H3xx

9 hours ago, the iron dwarf said:

so you are going to turn them into aluminium ore and then turn that back into metal, takes a lot of electricity to turn the ore into metal. most people would just try to melt them down.

beware though molten metal can dissolve other metals, a local casting place dumps tons of large ladles made from 1/8" steel that they have used for aluminium as they have large holes in them and having several pounds of molten metal hit you can spoil your whole day.

also adding a can with a few drops of liquid in can explosively empty your crucible

Obviously I mean to melt them down and make them into ingots. I would appreciate at least the acknowledgment of that. I've done research, but haven't actually gotten into the culture, the Jargon is a bit of a second language to me.

12 minutes ago, eseemann said:

I saw one guy on YouTube that takes their tempered knives and casts the aluminum handle around the knife. 

Cool. I have mountains of soda cans just waiting to be smelted.

6 hours ago, eseemann said:

H3xx, 

Working as a government contractor I have found many people trying to achieve the the goal of a truly stupid question. I find that one thing new hobby smiths have to unlearn is what they have seen in the movies. From Conan the Barbarian to Lord of the rings people are told that you can cast a steel sword. That question has been asked several times on this site as well. If you get the chance search youtube for "Forging a wrought iron anvil" to see why a new Ridgid 68622 Model 5 6-3/7 x 7-3/4-Inch Forged Anvil #77 costs $650.00 on Amazon.com. You see like someone that is willing to ask questions and is not offended if you find that what you thought was not the truth. That makes you OK in my book. Have to ever looked up All Metal Recycling? The website says "Buy or Sell Scrap Metal Springtown TX" and one look at Google Earth says this looks like my kind of place. 

I've never looked them up, but I shall. They're really just up the road from me.

I make it a point to never ask a question with the intention of being proved wrong. That's counter productive to learning. Instead when I ask a question, I'm asking for information. No ego involved at all. I know full well that anything I "learned" on History Channel or Discovery channel is subject to change. They've certainly let go of their principles in the accuracy department. On the subject of casting steel, I'd always assumed it was obvious why you can't cast a sword. The warping issues alone making it prohibitive, to say nothing of the difficulty in maintaining the heat required to liquefy steel without destroying the vessel it's in. Pouring steel is definitely not a do it at home hobby job. Go industrial or go home. lol

I had an interesting Idea, has anyone here used the lost wax method to make an aluminum handle for a knife? Would you do it in separate scales, or mold the wax around the handle of the knife?

In my experience, as long as the question is on topic, there are no stupid questions. I stand corrected. Always happy to learn something.

12 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Low carbon content means the knife would NOT break, it would bend.  Now being made of low grade wrought iron makes a difference in it's strength and failure modes.  

Unless I'm mistaken, I'm fairly sure that the higher the carbon count, the stronger and more flexible the metal. The lower, the more brittle it is. That was the secret behind the Ulfberht viking swords. They were much higher carbon count than any other steel in the area at the time, making them seem ridiculously strong and maybe even magical.

3 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

Iron was EXPENSIVE, as well as the fact that swinging a heavy headed axe is not going to win many fights. An average axe head, woodworking or battle was about 2-2 1/2 # or 1kg. On the other hand, the tomihawk or pouch axe was about a spike worth of iron and steel, as were some of the Hungarian battle axes. 

Indeed. The smaller and lighter the blade, the faster it could get in, cut, and let the wielder come out alive. And if it broke, (which happened often in that time due to very low carbon count) it was cheaper to repair if didn't have a lot of metal to it to begin with.

4 hours ago, Crazy Ivan said:

Many people turn their nose up at mild steel, but a nice big chunk of mild steel from a scrap yard ($.20-$.40 a lb) will do you well. As Thomas mentioned a nice hefty sledge hammer is great as well. I know at least one full time Smith who prefers his mild steel block anvil over his 200+ lb FISHER anvil which was nuts to me at first but once I used it, I realised block anvils are 100% sweet spot and a real treat to work on. Even if mild steel is used. I make and sell block anvils made from A2 tool steel and have 2 in the shop which I prefer over the Sodorfors often times. Don't worry about what you are conditioned to think an anvil looks like. It is just a heavy thing to absorb/return your hammer blows. Don't over think it and get something to get you started. Once you are rolling, you will have anvils fall into your lap. 

I've been researching enough to know that an anvil looks like whatever will work. Be it a simple block of steel or something from ACME. lol I've been interested in Blacksmithing for years, but only recently gotten both the motivation and confidence to try it for myself. Since I'm not going to be able to dissemble this sledge I got today, I'm going to have to get creative with a stand, but my first anvil that I own will probably be either a rail track anvil, or a block anvil. I need to scope out some scrapyards for a source of materials right now, as all the materials I have are two rail spikes and a handful of used lawn mower blades.

45 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Too light and as mentioned generally cast iron; a 16# sledge hammer head would be preferable!  (or even a 9# one)

Funny you should say that. My Brother in law runs a skidsteer business and I asked him if he had anything, and he gave me this nice big 20lb sledge. Shows me right for being anti social, I go ask a few questions and I find what I'm looking for in one afternoon. Now Just have to figure out how to mount the thing. I should say ahead of time that the bucket of cement method is out, because he only gave me the sledge to borrow. So I have to keep it additive free and with the handle in tact. I think I can take some wood and a bit of rubber and make a high enough stand, with a bit of rubber under the head to keep it from doing too much to the wood...

41 minutes ago, littleblacksmith said:

just put your location into google maps and found that you aren't to far away. nice to see someone else that isn't all the way on the other side of the country (or state). not that theirs anything wrong with the people that are, actually its kind of cool.

                                                                                                  Littleblacksmith

I wouldn't say close by, it's definitely not an afternoon trip. But yeah, it's always fun finding out there's real people near you that have similar interests.

56 minutes ago, eseemann said:

The first thing most people will tell you is "if you put your location on your profile it would help" and it is true. Where are you located?

Okay, Location updated.

37 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Find a place that repairs forklifts and ask about getting a busted tine---telling them it's for use as an anvil. (here's an example: http://www.marco-borromei.com/fork.html )

I buy blocks of steel at my local scrapyard for 20 cents a pound so an 70 pound chunk (4"x4"x8") is about US$14 and makes a fine starting anvil.

I'll keep that in mind. Do you have an opinion on the auto body dollies? The heal dolly has a nice flat surface, and the Comma dolly as a good sloping curve, but I'm wondering if anyone knows something I don't.

Okay, So I'm working on getting a forge up and running, and I really don't have any questions about that. My question is concerning Anvils. I have a set of Auto body Dollies that I've used once, and never picked them up again. I know they're built for hammer on metal abuse, but I figured I would ask first. If I welded one or all of them to a post, maybe so they fit in it like a hardy hole tool, so I can interchange them? I'm strapped for cash and would like to get a usable anvil as cheaply as possible, but I wanted to get a second opinion so as to make as few mistakes as possible.

This isn't a picture of my dollies, but I have one of each of these.