roninwarrior

Trying to get things organized. Built a rack for tongs/hammers

Very beautiful anvil. I can see why you could not leave without it!

Ah yes, I will have to pick that book up! I also did notice that the face is suspiciously clean. It does not have too much of a ring but my 3 lb hammer bounces nicely. Unfortunately, I have not tried a ball bearing test yet. (I used a hammer when I bought it and it seemed fairly lively.) Here is another pic of the face. I would not even know what to look for to tell if it has been milled. Got it on the stand last night around midnight and was too tired to fire up the forge and hit some metal to test it out. My hammer bounces nicely when I drop tested it. I will fire it up this afternoon and seen how it does.

Awesome. Thanks for the reply. I think I will just use it as is and like you said, don't do anything heavy over the heel. Looks like I might be able to get away with using the hardy hole since it is in front of the crack. I don't do anything heavy anyway, as I'm just a beginner. Thanks for helping with deciphering the markings! Really excited to start pounding on it today when I get home from work.

So, literally just got done making an anvil from a chunk of steel when this Mouse hole popped up on Craigslist real close to me. The price was right and could not resist. Was told that it is a Mouse hole, unknown year, and the weight is 130 lb. I have not actually weighed it myself. It seems to be in decent shape. Hard to read the writing/numbers. Also has some delaminations near the heel, not sure how worried about that I should be? Overall, super excited to come across this.

Awesome. I for the life of me could not figure that out. Absolutely. Sorry about that

Shop area. Some basic stuff. Small drill press, Harbor Fright 1x30 belt grinder and forge running. Pretty simple setup but that's what I got for now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Makeshift anvil that I put together. Cold rolled steel round, measures about 15" long and diameter of 3.5 ". Set it into concrete with a solid wood base. Seems pretty sturdy. Working on first forged item. Pair of tongs. Needs a good bit of work yet but I'm moving metal and making progress!

There is no cement under the rod. The rod is sitting on those 2 square boards, and those square boards are bolted into the sturdy framed platform on the bottom. Thanks for the advice on modifying a round for straight edges! Will have to look into that.

Thanks Frosty. I appreciate it. It seems to allow me to move metal pretty well so here's hoping it lasts for a while until I can upgrade to something bigger. Thanks again!

Tried to look up some info on this and did not find much (or I'm just terrible at searching.) Made a post anvil with a piece of steel that I got from a welding shop. I had spend the majority of the day driving around to different places looking for some scrap steel to use as an anvil with no luck when I happened across this piece. The gentleman said he was not exactly sure what type of steel it was but he did mention that he was told it was "cold rolled round stock." He cut me a 18 inch piece off for $20. It's diameter is about 3.5 inches and I bet it weighs 50 lbs or more. I sunk it into some concrete and mounted onto a solid wood box. Seems to work well, forged on it yesterday for about two hours. No dents/dings even when missing my strikes. Will put a video link up and some pictures. So to the point, I really have two questions: 1. Any idea what type of steel it could possibly be? Does it even matter? 2. How long should I expect this to last before it possibly starts cracking the concrete? Of course my real goal is finding a decently priced anvil when budget allows and when I can find one.

Awesome. Thanks for the reply. Real good info and at least it looks like I'm on the right path as a newbie Will do!

Down in the Iowa City area!

Put wool in the forge and first thin layer of satanite. It's super cold here so gonna let it dry for a bit before the next layer. Got some 1084 in and started my first attempt at a knife. Using stock removal with the 1x30 grinder. Got some ceramic belts. Working good so far. Getting used to grinding properly and just practicing!

Awesome. Thanks!

Figured I would start a project page to keep track of my progress. First attempt at building a burner, getting forge setup Put together a burner tonight just to see if I could get it working properly. It seems ok but def needs to be tuned. Not sure if I am getting enough air/too much air in the burner. Cut off one end of a air compressor tank. Have enough Kaowool for 2 inches of insulation on the way as well as some Satanite for coating. Don't really want to throw down for the ITC-100 at the moment to keep costs down. Have a few fire bricks and was just gonna set one on the floor and use two others to create a "door." Here is a part list that I used for the burner: 3/4" pipe nipple, 8" long 3/4" to 1-1/2" pipe reducer 3/4" to 1" pipe reducer 1" pipe nipple for flare, (3" long) 1/8" Brass cap 1/8" Brass nipple, 3" long 1/8" to 1/4" Brass reducer 1/4" to 3/8" Brass fitting to connect to propane Ball valve 0.35 mig tip First firing of the burner just to see if it will work, I think it needs some tuning Here are some pics: Cluttered Workbench Forge Burner all put together Looking down the burner, you can see the MIG tip Looking up the burner Air compressor forge in progress.... I have Kaowool and Satanite on the way. Air compressor inside. I attached a pipe nipple after drilling a 2" hole using conduit rings. It seems solid....

Awesome, thanks for that tip!

Hello all! I can't even begin to say how much this forum has helped me to get started with forging/blacksmithing/bladesmithing. I figured I would finally stop lurking and start an account. I am in the process of building my first forge and gathering supplies so I can start learning! I plan on starting a thread in the project section to post updates of my progress. Once again, this forum has been so much help in getting started so thanks to everybody that contributes. Hopefully I can find some new friends that might be close by to me or some meets/classes to really learn properly!!