Donniev

Yeah I actually have a stick of 1 1/4" 1045 I'm planning on making a hammer drift with, so I used it to wrap the wine holder around and double checked it, perfect fit!

Gergely I like the bigger heart, as AUS pointed it looks stable. Actually it would be easier to make it stable as opposed to fighting it and taking 2 or more heats just to get it balanced nicely like I had to

I was sent out to help with some welding at a plant that pours steel beams a couple years ago. It was really cool seeing how everything worked, but man I'd come home dirty, soot was everywhere

Had to give this a try, wife's birthday is in 2 days so why not? 3/8" sq is all I had, so rounded it up under the hammer and hit it quick the whole way around with a grinder, can't tell it started as square now

I have a few pairs of tongs that I'm really proud of, I spent more time making them than I should have but I wanted them to look nice. I made a pair of v bit tongs yesterday to hold 1.25" round stock, and I hurried through it and they are ugly. They work just fine, but it's certainly not something I'd show off.

At the end of the day if I'm making a tool it can be ugly as long it functions correctly, but I'm going to take my time on anything I intend to show off or sell and be sure I get it done right 

Ah, that makes more sense. No I did not, I was thinking of making a thick chisel?? The fuller would have to be kind of on the small side wouldn't it, say 3/16-1/4"? (For the thickness)

I drew the claw out on the horn of the anvil for the most part, just used a top tool to fuller where the claws meet the neck. The claws do need to be a bit thinner on the end, I think next time I'll upset the stock lengthwise a little so when I draw the claws out they will be thinner, and the length of the hammer won't be too long. 

I'm hoping to find some hickory at Menards later this week and I'll have it handled

This is the first hammer I've made, tho I've made 2 handled tools already, this is my first hammer. It's 1045, started with 1 1/4" * 4", final result is 5 3/4" long, the face is 1" square on the nose.

Biggest mistake I see is that the eye is 7/8 * 5/8, so it's more of a circle that was squished a bit, but I can fix the drift. I did get an hourglass in the middle of the eye, it's small but noticable

It's far from perfect, but I'm mostly happy with how it came out. Thought I'd try this because I had some 1045 left over after making a drift for a 4 pound hammer I'm planning out of 4340 in a few weeks, but figured I'd give this a go. Drift for that is I think 1 1/4 * 3/4, I'd have to double check

I'm not a fan of the "forged" look in the top picture, I just got a new blow dryer and maybe it's a bit stronger than the last so it's pushing more air than I want it to and oxidizing the surface a bit. I could have put the piece too low in the fire too, but that's something I typically pay attention to....O well

I'd like your opinions!!

Concrete for about 10 years, last 2 yrs I've been a pipe welder

Made this top tool tonight, it's 1045. I'm out of any tool steel now aside from spring steel. Made 4 or 5 tools, couple Fuller's and a small drift since the one I used for this was kinda short for my liking

I can see a stress fractures being the cause of the piece at the end just falling off, and I guess I must have overheated it welding like you suggest TP, I've never seen anything just crumble under the hammer like the last picture shows. I've never attempted a forge weld with any steel other than mild, so maybe this stuff doesn't like to be welded? I won't be trying another weld that long long with this either way, I'm going to grind the sides tomorrow to see if it's solid the whole way or just that one 6" spot I've already grinded 

It wasn't quenched at all, and it was a rather cloudy day today, so sunlight shouldn't have affected how hot I thought the steel was. When I'm forge welding I glance at the piece when I know it's close to temp, and turn the piece 180° every 5 seconds or so until I see just the surface start to bubble a little. Little to no sparks coming off during my welding. 

This is the first time I've forge welded anything but mild, but it's just odd that this one end just kinda wants to crumble under the hammer

So today I wanted to make a drift for a hammer eye, but I don't have steel thick enough, and I really didn't want to upset the stuff I do have cuz it would take forever. I got some new coil spring last night, about 3/4" thick, so I decided to take 2 pieces about 14" long and form them to rectangles, and forge weld them together. One piece was 20" and the other was about 14" long, and when I was welding the end of the shorter piece on where the longer stock continued the bottom (longer) piece just fell off. I didn't burn it off, zero sparks, my first hammer blow made it just plain fall off. 

No problem, I can work with what I've got, so I continued, but then the end started just breaking apart. (See picture) I've never seen anything like this before, so thought I would ask and see if I was doing something wrong or maybe someone here has an idea. I know 100% that piece didn't burn off, (I've plenty of experience with that happening lol) it just plain fell off. It's only on 1 end, but this stuff is just falling apart on me. I got a picture of the weld ground down, it looks like it's fine to me.

I was using borax for flux and it looks like everything else took, it's just the steel at the one end coming apart

Using Glenn's idea it wouldn't be difficult to put tarps on the walls, and get a tarp overhead at an angle so it won't hold water. I can't see it taking more than 1 1/2-2 hours to make a small "shop" like this

Thanks, I'll take a look at getting the book. I've found the more I dig looking for answers about certain alloys and the elements in them the more I want to know 

This is probably a foolish question, but I've read in a few different places tonight that the main reason for adding nickel in steel is to promote an austenitic structure, but since we want a martinsitic structure....? 

Or does it not matter because we're forcing the martensitic structure on the piece, and the added toughness that we get from nickel is why it's put in?

Sorry if it's a dumb question, I'm about 4 hours in tonight on reading what elements are added to steel and why, and how it effects (if at all) the HT. I'd like to make some hammers this spring and decided if I can't forge I'd get as much "book" knowledge as I can about different steels

Wow, I LOVE these! Really smooth work, I can't find any hammer marks either, which for this I think look better than they would with. Now I've got to go get some of these from the hardware store and try em out!

I'd probably stop calling myself that when I can make some of the things I've seen in books or in mark asperys videos in YouTube....So...Maybe in ten years? Lol, it's a hobby that I'll enjoy for the foreseeable future, but until I start making some advanced projects and they don't "feel" so advanced, I'm a beginner

Well it looks like I might be done forging for a little while, it's snowing right now, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post with helpful hints on how to do something, or a few times informed me I was doing it completely wrong! Frosty you replied to a few pm's, I appreciate it. 

Also, really happy I met matto here, he sold me my anvil and post vise, and has let me come out to his shop a few times, thanks Matt!

I've learned a lot in my short time here so far, I'm really glad that this site is around to help out newcomers like myself, every time I've had a question people much more knowledgeable than me have been here to help and figure out the problem. Glad to have Glenn and the mods here taking their time to help make this hobby fun

Thought I'd post a picture of the last few things I made. The skull was 1 1/4" round, wow- the eyes took some time, that's a lot of steel to move

Aus this is how I've done it for the few I've made so far, it's always worked for me. Just take 16+ inches of baling wire and wrap it around the sticks held in the vise a bunch

It's kind of cold out, but its not bad yet, so I finally fired up the forge again tonight and made a plant hanger and a few bottle openers. A friend wanted me to make him a basket hook and plant hanger, finally got around to the mounted hanger today. Made from 1/4" x 1", the support is 3/8" sq with a reverse twist, with 1/8" rivets holding it in place. The basket twist hook is 4 sticks of 12" long 1/4" square stock fire welded together and drawn out to 18". Beeswax finished

5 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

We tend to stack up large tumbleweeds out here as snow is a rare item...

Can't say that I've ever seen one in real life, but I do live in Nebraska, so....

Only question is why the gas forge guys/gals keep misbehaving 

That looks fairly thick still (idk for sure though, pics can be deceiving) either way that left side in the top picture is really thin. As stated either slit or punch and drift. I punch and drift my openers, I've probably only made 50 or so but that's what I do

I got a bunch of coil spring for free after talking to a local mechanic, it's good steel for slitters, punch's and drifts