Gergely

Wow, those are real nice!! She is a lucky nurse! G

As far as we are at the words: The word farrier / ferrier occurs first time in the late Middle English around 1374-1425. It is borrowed from Old or Middle French, where it is originated from Latin ferrarius, meaning 'smith'. Its root is ferrum 'iron'. So from the perspective of historical linguistics farrier means the same as blacksmith. :D Greetings Gergely PS. In Hungary nowadays everybody seems to think the blacksmith is who makes those cheap "ornamental" welded up fences.

Hi Nicole! Nice start! And interesting project as you described it. I wish all the best to continue it till you feel it ready and finished! Greetings Gergely

Give a try to Google picture search with the words: hand forged. Welcome to IFI! Here you can find good company and infinite sources of data. Sometimes it's worth read around and then ask. I wish you nice time on the blacksmithing session! Greetings Gergely

Well, Tubbe, you did it again! Very good video and very educational, too. While watching it sometimes I had some disbelief - but there was so clear work and so well constructed process that doubts never lasted more than 2-3 sec. :) And the final product is awesome. Thank you for sharing your method. And the next working spot marked on the anvil is also a nice idea - I am definitely gonna try that to help my dancing around the anvil. Thanks for inspiration!! Gergely

Hi Kai, and welcome! It's always good to see an other European on the IFI! Very good starting work! You can find a big bunch of other new project ideas around here if you ever need it. But maybe you already know that. And nice starter anvil, too. Will be good and useful for a long-long time. Although is that tree stump stabile enough? Those cut lumber pieces don't look like they make impossible the whole setup to tip over. And if you don't want to improvise only here are some good helps: http://www.hlcollege.ac.uk/Downloads/cp_blacksmith.html http://www.mrsoso.nl/bushcraft/basic-blacksmithing.pdf Happy hammering! Gergely

Hi! I like the second one better (with the octagonal base). Somehow it works for me more :) , maybe the symmetric shape, don't know... But I have to say that the first has smoother look. No weld marks for example, which are a minus on the second one. OK, so here we go. Make one from this two and you're golden. Nice work all in all. Bests Gergely

Hi again! I'm really not sure about these things but I just have to put them into words. So please read it as only starting a conversation: As I think the diameter of the chimney/flue only matters when there is natural stack effect. But in this case a motoric exhaust fan produces the move of the air. So the 12 cm dia is as good as any bigger if the capacity of the fan is enough to move out air from the shop. I think there can be two major problems: on the one hand the capacity of the fan is too low, or on the other hand the airflow is somehow blocked or partially obstructed. The second one can be cured with an other fan indicating airflow input to the shop. And - that's why I bother you guys with all of this - in that case the whole problem is solved with a simple fan added to the shop. No big changes, no big costs... just continue the real work. If the motor is too small then there is a chance that the Cobra exhaust fan will help, because it is quite powerful. But you will need the input fan even more because it will generate a bigger need of incoming air. All right, that's it. I just can hope this all makes sense and is understandable by others outside my head. :) (The others inside my head say they understand it, bruhaha.... :D ) Greetings Gergely

This is turning into a real tutorial! Thank you so much! Soon I'm giving it a try. Greetings Gergely

OK, I see now (I hope). Look the pictures on the seller's ad, if you look at the second one from the left you can see two attachment holes (my words, sorry). The upside hole is obvious you see it in all picts. On the left side on the other hand there is an other hole. You attach the pipings to these holes. So you need to install it differently as yours is now. It needs a 90" angle turn in the piping. Hehe, I know what you're talkin about... And I often had those headache-like feelings back when my chimney was smaller diameter. Now there is no smoke nor headaches. Yeah, I feel for you... Greetings Gergely

Hi Elmarg! I found this: http://www.directindustry.com/prod/delta-neu/centrifugal-type-fans-16555-462473.html#product-item_36829 It looks like a pretty strong exhaust fan to me. The minimum capacity is 0,66 m3/s which is good enough to suck out all the air from a small shop under a minute. If you buy it maybe you ought to get an other fan to put some air into the shop as well - so the air can flow through the shop. This snail like construct is a quite general among the fans. About your problem: CO (carbon monoxide) poisoning - as much as I know - starts with headache, dizziness, nausea. Low concentration in air can cause no harm in short time but can be deadly in long (3hours). And it is not a joke as it kills very effectively. Increasing CO2 (carbon dioxide) level is even more dangerous as if it is high enough to get inhaled it can cause faint in 2-3 inhalation. As one hits the ground they become surrounded by CO2 and then death is almost certain. Although I have to ask: do you drink enough water while smithing? Even in a well ventillated shop dry throat and headache can occur in a couple hours of hard work if there is no hydration. And one more thought: have you checked what happens when you put input airflow to the shop? A simple household fan can work and make your smoke extraction more effective. That's all I have. Congratulation on your blacksmith shop! I wish you good and fruitful times in there! Greetings Gergely PS: there are pretty cool things on that auction site you linked in. That whole smithy for example... ;)

Thank you very much for the detailed answer. I'd never thought that the maces are made of pipe. We want to redo a part of our front yard and minimize the grass covered surface. So I thought there is a fun and long project to make some sort of "ironic garden" :) I really like your work but I have no idea how to achieve such a light beauty. - Time will show more... Bests Gergely