JHCC

Yes, that is correct. If you put a board (say 1/2" thick) on your anvil and hit it with a natural swing, the hammer should leave a circular dent. If the anvil is too low, you'll get a crescent with the curved side away from you. If the anvil is too high, you'll get a crescent with the curved side toward from you.

Slitters and drifters, even more so!

Interesting. Thanks for the info. And since I didn't say so before, Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! Your basic plan is okay, but needs tweaking. A shopvac is MUCH too much air for charcoal, and you would be better served with something much more gentle. Take a look at various JABOD threads, especially the Mark III JABOD thread. Kitty litter is probably your best choice for getting started, but this is addressed in threads linked above.

Almost any dirt will work.

Prudent.

Leaf spring is a lot easier for a smith to forge a replacement out of whatever is at hand.

Ooh, the college where I work has a copy in the library! Excellent!

Just call it “experimental archaeology”, and you can get yourself a grant!

That’s why I said “finished forging” rather than “finished”!

Made my first pair of Poz tongs. Not happy with every detail, but they hold 1/2” stock very securely. Also finished forging another yarn bowl.

I spent fifteen minutes this morning looking for a piece of pipe that was sitting on top of my anvil, right where I’d left it.

Going to remove the paint?

Have you done a spark test or drill test on the underside to see whether it’s actually steel or cast iron?

You could always bring some down here, and we can try it out in mine!

Also, coal generally likes a large, round fire, so that the outer layer is coking while the inner core burns. With charcoal, that extra material around the outside is just waste, so a good charcoal fire is narrow and deep. This is why most traditional charcoal forges are trench-shaped.

Loosen the stand clamp and rotate 90 degrees!

That would put us in the 1950s and earlier, which would be at or before the Green Revolution, where expanded use of fertilizers and pesticides lead to huge increases in crop production. Before that, I suspect that corn would not have been as widely available or as cheap, and thus would presumably have had no advantages over coal or charcoal.

A fellow I know through work who has made a killing in securities trading likes to talk about "exploiting predictable irrationality."

Here's that discussion, which actually just got restarted:

Making a tool to make a tool to make a tool to make.... Wait, what was I making?

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!

I just took a moment and did the math, and it's pretty interesting. First of all, most smiths aren't going to be able to buy bulk corn at commodity pricing. I did some quick Google-Fu and found a bulk feed supplier selling whole corn for $205/ton. Tractor Supply Company also carries 50 lb sacks for about $6.80. I just paid $12 each for three 50 lb bags of bituminous coal at Yoder's Blacksmith Supply. It's hard to get consistent numbers for bulk, but let's say $400/ton. Bituminous coal runs about 11,000-15,000 btu/lb. To keep the math simple, I went with 14,000; that would assume that coal has approximately twice the btu/lb as corn. If you divide and multiply all of that out, bulk feed corn and bulk bituminous are pretty close in btu/$ (68,293 and 70,000, respectively). In sacks, coal beats corn (58,333 vs 51,471), but it's still the same ballpark. Bulk coal is the clear winner, especially if you can get a better price ($350/ton brings the btu/$ to 80,000; $250/ton puts it at 112,000 -- which is exactly the same as commodity-priced corn). Of course, you do have to factor in shipping or delivery costs. There's a TSC right next to where I do a lot of my grocery shopping, while the only time I can get to the Amish place is on my way back from taking my daughter to or from college. Factor in the convenience, and that can bring those numbers closer together.

Nice looking setup. Looking forward to seeing more of your work. Now, get thee to the "Introduce Yourself" section and tell us who you are!

Interesting idea, but you're cluttering up the space on either side, reducing the clearance for moving your workpiece around.