WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith

Look at my tutorial about how I like to build a gas forge on my web site. One of the biggest mistakes that I think people make is building a forge way to large. You will normally only work about 6" of hot metal at a time.

I far prefur the double horned (European) anvil. And rather than standing at the side of the anvil I stand along the axis of the anvil. Off side and near side forging is much easier that way, especially when using the hammer in the European (Hoffi) manner.

Jim I understand that you only have two seasons: winter and 4th of July.

In your area there is the Bristol Forge, They meet at a state park there. I demonstrated for the Bristol Forge a couple of years ago. There is the Southern Blacksmiths' Conference www.sbaconference.org the 3rd weekend in May in Madison, Georgia and there will probably be members of the Bristol Forge there. If you come to the conference look me up. I will have a large horse trailer with and 16 X 20 canopy in the tail gate area. Welcome to IFI, Tennessee and blacksmithing. Call me if you would like to come by for a visit. You too Samcro.

You can use a good adhesive caulk to hold your equipment in place rather than drilling holes in the slab. I have my Big Blu 155 Max and my 8" post vise glued down that way and they both stay in place. The post vise has a 15" square base for the stand.

Everyone plan to stop by my "Hospitality Canopy". You can recognize it by it being next to the large horse trailer with living quarters and a KnifeDogs banner on one of the tables. Hope to see you all there.

With the lower powered welders you can increase the range by preheating to 400 degrees. Actually you will want both. Everyone is different and you will have to decide which you need first.

You can weld stainless and aluminum with ox/ace. I have a Cobra torch and you can do a good job. The aluminum welds you will need a blue lens so you can see the puddle and when welding stainless you have to keep the seconary cone visible. This provides a shelding gas. If the secondary cone is not visible the stainless will crumble.

For a fellow who said, "I'm a blacksmith, I don't make knives", you sure have changed. That is the same way I got started making them.

March 16th is the date for the NCAB meeting at Big Blu shop and I always go to it. I thought that the KY meeting was that same weeend. If it is the 23rd I will try if I can get "permission" to be gone two weekends in a row. How 'bout checking that out and let us know.

Way to go Buddy. hope to visit with you soon.

I saw a model of it at the last Alex Bealer Meeting. Even the model is awesome. I can't wait to see it full size. Way to go Mike. Isn't blacksmithing a lot more fun now days?

You will be amazed how good a knife can be made and how well it will hold an edge if you harden in Super quench then draw a temper to 400 degrees F. I have to sharpen my wife's Case more often than I do my knives made from 1/2 a horse shoe.

You're only about 100 miles away. We get there on Friday afternoon, visit, drink our favorate beverage and generaly have a good time. You can camp in the shop (as I will do). Get up the next morning for more visiting until the meeting and demonstrations start about 9:00 or 9:30. Have lunch then have another demonstration. Head home, or wherever about 4:00.

If you are wanting to meet other blacksmiths come to the NC Blacksmiths meeting at the Big Blu shop in Morganton, NC. 3rd weekend in March. NC Blacksmths meet around the state on a monthly basis.

A friend made a pair a few years ago and made them into a belt buckle for the SBA conference auction.

John C. Campbell Folk School (folkschool.org) is near Murphy, NC. Appalachian Center for the Craft is near Smithville, Tn. Sounds like Dave at Fiery Furnace has good qualifications.

When making the adjustable bending forks it is better to weld the stock at the edge of the angle iron. When they are set back you can't get them completely closed. The way yours are made you probably won't be wanting to bend anything thinner than the minimum gap though. I made a set years ago and use them regularly.

I forge the tang to fit my anvil. As Frank was saying it only fits one orentation. My tang has a grove forged in the side toward the horn. Because it fits so closely there is little wobble and the tool is more efficient, becoming part of the anvil. Some of my tools I weld a long "U" so that I can drive in a wedge to really make it part of the anvil. Brian makes his with a taper so that one hardy tool will fit almost any anvil. Both good reasons for different opinions.

Mac, that is to large a question to be adequately answered here but look at fullers, most are straight. You angle the hammer face to use the edge as a straight pein. Look at the many videos on You Tube. With all this said watch Brian's video on You Tube. He uses a round faced Rounding Hammer.

For blacsmithing a square head will be more usefull, however, many blacksmithing hammers do have round heads.

Soft brick deteriate to quickly and hard brick are a heat sink. Check out the tutorial on my website on the Forge Supplies page for building a gas forge my way.

The tire hammer uses a 1 hp motor. You should be able to build it for about $1,000.00 using new materials, less if you can salvage some or all. Considering your power restrictions I would think the Tire Hammer. It is a lot like using a 50# Little Giant. Personally, I do not like the self contained hammers because they are noisy when running. With the tire hammer all you will hear is the dies hitting hot metal.

If you have to ask if it is good enough, it probably isn't. Or as my dad said, "Good enough never is".

Third weekend in March is the NCCA meeting at Big Blu Shop in Morganton, NC. We get there Friday afternoon, visit and party. They always have a big pot of chilli, or soup beans. We can camp out in the shop and then have demonstrations Saturday morning and afternoon.