Duckkisser

most of the gingko leaves that I have seen they stay flat with shaped and crinkled edges so does not need much in the way of shaping. I might not have described my idea as best that I could but it won't be a cube it will just be a flat square that fits in hardy. The center square ill use for chisel work for veining/cutting with chisel. There won't be any die use it will just be shapes welded on the 4 sides so that I can present the face that I need. it won't be flipped, just rotated in the hardy so I can use the face that I need. for shaping the leaf ect.. for example, if I am making a shape that I want a fold down the middle and flat sides I will use the square v if I want a shape with a fold down the middle and rounds edges, so they fold down like wings ill use the round bars. if I need to make something with a bowl or cupped bottom, I can use the ring.

first I'm not sure if this right place to put this but it seems kind of like a swage block i have an idea for shaping the metal for leaves, flower ect... i am going to make a tool that goes in the hardy hole. It will be a two-inch square piece that will be a cut off block. on its 4 sides i was going to weld several different forms. the first side has a ring on it for shaping leaf and to be used as a cupping tool, second side has two square pieces on their angles to form a deep v groove for making the center of leaf, third side will have two round bars side by side with a deep v groove between them. and the last side will have a rectangle block with several round swage grooves in it from 1/8 up to 1 inch and a 60 degree. seems like this combination would be perfect for shaping any kind of form like leaves and flower on the anvil. I have only seen something similar, but it just had two different size rings for leaf and cupping on the anvil. anyone seen anything like this? I'm wondering if this is a terrible idea or if it will be extremely useful? does this seem like it would be useful in the shop or are there some problems with it that I can't imagine? would I better off with a different shape on one of the side?

Not asking permission I honestly am not sure I’m not a machinist or know what I’m doing I’m kinda figuring this out as a go. A hair dryer I’ll work but there not designed to run none stop for 8 hours a day and don’t want to burn up the dryer.

I just remembered I have a 1hp 1 gallon shop vac that I don’t use would this be a better blower? I would have to build a box around it but I think it might be over kill.

Hmmm I’ll need to rethink my blower a friend of mine told me to use a old vacume motor but there so expensive one guy wanted 150 for the vacume. Might as well buy a blower from centaur forge. can you guys recommend different things I can get blowers from?

Rather have little too much because I can vent extra or I might get a bigger fire pot one day.

I’m building a small coal forge from a brake rotor. I need a blower for it and I know someone who’s selling bounce house blower for 20 bucks. I was going to put a speed control on it so I could control the blow on it. Would that work?

Thanks jhcc I’ll probably need to add some more to it for reinforcement. I have the red harbor freight cart. What I’m going to do is cut a two inch hole for the pipe, set a brake rotor on the top. And hook up a blower underneath . Might end up filling top with refractory cement and put some reinforcement across the bottom of sheet metal top shelf. Just don’t know what to use for a blower would like to use something better then hair dryer so I don’t burn up the blower too fast.

Had thought to cut a hole in top shelf of cart to set break rotor in then I can mount pipes, blower ect underneath. That way I don’t have to spend the money to buy material for stand. Plus I only have a small space for metal work since rest of garage is full of tools for woodworking.

Charles from what I can tell a side blast forge primarily just blows from the side. I have my gas forge on a harbor freight cart that I roll in and out of garage to work. How hard would it be to convert that into a forge/ be worth it?

Thomas I have a diamond back forge its a 2 burner forge and I'm getting about 8 hours of work on my regular size gas tank. From what I can tell that is normal. It just goes fast when your spending all day smithing. sooo rather spend 7 dollars a day to do work then spend 20. I do wish that I could shut off one of the burners and to have a smaller heating space to save gas but it is what it is.

I’m a decent wood worker and just started branching out into metal working but I’m going through gas so fast. The smith I took a couple classes with uses coal and he says he spends about 7 Dollers a bucket. We forged all day and I think I ended up using about 6-7 scoops of coal. So since I mostly am inclined to do small decorative work, knives , , carving, decorative knobs, keychains, jewelry. Stuff that will be added to my wood and stone work. I thought to get a small forge. I might try to make a brake roter forge. Does anyone know of a site that gives plans and I’ll look into pricing out the parts. As for fabricating I welded for first time this week and that was to put a handle on a wrench to make a twisting wrench. I have done pipe fiting and pvc ect but this is first time machining and welding metal.

Was wondering if the Simone store blacksmithing coal forge on Amazon is worth getting for small projects. Was thinking to get it for portability to make smaller projects like jewlelry, spoons, ect… there 219 us Dollers on Amazon. And was just wondering if anyone has used one and how well do they hold up? This will be a secondary forge for coal since my main forge is gas. This would just primarily be for thinner stock.

Completely rusted out kinda why I never use it since I don’t want it to rust weld to my hitch and then I have to break it free from my truck. Plus I have a better ball that actually fits my trailer. Problem with dishing is you will have smoother outside and hammered inside I want to have a textured outside and smooth inside. I just came across a round metal ball that I forgot I had. I picked up because I thought it was interesting. It’s about 4 inches across and I think it was a old shot put or a grinding ball in a machine might clean that up and weld a shank on it. But it is still a large form. Need to figure out a smaller form.

I want to make a few coffee scoops out of copper and I have an old truck hitch laying around can I adapt it to fit in hardy for making bowls or is the metal wrong for doing that. I might in future use it for working hot steel as well.

I don't really want to make rivets I'm a wood worker that has expanded his craft to work with leather, stone and now metal. want to use rivets to make tools to make the projects that I really want. for example I want to carve a new mask and add metal horns and teeth to it. want to make metal leaves to use as handle on a box im building ect....

Thanks Thomas never even heard of this company they sell them by the pound even better pricing. And I will have to try the nail thing. iron alchemy thanks this company has such a wide range of them I definitely need to sit down and compare those two sites their such a speciality company when I did a search unless you type in the name they don’t even show up on google. When I did a search of just rivets it keeps going to Amazon ect… Frosty as for fastenall sadly I have had mixed results stuff I buy from them didnt show up, customer service has been poor so I try not to use them.

ya its cheaper but i just decided to buy them. later as I get better at smithing ill try to make my own.

ya twisted I usually don't even ask employee for help because of that. I spent like a hour at each store going through everything no one uses them anymore. it has become more of a specialty to use solid rivets. I have been looking online. I need 30 of each size 1/4,3/16,3/8,5/16 the best prices i have seen is at a site called blacksmith bolt (37.70/.31) with shipping) who sells individually (but they charge you a handling fee for small amounts under 20 us dollars) and kens custom irons (54.55/ .45) who sells them by packs of 10. it ends up that kens custom is cheaper for small amounts (under 20 dollars) but if you buy lots and lots then buy from blacksmith bolt. of course this is in united states money.

thanks twisted i already checked the 3 box stores they dont have rivets except for some tiny ones that you would need for doing thin sheet metal like ductwork.

I need to buy some rivets wondering, those of you who smith on a regular bases where do you buy your rivets? also any other supplies that you use day to day like finishes ect... where have you found them to be the cheapest? ill be buying the united states.

Thanks willow I did look at kens sets and will probably get some but wanted to learn to bend metal and learn some basics before I get into those. Even though they seem simple to custome if you have zero feel for the material I could mess them up quickly And waste the tools. Can you recommend Picard tongs and Nordic forge hammers?

Then why not say something along those lines if you have had students in the past you know a new smith does not know these things and I don’t have anyplace locally to learn that is why I came to this forum. So again if you don’t want to give helpful advice and be discourteous to people who are reaching out for advice then don’t respond. And you have the choice not to read my posts or to respond to them in fact if you can’t be respectful please don’t respond.

Considering I’m just geting started in smithing don’t realy know what I want to make. That’s why I need a pair of tongs that can be versatile. now I ask why even post that response that is not helpful and frankly just continues to make me regret coming to this forum. Every post I have put on here has had a negative response. Maybe you should follow the old adage if you don’t have anything nice to say….

I’m ready to start smithing got forge anvil and some steel trying to pick a project to practice to get good hammer control and learn basics. Was thinking to make a bunch of leaf keychains to learn to draw, Taper, hammer control. But is there something else I should make to learn good techniques?