David Joiner

I intended it to be a gas forge but I'm going to buy a separate burner, will post pictures once I get a minute away from work.... Fair point mikey, will post pics + additional info next week....

Hi All Ive recently been gifted a motorcycle exhaust which I hoping to convert into a small forge. Can anyone think of any reason why this would be a good idea? I'm thinking from a safety perspective, its mainly steel but does have some chrome on the end (which I want to keep if possible) and my concern is fumes etc....

Thankfully I have already got a small forge, few hammers and a decent set of tongs so buying an anvil wont stop my progress I have been practicing things like drawing out, tapering etc. but I know I wont be able to jump straight into things like katana's instead historical weapons are my long term goal, I just didn't want to invest in a anvil that I know I will need to replace once I have a stronger skill base. I will be contacting some blacksmithing groups because as you said their skill/knowledge will be far more than just me plowing through the internet/youtube. Thanks for the advice

Hi all, I'm new to smithing and looking to get myself an anvil but with little experience in these matters I'm not sure if I should go for the older anvils off Ebay, like this one These seem to vary from 50kg to 150kg (110lbs-330lbs) but often the edges seem dull and its difficult to tell if it's a cast iron ASO. Or I could go with a new one, for a similar price 50kg (110lbs) which is as heavy I can get on my budget. I intend to use this to recreate historical weapons, starting small at 1st but eventually I would like to move on to swords etc. and I would like to try my hand at Damascus one day.

Tim, I think you've done an excellent job here. I waited a couple of day before replying simply because I wanted to get my head around it and ask any questions, but I think this explains it sufficiently. I would like to thank you for the time you spent answering my questions. I am getting things ready to hopefully do this over the coming weekend, as its my first time I'm not looking for perfection, anything short of catastrophic failure.

Thank you all for your answers they've been very informative. I will look at adjusting the angle of the burner and the brick so the flame is on this and not the wall as Mikey has suggested. And Tim I think your right when you said running with the choke closed caused the sooting. I've been starting it up this way as this is what was said in the instructions, from now on I will start with choke open. I'll also be reading through the forges 101 section, but have a couple question about refractory cement, should I apply this over the insulation blanket even with the sooting? and are there any specific types/varieties I should look out for? Thanks again.

Hi everyone, I'm completely new to blacksmithing/metalwork so I'm sure I'll have many questions over the months/years but my first is regarding the devil forge I recently brought, I'm worried I may be damaging it by the way I'm using it, but being new to this I have no points of reference. Here are three photos the 1st is of the top of my forge after only a few minutes of use (is this sort of charring to be expected?), 2nd the forge in use (does this seem adequate to heat and shape metal with?) and 3rd the pressure my gauge is showing (is this to low? too high?). Could someone please advise if this all looks ok. I thank everyone who take the time to answer me.