GoodThing Factory

got it, that makes sense. thanks

Here's a few of mine ...

this is probably a weird question but am curious if anyone has thoughts or knowledge ... i found a few pieces of the steel pictured below at a scrap yard. did a spark test and it appears to be your generic everyday mild steel. when I used a chop saw to cut it the first 1/2" or so cut just like mild steel ... easy to get through, long sparks - no problem. then as i get closer to the center it's nearly impossible to cut through and giving off short sparks that look more like spring steel ... blew my 25 amp breaker a few times trying to get through which i finally did after a while. my question ... is it possible or common that two types of steel were combined into a single piece? there's lot's of things i dont know about working with metals but i definately know how to use a chop saw and this is the first time i've run across something that behaved in this way. ** the top picture is another piece as found it in the scrap yard, the bottom is a cross section of the piece i cut. any thoughts or comments would be great. thanks

yes, makes sense - clever work around. i assume you do this at a cooler temp like dull red or black and want to make sure the shoulder is supported by the anvil or block? thanks ... i ordered and used what the company lists as a36 hot rolled mild steel. would cold rolled 1018 or a higher carbon steel have been a better choice for tongs? any thoughts would be great.

with all my detailed description totally forgot to mention that the first attempt to rivet bound up the tongs ... so i did quench hot in water in an effort to get them moving but they were solidly locked up so i cut off the head with a cut off wheel - the marks you're seeing - i did also clean up the hole w drill press and filed away excess material. maybe that quench was the culprit? anyway really appreciate your time and advice. thanks!

thanks ... i see what you mean. i am using a hot chisel but i definitely did chisel down to the lowest point and then opened the split a bit by angling the chisel a bit right and left. only after i got the split going did i fuller using 5/8 stock - if i'm understanding you ... i should have used a radiused fuller to open the v and forge down to the desired depth rather than the chisel? re quenching ... i quenched in oil rather than water under the assumption that quenching in water is more likely to cause a crack - is that accurate?

thanks for the feedback ivan - which edges are you referring to as being sharp? when i started the v the bit was squared, are you saying rounding the edges a bit would put less stress on the steel when splitting? also, as a beginner i dont work that fast so it takes me more heats than someone with experience to get the bit right. certainly more than 5 but prob less than 10 working with the chisel on the v - does that sound like an excessive amount?

just finishing up my first pair of v-bit tongs and they ended up with w few hairline cracks which seem to have shown up in up expected places. hoping to get some thoughts on what caused them and how to avoid in the future. i started w 10" of 5/8 square stock hot rolled mild steel .... purchased from speedy metals so pretty confident the material is as advertised. i dont have a power hammer so the reins were drawn out by hand. used a hot chisel and square stock to forge the bits. any thoughts would be apprecsiated. thanks

Thanks - is the main issue with bottom blast sparks / fire fleas or are there other qualities side blasts have that I'm not aware of? So far the fire seems to be pretty good - getting mild steel to bright yellow pretty fast it just seems like the fire ball is way too big so burning lot's charcoal for no reason. thanks - good suggestions ... i appreciate it. be great if you posted something ... i got most of my ideas from youtiube videos and almost all the builds are bottom blast brake drums mostly from semis ... granted you can't take everything you see there at face value ... i mean one guy made his forge from galvanized steel which if i'm not mistaken will send you to the emergency room after about 10 minutes of breathing the fumes, thanks a lot

Made my first forge from a semi brake drum ... after using it w charcoal for a few weeks I'm realizing the "fire pot" is way too big and wasting a lot of fuel. I know this isnt exactly a revelation but I'm not ready to ditch it yet so trying to make the thing as efficient as possible ... So far I've tried building up 2 sides w furnace cement (a waste of time and money) it never really cured properly and what did harden has already chipped off. I tried inserting a couple of pieces of 12ga sheet metal to form a more V shaped fire pot - in principal it seemed to do what I was after ... concentrate the fuel closer to the work piece but with nothing behind the sheet to insulate it I'd think I'm losing a lot of heat. My questions ... is there any real drawback to using just the sheet metal? What's involved in placing fire bricks ... can i just place them in there or would I need to cement them to the sides of drum? What about putting a few regular bricks on two sides? And finally, I've read a bit about using clay to insulate - can I build up a clay lining on two sides. Pics attached for reference ... thanks in advance for comments / thoughts

thanks for the input ... apreciated

Watched a bunch of videos, built myself a brake drum forge, commenced my hunt for an anvil and was lucky enough ( I think?) to find a well worn 162LB anvil that was basically given to me by an older fellow who was moving. Since I'm a complete newbie ... maybe fired up the forge and banged on the anvil 1/2 a dozen times to start to feel my way around things ... so I'm not in very good position to evaluate whether or not I should attempt to "clean up" my anvil ... the edges are pretty banged up but there's certainly are workable well radiused areas, some pitting on the face as well as a couple of gouges. I'm not interested in filling in the chip on the edge but I would like to hear opinions with regard to cleaning up the face and redressing the edges. Images below and thanks in advance.