Latticino

Like your burner mod.  Adjustable location for the gas orifice is a nice touch for the T burner.  Wonder if using a plumber's cross fitting would allow you to keep the same kind of simple tools build while also allowing this enhancement.  Not sure if they are available with reducing fittings, still the way I've needed to shroud the inlet of my 1/2" Frosty Tee I'm not  completely convinced that a standard fitting won't work.

The burner looks far too big for the (2) brick forge design, so I'm interested to see how it performs in such a small chamber.

As regards your refractory castable, I was not able to find info on same from the MORCO site.  I recommend that you follow the manufacturer's directions carefully for installation.  Also that you check if it is actually a "rammable" material that needs to be installed in a plastic state by hammering it onto a solid surface.  If so you may have trouble installing it into a fiber blanket shell, as you would with a true castable, and may need to use an alternate construction method (ram material into a temporary mold then remove and wrap with frax blanket).  Good luck in any event.  Look forward to pictures of your complete forge working.

Shame you missed the Hay Budden.  Those are top quality.

I am not familiar with the e-bay anvil pictured, so decline to comment.

This is a modern farrier's pattern anvil, and looks to be priced at around half what it would cost you new.  A lot depends on what you are planning on doing with it.  These anvils are optimized for farriers and the anvil mass is not located in the same spot as it would be for, say, ideal hammer head forging.  Still better than using a piece of rail laid horizontally.  I thought I read somewhere that these anvils were given out at a farrier training facility as part of the course, so that may be why they are showing up more often these days.

Personally I think 125# is a good weight for a starter anvil, or one that you need to keep mobile for hammer-ins, or if you need to move your shop around a lot.  I believe that these are cast ductile iron anvils, which are certainly better than the cast iron ASO you see on e-bay or Harbor Freight.  

All depends on how common anvils are by you.  At approximately $3/# I would probably search longer, but each to his own. 

Needless to repeat, I wasn't sure on it's provenance, but said it was an Oliver style, not an Oliver (which are non-powered treadle hammers).  Mostly I was looking at the hammer weight to arm length ratio.  I was not familiar with the Depew or Blacker hammers, thanks for bringing them up. 

If we are going to be pedantic, I think you meant "helve" not "shelve", but got caught by autocorrect.

I'm also not sure what you mean by "unsprung weight".  Certainly this model includes a leaf spring set between the drive motor/eccentric cam-flywheel and the hammer end.  While the sprung drive will give some of the whipping motion that enables tire hammers to function so well, I stand by my assertion that safety in operation should be a real concern with this design.  I believe that many of the older helve hammers involved much larger hammer head weights moving a lot more slowly than this one appears to (though I haven't been able to source the video, just from the assumed ratio of the pulley to the cam). 

Of course I'm always willing to learn otherwise.

Very nice first hawk.  Wish mine had looked that good.

I've made a couple of spike hawks recently so I can see what your issues might be.  They aren't all that easy, mostly because the spike isn't really correctly sized to make a hawk without some modification.  Of course that is what we are supposed to be doing as smiths...

Recommend that you upset the spike a bit before slitting it (you are slitting it or slot punching to maximize the material for the eye right?).  Upsetting the spike is a pain, but will give you some more mass where you need it.  I also recommend that you modify your drift/mandrel so it isn't round shaped.  Hawks have a number of different shaped eyes, historically, but I think the round one is the least useful (hawk can rotate with hard use) and aesthetic.  Of course that is just me, and there certainly are some round eyes out there.  A nice design is the "point forward" egg crossection.

You also need to think more in terms of using the drift as a mandrel.  As you are opening the eye you should try to pull the cheeks down toward the handle end  with your crosspeen.  If you look at the section as you are doing this it will allow you to slightly adjust the eye location in the stock to cure some off centeredness (or make it worse, as I have found to my dismay at times).

All in all, nice job.  You did a better job keeping the spike head end intact than I do, probably because I spend so much time working on upsetting the mass just below it.

9 minutes ago, turbo7 said:

Please stop cutting and pasting. 

Why? at times it makes it easier to understand the response.

Leaf blower most likely is huge overkill for the air requirement for a coal forge.  You will have to dump most of the air and put up with the scream of that blower. I recommend looking for an alternate.

Ball valves won't work well as an ash dump.  The ash will get into the mechanism and clog it up.  Ideally a flapper type valve with a counterweight works really well.  I suggest you do some more research into coal forge design (stickies on this site, Anvilfire, old FABA articles...)

19 minutes ago, redeagle said:

 I think a RR spike knife is a novelty. I wouldn't call one a good knife by any stretch but they are fun to make and many like them. And if you are having fun or just practicing techniques there's nothing wrong with that. 

Agree, but with one caveat:  If you are practicing techniques for forging knives with spikes and expect the steel to move under the hammer while hot in the same way once you use actual high carbon steel you are in for a surprise.  It will be harder to work, and will need to be worked in a different temperature band to avoid either burning the steel at the high end or cracking it at the low end.  Mild steel just works differently.

Also one of the key elements of making a good knife is heat treatment.  You can't learn that technique with mild steel.

That is why, given the relative low cost of, say, automotive spring drops from a shop that replaces them (to date free with a little dumpster diving for me), many folks strongly recommend that you use actual high carbon steel to forge knives out of once you get basic forging skills under your belt.  Of course anyone is free to go their own path.  We are just making recommendations based on our experience and trying to help.

Not completely sure. You are aware that copper work hardens right?  You probably just need to anneal it more often during the process.  When you feel it starting to stiffen up under the hammer,  anneal again. Typically you only have to take it to cherry red, then can quench. Copper shouldn't harden from the quench. If you are pickling be careful of splashing though. Good luck,  perhaps someone more expert in coppersmithing can better advise you. 

Nice pattern. Cannister weld? Did you also include powdered steel, and if so what type?

Sounds like you are on the road and headed in the right direction. Welcome to the site. 

10 hours ago, Blacksmith noob said:

That being said I was wondering what quenching oil do most of you use and what is a good/ workable handle material?

Well I currently use heated Canola oil, though I'd love to source some Parks 50 or equal.

A good workable handle material is wood (preferably a hardwood, but just about any wood will do)

From the photos the forge grate/clinker breaker looks to be in rough shape.  Hard to tell though as it is pretty out of focus.  This is a fairly critical element for effective coal forging, so you might want to look into correcting this. It also appears that you have the air connection made directly into the forge inlet, without an ash dump.  I urge you to take a look at some of the more accepted solid fuel forge designs to update this connection to one that will be easier to use and maintain.

Hammers look like a good starter selection, though you might want to get yourself a 2 or 2 1/2 lb. crosspeen at some point in time.  I find with a fairly blunt peen (around 1/2" radius), it is a hammer that is used a whole heck of a lot in my forging.  Depending on what stock you plan on using for knife forging you may need to draw out the width of the blade before setting bevels.  The blunt cross pen is great for that.

Sweet anvil...

12 hours ago, TwistedCustoms said:

Being new to this I figure doubling the size of the gas jet would be a waste of fuel. The thing I like about Frostys design is that its built around a .035 mig tip.

Heat is heat.  As long as you can keep the flame inside the forge body till it transfers it's heat to the forge walls you won't have as big a waste of fuel as you think.  Of course that isn't as easy as it sounds.  With a less effective flame configuration (see Mikey's detailed posts on this) the speed of the flame front, volume of gas air mixture and actual combustion of the mix may not be optimal, so it will be hard to use that heat effectively (if you have a couple of feet of flame shooting out of your forge it is a good indication of overall system inefficiency).  On the other hand, presumably you can turn down the gas pressure on your existing burner and still have it function.  With a fixed orifice, inducer type burner, less gas pressure = less gas used during forging.

Don't get me wrong.  I think the use of a MIG tip as an orifice (or the needles Mikey is now advocating) is a brilliant option for allowing a repeatable burner build.  It certainly isn't the only game in town though.

The burner you have there will certainly heat a forge. It might not be the most efficient,  but it will work. Why not try it ?

Drat, I live in Upstate NY and never saw that one.  Hard to tell from a photo, but if I had to guess I'd say it is in the 120-250# range (unless that is an awful small stump, or the photo is distorted with some kind of parallax).  I'd say if shipping doesn't run much you did great.  Looks like a user...

Used properly you can certainly forge blades in a coal forge like that one.  Build a hood and vent it or work outside.

Welcome aboard.  Might consider editing your profile to show you location, which will help us answering questions down the road.

Lots of good info already in the forums.  Recommend you read selectively to see if your questions have already been asked to avoid repetition.

Pictures?

1. Yes you can, but probably shouldn't.  In fact at first to learn hammer control I would recommend forging with stock pieces long enough to hold in your off-hammer hand whenever possible.  The proper selection and use of tongs is another skill that needs to be learned and it is certainly easier to limit the number of things you are trying to learn simultaneously.
2. Photos, drawings, information about things you are interested in making, a good progression of starter projects.  Language and descriptions that are approachable.  I like the Backyard Blacksmith and Aspery's first book for beginners.
3. Probably, but that depends a lot on having a proper venting system for your forge.  As it was inherited, I assume that it is a coal forge.  You will likely need a hood and exhaust stack (flue) to remove fumes.  The diameter and vertical rise are the critical parameters, and a sidedraft hood can be relatively easily constructed and supported.
4. Research carefully, take some classes, join a blacksmithing group...  Be careful what you follow on YouTube as skill levels and safety precautions are not always evident (though there are some excellent ones as well, as a beginner you may have trouble identifying them).  First person training, particularly early, will always pay off.  Try to get a class in basic skills first: fire tending, hammer control, tapering, punching, drifting, twisting and scrolls.  You will save yourself a lot of time.

Crosspost with JHCC  lots of overlap, but clearly we agree on a lot...

Not to deliberately shift from the fascinating farrier drift here, but as regards the OP:  The only problem you are going to have with these new forge tools (which were sorely needed in the last meeting as I recall), is that they are far too nice and may end up disappearing.  Hate to ruin the aesthetics, but perhaps paint the handles some bright fluorescent color...

I participated in a sword forging workshop with Sam Salvati where we used this technique to temper our swords after quenching.  Worked well.

I've layered, but never used any kind of glue.  I just seal the outer layer once I line it twice.  If the density of the 3/4" won't work for the form desired, consider the pleating technique where you can build in almost any liner thickness. Just be sure the blanket is rated for the temperature it will be exposed to or include a cast refractory inner liner

Not going to be definitive on this (Proceed at your own risk), but provided you move the contact point around and ensure that the tank doesn't ever get to the point where the zinc starts to burn off you should be OK.  The quenchant inside the tank should keep it cool provided you don't get a local hot spot on the outside.  Keep upwind.

Not sure how you are heating the object to be heat treated if you only have a propane burner... I would recommend heating the tank using the method I outlined in the previous post. 

If you see any white smoke, stop!  This is nothing to play around with.

Just like any other, more conventional, type of hammer a weight forward hammer can be used for any number of operations, depending on your skill level, its size, weight, face configuration...  The one pictured appears to have a pretty aggressive rounded face and should be great for moving material.  I've seen weight forward hammers well up to 10 LBS of head weight that were used for anything from striking to solo slitting and drifting of hammer eyes.  Of course with a more flattened face they also do very well at final clean up of a beveled knife edge.

Nice hammer, going to have to put that on my list to copy.  The one weight forward hammer I made to date has a face that is more optimized for finish work.