ADHD-forge

Finished my drawknive, i forgewelded a piece of c45 carbon steel to mild steel for the edge and shaped the handels ware shaped before i welded the insert. Forge welding is a steep learning curve, it took me 5 atempts making this blade. Burning the insert al least 3 times. Its not perfectly shaped but i'm happy with the result and it holds a decent edge. The handles are made of some scrap wood pieces of oak

My first atempt at forgewelding. I'm trying to make a drawknife, its still a rough forging but will get there.

I've made a design for a 20 ton forging forging press that i'm planning on building. the main beam will be an HE-b 200 I-beam that will be stuffend up with 2 10mm thick plates in the I-section to prevent torsion in the I-beam. total height will be 1400mm and the usable stroke is 350mm. i'm no quite sure how i'm going to attach the dies but i'm leaning towards drilling and tapping holes. any idea's, advice and pitfalls would be nice thanks

Found 2 brand new hydraulic cilinders 25 tons each for 100 euro's. Now i can start gathering steel for my forging press.

Found a 20 ton single port cilinder and pump with valve for 150€ next to my brothers place, now i just need to gather some steel and a forging press wil be born

I fixed up 2 sledges i found at the surplus yard. They had a lot of pitting on the face that needed some grinding. The small one i made in to a 2 faced rounding an flat faced hammer. The sledge i just cleaned up the face's and left the sides pitted. I like the look, it gives it a bit of character. I made the small sledges handle myself and the big one is a store bought one i had laying around.

They said the cuts are to narrow to get a decent precise cut. And the blowout on the back would be to big for the small holes And the plate would be nearly 4 inch thick

I've ran in to a little snag, the guys from the weld shop told me they cant cut the middle parts with the oxy/acetelene table so i'm thinking to just cut the outside and go to a machinist or find a company with a waterjet if its posible to cut it wit with a waterjet of course

I've looked around for those but they seem hard to find. In belgium at least

i used a piece af 6 mm rubber sheet between my anvil and its stand and then attached it with 2 strips of steel and 12inch screw in the wooden base and works like a champ noise was more than halved. and i have a 4inch magnet stuck to the anvil as well and that seemd to help a bit ( i got that one from jonh from blackbear forege on youtube)

that's an idea to Frosty, i might be able to scrounge some left over hydraulic pieces from work. one of the advantage to work for a company who fixes and self all kind of port machinery it might indeed be better to go that route than.

Maybe a dumb question, i was wondering how much noise you get from operating a powerhammer like say a tire hammer? I live in a residential neighborhood and don't want to upset to many nieghbours with the noise from my shop. I was thinking of building a tire style hammer with some left over tubing a have laying around and some scraps from work.

this is what i came up with and what i think i'll need for future projects. i'll probably will grind in a dome on top where i left a blank space or go to a local machine depending on the cost.

i would use retractible casters witch are lever operated in the sense that when u use the lever the anvil would lift and the lever would be your steering and the when you release the lever it would be solid on the ground.

looks awesome

it's a hammer your supposed to hit with it not tickle with it (my response to co workers) in dutch, das nen hamer ge moet daar me kloppen niet knuffelen!!

that's just what happened at home, i've got plenty of those from work as well from taking short cuts or just dumb stuff and bad luck. ADHD can be a blessing as well as a p.i.t.a for being inpatient. being inpatient is what gets you in the end. take it from someone who know it all to well and just can't learn to get rid of it. i've got 2 shot knees, a bad back from doing stupid things which the old timers told me not to do and still did it. and i still do stupid things at work (lift way to heavy things,etc..) when it's taking to long and i get inpatient with my co-workers. and i know all to well its bad for myself, but i cant get over the fact its taking to long or people are not even trying. (i have this saying at work, its a hammer and your'e supposed to hit something with it not hug or tickle it. )

was a fun trip, i asked the owner if he had some old hamers, sledges, etc to use for blacksmithing and adjusting and het stated laughing at me and the asked i wanted a shipping containers worth off hammers. he then took me out back of the shop in to his hanger and showed me around and said to come look for him when i found what i wanted and turned his back. so i want looking in a makers mekka and found what i was looking for, i could just pick and choose between hundreds upon hundreds of hammer, axe heads here's a pic to give you an idea how the place looks, this is just one small sample it gets narrower and denser the more you enter the hanger

more like 48 i think current rates

i had a falling in with piece of red hot steel last week and lost the fight . i was working on a project in the forge and a red hot piece rebounded on the anvil and hit me on the chin and left i nice big gauge and first degree burn marks on my neck. i had to go to the ER for a couple of stitches. a learned a good lesson along the way, use proper tongs for holding the work or make a pair the will fit the work first!

i went to a local army surplus and found myself a couple of old sledgehammer heads and some custom hammer heads and some real big jackhammer bits for 45 euro's

This is the axe i was talking about.

I have the opportunity to cut my own swage block on the cutting table at work from 100mm thick mild steel. Now i was wondering what the essential features should be. I was thinking of a couple radius cuts on the side, some v cuts on the other side. And some round , square and rectangular holes in the center. And grinding in a dome on the top or bottom side. And what are the most important hole sizes should be. I use metric units. Any toughts? Or anyone who has a drawing wich i could use or adapt Thanks guys

i don't mind the blacksmith from who'm i took a class told me that he liked a good branch over a store bought handle for top tools and small axes. at first i found it odd to say such a thing, butt now i totally agree. i made a small axe last year and searched for a nice fitting branche as a handle and it works perfect and it rest perfectly in my hand

Custumer orderd new parts and didn't wont the scrap so i'm happy with it