NoGoodWithUsernames

Managed to put up with the heatwave here in Northern CA long enough to get my T-burner put together and try tuning it... Having very limited success right now and could use some advise... As built, and not in a forge (too hot to get more than one layer of ceramic wool installed and rigidizer is still drying...) it will not stay lit. Shortened the MIG tip incrementally until there was only about 1/4" left and still no luck. I ended up trying to cover some of the air inlet with my hand and that got it running, not great but enough that I know it must be running too lean normally. I superglu

My anvil came with a heavy duty 1/4" angle iron stand, but it was a bit too low for me and I just didn't really like it much anyways. So I decided to make a better looking stand and raised the anvil up a touch. 2"x6"s are all glued and screwed together, then strapped and wedged. Forged a staple and a hooked threaded rod to tie down the anvil, and laid down some clear silicone prior to bolting it down. Much better sound, I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate it.

Well I got a little impatient. Don’t have cash laying around to build the nice propane refractory quite yet and discovered JABODs today sooooo here we are. First “project” on my new anvil. It’s not great, heck, not even good. But it *IS* and that’s what matters. Burning scrap wood, figured I may as well, see if it gets hot enough. Made a dull red at least so enough to piddle around with a piece of 1/4 round. And... I don’t have a blower so I *was* the blower...

Dang I go away for a couple days and all of a sudden my first project went from a pair of tongs to a triple-alloy Damascus flying car, just one question! What's the tempering process to get the clear Damascus for the windshield??

I love puns And Damascus of any sort will be quite a ways off. First I’ve got to get the basics and then make some tongs and hardy tools and the like. Now off I go for a while until I get my forge up and running and have more questions. Cheers guys!

Thank you for that feedback, that sounds like a much better idea than taking a grinder to it and risking removing too much material or gouging the face. I think it will take a little bit of a mindset change as I start forging coming from welding and machining, so thank you all in advance for bearing with me as I'm sure to have more dumb questions along the way. But I promise not to try and forge a sword on my first go!

That seems to be a strange practice, like you wouldn't test out your welder settings on the welder case? Why on an anvil? I suppose they were viewed differently back then huh? I have read not to do any work on the face, however would it be okay to touch the spots that look like weld spatter to bring them down flush to the face? If even that is not recommended there is still plenty of smooth working surface, but it would be nice to get rid of the couple bumps there are. (Also attached a few new photos, at least on the classic VW and Porsche forums I am on everyone loves photos so I figured

Greetings everyone, this is my first post on this fine site though I have been avidly reading for the past few days now. I have been interested in smithing since I was a young boy at Sutter's Fort (historic museum that commonly has living history events) and the smith there "Mr. Biscuits" let me hammer on some sort of soft alloy for a bit while he was actually being productive. Late last year I spent some time in a friends shop making a set of BBQ tools for my FIL as a Christmas gift and have been playing with the idea of getting my own setup going since then. Previously mentioned friend