JHCC

Joey’s explanation:

Good reminder; thanks. I haven't put the handle on yet, so I should be able to do this next time I fire up the forge. I'll try a heat-treat at the same time. However, I really do not like Chicago-style pizza.

The other side looks pretty much the same. I couldn’t get a good picture of the bevel (trouble focusing the camera on my phone), but it’s symmetrical, slightly rounded, and comes back about 5/16” from the edge. The steel is about 1/32”-3/64” thick.

Ever since my kids came along, I’ve taken to calling my mother up every once in a while to apologize.

More precisely, doing it for a living when you have to compromise how you think it should be done. That’s one reason I’m not a professional woodworker any more.

Here’s one from the village of Anvik, Alaska, made from a chunk of my great-grandfather’s crosscut saw. This came to me without a handle; I added the cork.

Nice, Das. You’re giving me ideas....

Thanks, @VaughnT. Much appreciated.

Check out the “collection of improvised anvils“ thread.

Made a book-themed doorstop for a librarian friend, roughed out a wide chisel (à la @jlpservicesinc) from a piece of leaf spring, eye-punched a railroad bolt for a dishing hammer (à la @ThomasPowers), and made a holder for my can of punch lube.

Actually, the coal used for heating houses (usually anthracite, such as the rice coal and nut coal from Tractor Supply Company) actually puts out less smoke than the usual blacksmith's/bituminous coal. It's harder to light, though (especially in colder weather), and it tends to go out if you don't supply it with a steady blast of air.

Folks here have recommended finding a place that does lift kit installations on Jeeps and such and seeing if they are willing to part with the (usually new!) stock springs. I haven't done this myself, but my mechanic has been generous with his scrap metal bin, especially after I made him a cool bottle opener out of a steering wheel column.

Retiry, please go read the pinned Forges 101 and Burners 101 threads in their entirety.

Very true, but remember that if your forge is running very hot, the outside may burn before the inside comes up to temperature (kind of like a roast in the oven).

Soak time could be an issue, and I'm sure there's a formula for it somewhere. There's also the simple fact that heavier pieces take a lot more force for the blow to penetrate to the middle of the workpiece.

The steel at TSC is, I believe, ASTM specification A569 (a low-alloy carbon steel with no more than 0.15% carbon) or A-36 (structural steel). If memory serves, they charge about $2/pound. Good for a lot of basic jobs, but a bit pricey. See if you have any steel suppliers, fabricators, or spring shops in your area that will sell you "drops" (offcuts from larger jobs) for cheap. (There's a steel place a few blocks from where I drop my son off for school that sells me their drops for about 75¢/pound.) Any kind of new knifemaking or tool steel (other than drops of 5160 or the like from a spring shop) is probably something you'll have to get through the mail.

How would I go about making them?

Fascinating and lovely. Thank you for this thread (and its pictures especially)!

To leak on the floor and make a mess.

Different kind of Coke.

I sometimes toy with the idea of using mine as the gas supply end to a Frosty T-burner, but it’s just too darn useful for getting a fire going in the smoker.

Ezra, if you’re responding to the very last comment, there’s no need to quote the entire thing. If you’re responding to an earlier comment or a small piece of a long one, highlight what you’re addressing and click the “Quote this” button that will pop up. Over-long quotes eat up bandwidth and slow down pages loading for our members who use dial-up.

That works.

If you want to invest a huge amount of time and material in producing a crudely functional anvil rather than investing that same amount of time in learning basic forging skills, that’s your choice. Go for it, if it makes you happy.

In the “fools rush in” department, I’m going to suggest that if you’re new to knife forging, you should (a) steer clear of something as sophisticated and precise as a Japanese-style blade and its furniture and (b) not think about messing with proven designs until you’ve got the chops to carry it off. I’m pretty new to bladesmithing myself, and the one thing I’ve learned so far is that I need to stick with basic stuff for the foreseeable future.