NickOHH

After not having a forge for awhile, I took advantage of a day off and built a new forge and broke it in by forging a knife out of a peice of coil spring. Quenched in veggie oil and tempered for 2 hours at 375f, hardened very nicely. Should hold a nice edge.

The bevel angel depends on what you a cutting, more bevel for hardwoods and a longer thin bevel for softwoods because the wood will want to close up on it and it will still penetrate deeply. But for a scout/general purpose hatchet somewhere in the middle to balance edge durability and cutting ability. Mine are always razor sharp but require a lot of quick touch ups to maintain it thinner bevel will chip easier.  Doesn't need to be scary sharp but it helps reduce the chance of glancing off. 

Thanks for all of your help guys ! Looking forward to trying it out and am probably going to be making more for work as well as a arbor or 2.

Awesome just what I wanted to hear! I'm on a time crunch for it so I figured IDE ask before messin around with it

I am working on building a trellis for a landscape project for a customer and am wonder the best way to bend the arch for the top of it with limited gear do have a welder for making a temp jig my original thought was to bend it around a 55 gal drum.  Working with a 55 forge can get a decent size heat on but would have to work in stages. How would cold bending be or should I heat. It is 3/8 sq by the way any tips would be greatly appreciated

Nice setup, I started with a nearly identical setup a grill with a refactory lining and a rr track anvil. Small fire will dry it out, I forged with it still slightly wet, if it's just refactory cement you will get some cracking but won't be an issue can always patch the cracks if you like but it will get you goin I only upgraded to a "55 forge" because my grill was pretty rickety. 

Very nice tools you have there! What kind of wood are they handled in?

That's a good idea I'm gonna look into some hanger bolts for mine, I still use it from time to time and Marcy uses it unless she needs a true horn. It will be way more valuable if it was easier to change positions. That's been the main issue with it, doesn't have a real flat face anyway, but using it for the other shapes is handy.

​i started with an 18# piece of rr track, standing the whole thing up you will have more mass under it obviously but he will need to come up with a way to preferably mount it securely but still be able to somewhat easily remove it to change its position. was just an IDEA to make it easier to have more positions available without having to change the setup every time.

what would be a good way to mount it securely  but be able to move it quickly to change positions when needed? i have mine mounted with lag bolts, but theres no way to move it with out pulling atleast 2 of them if i wanted to flip it, i guess it was more geared to my setup.

Another idea would be to cut in half or or 1 12" section and 2 6" sections mount 1 on end 1 laying on it's side and the 12" in its normal position and take more advantage of all the differnent surfaced avalible to you . The Benifit of it standing on end is there is more mass under your hammer. But as other people on here will tell you too, you paid for the whole thing so you should use the whole thing.

Keeps you on the dog's good side too.

 

I just realized I didn't go into the proper application of the bacon hammer handle preparation. first get the forge hot, then wrap the handles with bacon and roast it over the fire. Unwrap the handles on a plate of slice of bread, top with a fried egg and VIOLA! Your hammer's ready for use. Right after breakfast.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

i like it frosty, talk about killin to birds with one stone. ya dont want to try out the handle on an empty stomach!

i'de stay away from the used motor oil also, bacon grease sounds delicous, but i normaly stick to boiled linseed, or danish oil for handles

Yea it does :) I made 3 bowl adzes so far one outside one inside and one combination bevel so I can see which I like better, and they're fun to make so it's a win win!!

i found some info on adze bevels somewhere, they were sayin an outside, or top bevel was better for roughing as it wont cut in to deep and you can swing harder without worrying about going to deep, and a inside or bottom in this case was better for fine detail as it will slice right in so is effective with less power, they were talking more for bowl adzes, but i think the theory wouold work for either, if i can find the write up ill post it in here.

Haha I guess they might not believe a whole tri axle of coal is just for personal use :) wouldn't have to worry about it for awhile though, could share with some friends too ;)

Thats a mighty fine adze you have there , good work. Doin the curve for the bowl adze isn't as bad as it may seem for your first time just keep workin it side to side and front to back in your swage until you get the shape you like, but you can always save that for the next.

We'd just have to stock up on blacksmithing equipment and bring a tractor trailer full of coal frosty :)

beautiful piece of craftsmanship there antigoth! very nice blade, and a gorgeous handle to go with it, great work!

im good with anywhere outside of a major city, i need some space to spread my wings alittle bit lol, to many people around here for my liking, so ill leave that up to the boss :)

How far west do you want to move?

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 Meadow lakes, Alaska 

I am not opposed to the idea

neither am i, when we leavin?

welcome aboard! definitely put your location in your profile, makes it easy on us with bad memories to know where your from, and you will find there a plenty of good people in your area to get to know. 

welcome llen, you have stumbled on a great resource, your right with how much information is on here, but dont let it intimidate you, just dive in, pick somewhere to start and explore from there. There are alot of great resources on here, lots of info in the blueprints from building your first coal or gas forge to proper anvil hieght, and projects to get started with.  If you have any questions just use the search function at the top, if you still cant find the answer ask and someone (more like lots of someones) will be more than glad to stear you in the right direction, or answer your questions! Lot of friendly people on here, willing to pass on the knowledge they have acquired! Enjoy your new addiciton!

When folks argue with me about stuff they have read on the internet I tell them to give me 1/2 and hour and I'll have a website out there claiming that they are the love child of Margaret Thatcher and Elvis Presley.

 

Nice things about scholarly books is that they document where they got the information and provide a bibliography allowing you to judge for yourself.  A lot of web pages would cite "Hollywood, video games and urban legends" as their primary sources...

I thought if it was on TV it had to be true! Even more so for movies, next your gonna tell me me that anyone can write and edit Wikipedia pages without necessarily having an idea what theyre talking about.  

Steve, Frosty and Du7ch: I think a better idea would be to try to get MarcyP to let you adopt her... Then you'd get TWO able-bodied young smiths(pretty sure NickOHH would follow her, she seems a keeper)

Much better idea!