Steven511

I'm making mostly decorative things like leaves, hooks, etc right now. I plan on making more punches, chisels, and some small (9-10 inch) knives soon though. Thanks for the offer on a better anvil, but this one works well enough and I'm gonna get a real 80 pounder in a couple weeks.

Honestly, the inner child in me may have had some say in how I phrased this question

I've been getting a friend into blacksmithing, and they seem really interested. I spent today with them showing them how things work, and they even forged a little leaf. They are really ancy to get into knifemaking, but I've been holding out for them to get at least the basics down before they start. My question is, what should I have them do? How many leaves, hooks, punches, tongs, etc should they make before they get to try a knife? How fast should they be able to forge these?

Actually, that is my primary station. I plop an old cast iron pot in the chair with some piping on the bottom, and voila. I do it mainly because I have to switch houses every other week, and don't have the tools to set up a permanent forge at both of them, so I went mobile. The chair forge gives pretty good heat, though my tie plate anvil could use some work. Hopefully I'll have the cash to buy a real anvil soon!

Have an outdoors smithy, they said. It doesn’t rain in Nevada, they said. Not my best moment of my smithing career, but I think everything but the bottom pieces in my charcoal box is relatively dry. Having a fold away hobo forge did seem to come in handy, so at least there’s that. Over near the bucket and pile of bricks is where my setup used to be, which is now covered in about 2-3 inches of water. Glad I came out to check on it halfway through the storm, but I possibly ruined some slippers in the process.

Seems my metal has a bit more of a will to live for some reason, so far I haven't had to protect any steel from swimming in my quench bucket. I'll be sure to put a sheet metal cover over my bucket from now on, though. Wouldn't want them to get any ideas.

I'm not too knowledgeable about spacing, but to me your shop looks pretty good. Tho only thing I would recommend is a bucket of water somewhere in or near your work triangle. I find it pretty useful for cooling mild steel, though it probably wouldn't work as a quench bucket. Plus, if anything you don't want burning happens to catch fire you don't have to run to the hose.

Nice job! Make sure to really cover the kaowool, without something like ITC or Satanite your lungs are gonna have a bad time breathing in fiberglass dust.

I'm in Henderson, Biggundoctor. I have seen the Nevada thread and know that you need a bigger anvil to back up the hammer blow to work easier and faster. What I want to know is the physics behind why a bigger anvil moves metal better. Luckily, I think JHCC caught the drift of my rather poorly-worded question, and seems to have cleared it up. However, I'm asking in relation to physics, so if I find other pieces of evidence that contradict his theory, your theory, my theory, and at least 3 basic laws of science, I wouldn't be surprise

JHCC, thank you so much! I comepletely forgot about the path of least resistance law! No more shall I bow to this "weight bounces energy back" nonsense, thanks to the wonder of basic-physics-that-I-really-should-have-remembered-because-I-learned-it-2-years-ago!

Lou, I understand what you mean, but I also want to know just why and how larger anvils work steel better. I get that bigger anvils can take more of a beating, but I don't understand how they help with beating the hot metal on top of them. PS; nice analogy, I do appreciate a good theoretical tragedy here and there.

This question has been bugging me all day, and I've yet to find any post on here that can adequately explain the answer to me of why heavier anvils are better - and before you type out that they are better because they give more rebound, I know. What I want to know is why heavier things give more rebound. I've mostly just heard they are better because they have more inertia and therefore don't waste the blow's energy by bouncing around, but that just doesn't make sense to me, because as far as I know the energy is still going into the anvil, it's just not moving it as much. However, I know that heavier anvils do work better, hence my conundrum. Have I got something wrong? Can anyone tell me what I'm missing?

Could've already been posted, it's a pretty popular saying but no idea who first made the quote: "Knifemakers don't make mistakes. They only make smaller knives."

Just a little post for suggestions on any new knife adventures, and out of sheer curiosity. What is your favorite hammer/knife handle material? My favorite in respect to practicality is red oak- it looks fairly nice, is rather flexible but still pretty strong, and is quite cheap around my area. My favorite from a purely looks-based view is Black/English Walnut, I love the strong grain and alternating lights and darks within the wood.

Thanks for the feedback (and to whoever fixed my picture), I've straightened out the handle, and shortened the blade a bit as it looked a little too long straightened out. PS, the bade is meant as a general use/hunting and woodcraft knife, meant to be carried in a sheath on your belt.

I'm working on a knife different from what I've done before. Most knives I've worked on have been large, Bowie-like monsters, done mostly on the grinder. I wanted to make something more portable and more "refined," so after a couple tries I came up with this rough sketch of a design. I was wondering if it has any major problems that would either prevent the knife from working or hinder it's use. It is an 8-inch full tang knife, probably going made with a hamon, and some exotic hardwood (likely Zebrawood or Cumaru) and copper for the handle, though I don't know if that information matters. Any input would be greatly appreciated. IMG_3409.MOV How about we move this to the knife section

I'm in Henderson, BIGGUNDOCTOR, but I don't think I cant fit a forklift fork in my shop. I have maybe half the space in a 1 car garage to work with, and most of that is already taken up by my workbench, forge, and grinder

I've been smithing for a few months now, and have wanted an upgrade from my railroad tie plate ASO. I looked on craigslist and came across someone selling 55 pound cast steel anvils for $220. I was wondering if I should buy one, or save my money for a better deal? The smaller anvil is what I'm going for: