chrisfrick

The motor oil idea is probably the best/most economical--I've got several hammers that are about 20 years old that I only use for mechanic stuff--a couple of ball peens and a small sledge that have a "custom treated" motor oil finish on the handles (work on the underside of any old car/truck, grab hammer, beat on something for a little bit, repeat process until the entire handle is a nice dark color)--and that's *used* motor oil. Much better to use new, if possible. Before applying, I'd let that stump dry out for *at least* a year, 2 if possible, before treating with anything. (of course you could get crazy and spray on something like spar varnish, but that takes about 2 days to fully dry properly).

Thanks for all the great info, guys. This chunk just may end up being turned into a couple of punches and some hammer eye drifts. (understood about drawing the hammering end so it won't chip/explode).

Hatchets/camp axes, hmmm. Being that it's considered a "shock resistant" material, I'm now starting to think of making hammers with it...

Thomas--no, unfortunately all I have is a home-made 70 lb. anvil and a 2.5 lb crosspeen. I was thinking about cutting it into maybe some 1.5" squares and trying to forge them down into something useful. Any ideas?

Since I got it for free, I think I might look into using it to chew up my power hack saw blades and make some punches and drifts with it. Thanks for the help.

I've just come across a piece of S-7 that's about 1.5" square X about 8" long and was wondering if this might be something to forge down into either a blade, or parts for laminating. Does anyone have any suggestions/advice on what I could use this for? (reason I'm asking is that I got if for free).

I've been forging with lump charcoal for about a year with great success--I can get 20 pound sacks from a local grocery store (NEVER use the brick-ettes). There are a multitude of internet resources to find out how to make a "washtub" forge for charcoal forging and also the ingredients for a "home made" castable refractory type cement/lining. You will have to break up the lump charcoal into small pieces for it to work well--I use my hammer and anvil and just give the lumps a small smack and they bust up pretty easy. Size of lumps should be around 3/4-1" size. Also, welcome--I'm new here too.

Hi all, Figured it was time to say "HI" and introduce myself. I've been forging for about a year now and am now trying to figure out how to convince my wife that I need to build a smithy out of my lawnmower shed! I've been using a charcoal forge which I built out of a small metal washtub and a hairdryer, an anvil that is made out of a couple blocks of steel and a railroad track and am looking forward to the very, very far off day of actually buying a proper anvil! I originally got an idea to make pattern welded knives just out of nowhere and decided to give it a try--well, I haven't tried forge welding yet but have made a pretty nice knife out of a '65 Ford pickup leafspring along with various tongs. After awhile, I started thinking that it would be fun to give the "artsy" stuff a try--leaves, candle holders, etc. and now I'm pretty much consumed by blacksmithing--I hope I'm in the right place! I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade, and have formal training as a machinist, as well as being my own mechanic for my cars and other things that get hot and have wheels. It's good to say Hi, and I'll post some pictures of current projects as well as some past things soon.

Hi all, first time post here--felt like I needed to pipe up regarding the charcoal forge blower issues. I've only been forging for about a year, but have had great success using Tim Lively's design (with the addition of two removable refractory bricks set on top--makes sorta like an oven, and the two piece was just out of convenience). I'm usually good at scrounging for old tools and whatnots, but have been unable to find things like hand crank blowers, post vices, and other misc. blacksmith tools for decent prices which brought me to my current equipment setup. Anyhow, I've been using one of my wife's old hairdryers for my forge blower. I removed the heating element, cracked off the motor/fan/tube assembly and built a variable DC power supply with parts from Radio Shack as ALL hairdryer motors are actually DC motors that operate around 12-15 volts. My setup is capable of blowing almost all of the charcoal out of the forge when at "full blast" and can be regulated down to tiny breeze if needed. I'll get some pictures up soon after I get my railroad rail/chunk of steel anvil finished. I've been using the lump charcoal you get at the local mega-mart as it's pretty cheap, but you gotta break it up into about 1" chunks, and it takes about an hour to bust up a 20 lb. sack of the stuff. It works really well, and the smell makes me want to throw on some hot dogs...