Helena

Yeah... But ya gotta be quick. We have people that literally tear aluminum siding off houses just to make a couple bucks selling scrap metal. Neighbor's house went that way. Broad daylight and everything.

Hahaha! I didn't know there were so many terms for finding steel trash

Thank you! And thanks for the info. I too have a bit of a stubby horn on my anvil. The drift I made won't fit through the pritchel(?) hole but works for the hardy. Just have to keep going corner to corner and flip every heat... But cold shuts happened on the slot punch, so I definitely need to refine it's shape.

Hahaha! It's not that pointy! And thank you. Also, I discovered that the twist on the stick part locks in with the twist on the other piece. Once locked, I can tighten it by just turning it like a screw. An odd but handy "not intended" design feature. And mines a bit too small. I wanna make a slightly bigger one.

Finally got to spend an entire day in the shop! Fixed the problem with the forge too. Made my first punches and hot cut chisel. I used a large coil spring I found on the side of the road. Sweet mother Detroit provides! Also made a hair tie and a bottle opener. Never made any of these things before, so I know they're kinda rough. Still, feels good to make stuff. Feels better to learn so much so quickly. Such as, Acme hoses are not good for feeding a forge. And, slot punches need to be flat and preferably not have rounded corners. At least, I think that's the problem I was having when using it... Oh, and hair pieces need to be a bit bigger than the one I made... Anyway, thank you all for the help and inspiration!

Haven't had more than an hour or so a night. But it looks like I'll be able to spend a solid day or two in the shop soon. Looking forward to it. The regulator was set to 10psi ... It runs all the way down to 2psi but I get impatient waiting for stuff to heat up. The bottle is huge... So I could probably run it even hotter. However, the regulator has been acting funny and I need to fix it somehow. Sometimes it acts like there's no fuel at all. I think it's slightly clogged... Not sure though.

Sure! Not the best picture... And I'd rather have a better door system but this old firebrick I made years ago still works ok. I can get better photos tomorrow if ya want.

True, it is a bit boring. I think I could spice it up a bit ... Just haven't had a lot of time lately. I'm sure everyone understands that feeling!

Gave my new forge a paint job and made a baffle for the air intake

Dang Das! That looks great! How long did it end up taking with so many pieces?

Yay! Fun with rivets. Couldn't come at a better time as I have a project that needs them. Thanks for all the ideas on tooling everyone. I'm still not exactly sure what I'll do, but at least I know what I can try now. Also, thanks for all the inspiration!

Nice work! I too have a gravel floor for my forge. Also, I casted the ribbon burner a couple days ago and got the rest of the body of the forge put together today. Just have to get all the pieces together and coat it, clean it and paint it.

Wow JHCC! That old master in the video is amazing. He forged 288 knives a day at his peak! And how quickly and accurately he could still bang a knife out blew my mind. I laughed out of disbelief! Truly an inspiring smith. Thanks for sharing.

Nice! Thanks for the info. I guess I'm just intimidated because what I 'want' to have for a touchmark seems complicated... Maybe I have to come up with an easier design.

Holy crap Ben! That hammer is stunning! Nice work on the touchmark Das! Did you end up using files? I'm curious cuz I still have to make mine someday...

Another thing you can do in a pinch, is cut it off with an angle grinder, weld a sacrificial extra bit of steel on the end, and then finish the paper and cut the excess off. It's a botchy kinda way to fix it, but if it's at the end of a few weeks into a piece it could save ya

HGX is a propane mix, like maap gas. It's propane based, but has "extras" that make it burn hotter. And yeah, I'm not planning on putting a lot of air into the forge. The blower is much smaller than some designs I've seen, and I plan on putting an adjustable cover over the intake portion of the motor. This should let me tune how much air I need. It's all about finding that balance... I think. Uh... I'm still a noob

Hi Frosty! Thanks for the awesome reply! Yeah, I guess my version is similar to your Mr. Swirly. Lol I hadn't thought about using a T with a cap on one side to make an "extra turbulent" elbow, that's pretty clever! And thank you for all the info you've posted over the years. Your post on NA ribbon burners led me to realize I needed Kast-O-Lite 30 for the thing. This is my 3rd forge so far... It's been a grueling learning process, but I do enjoy it. The other 2 used a NA Venturi type burner. It was small, but I could get welding heats when using a 60# bottle of HGX. I'm curious what happens when I put that stuff through a forced air ribbon burner... I'll keep ya posted! Lol

Hi Hans! If I'm ever in your area I'd love to stop by! Thank you to everyone here, you've all been very welcoming. I finally decided to join the forum after 2 years of having all my questions answered from IF I by just googling stuff. That's how I've learned everything so far. And hi Latticino! Good info for sure. A couple points that the picture doesn't show. It's a quarter turn ball valve after the regulator as a quick shut off option if something goes crazy. The little piece of sheet steel is just welded there as a support bracket. The pipe goes all the way into the black iron and is capped off. There is a small hole drilled in the quarter inch pipe facing the correct direction. And yes, I plan on putting a rubber seal around the entrance hole to make sure there's no Venturi intake effect happening. The mix will end up happening through the two elbows of 2" black iron, an internal piece of double twisted sheet steel in a 16" piece, and of course a little extra mix will happen in the ribbon burner as I've added a baffle to the inside of that. Just waiting on the refractory cement to cure at this point.

Wow! Pumpkins and a turkey out of horseshoes? That's really cool! Nice work!

Wow that's a lot of rivets! Impressive work. And yeah, I made this out of junk from the side of the road last year.

Lol! Yeah... I guess we all do that. Although, I live in Detroit and literally walk around, find junk, and use that to make stuff. Life of a starving artist

I'm still working on the forced air ribbon burner... But I've got the plumbing worked out. Please ignore the craptastic nature of it, I'm working with mostly junk found laying around.

Nice little blade! I've not made a knife yet... Too scared. Also, pretty impressive castings! Great detail

I poured a slab of concret and started work on a ribbon burner...