Will Brouwers

Thanks Frosty! I felt pretty good about all of it, none of it is the best, I might hit a few pieces with the wire wheel, but my main win today was that I felt GOOD. As I swung the hammer I felt like I could hit powerfully and accurately, I experimented and it worked and I didn’t overthink. I wasn’t even that tired, even though I started my summer job of working concrete this past week. It was an easy week though, only 2 ten hour days, one 12 hour day, and Friday off! However, after asking my wife what she would pay for the candle snuffer, she said if it was really good, she’d pay $5. You can’t please them all.

3 hours of work. Pieces for a boot scraper, my first drive hook and candle snuffer, each from a split cross cutoff and then a garden shovel blank from black pipe, inspired by Jvos Ironworks on Instagram.

Roger, I just looked through this whole thread and I absolutely love your shop! Especially those pictures of it at night! What a cozy place to be! I took a few screenshots to add to the list of ideas that will hopefully culminate in a shop of my own! Until then, it is the basement and the backyard for me!

Hopefully this picture isn't too big....I just looked up John Bastalich Sweetwater County Wyoming and found this picture.

Can someone show me the thread where more of these pictures were shared? I really, really like your idea Nodebt. It would be really cool to see those, here or maybe we can private message about them?

Where do you look for the flint deposits? I have heard people talk about creek beds and even on the sides of dirt roads.

What do you think the marks are from then?

I think the same thing Das. Good thing I have a friend who works as a mechanic at the scrap yard looking out for things for me!

I wonder if it is something that a previous owner welded on, and then cut off later?

TP. I saw a few of your posts mentioning your setup. Can you get me some pictures of it? I am planning on doing basically the same thing, and the grill has already undergone "modifications." I originally wanted to use charcoal, as I am also a cheap, Dutch, graduate student, but where we live is within the city, and there are permits and such that I would have to follow. Do lots of other people around me still have fire pits which are not allowed? Yes. Do I want to risk it and get caught, or worse, catch something on fire. No.

George, Thanks for the input. As you can see in the second picture, I have used this area in this specific set up quite a bit. I would put brick on the deck to be able to put hot work down. The deck was great for all the stuff I was working on. In the first picture, you can see where I would stand, because the grass is all worn away in one spot next to the deck. Now that I have the grill, I am considering keeping everything in place. Most times when I forge, I move the anvil out into a specific place in the grass, as well as the stand I have rigged up for my vise. I am just trying to think through all the options I have here between the decks or moving everything to the grass. I probably should have just asked the question, forge between the decks, or forge out in the grass? There are pros and cons to both. When it is hot and sunny, I can use the sides of the deck to support poles for a canopy, I can also level the ground and potentially put found pavers there too and make a nice floor. However, it is cramped in my opinion, and I don't feel as out in the open, which is good and bad I guess. Finally, and I think you answered this George, the noise level. That and the amount of heat against the building. But again, I think I should be fine. I forgot to answer your last two questions. I think the housing that we live in was probably done in the 70's-80's. I am at Calvin Theological Seminary, in Grand Rapids, MI. I am studying to get my Masters in Divinity and go on to be a pastor in the CRC, hopefully in a rural community or small town. Fingers crossed!!

I hope I am not hijacking this thread. I recently acquired a scrap grill. It is in ROUGH shape! The floor where the tank normally sits is just about falling out, and the inside of the grill itself is ready to fall through into the floor. However, the frame is in good shape. I am thinking that I will take two sheets of steel and lay one on the top, over the whole where the grill was, and then one to redo the floor. This all started because I read a thread where y'all warned against keeping a propane tank inside, especially in a basement, which was exactly where I had put my tank and small forge. I have now decided to keep it outside, but wasn't sure how forges do in the Michigan weather...I thought about tucking the forge under the grill when not in use. is that a good idea? On top of all this, I am rethinking my forging area. I will attach some pictures to show what I used to have, and where I am now thinking about working. I am wondering if keeping the forge as close to the wall as the grill is would be a bad idea. I also wondered how loud it would be if I was close to the building. If I do go here, between the two decks at the seminary housing where I live, it would be a good place to put a tarp over on those really hot days. Sorry if my rambling doesn't make sense. It is one of the first days of my spring break, and my brain and I are not even in the same state!! These pictures should work better.

Jeremy, I don't know much about anvils, specifically welding a new tool steel piece on, but I kind of like that idea, just to see what happens. If you got a plate, the thickness of the piece that is still there, ground or cut that piece off and then made holes that correspond to the pritchel and hardy holes, it would be interesting to see if that would work. But now as I type, I realize that only the outside edges would be attached to the anvil. The middle wouldn't be attached. I am wondering if there are any markings on the front foot of the anvil? Those would indicate serial numbers. Other than that, you are sure there are no other markings? As others have suggested, this anvil is still useable, in a way. You can still use the horn, hardy and pritchel holes. What others have suggested is going to the scarp yard and buying some kind of "improvised anvil." This can be forklift tines, shafting, etc. Look around here on IFI and you can get some ideas! Finally, before you scrap it, it might be worth seeing if this anvil is wrought iron. This type of iron is getting rarer and rarer, and you could possibly sell it to other smiths as wrought iron. That in my opinion is the worst case scenario. I think the best option is to have two "anvils." One that is there only for it's face, and this one that can pick up the slack.

JHCC, I saw that you had those knitting bowls. My wife knits and I asked her about knitting bowls and she didn't know what they were. Could you enlighten me please?

That is really, really cool! And so beautiful! Good work on everything!

The trees finally fought back! Be very careful!

As a person who does not own any grinders (partly because they sketch me out) and who has only worked with fickle grinders, hearing your guy's opinion on corded grinders for heavy work, which applies to some if not all blacksmithing, is very helpful!

Slapped together a mount for my post leg vise when it is not being used upstairs and outside for blacksmith work. Now it can get some work done inside! Super excited about having the “big vise” ready to use at my bench!

I finally got this hammer head handled! The head came from the shop at the college I used to go to and work for. I asked my old boss nicely and he gave me a “go ahead” grunt. Then I bought 4, 2x2 ash turning blanks from Amazon and a weekend and some sawdust later, this (extremely ugly) hammer was given new life! It is a 6lb, which I was and still am hoping my wife will use to strike for me. She says it is a bit heavy, but I think (and hope) she will get used to it.

My friend in Iowa had a grader like that on his rural, dirt cul-de-sac. Every once in a while someone would pull it to the other cul-de-sac. I have recently found myself thinking about it more and more and wondering if it would be made from wrought iron and if it would be worth tearing apart...

Picked these up at restore for $7 for the axe and $1 for the 3/4 wrench that I didn’t have any of before. The axe is a Plumb axe. I’m pretty sure that is a good brand, but not sure how old it is, and what the quality was like later on. I also got $10 worth of hacksaw blades. They aren’t too bad for being $.25 a piece!

Thanks for the quick response Frosty! That all makes sense, and matches up to what I was thinking. I just wanted to make sure I was in the ballpark. I definitely did a lot of learning that time we forged!! I do have one lingering question. This anvil is 100+ years old, why has it not work hardened yet? It makes me think that the anvil could've been in the fire, in which case it can't work harden, right? Will

Hello, I don't have pictures of it right now, but my Trenton anvil made in 1916 has a couple hammer marks in it. A friend and I were team striking and he hit the face a couple times and made some semi-circle marks on it. I was also trying to cold tweak a piece of (unknown to me) hardened steel that left a small dent. The anvil came with some dents and the rebound wasn't the best to begin with as well. I am wondering if this anvil just needs to be taken better care of, including not having my still-a-beginner friend striking, or if it is just a soft-faced anvil that will harden over time? I don't know the history of the anvil, if it has been in any fires or anything, but I do know that the face is nice and thick, and there are no chips out of the sides. This leads me to believe that the anvil was on the softer side to begin with. I feel terrible having these dings in the face and am hoping they will come out with time, but I am not sure what to do if my anvil face is too soft. Might be a good reason to ask my wife if I can get another anvil Will

I got mine a while back, but recently saw this thread! Mine is a Lakeside branded Trenton, made by Trenton for Montgomery Wards, their anvil brand was Lakeside. It is 157 lbs. and was made in 1916.

Maybe, As a beginner ( I first forged December 2020, and only get out to forge every month or so because I have no shop, or even a shade tree!) I can tell you that this forum is a blessing and somewhat of a curse. I tend to be a little obsessive when searching down answers to my problems and will easily spend hours on this site. There is a TON of wisdom to be gleaned, and help to be found, all online! I would also recommend blacksmiths stores on line. My parents got me the universal German wolf jaw tongs that are 400 mm. Those are some dang good tongs. I would post the link, but the moderators would get after me! Also, because I was obsessing about blacksmithing, they bought me the German 1000 gram crosspein hammer. I think both of these tools cost somewhere around $35, and I would definitely recommend them. I bought my anvil off of marketplace, because I didn't feel like messing around with the 6lb. hammer head I had stuck in a piece of firewood. I wanted to use a charcoal forge and make my own charcoal to save money because I am a graduate student and am also Dutch (double whammy!) but where I currently live open fires aren't allowed, so I got the cheapest devil propane forge, which has served me pretty well. I have put somewhere around 25-35 hours on it and the brick floor is turning glassy, but that is because I am still trying to learn how to regulate the flow, sometimes it is too rich, and sometimes too lean and then the fire gets too hot and the stock starts scaling in the forge and everything goes to pot. Anyway! Then, stock. I am a scrapper/scavenger and am always looking on the sides of the road, in dumpsters, etc. I had only found scavenged steel until today, when I spent $5 of the first $20 I made on more steel. It was pretty cool selling some of my work to a good friend, and then going and feeding my addition lol! I think that covers all my tools. When I bought my anvil, I did what Mr. Powers recommended and brought $100 more than what the anvil was listed for, because where there is one piece of blacksmithing equipment, there might be more! I ended up getting a nice post vise that I still have to mount up. Before I end, I would 100% recommend buying the blacksmiths tongs, because they will help you to make more tongs, like the Ken's Custom Iron, the tongs aren't high carbon, so they can be quenched, and it is nice to start with good tools. Other than that, find a nice hammer at Lowes or some other store. I prefer a wooden handle, with the crappy coating sanded off and boiled linseed oil coated on it. Nothing else feels as good in the hand as that. Also, on the topic of online, watch Youtube!! Blackbear forge is my favorite Youtube blacksmith, but Essential Craftsman has some good blacksmithing videos, including one on how to start for under $100 (which wasn't my cup of tea lol) he also had some good tools tips in general though. Whew! I am out of breath! I think this is my most long winded post yet! Edit: I looked up to see what else I should reply to, and have no idea of vervor is a good anvil or not, but was going to say that Holland Anvil had some *not cheap* but good anvils, as well as some hardened pieces of H13 for sale. Just a thought... As I hope you know, cast iron anvils are terrible, worse than a chunk of tough tool steel or equipment steel. Look for large shafts or pins or talk to people who might know how to get you what you need.