snake hands jimmy

Outstanding! Thank you, Thomas. I have been avoiding side blast because I really didn't want to hook up water to it lol but if it won't corrode super fast I'm sold. I like the idea of the range of temp control you can get with side blasts.

Awesome. Thanks guys! I just got one of the longer horizontal charcoal grills so I will be getting that ready. For a side blast setup I will need to gravity feed water around the tuere right?

Just finished this little letter opener. 1/4 mild. This is my first blacksmithing project

Thank you, sir! I will hunt for a clay pit close by and start digging.In your opinion should I do something to the clay to make it a sort of "refractory" clay or will it be alright to just repair it from time to time? I am able to find some reading material but I'm not sure how closely lump charcoal burns to coal for a comparison on construction methods (although I do plan on starting to use coal once I've tuned in my setup)

I really should do more reading on the subject, seeing how I have only been able to reach a bright orange heat with my current setup but I believe I'm losing too much heat and burning more charcoal than necessary. Would lining my forge with plain old clay work well enough to keep in my heat?

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm about to hit up a few local metal fab shops and recycling centers see if I can find some rejects or odds. I have tons of old time style tools I bet there is a wealth of good steel in my shed

Here is a small project I just finished and one about halfway done. Please excuse my photography skills lol one is a letter opener and the other is a work in progress blade from railroad spike As for my shop and forge...

Thanks for the reply Frosty. I'll get some pics up soon. For a forge, I cut the bottom off of an old steel bladder tank and have my hand crank attached via pipes. It works well but my shower strainer is virtually melted now lol. I plan on welding some round stock together for a better grate. Right now it's simply sitting in a trench on the ground but I have a piece of thin sheet that I have cut a hole, same diameter as the tank, with extra flat space for extra charcoal. I am going to weld some wings onto my fire pan so that it will simply sit down inside of that hole and I won't have to bend over to place and retrieve my metal heh. For learning I've picked up the books, "New edge of the anvil" and "The art of blacksmithing" they are helpful but do somewhat lack in detailing whole technique. I came across a fella who recommended the ABANA pdf course and I'm loving how it sets goals for a particular practice run. "Reading drawing out currently" Any tips or trick you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Howdy from Florida. I'm loving the community here so far. So much information to gather! I started beating hot metal about a month ago and still learning the fundamentals. I found an old 9/16" allen key in the shop so decided, "hey, if it's good enough for that kind of work, I'm sure it'll make a decent punch" For anvils I have a 24 and 55 pound cheapo cast iron anvils from grizzly. While I"m on the hunt for a proper anvil, these are serving just fine for now. I'm a knife maker venturing into the world of smithing but also I would like to learn the ornamental side of forging. Anyway, enough rambling I just wanted to drop in and say hi. I look forward to learning from you folks. Hope y'all had a great weekend