the_sandy_creek_forge

Hey Torin.
Just a thought here, and it might not apply to the exact conditions of your experiment. But, have you though of setting it up so the EDGE of the hammers hit. It seems that I have seen lots of hammers with chipped EDGES but rarely if ever have I seen a hammer with a FACE that is cracked or chipped all the way across. Might try setting it up so the hammer are hitting the edges or something.

Don't give up. I usually don't watch mythbuster's (unless they are blowing up something HUGE) but if you can get on there let us know and I'll tune in.

-Aaron @ the SCF

Something that might speed up the process a bit is pre-textured bars. King Architectural Metals ( King Architectural Metals wrought iron metal balusters finials casting steel ornamental forged gate fence stairs Access control ) sells bark and vine textured bars and as close as i can tell from their pictures they make them using a regular old bark texture spring swage ( i think there exists a blue print for such a swage somewhere here). Should be pretty easy to blend the pattern back in once everything is joined up.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Nick,
Restoration (check the image in the bottom right side) This is a rebuild of the original workshop of Charles Perdew, a relatively famous decoy carver, that has been rebuilt in the next town over from me. I always liked the design, but couldn't justify the time to lay up all that fieldstone. Really classy (and classic) little workshop though! I know one of the guys that helps with the association, I'll ask him how the moisture/working situation is next time i see him.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Edit: forgot to mention. The building is a wood-frame that has the stone walls laid up around it for added strength and structure (not to mention looks)

Lots of stuff. Here goes
ebay welder:
in my opinion.....No. About the second one...Maybe but it seems awful light duty. Something like a welder it is best to stick (hehe get it? STICK?) with the big brands- Lincoln, Miller , Hobart, etc. My preference is Lincoln (cause that is what I grew up around on the farm). The Lincoln tombstone welder I am using now was made sometime in the mid-1950's i believe and is still going strong. The last welder we had was a Lincoln Century with the high and low range switch made in the early 1970's i believe. If a cow hadn't of got in the barn and stepped on it it would still be going to. All it needs is a new switch and the wires rewound on the transformer, and easy fix if you don't mind counting more than a thousand windings. As everyone one said above, try a farm auction. The tombstone welders go cheap cause almost anybody that needs one already has one. I've seen them go for anywhere from 15 dollars to 80 dollars.

In response to your next question, this is what they look like (at least what the lincoln looks like anyways)- Browser Level Verification

Mig welder- I have a Blue Point ( Snap-on's introductory line of equipment) Mig and find it more bothersome than I care to deal with. I only use it when welding up sheet metal for whatever reason and this is only rarely. Usually I have to replace the wire spool before I start because the previous spool has collected rust (which will ruin the welding lead liner).

-Aaron @ the SCF

In defense of HF....
There is one thing that I am especially fond of from harbor freight and that is the little 4.5" angle grinders (just don't buy there brand of grinding disks...lots of dust, not much grinding). I know, everyone is saying why. So, I'll elaborate.

I wait until the grinders are on sale for right around 20 dollars and bought three of them- total cost 60 dollars and some change (about half the price of a name brand grinder). I set them all three up with the same disks and when one starts to get warm, i switch off to the next one etc. It seems like heat is the most damaging thing to these grinders and running for long periods burns up the bearings. I can get just as much life out of the three (at half the price) as we used to get out of the a bosch or even a milwaukee brand.

Alternately, If I was running a full-time shop I'd probably run the same set up with three Brand name grinders, but I'm not running full time, so it is a very viable (not to mention cost efficient) option for ME.

Alternately (again) don't get me started on HF's rip off of the Beverly shear... It must be chargable as something along the lines of blasphemy to desecrate such a metal working icon
-Aaron @ the SCF

Ron:
It LOOKS like the coal I burn... I get my coal relatively locally (within an hour of home) and it is pocahontas vein that has been trucked in. As the gas prices go up, so does the shipping. Unfortunately it is really great coal and after using it I would hate to use anything else. They pulled me in and trapped me Looks good though. How did the truck ride?? It's good that you could get it straight from the mine. I am sure it saved on shipping considerably.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Ton of coal:
Last time I got coal, I used a 50 gallon oil drum that was cut in half. Both halves were pretty well full, and that was roughly 500 pounds. So...volume wise a ton would equal about Four 50 gallon drums, give or take depending on size of lump, moisture content, etc.

As far as the truck goes, I regularly haul heavy loads of firewood out of the timber on hard frozen ground with a '95 F-150 4x4 (probably 7 or 8 times a winter) and have no problem. On highway hauling you should easily be able to haul a half ton, if not a full ton. Not sure of the ratings on a dodge, so you might wanna check your owner's manual and whatnot.

My solution (for ease of shoveling) was an old oval shaped gas barrel that had a hole rusted in the bottom and was no longer usable. We cut it in half and built a base for it. When I need coal from now on, i can put the half-tank on the trailer, take it to the coal yard, they'll dump a load it and when i get back it slides right off of the trailer by the shop. No more shoveling for me
-Aaron @ the SCF

I have a somewhat peculiar situation here. As I turn from the forge the horn faces to the right at about a 2 or 2:30 o'clock angle. When I am forging I step behind the heel and a little to the left so the horn is pointing the same direction that I am facing. When I am bending or working over the horn the horn is always at 3 o'clock (to the right). If I am swinging a sledge over the anvil (usually if I can get my dad or my brother to hold for me) I am at the opposite side away from the forge and the horn is pointing left. So, in effect I am running in circles around my anvil Not sure how many people stand behind the heel for general forging, but it works for me.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Mr. Hofi,
I can't personally speak for ABANA ( I am involved with enough not-for-profit boards already, I don't need another one) so I am not sure WHO exactly made the decision to stop the big conferences. I have no doubt at all however that the decision was financially influenced. I believe it has just come to the point that, like the letter said, the "children" are doing a better, more efficient job of it than the "parent." What I am hoping for now is that ABANA, since they aren't hosting their own conferences, will become MORE active in these more localized conferences (such as SOFA Quadstate, etc.) as far as providing volunteered help, offering assistance in finding demonstrators, etc.

I also do not believe that ABANA is coming to an end. I'd almost wager that the reason that they are cutting the conferences is to minimize some of the expenditures so that they can stay in existence. But, we shall see how everything pans out, i guess.

Again, since I am not on the ABANA board, this is all just speculation on my part, based upon my experience with several different Not-for-Profit organizations that I have belonged to.

-Aaron @ the SCF

DIEF:
Looking at the rathole forge website. Didn't they used to have anvils that had holes cast into the side for inserting rods to use like a vertical turning fork? That was one of the clever features I liked when I saw one a while back, but the new ones don't seem to have them? Does yours have the holes, and if so are they really that useful of a feature??

Personally, I've been saving up for a rathole or a nimba. Once I get the money, then I'll worry about which one;) I've heard very good things about Pedinghaus also. I've recently heard a rumor that Euroanvils has been having there anvils cast in different foundries and that some of them are not quite up to par. When I do get the money saved, I'm probably gonna buy one of the American made ones (Nimba or Rathole).

-Aaron @ the SCF

cooter: not sure of the size of said gigs, but i know that the shanks off of farm equipment like chisel plows and such are made of good tough springy steel which might warrant some looking into. At first I thought you were talking about the trident type fishing spear, but if I am understanding correctly, you are making the fork kind with the two prongs that's made to trap the fish between the prongs. Am I right?

Also, if I figure correctly, the plates you are talking about are somewhere around $1.40/ pound. That's about what I paid last time for regular old cold-rolled stock at the local supplier. If the AR is some type of alloy, then I would think that to be a reasonable price. If you don't need a whole sheet of it, check out Mcmaster-Carr's online catalog. The carry a couple different alloys, and might have something useful in an ideal size.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Glenn:
Not sure if you knew or not, but i tried the search in the gallery, and the search is doing something weird ("weird" is a technical term btw:) ). Just figured I'd let ya know that it isn't working right. OR maybe I just couldn't figure it out....
-Aaron @ the SCF

cooter: some toaster ovens would cook up to 600 degrees. I found one at a garage sale that , on the MAX setting, would hit 575 degrees and hold it fairly reliably. Cheap, Easy, and, as long as all your doing is stuff that'll fit in the oven, efficient. Unfortunately, said used oven had already seen quite a bit of life before I bought it and the elements only lasted a year for me. I'm keeping my eyes open for another on though.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Hey everyone,
I was digging around in the collective, um.... "collection" of stuff on the farm and realised that, short of a used hydraulic pump, I have pretty much everything to build a relatively sturdy forging press. If I dig around more there might even be a pump somewhere, so all I would be investing is the time, the hoses, and the fittings.
My Question:

I know that a forging press can be used for consolidating pattern welded billets, but is there anything else that they are practical to use for? I am just wondering if it would be worthwhile to build one (both in the time, the hoses, and the fact that it would take up floor space). I don't really do any bladesmithing, other than the occasional woodworking tool, and most of what I do is purely artistic/ornamental or practical (like making replacement part for my growing collection of equipment).

The style I had in mind is a double sided (NOT and H-frame or an A-frame), with a 10 ton cylinder on one side and a 25 or 30 ton on the other side (depending on which of the two still works best). The frame itself would be made of heavy (I believe it is either 5/16 or 3/8 thick) I-beam for the central section as well as for the lower "anvil" sections.

Any thoughts, tips, suggestions, or experiences would be much appreciated. Thanks everyone,
-Aaron @ the SCF

1: check local newspaper for farm auction
2: go to farm auction
3: buy ridiculously large welding table at ridiculously low price
4: cut to size
5: use

In all seriousness, this is how i got my 4'x7' table. it is on a dimensional lumber frame (which i could take or leave, but i figured there's not much of a chance of the base ever getting hot enough to burn) and has a 1/4 inch plate top. probably about 4-5% loss of the plate to rust, but for 20 bucks i wasn't gonna pass it up. For what you are talking about keep it at about waist high for convenience. My tabletop is only about 20 or 24 inches off the floor, so on bigger projects I can hop up on the table to work. My regular metalworking bench is a little above waist high (it is a 2.5' x 5' chunk of 1/4" plate on an angle-iron stand). I do most of the small welding on that bench, and save the big and low table for the larger stuff.

Habu: 3780 pound chunk of steel for an ANVIL STAND?!?! That sounds like it would make a better power hammer anvil!

Also, IMHO, I don't think thickness is that big of a factor. Obviously a thicker plate will last longer, but for stiffness scrounged pieces of angle iron for braces can make for a mighty sturdy top.

-Aaron @ the SCF

Sam,
Nice idea. Do you have any pictures from the top end or bottom end?
-Aaron @ the SCF

Saddling is caused by the gradual settling (on a micro level) of the wrought iron body under the stress of impact from forging.

Chipped edges: are probably mostly from stray hammer blows, MAYBE the edge being to sharp in the first place.

Broken heels and horns: I've heard that this can be caused by alot of hammering at very cold temperatures, but I think it is mostly caused by using too big a hammer over these areas or by weak spots created in the anvil forging process.

Those are my bets. Take em or leave em.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Nick, you might also want to co-post across the street at anvilfire. link removed at the request of anvilfire There is gentlemen over there who is big into viking reenactment.

Otherwise, I would agree with Jens that using ancient patterns in modern materials would do the trick.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Mick C,
What size buildings are you looking for. Here in Central Illinois, USA, we still have quite a few LARGE barns standing (by Large I mean big enough that you could fit 4-8 farmhouses inside of the barn!! You'd probably want to miniaturize the shapes). We also have quite a few smaller workshops/sheds/garages, and I have seen at least 2 or 3 very unique artists/sculptors studios in the area. I might be able to provide you with some decent pictures from the outside, but as far as floor plans and internal structuring goes, you'd be on your own, but for exterior ideas they'd be great.
-Aaron @ the SCF

The problem with it is that the face isn't exactly flat, it's got a slight dip in it. No square edges and there is a small piece of the face missing on one side.

That's a Problem?? I've been hammering over an anvil exactly like that (different brand) for the better part of 8 or 9 years!! You usually work across the face anyways, so a slight dip from front to back won't do much harm at all. Also, sharp corners cause cold shunts. A corner with a radius is more useful probably 95% of the time. And besides, at that age, the anvil could have belong to the personal farriers of one of the great generals of the American Civil War (assuming you are in America ) You wouldn't want to modify such a national treasure would you? Okay, maybe that was a bit of a stretch.

Try working over it the way it is. You'll probably find that it'll do about anything you want.

-Aaron @ the SCF

That little bearded belt axe is a really beautiful tool. It's definitely going on my "to-make-someday" list. Then when I booger it up trying to forge one, it is going on my Christmas list
-Aaron @ the SCF

Interestingly enough,
My daytime job is working data entry for an online stock photography company, Jupiterimages (Thank you bachelors in writing.) As soon as I opened the .pdf I recognized this picture.

http://images.jupiterimages.com/ji/comp-w/85/09/22750985.jpg

I personally did some of the data entry on that one. The other's looked familiar also, but I didn't feel like mucking through a couple thousand sailboat pictures and young adults hiking to find their item numbers. Small world after all!

-Aaron @ the SCF

Am I just seeing things or did Sam and Bruce have the same idea at the same time? Weird.
Actually, what I had in mind was (supposing an urn shape) building it up in seperate sections and then joining the sections together. This is one method used for making tall vessels out of clay using a potters wheel.

So for the typical Grecian Urn, you would first make a flat bottomed bowl, that would widen as it rises. The second piece would have a bottom the same size as the top of the bowl, and would taper down from there. The final top piece would have a bottom the same size as the top of the second piece and would flare back out to make the spout. This saves the problem of captured forms, and also saves the problem of twenty feet of rod swinging around in an arc in the shop.

Now for the UBER creative among us. Make the vessel out of individual rings, and join them together by weaving copper wire between them. Would it be completely useless and impractical for holding water? Yes. Is there someone out there whole would pay Booko Bucks for such and Objecte de' Arte? Of course there is!

-Aaron @ the SCF
I knew that art minor would come in handy sooner or later:)

My favorite (if judged by time used) is a 2.5 lb ballpien. I like the balance of it, so I use it for almost all my general forging from 1/4 inch up through 5/8 inch stock. I tend to use the rounded edge of the anvil for drawing out, so my straight and cross peens don't see much use unless I am doing something requiring spreading.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Thanks Woody. That is exactly what I meant. I shoulda been more concise about what I was trying to say. Thanks for clarifying it for me

-Aaron @ the SCF