ShawnW

4-5$ is pretty steep in my book too which is why I haven't gone out. I'm sure after a little while, with 30+ anvils to sell, prices will come down, I don't know of anyone who would pay those prices but anvils are pretty hard to come by down here so maybe he will get lucky. As far as being chipped, swayed or rusted or worn goes, I just thought someone in the area may be able to take advantage of this. Also, who knows what lies beneath all that rust. I realize that it's doubtful that there's a diamond in that whole lot but someone else like me who has more funds available right now may be better off with bargaining for one of these than purchasing the railroad track 'anvils' so readily available down here. Like I said above, I just hope someone finds this useful.

I hope someone can take advantage of this because right now I can't and it irks the crap outta me! Craigs list add removed, due to advertizing regulations of our terms of service. Please read them before attempting to post again. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Good luck. ShawnW

Hmmm...hmmm...hmmm...what to say, what to say? I've been using the interwebs for some time now and I've run into people who remind me of Mr. Powers but lack authenticity. There are those on many a forum, sick and psychophanted, who want nothing more than to troll a site...cull the herd if you will...in a vagrant effort to assert themselves as a better, or as a superior. At first, after my first post I thought Mr. Powers was one of these and assumed that I had merely run into another keyboard warrior whose mommy hadn't cuddled with him enough to curb this behavior but my assumption was quickly eradicated by the depth in knowledge that Mr. Powers clearly spoke from. I quickly rescinded myself from reprimanding Mr. Powers and instead began looking forward to his contrary commentary. I cannot tell you the difference between a prius and a dump truck, nor what I would use them for, in a post that was less than 100 words long, but I was chastised for it as my question lacked clarity, I was called out on it and rightly so. To not have done so Mr. Powers would have done us and me a disservice. To dissuade Mr. Powers from commenting further would also do us and me a disservice. At this point we have to recognize that without some thicker skin that allows us to accept constructive criticism, we will neither learn nor prosper from his responses. ShawnW

ThomasPowers: I guess I want something with a bit of aesthetic to go along with its functionality. If you check out the link below you can see that I will probably end up wrapping the new forge I build in chainmaille just because I can. I don't know if I'm ready to settle for kaowool and bailing wire. While I'm sure it works I would like something a little more robust. And are you talking about a helium tank you would get at a hobby lobby or a michaels? Are they about 1/16" thick? That would be lighter than a propane tank of similar proportions for sure, I'll add it to the list of canisters to keep an eye out for, thank you.

So a stainless pony keg should be good to go, good. I'm just looking at options for containers, trying to get an idea of what I want to use and what I can find quickly. As for the stove pipe idea, Isn't there a concern for the forge to be crushed? While it's a concern for all containers, isn't that concern relatively higher for stovepipe? Just curious about your opinion on the subject. Thanks. ShawnW

A pony keg's diameter is only 11 1/8" (not full keg size), I figured two inches of Kaewool brings it down to approximately 7" diameter with room for some ITC-1000 and a ceramic floor. Cut in half w/ a welded on door of sorts to keep the heat in. I'm not intending to utilize the entire length, I am just keeping ideas open for container sizes that can be 'made to fit,'... kinda. If the length is cut down to size I think it would be ok, at least comparable to a Freon tank or a propane tank. Another aspect I was concerned with was whether or not the material would be suitable for a forge. Some kegs are made from steel and some from aluminum, I'm assuming the aluminum ones would work just as well as the steel ones, I just wanted to know if someone had used one before. I'm going to my pinning ceremony tomorrow and hopefully, afterwards I'll be searching out materials to make a forge from. Thanks everyone for your help.

thingmaker3: Thank you, I passed my last test, have a pinning ceremony on Friday and will hopefully take my boards w/in the next six weeks.

So I posted in the GD that I wanted to start a project that used a blown ribbon burner (which I intend to do someday). After looking at how to make one I decided to purchase one...after realizing that I was going to need a very large forge to use one effectively (0.75 cu. ft. from Pineridge Burners), and all the work that goes into making a forge that fits one, I decided to begin with something a bit less adventurous. I found zoellerforge.com and am going to start working on a coffee can forge just to have one around because they look very versatile and useful...like I could use it in the house and no one would be the wiser...more on that later. I want something a bit larger than a little coffee can forge and I don't want to do a lot of fabrication on it so I began of thinking of containers container's already made that would suit my purposes which leads us to my question: Has anyone used a pony keg or a half keg barrel to build a forge? I'm going to start looking for containers tomorrow or Friday so I'm wondering what's the best place to find them. I think this size will be better for me in the short run just to get started. As for what I said earlier about using a forge in the house, no I'm not planning on doing anything that ridiculous whether or not it could be done, but I am having trouble convincing my wife that this is a good idea...hence the coffee can forge for introduction. On another note, does anyone have problems with having created a forge collection that is taking up too much room? I mean, has anyone started with the coffee-can forge and moved on to the propane-tank forge and just making progressively larger forges until they have all the forges they need for the sizes of work they do but not enough space in their work area to actually use any of them? These last two thought processes (wife needing convincing and exponential forge growth) don't really need an answer and are just thoughts, but the first part, that is definitely important. Thank you. ShawnW

Well, I'm off to take my finals, hopefully I'll be back on here a little bit tonight and a whole lot more after tomorrow's last final. Once I'm graduated I'll have to find a new job and pass my boards but other than that I should be able to focus on this project a whole lot more. Thanks Frosty for all the advice and everyone who provided their opinion. I'm thinking of running a blown ribbon burner, I'm going to keep track of everything and take pics so hopefully I'll have something completed within the next month or two. I've got a lot of honey-do's that have been waiting for me to finish my degree before I get started on them so with all this I shouldn't ever be bored. Thanks again for all the help guys! ShawnW

Frosty: the only person I've pm'd on this site was Glenn. Got any recommendations for a blower manufacturer? As far as dimensions, naturally aspirated burners are good for 300 cu. in., for a 3/4 or 1 " burner i dont remember which size. What size are blown burners good for? If I use a 20 gal propane tank, are they almost 600 cu.in. with or without kaewool? How many burners will get me up to welding heat? Also are blown burners more efficient than aspirated when it comes to propane use? I should probably start another thread and continue searching for some of these answers but you wanted to know what I was planning! Thanks for all your input everyone!

Sorry, I meant undergraduate degree, don't want to get ahead of myself now.

I think Vaughn T and Thomas Powers have the right of it. I may be able to save some money by just buying a commercially produced burner and looking up a recipe for a gas forge here on the website. And Frosty, I cant start anything until the 17th at the earliest as that is the first Monday I will be finished with my graduate degree, so all questions are getting answered now befote I get going. So now I guess the question is, how many burners do I want?

the iron dwarf: You have an excellent point, and if I can't convince my wife that buying one outright is what I should do, I may find the blueprints for one of these forges and sneak parts in the garage pieces at a time. I'll be up and running before she knows what happened. Smooth Bore: You also have an excellent point in that I don't need to be 'validated,' by making my own forge as I have a multitude of other accomplishments at this point. While I suppose that the information will be useful later on after I've developed a taste for what characteristics I need, I don't really feel the need to do it right now. I do need an introductory course, and a intermediate and advanced course as well, but not to see if I would like it. This stuff has fascinated me for years and I'm finally near a position where I may be able to start actually doing it. The closest work I've done is a lot of chainmail which is vastly different. I'll see if I can make it up to Marble Falls in March and find an introductory course nearby. Thanks for all the viewpoints everyone, you have all been very helpful.

I'm planning on taking a welding class in March, which reminds me I need to sign up for it. It's mon and wed for 8 weeks at a local high school. After that I don't know. I've looked for classes in the area but many are quite a drive away. I'll keep looking though and there was a resource here that listed local blacksmiths so I'll delve into that as soon as I can. I graduate next week so I should have more time after that to spend focused on this endeavor. Just to be clear, what you guys are saying is that I may lose out on being a frugal self-sustaining smith if I buy one but having the time to learn and enjoy the craft is what is important? I think I'm going to buy one. Chile-forge has a backlog of 6-8 weeks right now so I have time to mull this decision over and discuss finances with my better half. Any ideas on how to sell the wife on this project? Any and all thoughts on this topic have been and will continue to be appreciated. Thank you

Dan C: Isn't the forge another tool that I can't currently build myself? I could buy a used welder and peruse the scrap yard and hollow out an old steel container or pipe and make my own etc but I don't see how that gets me to working with hammer and anvil any faster. I appreciate the learning experience of doing something like that and maybe after I have done this for awhile I design a forge that suits my purposes better after I learn what they are. But right now I'm trying to decide if I'm losing out on something important by deciding to buy rather than build. Thoughts?

Let's say cost isn't a driving factor of making my own forge and that I want to get started as quickly as possible actually shaping metal. What are the benefits of building over buying? Here's why I ask: I could drop a couple of grand on a new shop if I wanted too but I don't. I live in a neighborhood and will be working out of my garage so I've ruled coal/waste oil/induction out for now and am going to go with a gas forge. The plug-n-play aspect of the Chile forges that are right up the road from me make it seem ideal instead of wasting my time trying to build something that may not work. I don't want to drop thousands of dollars on new equipment, but I don't want to waste a lot of money/time trying to figure out how to build my own forge. It's not that I'm unwilling to come up with something that would work, I'm just not interested in spending countless hours tweaking something over and over again until I essentially have a well-performing tool. I'd rather just buy a well-performing tool and go from there. I want to focus on having a good understanding of what I am doing and what the metal will do and it just seems more important to start with a forge that at least performs well. So if I'm going to spend a lot of money on something my guess is that it should be the forge. I'm pretty certain I can find an anvil that will suffice eventually and other tools that I will need, used rather than new. Thoughts?

Well is it? I'll be the first to admit that I'm new at this, but the desire to build my own forge isn't there. I've read about twenty threads so far about people collecting tools and gearing up to make their own forge be it a gas or solid forge. I'm just curious, does making a forge make you that much more of an expert? I would rather buy a cayenne chile forge and get started in learning how to shape metal to my design than work on a forge that may or may not produce acceptable heats. What's the benefit of building your own? I understand if it's about money and you want to make everything you need rather than purchasing it, but if an individual lacks enough money to buy the necessary tools, should they really be starting a new hobby anyway? If you can do it and have the skills to produce a successful forge that works relatively well, then by all means do it. I also understand if you're in a location geographically that doesn't have the availability of local supplies. But if you're like me and just learning, should we be focused on how to build a forge, or should we be focused on learning the basics of smithing? Am I just defunct in some way and should just build my own forge?

Thank you all for providing your input. If I get an opportunity to purchase these two items I think I'm going to because they are no-brainer cheap, and I need to start somewhere. If I don't end up purchasing them I will certainly do more homework on what to buy and if I need to ask a more precise question I will try to provide the necessary subsequent information. Now that I've joined this site and that school is almost over I should be able to spend a little more time here familiarizing myself with this place and the information already provided. Thank you all, again.

Wow, ok. Lets try that again. The original post was made from my phone in a rushed attempt to find out if anybody knew anything about the quality of the items mentioned above, hence the short description of the items. If I had a picture of them I would have shared. I merely wanted to know if these items were manufactured in a manner that made them worthwhile products in general from people who may have had previous experience with them. This seemed the likely place for that but I wasn't really expecting much beyond a "I've used them and they compare well with other seemingly well made items," or "don't buy them JHM produces ASO's and NC tool co. doesn't know a forge from a fire-pit." My phone has limited internet capabilities while at work so I was trying to use resources where I could find them and the only piece of information I didn't include was that it is a farriers anvil. I could find all the details about the items, but not any reviews so I looked here. I did eventually find a thread about this particular anvil manufacturer but even that was bare-bones from what I could see. Believe me, the price was right but since I can't get ahold of the seller, I'm assuming the deal is no longer available. As far as what I want to do in smithing...start...I want to start. I want to buy an anvil, a forge and a hammer and shape metal into whatever design satisfies my desire. I'm not naïve in believing that is all it takes but I have to start somewhere. I've been reading anvilfire.com off and on for a few years, bookmarking pages that sell blacksmith's tools and beginning a collection of books and resources that will help me get started but because of full time school and work I've been putting this off. I'm almost done now and this opportunity came up so I decided to jump on it, but apparently not quickly enough. As far as what I want to do with a forge in regards to making armor or jewelry, yes. All of the above. I want to be able to make anything and everything I need for the rest of my life. That is a lofty goal I realize, but if I only learn a little and make a few quality items I think my time will be well spent. If I can learn to supplement my income and replace my career with blacksmithing then my time will be really well spent. I'm going to keep looking for now and if I think I need another opinion from you guys about a product, I will try to include more information about what it is and what I'm planning on using it for.

So I have an opportunity to purchase a 120 lb JHM anvil, and a whisper daddy 2 gas forge both for cheap. The anvil is newish, and the forge is new in box, I don't know about the quality of either of these two items so I thought I would come here to ask. I tried anvilfire and havent received a response. Any help is appreciated, and when I do eventually get my gas forge and anvil up and going, I will spend a little time and introduce myself and other formalities. Thank you.