Steven Kirby

I'm trying to make a retort that doesn't take a whole day to make charcoal and was really excited when I saw this post and then realized there are no pictures. I know others have asked already but is there anyway that you can repost them or some new ones? Thanks

Awesome thank you for the info it's cool thinking about all the people that might have used it over that time. I can't wait to try her out. I think it was a pretty good find for $300.

It looks like 60051. I did stop grinding on it but I wire brushed all the old paint and rust off of it and oiled it up.

So I finally bought me a real anvil. It's a 200lb haybudden a guy had it in the back of his garrage and never used it. It had four layers of different paint colors on it and about a half inch of old oil and greese built up. I have cleaned it off and used a 60grit angle grinder on the face and sides a little so I could see what I have. The face is pretty straight but there are some chips in it and what appears to be cracks in the horn and waist. I'm wondering if I should be concerned about those spots and if I should continue to sand it all down.

Thanks Thomas I posted it on there as well now.

my boat is in dry dock getting a lot of work done. I have been keeping an eye out for scrap metal and anything I can use. Today I came across these prop nuts that they were going to throw out. They weigh about 50lbs each. I thought they might make a good mandrel. What do you think and any ideas what I could use the other one for?

The base in at is just a little tiny thing with only 18 people on it so we don't have any stuff like that. I'm hoping while we are down in Memphis at the dry dock I might be able to make some friends there in the fabricating area, but I'm not sure how much they actually make now days rather then order off the shelf. I did hammer out a little knife Friday night with my daughter that's what she wanted to make. I used a piece of rebar mada a little camper fire in a wheel with a shop vac blowing through a steel pipe under it. It doesn't look like much but it's a start. I tried to punch some holes in the handle to to spread out the handle and give it some finger grips but I don't think the metal was hot enough it started to crack.

No I didn't think about that I'll have to ask while I'm there. I just picked up my first little anvil. Not much but it will work till I Can afford a better one.

Thanks guys and yes I'm excited to go to the metal museum. My boat will be down there for four months in dry dock so I know I'll be spending a lot of time there. I just wish I had the money for their classes.

Hi I'm steven. I'm new to the site I have been reading through the old posts for about a week now and have set up a meeting with another member when I make it down to Memphis next week. I have wanted to be a blacksmith for as long as I can remember. When I was a little kid I would heat up whatever scrap metal I could find in a camp fire and beat it with a rock on a rock or any other blunt object I could find. Nothing really ever turned out to be much other then a horse shoe into a hoof pick, but I had fun doing it. Now that I'm older (33) I figure I should continue that dream and try to really learn all there is to know about it and start small and work my way up. I went around today looking for an anvil of some sort. I found an old hay budden in the back of a guy's shop that he wants $300 for. It pretty rough but I've been reading good things on them. But I don't have that kind of cash right now so it's been back there the last 20 years I'll let it stay a little longer. I also found at the local scar yard a section of rail iron that has had a point put on one end to make it look like an anvil for $20 bucks but I didn't have cash and they were closing so I'll go back tomorrow and get that. I got a little carried away on that sorry kind of excited to be getting my first anvil even if it is only a piece of rail iron. So I'm in the military and currently stationed in Hickman, KY. I have not been able to find anyone else around the area that does blacksmithing or a club. If anyone knows of anyone please let me know I'm all the way on the very West Point overlooking the Mississippi River. As for a forge I'm still trying to figure out what I'm making. I have saved two old fire extinguishers that I thought I would make a propane forge with, and I also saved a stainless steel commercial grade hand washing sink on legs that I thought I could line with fire mortar and fire bricks and use charcoal that I could make from all the trees on my property that I'm clearing out. I have locust trees that are huge and all over the property it is some of the most dense wood out there that burns so hot and so long. I still need to find some pliers at least to start with. Well I guess that's enough for now. I'll keep y'all updated as progress. I'm gla to be here and thank you all for all the information you have shared on here.