Dax Hewitt

I went to a vintage car show yesterday and had a rummage in the obligatory auto jumble. I got a hammer. Not seen one like it before, weighs about 4 to 5 lbs I would say. And I got these tongs, again odd ball things but I couldn't not buy them for £1

The razor is excellent and I love the octopus, brilliant stuff. The forging gods were not with me today, I just couldn't get the metal to move where I wanted it to. I did make a poker for a mate. It's only 6mm round bar, a bit thin to be much good but he finds his 8mm poker too heavy to use. I did my first fire weld too where I bent the tip back to form the rake. It didn't take 100% but I was happy for my first go.

No photos but I found a small scrap pile on site today. I got half a dozen rusted files, a couple of old chisels and a 18 inch long bit of solid steel, 14 inch is 3 inch diameter and 4 inch is 4 inch diameter. I haven't got a clue what I'm going to do with it but it's too good to scrap.

That's [quite] a fine.

At home we have 3 cats and 4 house rabbits. At my forge there is a squirrel that runs round outside. The photo is Squidgit, a rescue rabbit we took in. His mum died and he was hand reared at a rescue center before he came to us.

Unfortunately due to work I can't get to the local scrap yards and there isn't any steel producers near me. But I can find all sorts of scrap on site, I changed a blower today and the guard from the old one is 3/32nds thick sheet metal so that's in my van now.

I thought I did when I put knife and fork to use at home. It's easy for misunderstandings posting stuff on line though. A titanium set sounds cool but I will stick to my rebar. Your not wrong about stainless being a pain to work. I took 4 inch of it and made the worlds shonkiest belt buckle and it didn't half take some hammering. Drawing the tang down from the parent metal took a while

I am not talking a good knife, I'm talking about a knife and form to eat my tea with. The ones we currently use have a cutting edge that is about a 64th thick and works just fine. I like the look of stainless rebar but if it doesn't work then no harm done and I will have learned a bit more about moving metal.

The first bladed item I want to make is a set of throwing tomahawks, throwing used to be a hobby of mine and though I have a shop bought set I want to make my own. There is a list to do first though. I watched a guy on YouTube making leaf keyring by way of practicing hammer control and only using about 3/4 inch of 3/8th square bar each one so I think a load of them will be next. After them it's some more tongs Then the wife's flowers then a poker for the guy that gave me the stump, big 12 inch flowers for a friend's gate. Christmas will be on the way by then, I forsee a lot of people I know getting candle holders. Actually there will be some knife making but each one will come with a fork. I found a nice 4 foot length of stainless steel rebar that I have put aside until I feel confident about making a knives and forks to use at home. Going to practice on mild steel so that I don't waste the good steel. Charles, wouldn't a kitchen knife be very difficult to make? I'm thinking the thinness of the blade would be easy to bugger up?

I may have the terminology wrong. I reprofiled the flat side of the ball peen to a convex shape and then used that shape to spread the dish on my spoon so it's probably a dishing hammer.

I just finished putting my first forge together after doing a couple of courses. People keep asking me when I am going to make my first knife and can't understand when I say I'm not bothered about that. Apparently making flowers as I did on the last course is not manly enough. My answer to that is that seeing as I am a 6 foot tall 19 stone biker with a beard that would hide a small child I don't need to prove my maleness. My first project once I have finished making hooks and straps and a few more sets of tongs will be a bunch of flowers for the wife. It will be interesting to see how they turn out without a master Smith on hand to show me where I am going wrong.

I spent my first proper time in my forge this morning. Only about 3.5 hours but well worth it. I turned an old ball peen hammer on to a rounding hammer before starting the fire. Then I made a fire rake with a loop and twist handle followed by a poker with a loop handle. Then a couple of hooks to hang them off the edge of the forge to keep them handy. Then I made a further 4 hooks so that I can hang up my hot cut and 3 punches. Then I had a go at making a spoon for flux from 10mm round bar using my newly profiled rounding hammer and of course that needed a hook making too. Finally I took a wire brush on my angle grinder to the anvil to see if I could find and makers marks on it.

Thanks for the reply. I thought about the measurements but I only thought about it once I was back home and not when it was in front of me.

This anvil was left behind when someone did a runner on the rent of their workshop. I cut the lock off the door for the landlord and he gave me the anvil as a thank you. It has spent the last 25 years as a garden ornement in my mums garden but it's now part of my forge set up. I have no way to weigh it but it took 2 of us to lift it in to my van and we struggled. The only marking or it is JS on the side, the Hardy hole is about 45mm and it has 2 pritchel holes, rebound is somewhere between 50 and 75% and it has a nice ring. The face looks more like cast iron than steel but I think that's just the effect of pitting after being in the rain for all those years. If anyone can give me any info it would be much appriciated. I have been through the entire anvil section of the site and found nothing and googling JS anvils is no good, apparently there is a cyber security protocol of the same name

Some excellent shop's on here. I thought I would post a photo of mine. I only put it together last weekend in a very limited space, a 10 foot by 10 foot storage container. The anvil has been a garden decoration in my mum's garden for the last 30 years. It's in quite good condition and has about a 50% rebound. No markings on it that I can find, the swage block I found buried in an old quarry, its very rough but free is free. All in all a very compact and simple forge and considering the only smiting I have done is 4 1 day courses making the usuall coat hooks, flowers and tongs it's probably all I need. my workshop is next door with a grinder, mig and arc welders and pillar drill so I have a few more toys if I need them as my skill level grows.