molten

Regarding air flow control, the blower has a sliding window on one side but the control seems course and airflow seems high even with it closed. I may have to get a controller to vary the fan motor speed. I took a more ambitious swipe at an s-hook with a little style. Not symmetric but it does look like it was created to be an s-hook on purpose. I dug up clay from my yard and reshaped my forge to have a fire bowl. Much nicer.

Goods, I took no offense at all. I appreciate the detailed description you took the time to write. I will truly use it as an instructive guide. I don't pretend to have blacksmithing skill yet and can use all the advice I can get! Thanks again.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the insight offered and am putting it to good use. JHCC, I will dig in my backyard today to find clay soil to fill in the bbq space. I thought the forge seemed too big and will be reshaping it into a smaller elongated bowl. I will also cut notches in it to heat long material. Goods, I will use your detailed S-hook manufacturing description as a guide to refine my primitive hooks into more aesthetic forms and hopefully learn some real blacksmithing skills while I'm at it.

As a matter of possible interest, I am posting the results of my preceding inquiries and the valuable responses. Impatient to start hammering, I abandoned making my own anvil and bought a 35 kg Peddinghaus and made a stand from bolted lumber and angle iron, a design copied from pics on this forum. It's a small but decent anvil that could probably be resold for a decent price to upgrade someday. I tried to fold and forge-weld a piece of flat iron with limited success. I brazenly disregarded proper beginner humility and attempted to hammer a section of lawnmower blade into a knife which cracked and failed disastrously. I wanted to take a shot at it just to get me thinking about the task. Starting with the right material could be important, huh. And I made a couple S-hooks which are actually useful. I also melted some copper pipe in the crucible. It was all quite enjoyable. I'll probably make some forging tools next like a crucible pouring tool. Also, I wanted to comment on the tuyere. Next to the S-hooks is the pitiful remainder of the original black iron pipe tuyere after melting the copper. I mean, I knew such tuyeres were considered consumable, but that one melted in one day! So, I degalvanized (in vinegar) some steel pipe and poured Kast-o-lite into a can around the pipe to make an insulated tuyere. Shown in the pic is that tuyere after one blacksmithing session which included coke so it could have been fairly hot. It seems to be holding up but we'll see how it looks after using the crucible with it. I figure it will probably still melt but am hoping for a lifespan of weeks or months rather than hours .

Sorry, the photo isn't as small as I thought it would be. I selected low res on my phone but it looks sorta big to me in the post. Based on the information generously provided here, I'm planning a trip to the metal yard to buy a block of steel. Based on 100lb anvils I see, I'm thinking 5"Wx10"Lx12"H would work. I'm now planning to cast a base about 4" high base to set the steel block in and weld metal legs to the base. I'd like to buy the preferred specific type of steel for a basic"medieval" anvil so I'm planning to go to a steel yard. I just don't yet know what the preferred type of steel is.

Thank you for your insight, Thomas. I''m sure you have saved me time and trouble. I'm now reorienting my anvil project to modifying a large chunk of steel. I'm planning to take a quick hike across the country next week and will try to stop by.

Here's my homemade forge/foundry:

Thanks for the response. My forge and crucible supposedly can handle up to 3000F, so I think I can melt steel too. But I would still need multiple pours. As a blacksmithing noob, I'm having trouble accepting the prices on good new anvils. I'll check out the improvised anvils...

I just built a coal forge from an old Chargriller bbq and melted some aluminum in my crucible to test it. I have castable refractory (Kastolite) and want to make a mold and cast an iron anvil from scrap iron. My crucible is small and would need multiple pourings over multiple days to fill an anvil mold. If I pour molten iron over cooled iron will it weld and be solid? Is this doable?