Davishomesteadandforge

Hey I have a ton of scrap from a trailer home frame. I figured it'd be crappy hotdog steel bit it seems to have a pretty good carbon content. Any ideas what sort of steel it may be? It definitely sparks well and it's not galvanised.

How well does ash insulate? I have a bucket of the stuff just laying around looking for a use, plus I'm looking to build a better forge lol

That would be awesome! I'm definitely wanting to join saltfork the discount on coal alone would be great plus the meetups would be neat. What would a youngin like myself bribe you with lol I'm a hard worker if you have any work needing done. By the way it was your post that got me started finally. I didn't think I could until I saw how simple your jabod forge was. I didn't realize you were a fellow Okie.

Hey guys I've been reading the forum as a guest for a while and decided to finally join. I'm pretty new to smithing, I've done a fair bit of research but I have maybe 10 hours of actual smithing time under my belt. My current setup consists of a cast iron bowl filled with clay soil and a shop vac for air, a small harbor freight anvil on a stump, a cross peen hammer, a ball peen hammer, and some channel locks for tongs. I have a ton of scrap metal to play with. I have been using charcoal but I just got some coal locally I've gotten to fire up recently. The recent coal firing has tought me I need a better forge so I think I'm going to build a better(hopefully) jabod soon that won't self destruct in one firing. Here's a few pictures of my setup by the way