Ali Ahmed Khan

I'm leaving india now to go back to the uae, turns out since the harvest hasn't been well it's also effected the blacksmiths work. The man had no projects so i couldn't work there and his smithy was wrapped up. I did buy one of those anvils you see in all the villager smithy videos, weighs around 41.6 pounds. also bought tongs and a hot cut. all for as little as 20$ they were selling all of it at scrap rates. Ill post some pictures once I arrive. Good thing i packed light.

On 12/18/2017 at 8:12 PM, Judson Yaggy said:

Get yourself some safety glasses.  I didn't see many in the shops I visited while in India, but I did see quite a few blind beggars.

Haha will do, that's the first thing my sister told me to do.

I'm going to my farms back in India where we grow mostly crop and have poultry, it's in a Small Indian town. A good amount of blacksmiths there, my father wants me to work with the blacksmiths for a week for 2-3 hours a day before I can get a home setup. I'll be starting in a week, I'll try to get some pictures of the smithy.

I was wondering if I could use home made charcoal briquettes as a fuel for a forge.

But what if I use a bigger coupling fitting?

8 minutes ago, Charcold said:

If I'm ever in the area I will stop by TP! 

@ Ali a sledge hammer head is what I started on as well, along with a piece of rail. The rebound on the hammer head was much better than the rail for me

I plan on starting on that and when I get better I’ll take a bunch of steel stocks and weld them together cuz steel blocks and forklift forks are hard to come by over here

19 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Bench vises do not have usable anvils for forging.  Forging on one results in the vise breaking in a very short amount of time.  They are only good for the rare straightening of nails or light duty cold work.  Even for blacksmithing there is a special type of vise know as a "leg vise" or "post vise". It is not made from cast iron and is designed for hammering on---but does NOT have an "anvil" as part of it.

I think I’ll end up using a 10-20 pound sledgehammer head

40 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Stop by sometime and I'll show you a Vulcan that should Never have made it out the door!

What’s your opinion on bench vises with anvils? Is silencing then easy? 

Just now, ThomasPowers said:

The problem with limestone and marble is that contact with glowing steel may cause the formation of unslaked lime dust---in small amounts it is true; but it's nasty stuff to breathe  even so.

If noise is an issue than you are far better learning how to quiet a steel anvil than trying to use a less noisy material. (unless you can get one of the quiet anvils like a Fisher or in lower quality a Vulcan)

I'll probably just learn how to quite steel. Now that I know how little noise it can make.

Just now, JHCC said:

Depending on the shape of the steel block, you can quiet it down further by wrapping chains around the middle, adding a magnet under the heel of an anvil, or attaching it to its stand with a layer of silicone caulk.

Yeah, the way I tested it was digging a hole in the dirt and putting in the weight plate and then hammering it. Didnt make too much noise

2 hours ago, Charcold said:

I think it should be asked, are you looking to use granite because you want to remain entirely traditional, or because you think it will be the easiest thing to find. As you said you have a connection with a construction business perhaps you can find something better in steel, a forklift fork as TP suggested would outperform granite in every way I'd guess. It also is a known steel, whereas stone can be quite variable. 

If you're set on staying traditional perhaps consider learning on a non-traditional setup to acquire skills, then later moving onto a more traditional setup once you're more learned. Sometimes people say, "i want to be a traditional blacksmith...but i'm making my forge with a modern welder, modern steel, using an electric blower, etc" That doesn't qualify, BUT if it's what you want to do then that's ok. 

There are a variety of things that one could use as an anvil substitute you might not even think of, and i would guess most large pieces of steel will outclass granite in every way. 

but welcome to the forums, it's very cool to have someone from UAE!

I was doing it for less noise, but I tested it out I put some weights in the dirt, and I found some marble and quartz. Steel has less amplitude but a higher frequency. But  marble had a higher amplitude. So a steel block is what I'll use now, I need minimal noise.

13 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

In general it's a better idea to try to find out what they used locally than to try to find a source of what was used somewhere else.  As you are now aware of the possibility can you find historic descriptions of local work that might include information on sources and items local to yourself?  I sometimes have had luck talking to geology and history departments at a local university.

Thing is I've looked up on traditional methods before, but nothing came up. No one in the uae actually cares about blacksmithing, thus it's not documented. I was also wondering if limestone would be a suitable surface? Or would it crumble. 

13 minutes ago, John in Oly, WA said:

We would need to know the building materials and structural design of the house to be able to answer. If the house is built of concrete, maybe: if the roof is thatch, I'd say not a good idea.

My house is made of steel and cement, and the roof is open, I have tiles on the floor and plan on putting on 3-5 inches of dirt over that.

Houses in the uae don't have any thatch roofs

8 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

Yup granite works. It just makes a dull thud pretty much, no ringing.  

Not sure where one might find it in the UAE, but here in the U.S. The better place to look would be a cemetery headstone carving business as they probably have " mess ups" or possible off cuts. There are probably other places to find it like stone sculpters, or a construction company that may use it in buildings. Also scope out demolition debris landfills or such. Be careful with that one tho as it could be dangerous, and gain permission if needed. 

There are other hard rocks that would work in my area of the world. Many with great usable feature shapes.  

Thanks, my friends dad has a construction company I could ask him, also I'd love to have the names of those stones, might be lucky and find one.

So I plan on making my Smithy in a 10 for by 10 foot space on my roof. I was wondering if anyone has done this and if it’ll mess with the foundation of the house or anything? Any structural damage? 

Thanks!

O xxxx, I meant granite. Lemme change that

I was wondering how much noise granite would make if I used it as an anvil substitute. Any ringing? And where would it be most likely to be found.

Edit:i accidentally wrote graphite earlier

I was wondering if I can change the 1/8" brass parts on a reil burner to 1/4" or 1/2". Would it effect the performance of the burner?

So I had planned on using kaowool, but it could only go up to 2300f and I didn't want to risk losing the material. So I'm currently going to be using a 15.8 litre propane tank. Any ideas on how to get the middle hollow?

Sorry, should’ve been more specific with my city, I live in Al Ain a small town an hours drive away from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Just last night I found a propane tank that’s a decent size for a forge, so now I can focus on my burner components.

Welp, thanks will do.

Hello, I’m planning on starting blacksmithing in the summer, I’d start sooner but I have to buy all the stuff with money I get for my birthday and I have to write my IGCSE exams. I’ve got a local dealer for ceramic blanket for my gas forge. I’ll try buying the pipes I need from amazon, or a local store. I just need a good body for a forge. The reason I’m using a gas forge is because propane is really cheap in uae, you buy a 21 gallons bottle for less than 20 dollars. Also I’d love to know any substitutes for an anvil(can’t find any in the UAE where I live). I’ll submit some sketches for my burner ideas and forge body ideas soon.

Any large bernzomatic torch.