Matt Watson

Yes I believe they are probably close to that. They are the hard fire bricks definitely a pain to work with but should last for a long time. The forge weighs somewhere around 50-60 lbs I thing

Will do hopefully I can get it running in the next week

Hello and thanks for the reply. I have fished old hickory in the past my father grew up around that area and fished it alot. I live on Tim's ford lake which has some decent stripers in it. I just finished my brick forge yesterday I tweaked a few designs to fit what I wanted it's easily adaptable to changing similar to what you have. I just have to build my burner now I guess I'm lucky then but the only have one area to go into but its sorted out to different things so it makes it a little easier . Photos were already posted in the other thread in the gas forge section, so they have been removed from this location.

sweet idea I did talk to a friend who owns a lawn mower shop he is going to give me what he can unfortunately I was two days late in calling him he just got rid of 10,000 lbs of steel oh well maybe I will get the next bin that big

Thank you that's good information. I will make another trip to my scrap yard and see if I can get some axles and springs. I need to make some hardy tools so I may just start there and make some punches. as far as basic smithing are you referring to being able to draw the metal out make round stock square and square stock round, twists and curls? If so I can do that Im not proficient with it yet but I have done a few different style hooks some leafs and spade hooks, a boot scraper, and a hot dog roasting fork was my latest project. That one didn't turn out as nice as the other ones I definitely need some more practice there. I didn't have my split centered that well and while working on the split pieces I got them too hot a few times and about lost them. I plan on working on that again at my local club next weekend. My biggest problem right now is I cant practice at home (still working on building my forge and shop). once I get that done what would you suggest I practice with? Or should I just heat and beat and let the metal tell me what it wants to be lol

Thank you, I updated my profile so it shows my location now. Hopefully I can meet some people in here close to me. And that was a good tip about the search section because it definitely is useless.

Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Matt and I took a couple classes a few years ago and fell in love with blacksmithing but life kept me from it for a while. I have started setting my shop up and building my first gas forge. I prefer coal but I thought gas would be cheaper to start with. I have almost none of the right tools but I plan on making everything I need. Starting with a decent hammer. I have a 2.5 store bought cheap one to start with but I need to know what tools I need to make my first real one if anyone can point me in the right direction I have browsed through some of the forums but couldn't find what I was looking for. Also if there is anyone in here near me that would like to meet up and maybe show me a few things I would like to find some new friends that I can forge with every now and then.