C-1ToolSteel

8 inches!!! That is a MAN! Great deal!

Bottom-of-the-line is a relative term. Sure they aren't Hay Buddens, but they aren't Harbor Freights either. $350 is reasonable, but it never hurts to try to talk them down to $275.

How much are they asking?

Right on. Finding the right kind of wood is as simple as making it into a bow, and once you make sure it shoots well, cut it up and use it for hammer handles!

That should make it 100 lbs.

Mount it so the leg rests on the floor. If you don't mind, how much did u pay for it, and how wide are the jaws?

The square holes in the base are handling holes. These were used as something for the tongs to hold on to in actually forging the anvil. That carved out spot on the heel isn't original, but it could definitely come in handy in some forging operations. Great anvil!

Until you can have an expert look at it, i would just use it how it is.

Mild steel should be fine. Using a cheater bar is really abusing your vise, so anything you can't bend with your bare hands should work.

A #10 under the horn at the foot would mean 100 lbs, but a 21" face on a Vulcan would seam to be more like 200 lbs.

Yeah that isn't ideal, but i put a 55 gallon drum lid in front of that post to keep away direct contact from flames. Structurally, that post doesn't serve any purpose.

If you can muster up enough courage to knock on a bunch of strangers' doors, that might be the best way to do it. I would have never known that out of the two closest barns, one would have an old forge, and the other, a champion blower and a 150lb Hay Budden!

In order to be classified high-carbon, the steel must contain a minimum of 0.60% carbon. 5160 has between 0.56% 0.64% carbon content putting it right on the line. I've always considered it to be a high-carbon steel. Please correct me if there's something I am missing.

Here's what I did. I'm definitely not an expert, but hopefully this will help give you some more ideas. To make it more ''deluxe'', you could pour a concrete base for it and use a cast iron tuyere instead of castable refractory. I already had the bricks, so the goal for me was to make a brick forge on the cheap (I spent less than $200 on the whole forge),not to out-forge every blacksmith in the world. It heats the steel and draws the smoke and it's not exactly an eyesore, which is all that matters to me. Good luck with yours!

Can't find it. What does the title say? Maybe it just sold.:(

Craigslist?

Blacksmith rule #1: don't try to LEARN anything from Forged in Fire! Forged in Fire is for entertainment and the longer you've been blacksmithing the more intertaining it gets! Unfortunately, a lot of modern coil springs are made of medium carbon steel that has been super quenched. (not ideal for a knife) Leaf springs are hard to forge into anything but a gigantic bowie, and often have micro cracks in them. Older coil springs should be better steel. Some of mine are stamped 5160. As far as the forge goes, that is a decent design, but it obviously leaves out a lot of construction info. I would go with a hand crank blower unless you already have a traditional bellows. If your interested, I can send a series of progress pictures of what I did to throw out some more ideas. As far as fuel goes, wood is a viable option but anything ''big'' will leave air gaps that will keep you from getting a hot enough fire.

When life is a grind, keep cool or you'll lose your temper!

A lot of people get side DRAFT confused with side BLAST. Side DRAFT is where the chimney draws smoke sideways from the tuyere. Side BLAST is where the air blows from the side of the tuyere instead of the bottom and has nothing to do with the chimney. If you want to build a side DRAFT forge, I would be glad to share all the info you need of how I built mine. Here's a pic of my side draft forge.

Let's see what Frosty the Unlucky has to say!

Definitely a soderfors. Sweet condition! How much did you get her for?

Never used one, but it appears to be an older Harbor Freight, back when they made them out of cast steel. The anvils they have now are cast iron in keeping with the the quality of the rest of their products. I think it should be a decent anvil to start out on, definitely not forged steel though.

120lbs is a great size to learn on. Also perfect for taking to demonstrations once you've been hammerin' for a while. If you don't mind, how much green stuff did u fork over on her?

A+ That looks great! I've always thought putting clay around the interior and forming a bowl the way you did would be a good way to go for a rivet forge. You're the first person I've ever seen do it. Love the paint job too!

Wow that's pretty sweet! How stable is it?