Jack-O-Lantern

I've searched online as much as I can and I'm sick of it. I want some regular old bituminous and I want good stuff. Where online should I order from? I've only tried non char once. It was ebay anthracite and it was a clinking sticky hot mess. It was hot but it just clumped and smoked up the joint. It didnt seem to last much longer than char either. So is centaur forge coal good stuff or is there better? I'll take pochohantas or sitting bull or davey croket flim flam appleseed. I DONT CARE. I just want it to burn proper. I know how to manage a fire. Who should I order from online? I'm near Chicago and I need 100lbs. No road trips. Please advise.

My main hammer is a 3# menards cross pein. It got so beat up that by the time I learned of rounding hammers it had taken that shape. Im guessing cheap metal. For now I'm propping the dump gate open a little for calmer air flow. Would a rail plate hold up or harden well enough to become guillotine material? And yes, only yellow heat gets forged. Once I heated a 3" thick block to yellow and felt like I had all day. Rams head horns last 10 seconds. Trial and error.

Building a retort and Oliver hammer is my plan for now. But I have no welder so I gotta get creative. Lack offunds has actually been a great teacher. I used to have a wrigged monkey wrench as a vice. And I built a fuigo bellows when my old hairdryer broke.

I forge to black and only do one at a time. My skill has yet to get there. Im working with modified menards and homemade tools. I've always refused to let my anvil (103.4 lbs) budge. I would like a charcoal retort as its expensive and cheap coal in Illinois is hard to find. I'm a few notches above beginer so my hammer control is decent. I think my main problem is my lovely hair dryer bellows. I have it hooked up to a centaur firepot and without tweaking it devours fuel. I got some VERY clinkering anthracite once and it lastest way longer than char. So basiclly I need some good bitumonous, some more deco skills and tools, and TIME. Once my few bags of char is gone, I gotta wait for payday. Thanks for the heads up on 1008 and 1010. I hope to take this trade as far as I can.

A while back some of you fine gents told me that 1018 or A36 was best for ornamental work. I got some 1018 and it was pretty good. I was wondering if theres anything softer out there steel wise. I have a booth at a farmers market coming up and I am waaaaayyyyy behind on production. I have maybe 5 products forged and was hoping to find something better than scrap to forge. I'll gladly beat spikes but I envy the pros in the vids using what seems like glowing clay.

Sometimes I find good info on FB smithing pages, but if dare warn people not to use galvanized then all hell breaks loose. Its safer to talk about politics than it is to talk about smithing.

So I ordered some Anthracite after getting sick of covering my forge to avoid charcoal sparks. I wanted bituminous but the smoke would be an issue. I've only used charcoal up till now due to my locations distance from mined coal. What I wanna know is; how long will a square foot of Anthracite burn for? Also, once the airflow is stopped on lit Anthracite, how long until it goes out? And lastly, does it help to break up nut sized Anthracite or is that unnecessary?

Weeellll. I have a brake drum forge. But its set in concrete and is HEAVY. I'm thinking the smoke from bituminous will aggrivate neighbors. My problem with charcoal is that I have to cover it to avoid sparks. So sometimes I melt things. Rarely but annoying. I've got some anthracite being shipped. I want a nice table top forge that I can slide heaps of coal around on, and get out of my garage easily.

Sorry for the super late reply guys. I've been wanting to get some bituminous. Finding a 55 drum has been pretty tricky for me. I've improved since I've joined IFI and would like to see how I do with good coal and a table top forge........MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Menards steel, charcoal, hair dryer bellows, brake drum forge, broken vice, pliers.......

I'm trying to build a new forge. The one I use now is HEAVY and no fun to move in and out of my garage. I picked up this cast iron skillet on the cheap thinking I could use it as a firepot. In the beginning of my quest to learn this trade I fell victim to youtube nonsense which resulted in melted frying pans. So my question is whether this thing will melt or not. I know its shallow, but I've heard of flat surface forges. I figure a few firebricks can hold up my work pieces once I find out how to make a table.

1018 it is! Thanks guys! I've done enough forging to learn proper heat and hammering. Honestly I'm glad I learned with crap stock. Now that I have the attention of vets let me ask you this: What stock is good for tools and weapons? Like say a hammer, or a sword. Different tempering I know but what stock should I start with?

When I manage to find a vid of a pro doing a demo, the metal behaves beautifully. An abana vid showed how to forge a scrolling wrench. What kind of stock is it? What's the standard type pro's use for fire place tools, railings, deco grills, etc. etc.? It looks like they're working with play-doe. Regular handforging. Not power hammer on tool steel, or a rookie with a lousy aim smaking dull red rebar. Just good metal. Menards stock works, but not like whatever the big boys use.

The guy on the radio was talking about what would happen in the event of a massive e.m.p. like a solar storm or what not. How one could download this info if there is no electricity is beyond me. None the less, they made an awesome site. There's info on everything from meteorology to sewing. All tech up to the point of around 1920. My favorite thing smith wise are a few books on ornamental ironwork. Those have eluded me thus up to today.

Someone on npr was talking about a survival website he started. Its all free info. This is the smithing section. http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1389

Oh yeah!!! DON'T INSTANT COOL WHAT YOU CAST!!!!!!!! It will explode in your face!!! Avoid at all costs!!!

1. Aluminum and iron and probably many other metals have a sandy or grainy look when cast then broke. There's nothing you can do. 2. Be very careful with brass. Heating it up and breathing its fumes could kill you. 3. 200-300 degrees is a good temp for breaking what your working on. Even at room temp aluminum will break when you hit it with a hammer. Even steel breaks when red heat fades away and you still beat on it. 4. Work with steel and get it bright orange. Then hit it. Use aluminum for casting a fancy pommel or something. 5. If you don't have an anvil or a big heavy hunk of metal, then buy a sledge hammer and ditch the stone. 6. If you already cast a good looking blade, don't hit it. Either way aluminum won't do anything but look cool. 7. If long complex explanations from vets are boring to you; LEARN WHAT'S DANGEROUS AND AVOID IT. Then find STEEL OR IRON, heat to orange and start hitting. You'll learn what do.

Ahoy good people! Its been awhile since I posted my junk.....So here it is! I was fortunate enough to score a 103# Hay Budden. A got it set tight and now that deafening ring is gone. I've made a no-weld spring fuller for it. And a simple rebar hold down. My 6 year wanted a sword. I'm not there yet, but with the tools I have and a rusty old crowbar; I made a big fancy butter knife. Its sharp as a bowling ball and wild looking enough to make a kid flip his lid. I smacked it with a ball pein, grinded, and torch patina'd it for a "spacey" look. There is a talented new guy on here who showed a method of making a rams head from a spike. Mines not pretty, but I finally pulled it off. Without using a vice. Last but not least. (Or maybe it is), a lazy mans tongs. I got the idea while making bacon. They are about 2 and a half feet long and actually work. Thats it for now guys. I'm gonna pick up some good stock soon and try for some proper made, traditional wares. Until next time.

Looks like a 5 near the handleing hole under the horn. Thanks Blackfrog.

Oh glorious day!!! Finally a real anvil! I've moaning and groaning lately about how hard it is to find one of these. I got this 103.4 pounder for 150$. Right in my old stomping grounds from my old buddies dad. Fear not fellow newbies. If it can happen to me it can happen to you! Now vets; please help me I.D. this baby. It rings nice (magnets soon), and its got a face plate so its pre 70's. There are square holes on its sides and on the bottom. What are they for? I love this thing but I'll never part with my first anvil. A rail track with a welded plate on top. Good ol' 7 hole. Sorry about the angles. I'm on a phone.

Thanks as usual guys. I was saving quenching for when I made something worth it. I fiddled around with spikes and pulled off a decent hardening on accident I guess. The quenched spike was hard enough to ding the non quenched spikes and stay in good shape. I just used water but when I try it for real I'll make a brine for it. Seems more fun to make brine than fuming up my garage with oil. After how many times I've read the words "non-magnetic" I thought it was some complex process. I'm sure doing perfectly is tricky but I did'nt know it just takes heat. People always mention it with knives and I started thinking that they do something to make the blade ultra hard and that it being nonmagnetic was the sign of its strength. Not so magical anymore. Japanese hammers are something I wanna try at least once. I was messing with a brass hammer I got my hands on and it had a way different feel. I know I can't really forge with it but it got me thinking about inertia and all that. The NC anvil....tsk. Its the cheapest I could find. Yeah Matt those cams do look troublesome. I'm stuck between Centaur forge (free shipping!) or ebay, which is usually mega pricey. I'm in a blacksmithhole guys! There's one prosmith close to me and he's a bit of a grump. Where are these magical estate sales and auctions you guys go to!? I'm gonna have to forge weld 1000 spikes together at this point. And getting coal around here is like ordering gold bricks so that welds gonna take ALOT of charcoal.

O.K. vets. 3 questions. 1. Are NC brand anvils any good? 70 lbs goes for about 280$. I'm thinking of getting one. 2. Is there a noticeable difference using a Japanese style hammer? 3. Whats the deal with "non-magnetic" and why is it important enough to be brought up so often? Thanks

Thank you kindly gents. I cut the cubes with a grinder. I don't have a vice so intricate stuff is all that much more of a challenge. I pulled of the twist with my plier tongs and a monkey wrench rigged to my weird 7 holed anvil. I will say that figuring this stuff out with sub par tools teaches you quickly. I cant wait to get big boy tools. Or make em. And Billy that Bull Rubix is awesome. I have yet to successfully pull off a forge weld. I use charcoal and really wanna get the good stuff.

So I saw this done and really wanted to give it a shot. The smith that I saw used a short wide chisel. I tried and and my chisel bounced all over and marred up the spike nasty style. I then tried my foot long inch wide chisel and it worked really well for me. I don't know if the method is called "walking", but what I mean is when you scoot the chisel along whatever line your working. Dig? Anyway, I thought that method would be much harder but for me it was easier and helped me pull off this.