Archer08080

Thanks for the ideas. I'll be trying them for sure! In particular the idea of drilling into the ends of the shaft. Makes perfect sense and simple to do.

In the video you can see that I am turning the gear that turns when the crank would normally be attached to. Right now the shaft is frozen in position and the gear is free-spinning on it. I need to get the shaft spinning properly before I can put the set screw back in the gear. I think the shaft may be mushroomed a little so there may be no way around reducing circumference a little- somehow. Thanks for the feedback though- I am doing this as a first-timer.

I'm hopeful that this forge will work soon. It's been a bit of a challenge. The gears were completely seized up at the start. I took it apart partially, but left two of the three shafts intact and just loosened them with some penetrating oil. Today is the first time that I am finally starting to see movement. The crank shaft is still not turning. I need to polish and reduce the diameter very gradually. I was never able to take this all the way out. I discovered a pin holding it in place- drove that out and now it wiggles a few inches in either direction- I think this is enough space to get a file in there and slowly reduce circumference. Still debating on how to proceed. Here's a quick link to a video of progress so far. https://youtu.be/cjSI_Ry_uqg

I just checked. It's marked: Kohlswa Sweden I must confess, until this moment I never bothered to read the script on the side. How did I manage to get it for $80? It was an estate sale in my town that I attended ten years ago. For those of you who aren't familiar with this type of setting, it typically involves a family member passing who has lots of potentially valuable possessions that are either too valuable or too specialized to donate to charity. In this case, the third party sellers were asking a lot for the anvils. Lucky for me none of the attendees were terribly interested in them. As a lark, and knowing that one day I'd be starting this hobby, I handed one of the sellers a business card with my bid on the back ($80) and asked them to call if the anvils didn't sell by the end of the sale. Imagine my rush of adrenaline when the call came! I wasted no time running over there with cash in hand.

I may have to check the Egyptian Metalworking book! Pre- electricity qualifies as historical to me. But who knows where I'll draw that line in the future.

I just began exploring this resource and I'm so happy I found it. I'm male, 49 from South Jersey. I've been interested in building things all my life, but got interested in forging when I took a welding/art class at a university. They had a forge setup and even though there was no one there qualified to teach it was enough to get my brain on the path. They allowed me to play- and that's what I did for several sessions. I took part in a knife building challenge online (Tim Troyer's) and was amazed at what could be accomplished with minimal equipment. That anvil I had packed away in the garage finally got some use. (I picked it up at an estate sale for $80. It's an 80# Swedish anvil in good shape for what I'm doing with it. Knife making classes- took a few- they were worth the time and money. One of them was hosted at Peter's Valley (school in NJ) I can't say enough good things about that place. It was my first time (and only) using a power hammer and a "real" studio. Definition- it's not rigged together like my hairdryer forge in the yard. Tinkering- I belong to a maker space in Philadelphia. Before the quarantine I was learning all the skills I missed out on over the decades- including how to run a metal lathe and basics of milling. Other hobbies- photography, 3D Animation- my career is in video production so I get to experiment and learn every day of my life. Recent stuff: Picked up a new forge. It's not easy to identify, but it looks like a Champion 140 blower (rusted shut when purchased, working on that now) with the shallow four-legged setup. GOALS: Need a better forge setup. Thanks to this site I discovered that I am losing heat to too much airflow. It makes sense now that I think about it. I'll post a picture of the garage project if anyone's interested. So far I've made a few knives that are impressive to non-knife makers (you know the level I'm talking about) - but lately I've been interested in making arrowheads, strikers, and useful small items. Ideally, I want to combine the maker space's technology side with the history and culture of blacksmithing to potentially create something that balances both spheres. I'm also very fortunate to have staff at the maker space who will help me should I need to make parts for the forge I am rebuilding. Off to explore- thanks in advance! -Freddie