ForgeNub

That's EXACTLY what my goal is with all the sections of spring I started cutting last night not afraid to ruin the stuff I'm making in fact I've been trying to break everything, can't really get edge geometry down and sharpening I can't quite get shaving sharp, heat treating hasn't been an issue (I don't think) seems my quenched have all been solid so far

Yeah I have no where near that kind of versatility in storage, heavy duty garbage can for all the bits and pieces and a 40 gallon water storage drum for the bigger stuff and they are both full coils sitting in front of them and three leaf packs sitting in front of those next to my forge, forced to just start reducing all the coil into workable size cuts to make better use of space, but just got some roof racks with hand cranks to be able to make more room exciting stuff figuring out how to forge successfully with a small space

I love being the young Jedi on these forums. Re-Label your materials and the force will come to you! Though lately i've really only been attempting blades, learning the basics of drawing out, widening stock still giving me trouble but getting better. I plan on using the springs for refining my blade smithing abilities till I can start to potentially make a few side bucks. I really enjoy watching a coil spring go from its coil state and transform into a weapon/tool. Eventually I would LOVE to be able to forge some ancient japanese straight sword patterns as well as mid-late European style blades.

I feel like even though I am stuffed to the rafters on spring steel...I need to take everything I can get my hands on otherwise the universe will get upset with me

Oh Its gonna be a ton of blades and whatever else I can come up with, I'm running out of storage space with all the springs I already have at home. Coil has been fun/easy enough to work with, learned not to work it too cold pretty dang quick...stupid stress cracks. I've got 1 full leaf pack at home plus about 6 other coils so I think i'm probably set for quite some time. Figure though, I'll take it when and where I can get it especially when its being delivered to me for free. As a newbie black/bladesmith I have way more metal than I know what to do with but it's been helping me learn quite a bit. Working leaf spring, has proven much more difficult than that of working down a coil. I'm just excited to be able to have more spring steel to work on making more blades and figuring out technique while I'm at it.

Working at the shop has its perks when you're on good terms with local salvage yards...they sometimes deliver you the stuff they don't need if you ask nicely. Love those guys!

May not have been a joke but it made me laugh Frosty! I've swung it around gotta a crappy old desk and chopped into it about an inch deep with little force and didn't make any wrinkles or chips, I like the way it's shaped and it's light but I haven't got a handle yet so don't know how that's gonna go, on a side note my days efforts today made a nine inch dagger really thin but seems strong and very springy.

Always love your responses Frosty, straight and to the point, and always a little bit of humor, at least the part about being an ok bill hook. Definitely a lot for me to keep learning and practicing. So far of all the stuff I've tried out, I've enjoyed fashioning blades and watching the metal go from round to ugly to uglier to a KSO. I don't know if I'll only be focusing on blades but it sure is the most fun for me!

I ground down the peen on my cross hammer so much less sharp, in regards to cost of steel, all my metal is free, I work at an auto shop and get to take home all the scrap springs we can get. Basically only steel I have to buy is the mild stock. So I've been making stuff that I like the look of and learning in the process I appreciate the tips of course! Working on a dagger from the same steel as the Kukri and widening process is going a lot easier! Thank you all for your responses and the pointers it's definitely been helping me advance and feel less lost That's all the springs and u bolts I've gotten in like the last couple weeks at no cost, that being the reason I'm not working much mild steel

First large blade, successfully hardened (file tested) tempered in the oven to a dark straw. Approx. 13 inch blade. Went for a Kukri but had trouble widening the stock, made from spring steel. Lemme know what you think! All it needs now is a handle!

Good info, have to check that out when I'm off work today! Upsetting has been upsetting working on a leaf spring I picked up the other day, was going to try a Kukri but....abandoned it shortly thereafter and made a slender one out of coil spring, which is the blade in question regarding this post. Turning out nicely though, granted I'm totally clueless and just banging stuff into cool shapes and as flat as I can ;-) Frosty, I do intend to purchase a hammer, would a nice rounding hammer be a good idea for moving metal more effectively? I'm looking at saving a bit to make a really nice hammer purchase, possibly one from Alec Steele or something of that sort, his "squircle" hammer as he calls it. Whats your favorite type of hammer?

As I've gotten into the smithing, my father has been unearthing all sorts of components for a Shopsmith set up. Apparently he'd collected bits and pieces for years and majority are pretty much unused or lightly used. I got the Powerstation set up with the 6" belt sander and started working a blade on it last night, worked really well but I'm curious as to what people think who've used it before in metal/woodworking how well it will hold up and the results it helps bring about? Is it worth investing time in building the rest of the units up?

I have 2 hammers, and neither are very fancy. One is just an old 4 pound sledge that I ground one face of to round it. The other is just a home depot Estwing "Blacksmithing Hammer" that I bought and rarely use in comparison to the, been thinking about making a spring fuller just havent gotten to it, probably going to go home after work and alter the pein on the Estwing so its not so sharp, its pretty narrow, all in all its turned out to be a shabby hammer, i don't like it much.

So, imaging major axis of the piece, would be aligning my work piece length wise along the horn of the anvil and using the curvature of the horn to spread the center outwards? My anvil face does have relatively sharp edges so to widen using the face, parallel to the edge and use half faced blows? Since I've started I've been wary of using the peen on my cross peen or using the sharp edges to taper/draw out because I caused some cold shuts (i think) in doing so.

Come across a good amount of spring steel, very new to the entire smithing scene, have been putting work into a few blades lately. I'm curious what the best technique for widening a bar is after drawing it out flat. I can keep hammering away and I'm getting a lot more length but not width so the blades I'm making tend to be a bit on the slender side. Any specific tool/hammer I should be using instead to achieve this or is it mainly a technique thing?

Ahh good advice my friend, what about old saw blade? I've got a bunch of old hand saws and can get band saw blades easy enough, pallet strapping easy too working at the auto shop we see plenty of all of the above

Good to know, first knife i've ever made too. Guess I stick with my coil springs for blades.

Finally found somewhere that sells Borax, was trying to forge weld without flux....couldn't get it done. Today was the first day I used flux and it seems to have worked wonderfully, I used a Truck U-Bolt folded it over i think 4 times, and went through the process of forge welding each seam 3-5 times till I was confident, lost a TON of material in the process so ended up making a pretty straight forward blade. Ground it down, have yet to heat treat, or put a handle on it, not gonna be a heavy duty knife but something that'll look good in a sheathe and hopefully be a functioning knife for camping or maybe eating steak. Today started out as an experiment in my ability to forge weld, no deisgn in mind, this is what ended up coming out with the metal I had left. Bring on the critiques please! Its the first blade I've ever made so go easy haha.

So my forge set up finally complete, a real anvil and stand purchased, had been working on making tongs, failed (much learned in the process) about 4-5 times because of cold shuts, thin/long bosses and overall lack of knowledge. I went to forge today and Its like writer's block....I have no idea what to do, so made a simple fire poker for my sister's fire pit and some drawer pulls altered that she wants for her cabinetry. As far as forging something out of basic stock or scrap that I have....I feel entirely lost and a little disheartened by the recent failures in making tools. I don't know what to start on next to really keep learning and advancing, I feel like I need to make tools because my selection at hand is slim but, with a vast amount of choices and variety in what I could attempt, I just have no idea what to do right now. Any recommendations for you veterans out there? What is the best direction to head when you have a ton of Truck U-Bolts lying around, 2 giant coil springs, Head bolts, just lots and lots of Automotive steel sitting in my garage and I stare at it blankly with no idea what I should be doing with it. I get it for free from my work so no problems "wasting" the metal, I would just prefer guidance as far as doing things to utilize the things I have learned, how to work towards new skills, and make useful items for my shop area as well as just cool stuff. Thanks in advance y'all!

Great tongs man. I've tried and failed like 4-5 times so far, bought 1 pair of Wolf's Jaw tongs and they've been great, I plan on attempting some more tongs here in the near future, hell I'll be happy if they looks or operate anything remotely close to how yours look. Major Kudos for the first pair....Job Well Done.

I'd like to know what the volume of the interior would be to heat that bad boy. My first forge was WAY over built for what I needed, 905 Cubic Inches, and that was out of a mid-sized 11 gallon portable air tank. That thing would be a monstrosity to heat if not insulated properly and probably need like 4 or more burners, my new forge is 236 cubic inches out of a 5 gallon tank and its still got a pretty good size fire chamber...about 5 inches wide and 10 deep. Thats the first objective I'd tackle is figuring out overall volume if it were completed then figuring out how to reduce the size if you are dead set on it, otherwise I would think (I'm no expert by any means) that you'd be spending a fortune in fuel to even run it and heat anything to forging temps. On a side note, you could potentially make a reasonably sized foundry/furnace with existing openings maybe? Top loading for the materials and use the lower opening for a burner, either way I think it may be too large to really make unless its in a commercial application?

Agreeable. Handshakes all around

Actually I did a lot of research before building my forge and lining it. Kiln shelf made for a much better floor than the fire bricks that are offered locally. Spent plenty of days even a couple weeks doing research with some fruitful results as well as some not so much. With not much background but some common sense I've made a forge that functions well and am trying to fine tune the entire build by coming here before doing anything further, so stating I'm leaping before looking is somewhat foolish. Regardless thank you for your advice and sharing the knowledge that you have that I don't.

I should be receiving my ITC100 tomorrow, and am curious how I should coat the interior of my forge. Forge volume is 236 Cu. IN. 10 inches deep by 5 inches wide. 2 inches Kaowool with a pretty thick coating of Meeco's Red Devil 610 (rated at 3000) for my interior. Everything I've read is to mix my ITC at a 2:1 ratio, ITC to Water. Once I paint it on to the interior surface of the forge how long should I let it set/cure before I fire the forge? Can I accelerate the process? On a second note, I used Kiln Shelf as the floor and am having issues finding any information on how flux resistant the floor will be? Its a Cordierite Kiln shelf 3/8" thick, curious how durability will be on my forge floor/walls if or when I start forge welding work. Also what are the best types of Flux and who to get them from?

Amazon here I come to get some modeling clay!