junker

Wells when drawing out steel for tong reins or something like that I use a 7ibs sledge... but it's even really loud when using just my normal 3ibs hammer, ***** just dropping a piece of steel on it hurts my ears... to use it I have to wear ear protection or my head starts ringing lol... but it's just really loud... so all I can say, is if you enjoy smithing, you would like to stay on good terms with the neighbors, and keep your hearing... find another anvil lol

Here is a little advice for those of you that live in more urban areas. Don't, I repeat, Don't use an I-beam as an anvil. This is incredibly loud when you hit it. I live in very rural area with my neighbors a good 700 yards away and I still got a call about the noise level. So, do yourself and your neighbors a favor, and DO NOT use I-beam as an anvil.

Anybody done anything with triangular nails?

So how can I cut a hardie for my anvil? It's just a large chunk of steel and I need a hardie so I can make a mandrel I think it's called, essentially just a cone. Because I obviously don't have similar feature on my anvil

What I wanna know is what combonation of steels he welded into the billet to get that pattern in the finished steel... reminds me of flowing water

So I found out why the swords I kept trying to make kept breaking. It's simply this, I was trying to run before I could crawl. I decided to take a look at me skills when some1 on this forum pointed out that I was asking college level questions with a kindergadener's understanding. So I went back to the basics and decided to make a simple fire poker, outta some rebar, for me forge. Frankly it's shameful.

For any of the guys on this forum from florida, here's a question for you. What natural florida woods would be good for a handle, only things that grow out near me are hickory, scrub oak, sand pine, holly, and pallmettos (which yes, are a tree)

By the way... would hickory make a good handle material?

Ok guys... I need some advice. I've been using a 2" thick piece of plate steel as an anvil. I just finally bent it past recognition... any ideas on what to use on a new anvil that will actually last?

Ok guys, advice taken... I'll definently work more with steel before I move on to anything more exotic. And just to clarify, the reasons I wanted to make a Ti sword were the weight, with Ti I figure you could make a claymore light enough to wield like a rapier, and strength, from the demontration I saw it looked like it might give the "amazing stop sign cutting and rock embede sword" mentioned in a previouse thread a run for it's money lol.

As 4 swords I have only made 2... 1 was a horrible ordeal made out of trailer steel just to see if I could shape it... it was supprisingly easy... but 4 some reason whenever you tapped it on the edge of something it would bend quite severely... and the 2nd sword was one made out of 2 lawnmower blades cut into segments and welded into a billet... this 1 snapped in half when given the same test as the 1st one... so I have no experience with the tempering or handling portion... and is there any way to weld a piece of some other metal arounf the Ti, much like the japanese katana is made, in order to have a harder edge with which to hold an edge... it seams to me that with how tough the Ti is you could use an extremely hard metal

Ok... well I hope some1 knows because titanium os quite expensive and i'd rather not try anything without knowing first. I just figures it'd be good because I saw a guy hit a knife made out of it with an 8ibs. sledghammer without it even slightly bending... I've just heard it doesn't hold a good edge, which doesn't make sence to me if it's so hard

Ok guys... I know I'm probably gonna get ridaculed 4 this, but what are your thoughts on a titanium sword... and would this metal work best with a specific type of sword?

ok so y'all are gonna get a kick outta this... got bored... made a copper letter opener... all i had was a tiny ball peen hammer and a lighter ( to get the coloring on the blade that you can't actually see in the pic) some1 tell me what the ***** this shape is... it just popped into my head to do it this way. :D sorry the pic won't work...

so next year i am going to be a senior in highschool. As a senior at my school we are required to do a final "senior project" spanning almost the entire year. If there are any smiths in the Oviedo, FL area with kids they know what im talking about. IF there are any smiths here in the oviedo/ orlando/ sanford are of FL please contact me... these projects require a "mentor" or "master" to teach you. As i am the kind of person who HATES being caught un-prepared, i am just asking early.

so i have a HF hammer (problem #1) and last night i was just messing around and trying to cold forge (problem #2) a leaf, i got a little mad at the slow progress and hit the leaf pretty hard (problem #3). my hammer leterally broke in half and landed on my foot... not the handle mind you, but the HAMMER :mad::confused::mad::confused:... so my advice is: don't combine cold forging with HF hammers

thanks again for the advice... i have returned the hammer and am getting a 2 1/2 - 3ibs ball peen and a handle for the 3 pounder... as for a cross peen, searching ebay and craiglist, and such as there are no blacksmith or ferrier suppliers out where i live (supprising seeing as it is horse country), probably gonna end up having to just use the edge of my ghetto anvil until i get good enough to make 1... that's pretty much my only option with all my tools... but when i get my hammers i'll post pics so you guys can give me advice on what to do to make them more servicable

that would be my little spaz, roxy... im 6'2" and the shack is about an inch taller than i am... you missed the pic with her standing on top of it... darn little dog can jump

wasn't really trying to make anything... just screwing around... thinking back, not the greatest of ideas on my part... and i've had some BAD ones

scary****** and painfull to boot... my kinda fun :D:D

ok thanks... judging from what i've heard here i'll most likely buy my dad's 3 pounder off of him and re-handle it, and then return this 1 to pay for the handle and a 2 1/2 - 3ibs ball peen:D

lol, wells then the dog is smarter than me... trust me... i built the thing. first good wind and the roofs probably gonna fly away :D

thanks for the advice guys... especially the tendon one ... could i some how convert this hammer to a cross peen and get a ball peen... sadly the ball peen i have is more correctly my father's so i can't put a wood handle on it

lol, why thank you

thank you... i'll look into it... going to re-handle my 3ibs anyways, cause it's split, i'll just put a good long one on and give it a try... course my 3ibs is a sledge- style too lol:D but i'll give it a try... i do have a 2 1/2ibs ball peen with a fiberglass handle i could give a try too :p