Daswulf

Thanks Rojo. Now that I got one done and will make more soon it is just another tool in the toolbox and I hope to get better expressions. Also want to get the keychain ring to look like it is held in the jaw on the next. 

Exactly. 

Last night I made my first forged skull. I have no idea why I hadn't before but I was asked to do a forging demo by PAABA for a pittsburgh local iron workers group to maybe inspire some interest. I am all about drawing interest even tho I'm not the most social. I try when it comes to blacksmithing. Anyway they mentioned possibly forging a skull among other things so I need to try and practice before I jump into it. The other ideas I am more familiar with.    

Here is my first attempt. Will make it a key chain. First idea was a bottle opener but that wasn't going well because of fatigue. Yeah full time job, kids and other duties leads to less alert time in the forge. So I cut it and drilled it to accept a key ring.  It is ok. A few more and I might be able to make them better. 

Definately props to a few tutorials on yt. 

Nice Tommy, sounds like a great experience. I like the booth. 

Learning is fun. The more you learn and practice, the more you learn to watch for the next time to practice. Learning with out practicing is just getting an idea of it. You learn way more in practicing what you learned then go back and learn again. If you don't get good results you learn some more and take That to the forge until you get that Ah-Hah moment ("I get it now."). 

Doing great Shainarue. Keep up the work. Practice makes good. Lol. I don't believe much in perfect like the old saying. Good is good. Well, there is perfect I guess but as craftsmen at least I never see it. It is done when we are either done or it is enough  or good in our minds eye. 

Sorry for the ramble. 

Candle holder looks nice. Good work. 

I do like my bottom blast forge. Like you said, trusty go to. For people using charcoal I suggest a side blast. For coke and coal (I use coal) I prefer a bottom blast forge. Side blast can burn any solid fuel but there is always a trade off to performance. What fuel Did your grandfather burn in it? 

I know in my bottom blast forge I can easily poke out any obstructions in the air blast (tuyere) if my fire is weaker. I havnt used a side blast as much to know the tricks but like I mentioned they are solid forges but it is likely an air feed blockage. 

I'll also say welcome. 

It is great that you got to learn from your grandfather and have those memories and have some of his equipment to carry on the craft. 

If your fuel and starting method is consistent and works sometimes well, then my guess that when it doesn't work there must be something blocking the air blowing in. Maybe a chunk of coke or clinker blocking the tuyere? 

That is an interesting idea. They look to me like they would be good for smaller ferrous work too. 

No idea on help with makers but Wow, what a beautiful set of tools!

Jest wondering now if you could get a hexagon shape punch to make a deep and close enough impression to look like a bit of the flat honeycomb in copper without cracking/tearing it. Probably wouldn't have to be too deep to look good. 

I don't have any repousse  setup but now I'm thinking of other ideas in that regard as well. 

Haha, fair enough. Was just wondering. Lots of us use old well used anvils that have some pits, scars and other imperfections. I haven't had any issues with those things that I really noticed either. I more so notice if my hammer work was good or not lol. 

I do understand wanting new to be perfect but at the same time price point dictates the level of the final product. One of the reasons I do use older used anvils, Price was right vs. New, and these better low cost new ones weren't out at the time. ( to be honest at my level of understanding at the time I started I never thought to look into a "new" anvil lol) They are still great chunks of steel to hammer on. 

Have you noticed the surface flaws to affect your work yet?

Ya can't have pantless miniatures, what would the neighbors say. What better than map pants, it keeps your hands free to carry all the weapons, potions and treasures. And that's why ya need friends.. to read the back of the map. 

Who can forget the iron maiden, secret passages through book cases, mad scientist laboratories and monsters that go bump in the night( because it is dark and no one left the light on for them, "and Who put that coffee table There!). 

He goes by Jack Crafty on his knapping videos.  His videos are long and when he rambles I find it enjoyable. Just watching him work is very informative. 

I still have a lot to learn so I don't want to muddy up the waters going into what I think is right. I do "think" the same with flint as you stated. 

Love the expressions you are able to achieve. Also the names and scenarios. 

The dreadful affair at Fawrnsworth castle indeed.  Sounds like he needs someone with a monocle a mustache and a top hat to corroborate and tell the tale. 

I too am guilty of not getting any or many if any good pictures of some things I've made.  

Another benefit to a hand crank blower is if you get side tracked and step away from the forge you are less likely to burn your workpiece. Have done that with my electric blower having not shut it off or letting the work piece heat while i go off and think, text or talk. There are fixes for that as well tho. But it really hurts spending hours on something then a second of misattention and it is ruined. 

Oh, lots of people use them. I have a 110v Dayton blower on my shop forge, but use a champion 400 hand crank blower for my travel demo forge.  Nice not needing electric. If you can find one in good usable shape for a decent price they are great. Don't even have to crank as much/fast using charcoal vs. coal. 

I'll be using the old hand crank tomorrow at a sales demo event. 

Amazing the options eh?

The best thing to use is what works. 

For blowers don't discount n air mattress inflator, either electric or hand pump. Charles recommended a double quick pump sold through wally world or amazon. I have one and it would work fine for both its intended purpose and as a charcoal forge pump. I have used mine a lot for blowing up pools, floaties, and air mattresses lol. Havnt had a chance to try it out in a campfire to forge yet but it would work fine with a metal pipe to attach to it. 

Chad, through some more recent interest in learning about flint knapping one of the guys I watch on yt mentioned landscaping supply places as a potential place for find bull rock or bull gravel. I haven't had the need to check into that more but that might be a cheap source other than buying a grab bag of unknown but possible decent stuff on ebay which i have done. Id say that most of the stuff I got in a 40# box wasnt very good for knapping but certainly should be good for flint and steel, which was a secondary or firstly reason I bought it. That was before i heard about the bull rock.

It might be worth checking out and if you examine some chipped rocks you might find some decent chert or flint rock. At that point I would nicely explain your intentions with it and nicely ask if you could purchase a small quantety at they probably mostly sell by the yard or large weights. 

Give the jabod a try and to from there. 

Look up JABOD (just a box of dirt) if you are looking to use charcoal. It is an absolutely simple and easy side blast forge design that is very well suited to use charcoal efficiently. The basic idea of it has been around thousands of years. The box just gets it up off the ground. 

A bottom blast using that old coal stove would eat through charcoal fast and be way harder to make than a jabod side blast forge. Pretty simple to make, will get you forging fast instead of tinkering around with something that won't be efficient. 

Just because you have something doesn't mean it is the right thing to make something out of. 

Another point on a jabod, if it doesn't suit your needs or work as well as expected it is easily adjusted, where and something hard built is not. 

Here is the pinned thread. There are others to read into as well. 

Hi AnimaVetus,

Sounds like you are going for a bottom blast forge? 

What will the fuel be, coal, coke or charcoal? 

My first thoughts are that you might have to make more work out of that thing than is necessary, and also it wouldn't have any "table" for extra fuel around the fire to rake in as needed. 

If that is what you'd like to use we could help out with info

Have you looked at any more proven designs in this sections?