WyoSmith

I originally got into smithing after a tour in Afghanistan. I needed something to do with my hands and getting lost in the metal and the hammer really helped out. I'm not good enough to teach others though.

Got the forge up and running after manufacturing a plate to go over the tuyere. I was getting WAY too much air and wasting lots of coal. I have the distinct good fortune to work in the oil field where large metal and scrap are very easy to find, so while I am waiting to get this forge hooked up to a chimney, here are some pics of the ghetto 20 ton press I made in the shop at work today. Specs are as follows: body, 2 inch 1/4 wall square tubing. 3/4 inch plate gussets. Random scrap for non structural items and it is powered by a 20 ton air over hydraulic jack. I have 75 bucks in this thing and that's all the jack. The 3rd pic is what it does to a 1 inch bar at a low cherry heat without straining. I will start making does for it when I get back from the next job. It was welded with a massive Lincoln welder and my shop hand is structural welding certified. It's a beast.

Hey folks, I'm just getting back into smithing after a few year hiatus. I moved from Wa to Wy for work in the oilfield and have been slowly building up my gear as time allows. The main part I have been missing is a forge and just yesterday I found a full sized champion forge on craigslist and it wasn't rusted out so I snagged it up. Now, by not rusted out, I mean it's only partially rusted out so it is gonna take some work to make perfect. I started by tearing into the blower and scraping/kerosene washing out the old hardened oil and dirt accumulation. Attached are a pic of the blower halfway disassembled and the basic shape of the forge with tools stacked up on it for the process. Don't mind the clutter, I have the wife working on that today! I'll update with the shop build as I go along.