firebug

This is my portable set up I just finished.

Well I finally finished my portable forge today. Been piddling with it for a few days on and off. Here are some more photos. I managed to find a place for the 18 piece tool set I got from Hofi and well as places for tongs, hammers, brushes, nail header etc.

Furnace,

While it is true that the metal will move in all directions when it is struck with the hammer, by using the edge of the anvil and not the face, and by tilting the hammer you are hitting the steel and pinching it out and away from the hammer. The edge of the hammer and anvil are pushing the metal out the path of least resistance, the metal does not want to travel down the length of the anvil and hammer face, it tends to push out and away. This is even more agressive than using the horn to taper. By using the edge of the anvil and tilting the hammer and using the egde of it you are creating a smaller area than the horn to translate the energy into work on the steel. By concentrating the energy into a smaller area you can move more metal and create heat druing the process. Like anything you can not take it to the extreme or you end up cutting the steel instead.

Whether to brush or not can often be a matter of opinion and what you want the final outcome to be. If you brush often you will have a much cleaner end result and you will not drive the scale into your work.

As far as rotating each strike that is going to be a matter of opinion I guess. My opinion is that by rotating every other strike you are only rotating half as much, which means less work for the managing hand as well as half the chances to make a bad strike because the metal was not at an exact 90. I have done it both ways and for me it made no difference in the speed at which I created a taper. But that is one of those things that you will have to decide for yourself.

Looks very nice. I am a retired firefighter with almost 23 years in the Montgomery Fire Department,the last 6 of which were spent as a fire investigator. Which meant that I got to go through the police academy and become a law enforcement officer. LOVED IT! His career will fly by.
Firebug

I like the fact that you are working off of the far side of the anvil, allowing the steel that is not being worked at the time to hang off in the air. This keeps the anvil from becoming a heat sink and drawing out your heat. I also like the fact that you were able to finish the taper in one heat. I have seen smiths hammer in the middle of the anvil allowing the heat to be drawn out and taking two or three heats to make a taper. The only thing I would try if I were you would be to not rotate your managing hand every strike. You can strike at least twice before turning the managing hand 90 degrees. On thicker material you can strike three times sometimes. But I have to say that you have very good "hammer hand-managing hand" coordination. The only time I will rotate each strike like you do is when I am getting close to the end and the material is getting thin. To strike twice may move too much material before I am able to even it out in the other side. Here is a hint. Lets say that you want a 6 nch taper all you need to do is allow one third the length of the desired finished taper to hang off of the far side of the anvil, which in this case would be two inches. If you allow two inches to hang off of the anvil and hammer a taper to a point you will end up with a 6 inch taper.

That is very nice work. That kind of workmanship is what we should all strive for. With time and practice it can be achieved. You are well on your way to mastering this craft we call blacksmithing.

Some day I too will weld like that ... I hope.

Great design - love it.

Sam
Thanks Sam.

Here are a few photos of my portable demo set up I am currently working on. I have a few more things I am going to do to it then I will paint it black. I incorporated stainless for the swing away tray including the perforated floor of it. This tray is very handy for placing your tools in as you are working on the anvil, they are always at your finger tips. I also used stainless for the tray under the anvil as well as the little water can that I made that fits under the tail of the anvil. I made a perforated basket to fit inside of it to make it easy to get the contents out. This can is filled with water and when you are doing drifting you can allow your drift to fall into the water to keep it cool. The swing away tray is also removable. The anvil, which is a Euroanvil, weighs 175 pounds which makes it easy to pick up and is not permanately attached to the stand.

When I took my first class with Uri he made the cork screw/ bottle opener as a demo one night, he did a demo or two every night. I was instantly hooked, I love them. So I started doing them immediately,I still have my forst one. It is not that hard but when you see it done for the first time it is amazing. You need about 3 1/2 inches of forged material to create the cork screw, just follow the illustrations.

I was looking on the centaur web site at a 500 pounder,..maybe 2,500- 3000 dollars new ones not that bad considering the prices of used

Look into the Euroanvil at Blacksmith Supply. They are not in stock but I am sure they are much less expensive than that. I am thinking around 1500 - 1800 hundred. I have 2 Euroanvils and love them. I love that style of anvil because they are much more useful than a London pattern and I have no issues with the steel used in them either. They have good rebound and I have not chipped one or even dented the face. I have worked on them at schools and noticed that they held up well to the abuse they take.

There is a 395 pound with no markings, believed to be a Peter Wright at $1,695.00. It still has more than 6 days to go. I have put it on my watch list to see what it goes to.

Glad the man made good money on it. But the bidders are nuts!!!

I agree and I blew up the photos and could see a sway in the face of the anvil. If I am going to pay that kind of price for an anvil it had better be pristine.

That 601 pound Peter Wright that was for sale on Ebay sold for 5,676.00. That is more than 9.44 cents a pound. I know that things are only worth what people are willing to pay for them but to me that is HIGH.

When I was a wee lad apprentice in the carpenters union, all my peers talked about the tools they had bought and how great this and that was, I looked at the old timers and got what they worked with. Boots, hammers etc. This concept served me well. Now as to blacksmithing, I have taken courses with some very accomplished people, one such, I would hazard to guess, Mark Aspery, would laugh at this thread, and shake his head. When he taught at Touchstone the last couple of years, he eschewed the large demo anvil for a regular sized anvil, and did his work there. He explained his reasons, and I agree, it is simply easier to work over and around a 150 lb-er than to manage a large anvil for most projects. After seeing his abilities, and how he used the anvil, I set aside my 300 lb fisher, and went to a smaller Budden, this is all predicated on what you are doing of course, but for my shop and projects, the smaller easier to manage anvil is king. But then I don't feel a need to go out and get a corvette either... (sic)

Divermike'

I agree. You should size your anvil to the work being done. For the most part we will be using 2 - 5 pound hand hammers. If that is what you are using there is normally not going to be a need for a large 500 pound anvil, certainly not a 1000 pound anvil. Hofi has designed a couple anvils, both of which weigh about 275 pounds. I have heard him say that this size anvil is more than enough for most smiths. I believe that too. I have worked on 500 pound anvils and they are rather bulky to work on when compared to a 200 to 300 pound anvil. As I said in an earlier post I just picked up a 175 pound Euro anvil. I am sure once I get it set up I will use it some even though I have a 335 pound Euro.

I believe that E-Bay is driving the price of anvils as well as other smithing stuff up. But at least you don't have to pay it if you don't want to. There is a 601 pounder on there right now that is up to 3500.00 and has not met the reserve price. It will be interesting to see what the ending bid it. I am going to put it on my watch list. For me it is already over priced. I could buy a new 500 pounder with plenty left over. That is just me, some want the bragging rights, some may even need an anvil that big.

One of the biggest problems is the mentality that I WILL NOT LOSE this anvil. Not only does emotion get involved but so does the need to WIN at all cost. This helps to drive the prices up also. People who conduct auctions count on this to help get higher prices for their goods. Not to mention the fake bids that artifically drive the auction price up.

How much is too much is a matter of neccessity. I would believe that for most smiths a 250 to 300 pound anvil would be more than enough. If you have a 3 pound hand hammer and have a 275 pound anvil that is a ratio of more than 91 to 1. If you have a 5 pound hand hammer it is 55 to 1. And a 10 pound sledge would be more than 27 to 1. Certainly this size anvil would be more than enough for almost any hobbiest and most professionals. My main anvil is a 335 Euro which is a great anvil. I just picked up a 175 Euro today for portability. I wanted an anvil I could carry around. I have picked that 335 up by hand a time or two and it tends to get heavy after a few steps. Anyway, I have worked on a 500 anvil for a while and that is a lot of real estate to work around. Here are some of my observations and opinions which only apply to me. It becomes a point of dimishing returns after you get to around 275 for me. The cost of the anvil compared with the small gains I would get, as well as most poeple in my opinion, are not worth it. As I stated early, the larger the anvil the more real estate you must work around and move around to get to tools, positions, etc. If you are using a hand hammer the face of the hammer will be relatively small, even a sledge is relatively small when compared to the face of large anvils. For most work you do not need the anvil face to be much larger than the face of the hammer striking it. Having a large anvil face is a very big heat sink which sucks the heat out of the steel you are working with.

In the end each of us has to make up our own minds according to the kind of work we do. Is there a need for large anvils? I am sure there is. I know where a 500 pound anvil is that I could buy for about 1200.00 and it is mint. Will I buy it, probably, but it would be to look at. First it is an english pattern which I do not use. Secondly, I have no use for a 500 pound anvil. I have a 160 hammer if I need to work big stuff. It would be strickly as an investment and to say hey, look at my 500 pound anvil as I wipe the dust off.

I have been in the Ornamental Iron Business since 1976. When I was 12 my grandparents started an ornamental iron business and I started at the bottom of the totum pole. I wanted to get into blacksmithing probably 20 years ago but just couldn't. While working at the Montgmery Fire Department a friend would take a rose bud and heat 1/2' square bar and make a wizard while we had the truck at the Fire Department Shop getting repaired. I thought that was the best thing. I have owned my own business since 1990 doing the typical cut and weld gates, security windows and doors, railings meailboxes etc. What can I say it pays well. I would stand and watch the resident blacksmith at Dollywood for hours when we visited there that was about 12 years ago. FINALLY I started gathering tools about 5 or 6 years ago. I took air hammer classes with Hofi in North Carolina before I knew how to use a hand hammer. I then attended Hofi's hand hammer classes in New York at Fine Architectural Metalsmiths. I have been to Israel once and I am scheduled to return this February. Even though I was going to classes my personal and business life along with the Fire Department held me back from truly learning and practicing my skills that I had been taught. I retired from the fire department 2 1/2 years ago and can finally get serious about smithing. Thanks to Hofi I have learned a lot in a relitively short period of time. So with me it was a very slow process over many years that went from wanting to be a blacksmith 20 years ago to a painfully slow process of actually begining to forge steel. I have so much to learn it is almost overwhelming but I am going to take it one day at a time.

I was waiting for the hammer to come down and bust him in his coconut.

Very snazzy

Those old knobs would have also made a great looking 2-peg coat hook.

Nicely done.

That is next!

How did you make the stopper? My wife has a bunch of the old door knobs and this looks like a good way to use/display a couple of them. Looks great!

Don

It will cost you 6 door knobs, just kidding. I took a cheap store bought stopper and un-screwed the stopper from it. Then I cut off the square rod that the door knobs screws onto flush with the knob and tapped it so that the stopper would screw onto it. The cork screw was made with the threaded square bar that the knob screws onto. I cutt off about 2 1/2 to 3" of it then forged about 1" of it out into a lonnnnnng point about 3" long and 1/8thor less round. Make sure the end is sharp. Then you hang the point off of the far side of the anvil and hammer it straight down the side of the anvil. Heat it good and begin to curl it up. When you are curling it into a coil make sure that it is hot or you will break it and make SURE you are winding it to the right. This way when you inserting the cork screw you will be twisting to the right, remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. When you coil it keep the coil together against itself and you can use the anvil face as well to help form it. Once the coil is made heat it up and use a screwdriver to seperate the coil to make the cork screw. TA DAA you are done. Then screw the door knob back onto the threaded bar and set the set screw.

Thats ingenious!!! If she's like my wife she's going to love'm!! Loren

She did, I couldn't stand it and I have already let her un-wrap them. She loved them. I was very pleased with how they turned out. Your's and my wife appreciate old things that if they could talk what a tale they could tell. I am the same way. We love to visit places like the French Quarter and the Garden District in New Orleans and look at all of the old homes. We were there a few weeks ago and we went by the house that they filmed a Curious Case of Benjimin Button in when he was growing up. They are remodeling it but have some very nice iron work on the transom above the front door. I want to do some for ours based on it.

I like taking old things and making them new again.

Here is a gift I made for my wife. I took two old glass door knobs and made them into a wine bottle stopper and a Cork Screw.

Hello , I am in the process of building a gas forge , have only used a coal forge for the last 7 years. Before cutting into my 10"x10"x14" box, I would like some wisdom on the best placement and type of burner is the best. And what type is also the most efficient.

Check out Hybridburners. They have a web site just punch in Hybridburners.com. I have 4 of the 1" burners and I am in the process of build a big forge. The link to Ron Reil's page is awsome. The burners are not the cheapest but if you want to do it right the first time these are some of the best burners on the market.

Guess who I did a job for today. An E-Bay store, it was security doors. Anyway, all they do is sell things on Ebay that has been taken in at a pawn store. Two guys work full time listing items and selling them. I told them about my experience and asked if in their opinion they believe people list things and have others drive the price up. They said yes, it happens all of the time. They are in an un-marked building typing away. Things that make you go HMMMMMMM.

I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has replied, even the ones who disagree with me and encourage others to do so as well. Thanks for the honesty! Maybe we can learn something from this.