Jason L

You're right Frosty. I'll always have found steel on hand, it's a compulsion. But bought steel is more reliable and there are charts on how to deal with it. The scrap finds are for my own use just to play with. It's great therapy just to heat, beat and repeat. I've found I relax quite a bit when I'm just hammering for no reason and with no plan. I'd hate to do that with bought stuff but free is just right. My forge is my fidget spinner I suppose

Yeah, I don't like taking things that aren't mine, but it sure was tempting lol

I cut it with an angle grinder with a cutoff disk. It cut with no problem. I haven't tried to drill it simply because it completely flattened the tip of a center punch and a piece of spring steel that i used as a center punch and didn't even scratch it. I'm going to try the localized annealing mentioned above at some point. It's not a priority at the moment but I'll play with it and see what I can do with it.

That is an amazing idea! I'd have never thought of it on my own. I had thought about throwing it in the forge and puching the holes but I was afraid it would warp and I really didn't want to get into that mess. Thanks guys!

A while back, I was given several 24" circular saw blades 1/4" thick. I figured they might be useful to make a small guillotine tool out of so I drew up the plans cut out one side out and all seemed to be going well. I laid out where I wanted holes to be to bolt this thing together and that's when I ran into trouble. I got out the handy center punch and when I hit it, the tip flattened out completely. I redressed the tip and tried again, same thing. Ok, next try I took some spring steel and made a quick and dirty center punch. Flattened it like a pancake. Not even a scratch on the saw blade. I figured if I can't center punch it, I can't drill it so the next attempt will be something a bit easier to work. From the little I could find online, these big saw blades are typically softer steel with hardened teeth. These are hardened through and through. Now I have 8 large saw blades I have to figure out what I make out of lol. There are worse problems to have I suppose. They might make decent chisels, we'll see.

For my first forge I bought a $20 tiny shop vac from Walmart, a cheap extension cord and a dimmer switch. All in probably $30 or less. I cut the extension cord in the middle and installed the dimmer switch to control the shop vac. It worked great for a few years until I got something better. Later I added a foot switch to the whole thing and I could just step on it as I took the metal out of the forge to kill the air. I think the foot switch came from Walmart as well. I still have both cords but I no longer have any need for them

Nice one Thomas. I never bothered with mechanics too much because at one point in time my pile was getting a little out of hand just from what I scrounged from work. I never had need to go elsewhere. Once I get going I'll probably buy good known steel for the most part but I'll always keep my finger on the pulse around town to see what I can find.

Most of the stuff I have is of recent vintage. Most of it cut out within the last 5 years or so. The tracks were right next to our building, within 30' or so and there is a maintenance shack right outside our back gate so I never was left wanting for railroad iron although it suck having freight trains rumble by every few minutes for 10 hours a day and with two sets of tracks sometimes they would double up. I always wanted to climb the coal cars with a shovel and fill up my truck but I never did anything like that. They stayed parked next to our building sometimes for days on end.

Nice forge. I've got one similar to that but the sides aren't as deep, it's a bit bigger and it's all one piece, the firepot isn't removeable. I traded a truck for mine years ago and it was super rusty when I got it. I broke several bolts and one of the brackets that holds the blower on when I was moving it

At the moment the city is clearing land behind us for some reason so there are huge piles of red clay out there. I was thinking about just talking to some of my contacts and skimming off the piles. They are probably 10' high and some are probably 50' long or more so they probably wouldn't even notice a truckload or two going missing but I have friends at the courthouse so I'll ask them before I do anything. I didn't have a tree fall on me but I did something really universally stupid. I stuck my arm through the boom of a forklift to grab a bag of deer feed that was slipping off and my hip hit the lever. Nearly scissored my arm off but I got lucky and got to keep it. I talked to my surgeon and asked if they had to amputate if I could take the bone home to make a knife handle out of. They didn't say no but I did get some strange looks. After three days they told me I was going to keep my arm and it was bittersweet. I would have loved that knife but the arm is infinitely more useful. As far as overdoing it with the log, I will most likely overdo it when it comes to the permanent one but I'll probably opt for metal instead of wood. I just think the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to a metal tripod and I don't want to have to replace a stump every few years. I did have a thought though. I've got a board that someone gave me that's Ipe wood. Apparently it has the same fire rating as steel and it's rated for burial for like 50 years or something with no rot. Incredibly dense wood. It might be expensive but it would certainly last the rest of my life. I have seen people put a torch to it and it will burn eventually but it takes a while and doesn't have much of a structural effect on it. No idea where to find it though. I might talk to the guy who gave me that piece and see where he got it from.

I've got about a pound of the thermite but I don't have any of the molds. They're still at the store but I don't have access anymore. They are much smaller than the ones they use now. Made out of something that looks like porous terra cotta. Quite brittle and thin but they fit modern track just fine. I'm thinking they were from the 70's, maybe as early as the 50's or 60's but I have no way of knowing for sure

lol. It's not a big deal. I'm out of fuel so my forge won't be running for a while anyway and right now I'm just trying to learn how to work with the limitations from my accident. The tilt helps only because after crushing my elbow to powder now my tongs end up tilted when I hold them. As far as the eventual permanent stand goes, I'm leaning towards metal tripod. My last anvil stand was 2x12's bolted together and that worked pretty good but it eventually rotted out. Termites thought it was a tasty treat. If I do use wood, I'm going to see if one of my woodworker friends can get me a piece of cedar or cypress or something that is rot resistant and sink it in the ground a few feet. Speaking of ground, the loose soil is my fault. I dumped a load of sand there a few years ago to level a pool that is no longer there. The sand doesn't compact (I think I saw someone, maybe Frosty, talking about the difference between angular sand and rounded sand... I assume I have the latter) and the loamy soil I have in the back is pretty spongy anyway. I'll be bringing in something so build up the ground to level and keep rain from soaking in under the walls. For the moment, I'm waiting to restock fuel and stand until I get someplace dry to put everything. I'm hoping I can put up a pole barn type shed soon and add walls over time. I'm friends with the inspector so I have a little leeway but if the neighbors complain it won't do me any good and I'll have to tear it down so slow and steady, I hope, will win the race. By the by Frosty, I found one of those wrought iron bars although I think it's closer to 1/2" or 5/8" and apparently I hammered one end. I don't remember doing it, but oh well.

Hey Frosty, the molds and thermite I found in our warehouse may have been used for welding, the RR sold the building to a friend of mine for $1 back in the 70's I think. Why can't I find deals like that? I've watched them several times and come to think of it, I don't actually know what they are doing to the track. They usually cut out a small section, maybe a couple inches or so, then weld it back together. They told me why they do it but I can't remember what they said. From what I could tell they clamp a big mold to the track, pour a bag of thermite in the top of the mold, put a magnesium strip in it like a fuse and light it. When it's done I guess they break the mold off then a special rail car comes along with grinders to smooth it all out. I usually didn't stick around for the whole thing. I would just run out and ask them to leave the cutoffs and go back in to work till they were gone and go collect my prize later in the day, if they left it. Usually they would toss it over the chain link fence for me but often enough they would take it with them. I'd collect my prize later in the day after they left.

I'm not in a hurry and eventually I plan on it being permanent but for now it'll just be temporary so I'll keep using what I have till it rots then go grab another chunk of wood somewhere. I've got to build a shop first and that might take some time.

The railroads around here use thermite to cut track. They clamp molds to the track and fill a hole in the top of the molds with thermite then light it. I used to watch them do it and try and score the cutoffs if they weren't too long. The building I worked in at the time was the old depot and so a lot of railroad items were left in it. I actually got a few pounds of thermite and there were a few boxes of the molds left in there as well. Interestingly enough I also found a box with some torpedoes in it but they had sweated pretty badly and I got someone else (a RR employee) to remove them as soon as possible. Once I got the box out and saw what was in it, I was too afraid to move it so it sat where I left it till they picked it up. It's terrifying what can be found in old depots.

Well, it would have been a great score if I could find it! lol

I'm using a cut off log that I fished out of the woods near my home at the moment. It was already close to the right size I just had to level with a chainsaw before I loaded it up. It's a bit punky and rotten in places but it keeps the anvil off the deck for the moment. On a side note, when I put it next to my forge it sank a little bit in the dirt after a couple of days and leans towards me which I didn't notice at first but as I used it the tilt got more pronounced. I actually like it that way now. Anyway, I'm running through ideas in my head of what kind of stand I want to make and it occurred to me that with the clay soil we have here, I could probably build a frame and fill it with our local dirt. After this stuff hardens it's pretty much like a brick. Now I'm not actually going to do this but I was wondering if it could be done. I'm leaning towards a metal tripod stand but curiosity really has me wondering about just building up the earth to make a stand out of. Has anybody ever seen it or tried it?

until recently I worked at a feed store so I was always getting farm scrap. None of them would let me come raid their barns though lol. During a renovation of the feed store we took a bunch of bars off the windows. They turned out to be wrought iron! I brought some home but now I can't find them but if memory serves, they were about four feet long and 5/8" or maybe 3/4" diameter. I've heard working wrought was tricky so I never did anything with them. I was waiting till I learned more about it and came up with an idea or till I could find someone who might want to make something out of them for a trade of course. I'll keep looking for them and see if I can find them

Thanks Frosty. It's good to be back. I actually made a tong clip yesterday out of a hay rake tine. I believe they are some kind of spring steel but I have no idea what kind. I keep them for just such small projects. The farmer I got them from had a whole bundle of them he was going to throw away since they were broken but they are close to a foot long and easy to forge weld together so they make great small basket twist material. They also make dandy tong clips as I found out yesterday. Farmers are a fantastic source of old steel that's great for ornamental work. They are constantly breaking stuff. Most of it is usually some sort of tool steel or spring steel with the occasional cable or plow points thrown in for good measure. I have no idea what any of it is made from but it's great for making ornamental pieces or anything that doesn't have to be guaranteed break resistant.

I made this little thing out of a cut off piece of rail that was an inch or so thick. The wife wanted an anvil to make jewelry on and I figured why not. I was going to cut it in half and use the other piece for a bottom tool of some sort in my anvil but she wanted to keep it the way it is and since a happy wife means a happy life, she got it. I may see if I can find another piece and make a pair of bottom tools for my anvil. Or I might sneak this one away if she doesn't use it often enough lol

Irondragon, I made the hydration mistake the day before yesterday. I took a cup of coffee out with me and got lost in the fire. I didn't realize how long I had been out there and when I came in I was a bit dehydrated. Not bad but enough to make me feel rough. I put my music on and completely forgot about everything but the task at hand. It's amazing how forging can turn an hour into four hours lol.

Thanks for the encouragement Frosty. I remember you from quite a while back. Glad to see some familiar people. I have to admit I was a bit surprised at how well I did initially. I can only get better. I am quite rusty but so is my steel so it evens out. I'm thinking about making nails for a while. I have to build a small shop and I figure if I practice enough, not only will I gain experience and improve my skills but I might also be able to use some of the nails in the construction process. I might even go so far as to make the hinges for the door and we'll see what else I need that I might be able to make. Since I'm semi retired now I should have plenty of time to work on this and maybe even offset some of the cost by selling some things along the way. I'm excited to restart this journey.

So sorry George. I haven't been back here in years and didn't even know that I hadn't put that up. I think it's fixed now though. Thank you for pointing that out.

Great advice. I don't have too much of a problem holding so far, I have motion in my arm I just can't straighten it all the way out. I have plans on making some hold downs although so far the tongs work fine with the only problem being the stamina. I'm pretty sure I'll have mild steel on hand for making candle holders, hinges, just random stuff. I don't want to make a lot of knives but for now I can reuse the steel since it's just flattened out and knife shaped. I just want to get the hammer control down before I start ruining bought steel lol. Thanks for the replies, I'll be taking the advice to heart and it gives me a couple of projects to work on in the meantime. How hard could it be to make a hold down lol

As the title says, I'm trying to get back into smithing again after a several year hiatus and I've got a few questions. First, a little background on my situation... A few years ago I had an accident at work that crushed my arm. It was completely useless for almost a year but I kept working on it and finally got a lot of the use back with some limitations. First, I can't straighten it out anymore so I raised my anvil height to help accommodate that. It's my tong arm so my grip isn't the best and it wears out pretty easily. the only muscle I have left in that arm is in my forearm, my biceps are almost nonexistent now. Having said that, I kept all my smithing stuff with the hope that I'd be able to use it again one day and I think that day has finally come. I've fired up my forge a couple of times lately and while the work is slow, I am making progress. The only steel I have left to work with is two rusty and pitted leaf springs and one coil spring that came out of a wrecked truck. So far I have hammered out two knives from the coil spring, not for use or anything, I'm just using the springs to try and regain hammer control and get some practice in. My biggest problems right now are stamina and holding my work steady. I've got a bunch of hay rake tines that I'm going to make tong rings out of so I don't have to keep such a tight grip all the time. My confidence is building little by little and it's going to take some time. I do have a question about the steel I'm using. Mostly I'm using free found steels simply because I don't want to buy steel and then find out I won't be able to continue. This leads me to wonder, should I use steels that are harder to work to try and build myself back up or should I use something easier to forge and ease into it? Mild steel is much easier to hammer but is it possible that it will hinder my progress? The harder spring steel is tougher to move and might help build me up faster. I'm wondering if anyone else has been in such a situation and if they might have some advice to offer. I'm afraid that if I don't tread carefully, I'll cause more problems than I can solve.