Sebastian Sundin

That's clever, I live in Sweden so finding wooden clogs will probably not be an issue! I'll have to try that when the temperature drops

A lot of great tips here, loving this forum. Started smithing earlier this summer out of a bbq grill that i filled with a mixture of plaster/sand, a brakedrum and some piping. Been a lot of trial and error through the summer since I am alone in this, got no one around me with experience in smithing. Now I've built my "real" forge, still using the brakedrum as a fire pot, and I've also constructed a side-draft chimney that works pretty well! All I can add to this thread is wear thick socks, heavy shoes and a hat, and maybe but down some plywood where you usually stand (if you've got stone-flooring like I do). Maybe I should consider heating my anvil before use, -20C is fairly common in the winter where I live.

Thanks for all the info guys, I picked up a square box in the town next to mine, I'm going to work on installing everything next week

Turns out that this square tunnel that my friend had was rusted all the way through, with big holes in it.. that wont work! But I was thinking, could you put and old oil barrel through the wall to act as a tunnel? With the tunnel horizontal, couldn't you just attach a 90degree pipe-bend-thingy to the bottom? I'm guessing the part through the wall doesn't have to be square, or does it? And perhaps an oil barrel is too big in diameter, I don't really know..

Did not think about that, haha, thanks!

Hi! I'm still kind of a newbie at this, I started forging this summer, outside, and now winter is approaching and I am thinking about setting up shop indoors. I've got an old barn at my disposal, that actually was used as a blacksmiths shop some 50 years ago, but my grandfather removed the chimney and everything else to use it to store his cars. It would be nice to have a chimney but since it was removed several years ago that is not an option, so I was thinking about the side-draft chimney and looked at Hofis blueprints. There's a bit of draft from the windows, and also from the door, could this be a problem or is it just a good thing? Also, I have got the square tunnel, what bothers me is the pipes he uses, I can get my hands on 6inch pipes but anything bigger than that seems to be pretty hard to find here in Sweden, atleast at a decent price. Will the side draft work with such a small pipe or do I need a wider one? The barn is roughly 6x5m, so 30m2, almost 100squarefeet If I am correct.

Hey guys, I've just started blacksmithing and have made a few knives, though I've only sharpened them with my cheap and extremely weak belt grinder. I'm thinkin' about buying one of those "Japanese" knife grinding stones, but I don't know which one will work best for me. I've made a few razors that I intend to make really sharp, and a few kitchen knives that could use some sharpening aswell. What I am looking at right now is a combination stone, meaning one grit on the top and another on the bottom, and my options are 240/800, 400/1500, 600/2000, 1000/3000, 2000/5000, 3000/8000. I am only gonna buy one of the combination stones, cause I don't want to spend to much money on this right now, so which one do you guys think will work best in putting a nice, sharp edge on my blades?