odblacksmith

Why blacksmith at all? I could type forever but i think i will elaborate on Thomas' 6th Century Seax example.My current views on forging (which may change) is that it's a direct link to the past,which past?what era? ALL of them, it's about as close to "time travel" as we can get IMO.My forge may have an electric blower on it but once the iron leaves the fire i do the same things people have been doing to it for....A long darn time. That is why I blacksmith at all.

Version IV is a winner,it looks to have strength and consistency on its side (id much rather make three identical cuts then multiple compound cuts).As Das said it will weld together nicely and id imaging the vertical weld would be nice and strong,I could be wrong i am a fairly "simple" guy.

Nice i'm sure under all the PPE and dust that is one happy kid,good deal!

Very nice job seeing a tool inside the steel,i also like the fact you used the shape to your advantage putting the bottom fuller more toward the center of your anvil.Looks like they will work great.

Looks like a Peter Wright,the markings are faint but you can dust it with flour to make the marks more read-able and someone more knowledgeable then I can probably give you an age estimate.Looks like its in great condition,and for a bottle o' rum you stole it! Just noticed the welded on tabs for mounting it "shouldn't" effect it that much,but its generally a no-no to weld anything to an anvil,but looks like they have been there for years.

All i could come up with was generic puns...nothing analogous to flock/gaggle I hoped to Flatter everyone with responses,this will be one Upset group...catch my Drift

I forget who said it but it was on this forum i'm sure,and this wont be word for word "forge out the working end of your tongs and weld(mig arc whatever) your rein on,just like they would have done in the old days... if they had welders" I get the whole "traditional old timey thing" and i feel there is a time and place for everything much as you've described above.I made a project for a relative and i wanted to make it all out of square but all i had was round,i forged it to square and did it "the old way" hand riveted the whole nine.Again this was for a relative,if it was for "sale" i would have discussed processes with the client and did what i could to make it fit my time/their budget.This should be a good topic.

To be honest this topic did actually get me thinking and thats something,I genuinely did think to my self "How WOULD i make a blade without forging or stock removal?"I know the technology may exist and after some googling later i will know more i'm sure.

I think i got it...no forging...no stock removal... i'm not to much of a blade guy I have made a few small axes, some rail spike knives etc; so an expert i am not.This sounds like maybe a job for a 3d printer?But then again i don't know enough about 3d printing to know if it would spit out a knife shaped object or a decent blade.Other than that maybe powdered metal "Sintering" I think its called. I'm genuinely at a loss,i have not been able to make a blade without heat,hammer and abrasives.

I think i understand what you mean,I agree with DSW something along the lines of how a bathroom fixture is mounted but more secure or use some sort of roll pin.Either way you slice it something will have to be securely mounted to the door whether it be the handle or the "handle mount".Pictures always help of course...sounds like a cool project.

All of the above is good advice and since you are just beginning i would treat it like an anvil, use it and if it doesn't do what you want (leaves hammer marks and such)then dress it slowly until it and you can do what you want.As i read and type this your rank is "Advanced Member" which should show you are asking good questions and maybe even showing good skill (i have no idea how the rank system works) but you are on your way.

Thats a great haul! only forging tools I have found out here on the west coast were my anvil and one broad top fuller...and one pair of scrolling tongs in a "antique" shop that they wanted $25 for! Wish i was back in the Mid-west.

biggest piece of stock i've forged was 2.5'' round...would i do it again? not without a sucker ;0 i mean striker.I know in industrial settings they have robots to do the lifting/moving of large pieces and in the old days they had all manner of suspension equipment to "lift" the material and the smith "guided" the material.I would think the average smith could work anything they could manage to lift onto their anvil with their tong hand how efficient that is depends on the hammer hand.my 2cents.

I don't own a power hammer so those that do can probably answer far better than I.i would assume you could use "as forged" or normalized 4140 under a PH no problem but lets see what others with more experience have to say.

punny stuff

hey ethan i got some 3'' 4140...Man last hammer i made was from 2.5'' and i had to punch it by hand.But yeah i think we all get a little giddy about forging big stock. you are doing great work ethan.

Looks like it will do just fine,good work.

very nice and glad to hear it was a success.

I hope this happens I/we wanna see...PICTURES.

what size hardy hole do you have and what material size did you use? the shoulder in the last pic looks a bit weak on the bottom side.you will need to address the "fish mouthing" on top before flattening and speading into a cutting edge.looks like you are on the right track.

the main difference IMO are two things:1 with a "rod handled" flatter you don't have to punch and drift a handle eye which can be challenging without a striker,2 a "rod handled" flatter can "float" on the material and find high spots easier.all in all i think it all comes down to what you have available for materials,help etc;

prayer sent ODblacksmith

everyone here has offered great advice,and i would like to share my experiences...I started to want to "smith" when i was just a little older than you,when i started i wanted to make armor.i began working with thin sheet and made some decent things using a bench vise and chisels as "stakes".then i caught the bug and decided to build a brake drum forge,so there i was with a 25lb block of mild steel as an anvil, brake drum forge and and a hardware store 3lb cross-pein.took me quite a while to make anything useful,but i kept telling myself i CAN improve my accuracy,i CAN hit harder...Now im 25 years old have forged 8-9 hammers,20 somthing pairs of tongs and about 15-20 hardy tools.this was only possible by learning the basics. So heres my recommendation:replace the word mediocre with the word beginner,continue making beginner projects and one day you might out-forge everyone here. P.S. the only smith I've ever met face to face was the smith i bought my anvil from,and he wasnt giving up any secrets so to speak.you can do this.OD

thanks frosty...I think?

to add to this topic I've posted i will mention it is complete and in my shop.it made the whole 50ft trip to my "smithy" from my garage which includes a 4-5inch drop from concrete to dirt/grass and all in all im happy with it.we didn't use the grill because it was propane and i prefer wood/charcoal BBQ!We use a small hibachi type grill which is perfect for 2-3 people.this is a regular grill but i used 1/2in sq tube to reinforce it and keep it from buckling,the only thing i can see failing is the wheels(if you roll it around a lot).right now there has to be 90-100 lbs on it in hammer,hardies,tongs and top tools etc; T.P gonna come up with something for the wheels...eventually swede,its the ride of a lifetime Kevin...we all need more hammers