Iron Poet

I'd suggest using wooden hammer for that.

pretty good

I should forge myself a big steel ring.

A solution would be buying softer food.

I use mine for forgewelding small parts. Since the shelf is much smaller than the rest of the anvil, it heats up much quicker. Thus it can give you can extra second it two to think.

Around Canton

Works pretty well. I used an old cold chisel for mine, and I can say that the method works very well. You do need to be good at filing though My touchmark is a tiny tree, fitting since I like in the Adirondacks. people who buy them are dirty cheaters

Sir Fleming College has a campus in Haliburton, they do a good blacksmithing course. Here is the phone number and email for the course contact 705-457-1680 ext. 6743 jennifer.bain@flemingcollege.ca She'll more than likely be able to help you out.

In a day or two I'll tell you guys just how good this method actually is.

In all honesty I'd love one cast out of tool steel or even medium carbon, especially since I'm not the most gentle person and I use my current swage block to handle my larger hardies. I'm not either, which is why I've decided to ask you guys.

I have an idea for a swage block that I want cast and the only place that returned my email told me that they'd cast it in ductile 65-45-12, is this the proper material? Or should I hold out for someone willing to cast in steel?

I can assure you, a 100 degree Northern New York day with 99% humidity is hot enough. St.Lawrence county becomes almost tropical in the summer.

They're prescription.

I wear glasses that block UV and IR and I religiously wear my face mask so much that I've almost forgotten what coal smoke smells like. I'm thinking it will pay off in 40 years when I can still see and breathe.

I think of most of my tooling as more or less disposable. They are meant to be hit and worn, because that is the purpose of a tool.

By design, so I can clamp both objects firmly.

You don't, these are just for picking the pieces up. IF you have difficulty you might need to reposition the pieces with a different pair of tongs for easier grabbing. It's better than trying to separately handle material by yourself, I can tell you that much.

I made these specifically for welding small stock such as 1/8" to 1/4" and also sheet metal, the tines are rather springy so that you can clap both pieces rather well. You more or less just heat the metal up and then when you're ready you simply hammer between the tines. I am also aware that these are not very pretty.

When I forge it's like poetry, I'm unfortunately unskilled in the actual poetic arts.

Naming is one of my weak points.

Just practicing making animal heads, this was a dragon head and since it was already a nice bar of steel I decided to make it a sea Serpent. The biggest problem was welding on the flippers, they really didn't want to go and one of them fell off as I was 90% done. This difficulty in material handling has promoted me to begin making split tongs, so I can hold material in two seperate places while being able to forge weld in between them though that's probably for tomorrow.

After you made the knife I'd use the extra to make jewelry, maybe a bracelet.

I dislike making tools that need to be accurate or well fitted, so I normally scavenge what I can. I once got a 2" wide box jaw tong for free because one of the reigns was busted. My tools are janky as xxxx but they work, and if they work they work.

Looks almost good enough to marry.

Soak it in an acid, that should bring out the pattern.