Daswulf

To be safe in the food industry use stainless steel.other than cleanup and neutralization after forging it is as safe and neutral as can get. Just to say, I made a couple spatula flippers out of rr spike steel. I have used each of them after giving them a coating of first walnut oil then after a few washes, olive oil. They get used on pancakes/french toast or on the grill with burgers. Since I have used them and only washed, dried and put away and they do just fine. Only the occasional light stain of rust that wipes off with my finger or paper towel. A light wipe with olive oil on rare occasion. If treated right steel works just fine as long as it is clean and cleaned and dried after use. Oil as necessary.

Nice work David. There is a lot to be proud of on that one. Most of all is that it will be used, cherished and a talking point and inspiration to others. Well done!

Welcome from southwestern Pennsylvania USA. Glad you like me and many others found this site well worth joining. Like Iron Dragon said, probably in the anvil section, tho we love photos wherever. It is a great hobby to dig up some used steel to make useful items out of. That is my favorite part too.

Looks great John. Copper rivets are a nice touch.

Vinegar would work but it will be slower. Good point on not creating crevices for food related items.

Nice work Rojo. The copper notebook is a great touch. I'm sure he will love it.

Nice Chad, are you going to etch the ladle? Jennifer that is some beautiful work. That trident fork is inspirational.

I will second coil spring and old files. Tho some more modern/cheap files can be case hardened and not good to use. As mentioned high carbon works. And experimentation is a good thing.

Nice, so you have some experience with the hot metals just need to get more forged steel on the list. Sounds like you have a good plan. I remember there being some good shop layout threads on here. A few searches may bring them up. And remember to search in your preferred search engine with iforgeiron.com in the search. The forums search function is eh.. wonky. Lol. That'll be a nice size shop, and they fill up quick. Good luck on that wolf, I'd love to see it. Having a welder is great to make stands and help with projects. I would recommend a simple faggot weld out of one bar of stock to start in forge welding. Cable damascus is a bit of work let alone screws and nails but hey, can't hurt to try. Again, there are a bunch of threads on the subject of forge welding. Get some basics skills down and move up from there. Keep up the ambition and work. You'll get there.

Welcome from Southwerstern PA. Ferg. You are in the right place. There are any number of here to dig through. What types of things have you made so far?

My Easiest to find recommendation on something to hammer on is a sledgehammer head. No need to buy new. It is still warm and fleamarkets and yard sales should still be going on. I often find them for $5-10. Sometimes less,it doesn't need the handle, and the lack of one could be a good bargaining point. It would get you started. Sketch one end of the sledgehammer head on the end of a stump or even a sturdy log, drill holes inside the lines to start then chisel out the rest till you have a snug fit. Even if it has a handle you can leave it on as to still use it as a sledgehammer later. I even have a splitting maul that fits the same hole to use as a hot cut. I have used them as proof of concept and they work. (Ive even used a chunk of granite and a cheap undressed ballpein to forge tongs out of rebar. ) Frosty is right on the rebar. It is the hotdog of metals and hard to know how it will forge. I have forged some that was pretty tough and miserable, if I had just been starting out it might have put me off. No problem messing around with it if you have the fuel and patience and time but you will get further faster working known steel types. Rebar can change hot forging properties within feet of the same stick.

The cleaner the steel the more the heat temper colors will show. You wont get a full array of the colors if the piece is not clean and pretty much bright. They can be tricky to control. There is a chart of the colors and temps online, just look up tempering colors of steel. If you were going for mostly all of one color a well controlled oven might help. I usually just use a torch and then compressed air to cool and stop the colors changing further. The thinner parts run faster than thinner so with a torch I start with the thicker parts first. Finally I prefer to clearcoat the piece afterwards to protect the colors and the piece from rusting.

Thanksgiving will be coming up. Ask around to see if anyone you know will be frying a turkey. They usually only use the oil once and it works fine for me for quenching leaf and coil spring steel. I wouldn't recommend used motor oil. It can contain some nasty stuff. And you'd be wise to follow Steves recommendation.

Frosty is very right on that. It is the skills from learning and experience that do the work. You could give someone starting out the "best" tools and they might make the same quality project as they would on a chunk of scrap and with a cheap hammer. Give an experienced smith a chunk of scrap as an anvil and a cheap hammer and they would likely produce very similar quality as to what they make on the better tools they are used to. Don't wait to get started waiting on a london pattern anvil. Look through the Improvised Anvil thread here to see some cheap options. Then save your money so you can jump on that rare good deal on a nice fancy anvil that pops up.

Yeah, if they listed it for a price they should sell it for that price. If they want an actual auction put it in an actual auction and take the bad (low selling price) with the good (high selling price). If they list it outright it should be That price and first come first sold. I wouldn't deal with that kind of seller, but if you really want to try that is up to you and if you really want it I wouldn't fault you for it. Just saying that you haven't even tested the ring or rebound yet to know it hasn't possibly been through a barn fire and lost its hardness, or that it is a good anvil to begin with.

Well that is just bad business. "Looks" like a good usable anvil. Without seeing the weight stamp (possibly on the other side or not clearly visible) or knowing the weight, I'd have to guess it around the 100# mark. Jumping the price like that throws up red flags to me. The rust can easily be wire wheeled off. Obviously a rebound test would be a bit less than actual with the rust on the face. Not a big deal. In all honesty, if someone listed a price then after I expressed interest, they raise the price, I don't think I would want to deal with that person. That is just my opinion.

I couldn't say if it is a good deal in your area. It doesn't sound like a crazy price. Can you post some pictures? Also if you go to look at it, make sure to do a ring and rebound test. That and condition will tell you if it is a good anvil. Iirc, they are wrought iron with a steel face.

Not that you are looking into this but some might find it useful in searching this. Hf and some places have some cheaper car ports that have a metal tubing base to put a tarp over. They are 10'x12' and might work well for some. Better than the 10x10 easy ups. Tho they are nice to have at demos. Anyway, with some craftyness the metal tubing style can be modified to be more durable in the long run. The build you are planning seems fine.

Glenn will surely be missed by all. There are so many good things to be said about Glenn. At the moment I will just have to say Thank You. He opened a good welcoming community for those that want to learn and share. Prayers and condolences to his family and friends.

Good point Irondragon.

Hi Surfer, the face on that one looks a bit rough but it is still usable to someone in need. You could either try to sell it or donate it to a local blacksmith organization. It wouldn't fetch a premium but could be useful to a young blacksmith in need. Certainly would be sad for it to go to scrap or worse yet a dumpster. In most places it could easily fetch between $50-200. depending on its weight, maybe more but at an absolute guess it looks in the 100# range. Donating to a local blacksmith organization would be great and they could find it a good home and continued life in use. Someone would even come do the lifting for you.

You won't get bashed, just that many beginner questions have been asked and answered over and over so in searching you should be able to find answers. Some answers are from very knowledgable members that are no longer with us or not as active as they once were. Some of that knowledge is gold and well worth searching and reading. If you have trouble finding the answers you need please do ask. We can answer, or point you in the right direction.

Any steel used as an anvil will be harder than the hot metal you are forging on it. The best thing to do is get started forging and learning the skills. It's easy to get caught up with little things before you start. Once you learn and practice the skills things start getting easier and you worry less about misstrikes and denting whatever anvil you use. Practice on the cheaper anvils and if you get good and start selling what you make and you can save that money for more material and maybe even a nice new anvil. Rail and sledgehammer heads are often mentioned because they are everywhere and Work if you don't have much money or other options. Even as a cheap alternative to test the waters and see if it is for you before spending a bunch of money. I think George got it with work hardening on the rail. Even a big name anvil could get dented with a misstrike. Main thing is to hit the hot metal and not the anvil.

That would make a nice improvised anvil.

Congrats on the new shop Rojo! Pretty nice for a first.