Ridgeway Forge Studio

Just picked up this little guy- 357lbs of Fisher glory! It's a beast, and I'm very grateful to have a large shop anvil finally.

I think the diagonal pein was more out of curiosity than utility. It works well, but I agree that a cross and straight pein make up 90 percent of the work

I plan to try my hand at all of the styles I have come across. Hammer making was always a dream of mine, and it's exciting to see it coming to fruition.

Hello all! I reached a milestone today in my blacksmithing career- my first hammer. Made from 1045, about 1.5 square, 3 inches long. I forged to shape on my press, then normalized twice. I have yet to grind, harden or temper, but I would love some feedback on how I did! The eye is about 10 degrees off of square, but I'll keep practicing!

Well, while we wait for science, I suppose anecdotal testing may be in order- I'll sprinkle some around a few plants and see what we come up with!

Thank you all for helping me feel safer- I'm very glad it was not zinc. I am blessed to not know the color of burning zinc, as it stays very far away from anything remotely warm in my shop.

This is not strictly a question about my gas forge, as it has never done this before and I do not believe it's function plays into the question. Today, upon first firing up the forge, a distinct green flame curled up from the gas forge door. I have never put copper or zinc in any form into this forge. I avoid anything but plain steel. I was working on the same pieces yesterday, with only the good orange flames licking up. The only variable today was a full night of rain. My shop has concrete floors, but water comes in through the bottom and through a couple of pinholes in the galvanized roof. There was standing water around the pieces I put into the fire, with water coming off the galvanized roof, and nearby were unplugged power tool plugs that I unwisely forgot to move. My thought is that the rain dissolved a trace amount of zinc or copper from one of these sources, and that it evaporated onto the steel when I lit the forge. if anyone has any thoughts on how this unusual color came to be, please share it!

Jhcc- thank you! I suppose if no mineral transfer would occur, it could still help in the way that any additions to largely clay soil would help- to break up the soil and provide an additional substrate to allow water in. Purely hypothetical, though.

I was thinking that over time it could help- talking years, not months. I guess its worth a try, or to save... maybe there's a Potter that wants it for glazing around me?

I've been collecting quite a collection of scale, and, being the hoarder I am, I wondered if anyone had horticultural uses for it. Would it give iron to my plants if I crush it up and sprinkle it in the garden?

She'd take anyone provided they chop wood in the fall for her

Not so much followed as slid down the river of drool- I've been wanting one of these for a while, and my grandmother found out and ordered it for me!

I always appreciate a good, simple and effective tool- finally made myself a holdfast for the Anvil.

Finally finished up the shop, thought I'd post it up here for viewing pleasure! Thanks to all who gave me advice, it was all very helpful!

Made some progress on the shop yesterday!! Now all it needs is a roof and the walls.

Frosty, setting the ridge into the wind was not really my intention, more my consideration as to aesthetics, at the request of my grandparents (whose property it is! however, I just wanted to be sure that I would not be making a suction system by angling it the other way- had a problem in one if my old shops built the same way. As far as i was able to check, legality will jot be an issue. I will not be running electricity into the shop, and if needed there is an exterior plug on the adjacent carriage house that I have run my bandsaw off of. some of the design elements of the shop are fairly dictated by the powers that be (wife), as my budget was about 800, and it looks like I will come in around 750 for the whole thing. Picking up my brother's hammer drill, and will review the plans with him as well. He's a contractor and woodworker in Harrisburg PA. I'm very grateful for all of the input, I wanted to check with people far more knowledgeable than myself before I set something in stone (pun intended!) -patrick

This has given me a lot to think about- I will be using purlins between each rafter, as well as 45 degree bracing on the corners and tied to the center posts. The walls will not really be framed, just 2x4x8s with metal roofing screwed to them, so only coming up 4ft off the ground. Regarding the wind, we get a prevailing wind towards where I have planned the high end of the lean to. Would it be better for structure to swap it so the prevailing wind rides the angle of the roof instead of being against it? My main concern isn't the roof weight, as I have done this style several times to great success.. Mostly concerned about wind pulling at the 4x4s and trying to pull it off the slab...

After a month delay due to snow, I am preparing to build my 10x16 lean-to shop. It will have 3 4x4x10s across the 16ft length in the front, and 3 4x4x8s in the back. I plan to be open air, with the two long sides covered by half walls and one short side by a full wall of metal sheet. The roof will be sheet metal corrugated roofing. I am building it on an existing 25x35 slab, with 4" thick concrete. Regarding anchoring the posts into the concrete, I have researched the premade concrete anchors that sleeve the 4x4 and have bolts set into the concrete. I want to make sure that my building does not catch wind and pull those out. Other options I have is to pour concrete footers around some of the posts, with bolts running through the wood and two bolts stuck into the existing concrete to grab the new concrete in two places. If anyone has some wisdom. They can impart regarding my thought process, I would greatly appreciate it. My main concern, as always, is that with a lean to, I do not want to create an airplane wing and rip the anchors out. Cheers, Ridgeway Forge Studio

IronDragon, thank you for trying! I did discover a few things that I am trying to follow up on. His business was called the Charles Hess Company Inc, with a shop on Flushing Ave in Brooklyn. The tag line on his maker's mark was Artisans in Iron, and he did the hardware for the Yale Fraternity houses, as well as all the ironwork for Northeastern University and a number of other places. I am still trying to discover his full product line, and any business records I can find. Its a shame the shop closed, but before closing it went from an ornamental iron company to largely a machine shop, with a listing of screws, bolts, blacksmith tongs and tools, and had a large contract with the US naval yard. We even have his old clearance badge to get on base. My grandfather had an anecdote, too, about when his father once delivered wood screws to the naval yard. The receiving officer saw the screws and the order sheet, and complained right up the chain of command that the products were defective, since the order called for wood screws and the ones he brought to the yard were not made of wood, but were metal screws!

I don't know if anyone has ever complimented your shelf-building abilities, but I imagine you could put an elephant on your display shelves without them even bending!

The main advantage of the exhaust is that the tubes warm the propane, allegedly making it more efficient. I go through about one BBQ size bottle of gas every 16hrs running 10psi. I have never used another gas forge, so nothing to compare, but at that psi I get yellow heat pretty consistently. I use mine for production work and especially toolmaking with spring steel, since I cannot burn the spring in my coal forge.

You never know. Big uptick in crime in my town, so this is a pretty good id mark. It was fun to leave my mark on an old tool, in a tasteful way. The folks on Instagram seem to like it too, lol.

Iron dragon, Not sure if they're still made, but I was gifted this by a fellow Smith when I moved into a townhouse a few years ago. I know there were some threads about this year's ago, but since I use one daily I thought it might be nice to have some current firsthand experience.

I am lucky enough in my studio to use regularly a Sandia Gas Forge. I wanted to share some photos and invite questions, as I know these forges are a little rare.

Got the old 5" torn apart, and as I was wire wheeling it, I decided to put a little decoration on it. Its fun to make a tool really your own.