ShortMagPirate

Don't suppose you have a picture of that anywhere handy?

That right there is good advice for just about any skill...

All thread was definitely in my plan originally, but maybe I'll rethink my configuration a little to make more of a clamp around the bit. I imagine some wooden wedges would work as additional security as well. The temptation here, as well as my nature, is to make things more complicated than they really need to be... it's a curse/blessing all wrapped into one...

Maybe make both pieces more or less evenly located on the stand? One reason for the extra room could be for a tool shelf, since I'll be working out in the yard for a while, and won't have a bench or rack readily available. From the reading and video watching I've done, I do gather that the smaller the footprint the stand has, the better it is to work around, so I will probably slim it up a bit. What do you think of the idea of putting sand in the bottom of the hole for the bit to sit on?

I actually just looked at your rock breaker video yesterday... that's a huge chunk of steel you started with. Mine is only the back section... it's still big, but not nearly the mass of the whole breaker you started with. That's fine by me, though, as I don't foresee needing anything larger anytime soon. I've added a couple more pics of the pieces, as well as a rough idea for a stand. (Not necessarily to scale...) I think it will work. It looks a little wide as drawn, but it will probably end up with a smaller footprint. I have a piece of railroad tie that might work as a base to go under the rock breaker itself, then stack the rest of the lumber around it, or might it be better to use 2x4s to distribute the weight evenly for strength?

I've finally found a couple pieces of scrap for my anvil(s)and now I need to figure out some stands for them. Then the only thing left is to build the forge. I've got most of what I need for that, as well as a rough plan, but that's for the other forum... First is what appears to be the snapped off base of a rock breaker bit. It's about 14" long, maybe a little more, and about 6 or 7" across. I don't know how much it weighs, yet, but it's HEAVY. The other one I'm not quite sure of, maybe a piece of chute liner or something. About 12" long by 4" square, with some interesting shapes on the ends. Rounded on one side of the length and squared off on the other. For a stand I'm thinking a stack of lumber set on end like quite a few I've seen on here, possibly one big enough to set both in? With the big piece in the center and the smaller one in one of the corners, and maybe rigged so I can change it's position around if I need to... it's got a pretty sharp corner on one end that could be used as a cut off. For the big piece, would it be a good idea to leave the cavity a bit deeper than I want the top of the anvil to be, and fill it with sand? That way I would be able to adjust the height, if needed, and it might provide a little dampening. I'll get some better pictures in the morning... I was getting worried I'd have to settle for an ASO from Harbor Freight for a while there, so this is a welcome find...

That's awesome... I'd be proud to have that in my shop!

No problem... she has good taste in cartoon sidekicks. Drives my wife and kids nuts that I like the little buggers so much... This is my personal favorite:

I was just reading through a sticky that referenced that book... I may just go ahead and pick it up. Haven't got to the Improvised Anvil thread yet, other than a cursory glance. I'll head that way next.

Thanks for the replies... I'm in the process of reading through a bunch of stickies at the moment... lot's of great info and advice here. As for a forge, I will start with something simple. I have a split piece of thick walled 8" pipe about 18" long that I was thinking would be a good place to start. I also have a nice electric blower motor from an old coal stove and was planning on using for air. I just need to rig a stand and inlets for the air and I think it will work for a starter. Of course, this is all subject to change, adaptation, improvement etc. I'd probably be money ahead buying a simple forge but I'm a die hard Do-It-Yourselfer and figure building something myself will make it even more fun to work with once I get up and running. I do need to figure out an anvil of some sort though. Not opposed to spending a little money on a decent one, hopefully I can find something locally. I'll just sit on my SS pipe for now, until I figure out a creative use for it... maybe I'll make a set of wind chimes for my wife. I have a good source of various types of scrap steel here at work, so I have no shortage of raw materials to play with.

Hi. I'm pretty new to metalworking, I've done a little welding and basic stuff but but have always wanted to make knives and other things... finally getting things together to build a forge and jump in with both feet. I've got some scrap steel for the forge parts and a few designs in my head, so hopefully between my hairbrained ideas and some good info here I can put something together that will work. I'm looking forward to learning how to set things up and get started... I have a few odds and ends, wrenches, hammer heads, rebar, and other scrap steel to get started with. I also have an small stash of stainless pipe that I would like to make use of.. it's about 1" pipe, with maybe 3/16 thick walls, in about 36" sticks. I have no idea what it is other than stainless... it was scrap from a job a couple of years ago, cut-offs from some stainless light posts. Would this be usable for anything? I'm guessing it would have to be fluxed and welded to make bars out of the pipe, but I have no idea how that would work.