Eric Green

my brother has a stick welder i think is what is called.he's not very good with welding. I don't think i ever saw him weld anything TBH. I know its like 100+ amp. its something i plan to learn in due time. I was thinking of making my stand from RR Ties, we have a few piled up behind the chicken coop xD Question, I see a lot of hammers that are flat on one side and rounded on the other. it wouldn't take much to round one side of my hammer i tossed into the pic, he red hammer in the 3rd pic above.

Well made my last modification on the anvil for the time being. Added a small horn opposite the hot cutoff. now I have an Idea for what I want to do with atleast part of the other side but i don't need it atm. I also think i know how i'm going to make the stand, and a later "workbench". that last link shows the decay on this. that big divet i believe is from the RR company when they laid it. I'm goin to use that, by cleaning it up and shaping it a little i can make some kind or insert for a pin for holding it in place on the stand. Speakin of the stand My idea is to keep the Swiss army Anvil in place. so it would be something i can slide the RR Anvil into and secure it while in use but not permanent so i can swap the ends i'm using.

i also forgot to mention this morning, my brother's friend has a coal room in his basement that still has a bunch of coal in it his dad bought back in 1990. I was given permission to get some. if I'm right in the googling, it should be bit coal. according to the results i found Bit coal is actually the more common coal. I may wrong not sure. I know we had strip mining for coal in this area. Big Brutus sits a few miles away from here.

yea, i already looked at his Swiss Army Anvil xD Thinking of putting a horn opposite the cut off. I am still a novice with a grinder so the other end is not even lol. an issue with my rail is as you can see it's lost a lot of mass around the base due to weathering and sitting partially buried. I just got off work so I'm relaxing then going to touch up a couple spots.

well I have two anvils. i already had the 14 inch section removed. but i whacked off another 2.5 foot section today.

@JHCC I understand the principle behind a vertical stand, I think. Thanks for the information. However, I think for now I'm sticking with what I'm doing. I need to learn basics before i go indepth with a vertical RR anvil. I have more than enough track to still make one. So while i learn some basics of smithing I'll research the vertical RR anvils. Thomas, that's awesome. we have a couple HVACs around I'll contact them after the holiday.

Thank you Frosty and Thomas. Picked up a metal cutting disk for a 7in angle grinder(Home Depot) and an Engineers Hammer(Flea Market) today. What I'm thinking is using a flap disk to flatten part of the rail and do some rounding some. Probably going to go with a 10in section to start. Might look out for a chunk of metal to make a horn with. even if it's just a Hardy Horn. Only thing i have left is something for air flow. we're not outdoorsy so i don't have a Air matress pump or even a Hair dryer for some air flow. i combed the Flea Market for one of those things or something that was electrical and moved air. Nothing, sadly, came up. I text my little brother since he camps out see if he had an extra air matress pump i could get from him. I too felt the $ for that Anvil was too much. the damage was too much. I still want to get the guy's contact info. Sicne he was a contestant on FiF there're a couple others in the area, My brother knows a guy that black smiths. I may talk to him. I want to get some pointers and even maybe work with them a little to learn better than youtube or blogs can teach. I have found a couple really good videos on the tube though. a guy did a real good detailed video on Tapering. Thanks again for the info, got a lot more stuff to do I'm hoping to get some fire in the forge this weekend. I'll post pics even if its just a simple break in on the forge.

INterested is both yes and No. Yes I'm interested it's a 150LBs Peter Wright. And at the same time, that chip/delaminating is something i don't have the skills to fix, and that's IF i had the $685 he has on it. My Little brother brought me a present from his house today. 4-5 foot of Rail road Track. I'm a little skeptic, its got weathering on the lower section. the bottom is still flat and the thick section is smooth. I should be able to get a good beginners anvil out of this. If anything I have the small chunk as a back up.

there seems to be some miscommunication, that last thing I posted, the above was something I stated. And I stand by that. I know I need practice, I have no intentions of jumping into knife making or tool building. I set goals for what i want to do later on. this way I can keep moving forward. Aside for that, thanks for the feedback on the rebar and such. it's why i joined here, so i can avoid making frustrating mistakes. PROGRESS!!! finished this a little bit ago. it's set up for side blast. I felt it was the simpler of the two options in Glenn's write up. So far the barrel cost me $5 and i got 2 4.5" metal cutting disks for an angle grinder. so I'm only in my starting forge $11(including our ridiculous tax rate) And yes, that is a 2.5lb hammer with bar stock welded on for the handle... My brother is not a very intelligent person at times. the hammer and chisel I used to round the edges. On another note, this beauty is sitting at a local flea market. I was talking to the flea Market owner, and the owner of the booth this is in,Phil, was a contestant on Forged in Fire. I plan on stopping by and asking if i could get his contact info and see if he would be willing to do some hands on Basics with me. Near his booth is another booth with 3 Forge Blowers in it. ranging from 180-280(?) in price. made me wish I had that much extra cash.

I know that Glenn, that's what I said, I need practice. I have half the mats for my 55 Forge, and Hammers are what I'm looking for. Rebar was to make some simple tongs from. I've seen several videos on it. I have no intentions of making them yet. but when i go scrapping I plan to watch for lengths of rebar or stock to make the tongs from. I have some Firewood for fuel for the forge right now. I'll make a charcoal retort later on. I been studying your Post, Forges and Fires. It's some great information. the Knife Goals are a much later on project, but I wanted to set goals or where I want to be eventually with my skills. Something to work towards. that basically what any specific item creation is. Skill goals. This is something I don't want to mess up and keep with so I plan on making sure I Take it slow and learn to do it right. Definitely need to search the forums more and find some Hammer Information. because I'm lost when i see posts about types of hammers, or a part of the hammer's surface for striking. I have some ideas but scouring the forums is on the To do list for when I'm ready to start. Had a Birthday for this weekend so money was tight. going to flea market on Thursday and drive through alleys for metals. TTYL, I need to relax, Had to down stack several Pallets today at work so i'm exhausted.

Only thing stopping me from getting going is the Anvil and forge. I have a piece of Railroad Track sourced. and i'm going to go to a couple auto body places next week to check for a Brake Rotor. and probably have to get some stuff for my brother's welder. I have a couple Idea's for future projects for a couple people, obviously i need practice first, but I have a couple goals for later. Tempering/repair practice. I have a few factory blades, the issues range from the janky tang to just dull blades. I was thinking of later getting quenching practice in with the stable ones and possibly billet practice reforging others. are most factory swords a good enough steel to reforge?

Hello, my name's Eric. I'll be 31 in June and I been in Love with Blacksmithing since before i could drive. I used to flatten Pipes onto old 4-way tire iron. Gaming took my life for some time but I always wanted to beat hot metal. a large part of why I'm not getting going until now, Location. about 7 months ago we moved to a new place and its got great area, lots of out buildings and a huge tractor Garage + Shop. I caught a couple episodes of Forged in Fire. We it resparked my want to get back into Smithing. I have been scouring the net for information and I'm basically just gathering my tools. I have a table grinder with grinding and brush wheel, My brother has a decent sized Vice grip i can use while i get my Anvil located, for not i'm just going to use a piece of Railroad track and shape it a little. I have a couple Drums, a 30 gal and a 55 gal I'm going to use one for the 55 forge i saw here on the forums. all that's left is getting my hammers. and one of the first things i want to work at is making some Tongs. a couple stocks of rebar and smaller stock for a rivet and I shouldn't have issues. I Live in the Southeast part of Kansas, Specifically Arma. I would love to get some in person pointers if someone is close by. aside for that I'm eager to get beating Hot metal.