Steelheadforge

Frosty, 

I had a tip on that blower that restricted it down to about a 1/4 inch port. But i agree it was still way too much power. I just bought a Zomax hand crank forge blower that should be here today. After i get my welder set up and everything i plan on making a new forge with the blower mounted to it. Im pretty excited about it! Haha

And thats a great idea testing the coal out at the site. Didnt think about that. I still havent made my way out thefe to check it out but i hope to soon.

Thanks again!

My setup right now and my first try at scrolls

My setup right now and my first try at scrolls. I dont have any of the hammers yet. Ill have some pics soon hopefully

Awesome advice! I appreciate it more than i can express in text.

I plan on going to my lical sxeap yard this week to see what they have to practice one. I understand home depot is expensive, i think i just got a little too excited and went to the closest place. Lol

I just got a collection of hammers of someone on craiglist this week. So i have quite a few to work with now.

As for the forge i will try that out! I plan on making something else as soon as i get a welder lined up. Im working on wiring in 220 at my place now. 

Thank u again for the great feedback

-Steel

18 hours ago, Frosty said:

Welcome aboard, glad to have you, if you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised there ARE folk on Iforge who know were  the Kenai is. Heck I think there are even a couple few live down that way.

That hardware store anvil is almost undoubtedly a cast iron ASO, too soft to be much use forging. Keep your eyes open for a piece of rail, steel shaft, etc. I'm fond of a broken truck axle mounted flange up as an anvil. They work very nicely in fact. The amount of steel under the hammer has more to do with the force returned to the work than it's weight.

What kind of fuel are you going to burn? Good smithing coal isn't easy to find up here, Homer beach coal is so hit or miss it seems to be mostly miss in the forge.

Our next meeting is. 09/24/16 at Pat Garley's, "Arctic Fires Bronze," in Palmer. Sure it's a bit of a commute but you can hit Costco in Anchorage and Grainger for those special hard to find items on your list. Oh there IS EJ Bartells if you need refractory, Kaowool, etc. Oh what the hey it's only what 4 hrs or so each way? Just an afternoon's pleasure cruise.

Hope to meet up.

Frosty The Lucky.

I havent done a lot to be able to tell if its too soft or not. All ive really done is hammer on a railroad spike and i did a little scroll with 1/4 round stock. 

Right now im using a small bbq with a pipe coming in the side for air. My fuel is charcoal from home depot. Seems to work alright, but again i wouldnt really know lol. I do have a section of RR track and was going to mount that but found that anvil and mounted it instead. 

Thanks for the tips @metalmangeler

Hey guys, just signed up to this forum. Looks like a lot of good conversations going on. I'm 26 yrs old, live on the Kenai peninsula, work in the oilfield and have a family of 4. I just started forging as a little side hobby at the moment. Been gathering tools and found a small anvil (maybe 25 pounds i think). Found it at a local hardware store. I'm very interested in getting more into blacksmithing and possibly being apart of some of these meet ups. I have pretty much zero experience with forging anything other than books and many hours of YouTube videos.

Been having the same issue as many it sounds like and that is finding a good solid anvil. i have that small one and about a 13" section of railroad track.