Toyman01

Glenn, thanks for the link. I had read a good bit on setting the height but using the plywood sounds like a great plan. Good thought on the blower as well. That way I can leave the more powerful blower in place in case I need more air for a future project. Thanks again.

I did not spark test it I will do that the next time I get out to the shop. I did not try to work it if it wasn't glowing red, so I don't think I let it get too cold. There were a couple of occasions I think I left it in the heat too long, as the metal was sparkling as I pulled it out of the fire. I did not quench it at any time. The grain does look large. Almost like a cast iron break. I'll see if I can get some up close images. Thanks for the help.

Skill is zero. As it is now, the anvil feels too high. I need to build up some muscle in my hammer arm, so I really can't tell if there is a height problem or I'm just weak. I'll play around with the heights before I build a permanent base. I've only tried making something once and it was a failure. At this point I don't even know what it is that I don't know. Thanks for the pointers. I'm sure I have some more questions.

At the moment it's about 35" to the face. In doing some reading, for my height it should be more like 30"-32". I still have to build a permanent stand for it. That's next on the list. The forge table is 34" high.

I tried my hand at making a coal rake yesterday. It seemed like a good first project. Unfortunately I ran into a little problem. My stock kept breaking. The first couple of times I thought I had gotten the metal too hot. On my last attempt, I was very careful and still had a failure. Now I'm questioning the steel. It's was a piece of round stock I had laying around. Possibly from Lowes. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I got this finished up this past weekend. Nothing special, just following some internet suggestions. The underside of the fire pot showing the air inlet. I'm going to have to change out the rubber connector. It got hotter under there than I thought it would. Ash door.The gray cloth looking thing is a sheet of lead to keep the door shut. The blower I used is too powerful. Even with the speed turned all the way down, it still blows coal and ash out of the pot. I'll be changing it out for something else. Variable speed control for the blower. The first firing. It gets hot enough to melt steel. I guess that's good enough.

I dug through the steel pile and built this yesterday. It's not pretty or perfect, but it will be a place to start. Still to build and install is the blower system. The parts for that and 100 lbs of coal should be in this week. I also need to put legs on the left side.

This manifold is strictly a hack job on a cheap car to run in rallycross and 24hrs of Lemons endurance races. We needed some clearance for a set of headers so I cut the EGR passages and heat box off the bottom of it and covered them with plate. That's some good looking stuff you built. The manifold on my rotary powered Spitfire isn't quite that pretty. Fun car though.

Still trying to figure out a forge so I got some other projects done. Rear wheel bearing changed on the G35. Modified a intake manifold for clearance to the exhaust headers on Dirty, the 1978 B210 rally car. It's a little hideous, I'm still new at aluminum welding. Taught my youngest son how to weld so he could finish building a small casting furnace his brother started. He welded a brake rotor from the scrap pile on the bottom to use as a stand.

You were dead on correct. I had a hand full of 3/4 bearings in my shop. A drop from 10" got me right at 7" of rebound.

I actually managed to read, READ THIS FIRST, first. Hard to imagine I know. I'm glad I did, because my first question was going to be what to do about the damage on the deck and horn of the anvil. The answer to which is nothing. I'll use it as is for the foreseeable future. If it becomes a issue at a later date I'll deal with it then, after I have accumulated a little more knowledge. Ring is crystal clear and it seems to ring no matter where you tap it. Good? From what I have read it's not bad. Rebound? From some videos and reading it looks to be about 50%. Assuming that means from a 4" hammer drop it bounced back about 2"-2.5" I'm not sure if that is good or not. Assuming that numbering on all anvils means the same thing. This one should weigh in at about 106 lbs. I have not stuck it on a scale. The side reads 0, 3, 22. Unfortunate there is no other information to be found. The gent I bought it from only had it a couple of years and had zero information about it.

Greetings from South Carolina. I have been playing with metal for a long time, but have never tried my hand at messaging it into submission. I've always been a cut, grind, weld, turn, mill, kind of guy. I picked up my first anvil last weekend. Priced fairly for this area. Not in the best shape but should be a good starting point hopefully. Over the next few months I hope to put a basic shop together to build a knife or two. Still deciding on what type of forge I want to use. I'm leaning toward charcoal, or coal but I still have some research to do. I look forward to learning what you gents/ladies have to share. Thanks.