TWISTEDWILLOW

Here’s some pictures of ash gates an dumps/dumps on some of my forges

Well Howdy to you too Neighbor! I’m glad to see ya back on the forum! I hope we get lots of participation! I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Silly Thomas he lives in my territory! there most assuredly are more anvils out here than in the cities!…. That’s cause there ain’t no cities round here! Bhahaha Seriously though there ain’t a ol barn within a hundred miles of my house in any direction that ain’t got grandpas beat up 100 pound anvil in it settin next to a 4” post vise an a rusty rivet forge with the handle rotted off, but…. That bein said Good luck finding a cone mandrel, swage block or 500 pound anvil because farmer John’s grandpa wasn’t gonna spring for that kinda stuff! I swear everyone of them ordered the cheapest basic kit that the mail order catalogs had to offer! lol

Heads up We’re not allowed to post links to commercial sales website here on the forum The broken one is cheap enough if it still has rebound, the face looks good, the 200 pounder is a fair price too if you can get it for that,

Howdy everyone! with fall coming on soon and the holiday season following soon after, I thought since we ain’t had a challenge in awhile that it’d be fun to start a new one! everyone’s invited to participate!!! from beginners to hobbyists to professional smiths to…. yes even our resident curmudgeons! the challenge will be to make letter opener! For openin all those holiday cards that will be pouring in yalls mail boxes in a few months! the required material! will be anything you choose! And any size you choose! new stock, old stock, copper, brass, mild, wrought, titanium, high carbon, stone, glass, wood, bone, or ? the only limitations are first it will actually have to be able to open a letter! second it will have to have at least some kinda forged metal content even if you choose to make the bulk of it from a non metal material Third This goes without sayin, you gotta take pictures an post em! it can be any theme or design the deadline for the challenge will be October 31 Halloween! so that gives everyone over two months from now to complete their projects! alright I think that covers just about everything ready set Go! Happy forging! Everyone make sure to stay safe and have fun!

Sounds awesome! Do you have any pictures of it? Flea markets, junk stores, auctions and estate sales are always really high on anvils, you gotta around the farms an barns, we have a lot of anvils in our area that can be had at reasonable prices but ya gotta hunt for em,

I forgot to add for everyone who don’t already know, their avatar here is Anachronistic58, it’s been a couple days since I heard from Robert but he said it might be a short bit before he’s back online,

I’ve done that a time or two myself, is it just red dirt or have you mixed in other materials with it? Jennifer, hammer looks awesome! it looks like you need a refill on your hardwick cup!

Nah usin a welder isn’t cheatin, an neither is a lathe or mill, lots of folks on here use all that stuff, as well as power hammers! The only reason I could see to do everything 100% by hand is if your part of a historical group that replicates smiths from a specific era, like Roman, medieval, Viking, American colonial or civil war, ect…

It can’t hurt to try Jerry! ya Never know it might help! im creek but I don’t keep up with customs my neighbor is Cherokee an he told me just earlier this week if I wip a turtle that will make it rain and end the drought, he told me that was a creek nation thing but id never heard tell of it before, so who knows, it might actually help to shake a stick a red clay if your from a tribe that believes that it will do something!

Worst comes to worst you can come up here if ya don’t find any down in vian, and I can find ya a dump truck load of red dirt! i don’t have any bricks in my forges except the ones I ground up to mix with the clay, I haven’t had no issues even at welding heat, I definitely vote for usin free red dirt an save the money for other goodies like a swage block!

Lol ya we call em sand bass, an we call small mouth bass brownies,

Other People spend millions of dollars every year on pet beds… my cats…

Scott’s out you way too!

Your welcome, Don’t worry they aren’t a gimmick, their forges are made in the US, an the manufacture has an account here on IFI, so you’d probably be safe dealing with them if you chose to go that route,

Great minds think alike!

Howdy from eastern Oklahoma and welcome to the forum, im sorry to hear about your loss, im a coal guy myself but there’s a ton of gas rigs on here, I’ve heard a lot of talk sayin single burner forges will actually do most stuff you want, an for just starting out again I’ve heard some of our gas guys say the mr volcano is a good starting place, im sure the experts will be along shortly that can help ya out!

Hey y’all might keep Robert an Sheila in your thoughts and prayers, they recently had a family member pass,

George, I dunno where all or who all says bar Ditch but a lot of people say that here in Adair County, some people just say ditch though, An yes a lot of folks use the term coke to describe all soft drinks lol

Well livin on a rock pile could definitely put a damper on things! Lol do y’all got a creek near by? Sometimes you can find a nice rock free deposit of red clay In a bankside or a sandbar, or you could call around to any dirt work companies an see if they have a couple piles of red dirt you could get a couple of bucket loads out of,

Hahaha! Don’t be silly we got more clay here in eastern Oklahoma than you can shake a stick at! its all that red dirt on the back roads! it’s what I line some of my forges with an it’s free! i mix a little wood ash outta my wood stove an then crush and grind up a couple ol fire bricks an mix it all together some people also add sand, but you can get away with just usin red dirt outta the bar ditch! try an find a spot that ain’t got a lot of gravel! rocks don’t like gettin hot! Lol

I’d say it would work for now but I’d definitely look for a bigger stump to support those feet in the near future

Very nice!

Howdy from stilwell Oklahoma and welcome to the forum! your only bout 30-40 minutes south of me, your welcome to come by my junky shop anytime! if you need some ideas for a forge I can show you a few I’ve built, they don’t have to be expensive to work well! i might even have some junk laying around to help get ya started lol we got some great smiths in our area of varying degrees of knowledge! there’s a wealth of knowledge on here to help with just about everything, I’m sure you’ll be back up an forging in no time I didn’t do it! lol