Jasent

Looks great

It’s pretty long and narrow. I’d look for a helium tank myself. They work great for first forges and only need one 3/4 T burner. I wouldn’t recommend a double burner for a first forge. They eat up fuel like crazy and unless your doing a lot of long twists like railing or gates you won’t need it. You could shorten it up and have a nice little forge if you wanted to use what you have If you where here in my neck of the woods I’d give you one. But you could probably find one free pretty easy at a party supply store. Biggest mistake I see with first forges are too big. Start small, this will not be your last forge build. Have you read through the gas forge section?

It’s looking great. I would agree taking a bit of a break is very important. Frustration and exhaustion can cause trouble. I once put together a large prefabricated metal building. The directions never seem too be right. We had to loose and tighten so many bolts just to get things to line up. I don’t envy you on this project. Your doing great

Just about finished a new set of tongs today. Warm up was this leaf coat hanger and also fenced in my striking anvil so I can use the hardy. Had a spike through it holding it to the stump. This is much better. And I can flip it over to the sacrificial side when splitting.

I would agree and really enjoy Brian’s videos. But my favorite is the split tongs. I can finish a set in bout an hour to 1.5 if the forge is up to temp. Just finished my 16th pair yesterday. First few where a total failure and the next few failed at some point. Few more dozen and I might have the hang of it

Built a new hammer rack the other day. Had ran out of room on the old rack and have plans for a few more sets of tongs so needed the room. Nice not having hammers laying all over

These are the tools I use for dragon heads nice work

Yes I ground/ cut it in. Was originally torch cut surface

Few finished projects

Cost me almost nothing. Was given a chunk of rail and made the rest from scrap. Bought a couple hf hammers. I’ve made every smithing tool I own other than a few hammers, pair of tongs, and the few power tools I’ve gotten mostly given to me.

Finished up my hammer eye punch today ( both drift and punch are H13) tested out my handled punch and then made a new one from coil spring. Handle was from a shop broom handle that broke last year at work. Cut down the middle for instant scales

Finally finished my H13 hammer punch

When I need a hardy up a bit higher I just stick it in my post vice. No drilling or chisel work needed. I did my hardy just as jlp suggested. Drilling the four corners then a 1” drill bit for the center and chiseled square. My anvil is 22” thick so no through hole. I just drilled a hole going in the side with a slight upward angle so I can unstuck a hardy tool if needed and it makes cleaning it out easy.

Just trying something new. I may just put wood scales on the handle. I have a few splitters with 1/4” round handles and they work well. I looked up clinch cutter. That looks handy! I may have to do that

I’m not familiar with that term crazygoatlady thank you

Finally got to do a bit of forging today made my self a one peace handled punch. Was a fun project. Hopefully get a chance to play with it tomorrow and if it works well I’ll make one from some coil spring. This one is unknown steel. Hard to move with the hammer so it may hold up. No heat treat

That air gate is still working great. I used 2” pipe for my forge but I burn charcoal. Thank you for the kind words

Thank you all

I’ll take the average mental illness kind of kid anyday. Self harm and attempting suicide twice now is a lot to handle! She is in child psyc hospital now and maybe 180 days till she gets out. Going to be a tough road ahead.

Been a while but I’m still at it

I’m still around and still forging when I can. Summer is a very busy time for me(also dealing with a troubled teen daughter fighting mental illness). Come winter I’ll have more time to share and forge. Thank you for compliments on my anvil. It’s working very well for me!

I always have some whiskey around

My first basket twist.

I’d love to see a demo on those long horns

I would agree with buzzkill but I have not messed with my T burner fed narb for a while. Prob get back at it this winter so I’m tagging along to learn from your mistakes lol