bourne101

i'm about to begin my first project on a forge, and since i have no tongs i was going to make a set of tongs using the blueprints on a website. i'm going to be using a peice of 1/8 by 1 inch stock thats going to be about 3 feet long and since i'm only going to be heating the ends i was wondering how far your hand should be from the glowing end of the metal (wearing some welding gloves).

ok thanks everyone

ok thanks for the help

ok thanks everyone...sk how did you make the hot cutter?

oh cool...didn't even know i was posting in this thread...just thought i was makin a new one. thanks for te help

oh ok thanks...any way to fix the edges a bit if they are a bit chipped?

but what if i have a hole in the bottom of my firepot below where the heart of the fire will be for the air? the ashes will fall in or blow out won't they?

ok thanks i'll check up on that

hi i'm about to fire up my forge for the first time and i'm wondering if there is a special method of lighting a coal fire compared to charcoal and wood?..i don't have much experience starting anything other than a campfire.

is there a place on the site that will tell me how exactly to make the tongs?

i have a very old anvil with nothing left written on it because a layer of rust....it's about 100lb. i'm planing on using that to get started with my first project. you guys think i can just grind the rust off or do i need to use some other method for an anvil?

ok i'll take your advise steve, thanks. any ideas for a first project?

cool thanks for the help guys...much appreciated. i started another thread about starting a coal fire, i'm wondering if a coal fire needs to be started differently than a wood or charcoal fire. post there if your interested in helping. thanks!

how large is the tank for the supply of propane?

i am almost able to light my forge for the first time and i was wondering if there was any technique or certain way for lighting a coal fire in a forge? the air supply for the fire is right under the firepot going straight up if that matters. any help is appreciated.

anyone have any pictures of a forge using propane? is there anything about the design of the forge that allows it to use propane as a fuel? i'm realitively certain that a propane forge and a coal forge would have different qualities about them, any thoughts on that one? ...nice story jim...

cool i'll check them out...meanwhile i'd like to here what the propane users about that as a fuel

i'm trying to make a knife where the edge curves upward to the back side and i was wondering if i need to cut an angle on the bar that i'm using so that when the metal expands from my hits it won't just curve too far backwards to where the back side isn't straight anymore.

if i ecer get time to finish my forge i'll need to put some pictures up. the forge itself is only about a foot and a half wide with the air feeding directly up from the bottom. it's made out of an old brake rotor.

isn't propane more expensive though? and i thought coal burned hotter than propane.

hey Messerist, how did you get the pattern on that knife? it's really nice.

ok so soft coal is better to use as coke and the hard coal is burnt as it is...and both are suitable for forging and blacksmithing, am i right?

oh ok...what is the diffence between soft and hard coal? i can buy coal but i'm not sure if i can get it in any specific form. (soft or hard)

coal would be the easiest to buy in my area but whic proves to be the least expensive? i'm on a very tight budget right now....first car and everything. should the blocks of coal/coke be small...(like th size of a fist) or large...(anything bigger than a hand)?

thanks for the help