Gavj75

Chris your a genius, thanks again. Couldn't get to sleep so thought id give it a quick go and BLAMMO! It looks like it worked My hammer build so far. I'll add some more pics soon but right now I need to sleep

Really sorry but I can't seem to add any pics of my hammer build. Not sure what the problem is but when I've sussed it out I'll be sure to post some so u all can check it out. I have decided to use steel from a forklit truck tyne or fork for my hammer head and anvil, as I've seen people make alsorts of tools from it. Not sure if i should do a simple heat-treatment (heat till not magnetic and quench in oil)on the face's of them. The fork was 150 × 50mm thick and I cut it into stock size of 300mm long piece's using a oxy-propane torch. I then used a 9" grinder with a cutting wheel to cut out my hammer and anvil. What do u think? Should I do a heat-treatment? Thanks

A big hello 2 all as I've not posted or conversed with anyone 4 a while. I just wanted to u all some pics of the build so far and I'll have the odd question 4 those of u who are in the know

Thanks for the info guys. The kind of stock I'll be working will be probably no thicker than 40mm. I plan to make Damascus blades however I'm quite a creative chap so who knows what my forging future holds? As for the 'outliers', I'm not sure what you mean by this term? Can you explain please? Thanx, Gav

Hello again to all. My latest project is a tyre hammer and so far, I think my build is coming on quite well but again, I'm not to sure about something. So my first question is this:- is it down to personal preference for how much vertical travel the hammer has or are there any kind of parameters to go by? My hammer is around 45lb and I was thinking around 6 inches. Any advice? Second question:- I was going to set my hammer up so that it's just touchin the anvil when it's at it's lowest point in a stationary position therefore, the flex on the spring when it's in motion will give the hammer it's power.I was going to put some shims under the anvil so I have some adjustability. Am I going about this the right way as this is all guess work on my part or is there a better way to do it? Any advice will be much appreciated, thanks Gav

Thanks guys, this helps my decision making with regards to my hammer build a lot.

A quick question for thoses who know: Is it crucial that the counter-weight on the opposite side of the wheel from the ''spring mechanism'' (not sure what else to call it), is the same weight as the hammer and spring mech? Thanks

Thanks for the advice guys, im going 2 go with the angled approach. I do have another conundrum and that is that the end of my burner gets red hot quite quickly so im wondering if I need to do something to reduce this or is it normal? I'll take a few piccie's at work 2moro to give you a better idea of what i'm working with. Cheers chaps, Gav

Hi everyone. Ive slowly been building a small propane forge from a gas cylinder in my dinner break at work and have come to a point where I need some guidance. From looking at the small single burner forges you can buy, I see that some have the burner pointing into the forge vertically and some are at roughly 45°. Is there a particular reason for one way rather than the other as I'm not sure which way to mount mine? Thanks Gav

Recently I read that u can make ridgidizer by mixing fumed silica powder with water but as I can't find the post I read this in I can't be sure. Can someone please tell me if this will work and be ok to put on my ceramic fibre insulation? Thanks

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL I've recently started to build a small propane forge from a small gas bottle and as always with my builds, it's been a steady learning curve from start to finish. I've had quite a few problems to solve along the way, and so far I've managed to sort all of them by doing a little bit of reading of the posts on IFI. My latest hurdle was ''ridgidizer''. What is it? Where can I buy it? Can I make my own? If so, how? All these questions were answered 4 me here on IFI. I spoze what I'm saying is that if your new to forging and enjoy building your own equipment and tools like me then do your research and you'll have a better success rate. When I first discovered ''I Forge Iron'' I would post a question and would get lots of great advice and help from loads of different people with masses of experience and that was great. Then, I think it was Frosty, who advised me to try reading the posts 4 the answers I was seeking, which I did, and I discovered everything I wanted to know and more. Great site Thanks IFI

I've spent a bit of time making an anvil from a 12" piece of railtrack and I'm really pleased with how it looks however after reading some of the posts and their replys I'm not sure whether a 6×6" block of 275 mild steel would of been a better option. I don't know what steel railtrack is but I do know it's hard and the mild steel is not but there would be more mass of steel under the strike of my hammer with the block. I'm guessing that the block would absorb more of my hammers energy than the railtrack therefore making it not as good but like I said, I'm guessing and arn't sure. Can someone please advise. Thanks, Gav

Sorry it's taken me a little while to reply. Thanks for your advice guys as it'll help me out quite a bit. I wouldn't of thought about etching the different steels individually. I'll be over the moon if I can achieve something close to the results on your dagger. It looks really cool. Thanks again, Gav One last thing, is that a ladder pattern?

Hello people. I'm not to far off from attempting my first hand hammered Damascus and my question is this:- From the steels which I have, which ones will work best together to forge a nice light/dark contrasting stripey Damascus? I have access to ''heavy-duty steel bandsaw blade'',''steel banding''(used for banding steel down on pallets),various different ''leaf springs''(5160 I think) and some ''circular saw blades''. I would appreciate any advice from anyone that may be able to help me with this. Thank's, Gav

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped me out with these problems. This community of people are all helpful, kind and generous and I'm happy I discovered "I FORGE IRON" A big thumbs-up to everyone

Hey Steveo, My drive wheel is 5" .I've been on a steep learning curve with this build so I'm guessing it's a bit big is it? What size would be right? Cheers Gav

I am very happy with how my sander looks Mike but it's not what's important really. Yours works properly and you can use it. At present , mine doesn't. On a more positive note with regards to my sander, it's cost me very little to build so far. I'm a plater by trade so I have free access to most of the materials and equipment used to make it. I've had to buy the aluminium round-bar which a friend turned down and made my rollers/wheels with and I also bought the 8" bench grinder, which I thought would be ok to power it with - NOT. That's about it though and when I source an appropriate motor (a very kind Mr. Timgunn 1962 may be helping me with one), it should be up and working ok and I can put the 8" bench grinder back together and use it. I reckon I've spent around £80 so far but £45 was on the bench grinder. I reckon I'm in the ''excellent value'' category as it stands. Gav

I painted it with cans of spray. I gave it a good undercoat first then just built up the blue with multiple light coats in till I was happy. Can u post some pics of your build please Mike? Cheers , Gav

Some pics Mike, thanks Gav

Hey Tim, I'll take some pics of my sander so u can see what I'm ''playing'' with. Although it would be a shame to take apart what I've built and start again around a real and appropriate motor, simply put, it has to be done. I'm sure I'll be able to salvage a lot of what I've got. Gav

Thanks a bunch Steve. Hopefully I'll be able to sort something out from these options you've made me aware of. Niv

So, I built a 2×72" beltsander and as I've had to build practically every single bit of it, as I've got no money to spend on it, I've had problems to solve every step of the way. Anyway, it's finished now and looks great, I've even gave it a pretty tidy paint-job with my logo on the side. The biggest problem I had was it kept throwing the belts but after I crowned my tracking and drive wheels using electrical tape, again, it was problem solved. So I used it for the first time last weekend and discovered that the 540W bench grinder motor which I built it around, doesn't have enough power. The belt slows down the second I put any pressure on it. I'm gutted. So I need to do a re-build using a more powerful motor. Can anyone suggest where I can salvage a motor that will plug into the 240 socket(I have no idea with electrics) what will be up to the job please but keep in mind that I don't have much cash to spend. Thankyou

Can someone please let me know what the cotton wool type stuff is called what you can use to insulate your propane forge with? Also, where to buy it from in the UK? Thanks

Do u have a picture that you can post 'swedefiddle'? I made my anvil from railway track and it sits on railway sleeper as it's base. It's useful stuff

I've been building a basic folding machine in my dinner break at work for about 4 months now and finally finished it today so I thought I'd share it with you all.