Fish4evr

Forged a flux spoon today, (my first) far from perfect. But I'm happy with how it turned out.

We Finally got some shop time in. We made some drive hooks. Also made a slot punch, started a drift, and drew out my first tong blanks. A couple weeks ago I borrowed the Welder from work and we made a frame with fire brick doors. Disclaimer I am not a Welder, and to be fair it was getting dark and the temperature was quickly dropping. So it is not straight, square, or level. LOL. But it is functional.

Made some hoofpicks! The first one, I had too much material and is too long after it was drawn out. I cut some off the end but I think I will cut more off and reforge the pick end. The second one I think turnd out nice. I also made my first tool. A punch. It's out of mild steel but works. You can see the hole I punched in the first hoofpick handle.

A horseshoe hoof pick is the next project on the list. Our farrier is the opposite, as in he loves to talk. Last time he was out he gave us a 5 gallon bucket worth of shoes. The toes are worn witch makes them want to bend and twist at that thinner point. But the price is right and gives us something to practice with. Thanks for the thread link. Though I don't think I could bring myself to actually use a spoon made from a horseshoe, or at least not a used one. (I've seen where they have been). Yes, I know at 2000° nothing is left that will hurt you, but the thought.

We've been busy preping for winter, cutting firewood, winterizing the garden ect. But managed to squeeze in some shop time today. Made some horseshoe S hooks.

Most Of the paste wax recipes I have found have the same ingredients, bees wax or other wax, Turpentine, and linseed oil. And they all seem to have different proportions / ratios. My question is first, what is the purpose of each ingredient (why is it used)? and second, what if you leave one out? Such as you only used wax and turpentine, or just wax and linseed oil? Just curious.

Masonred, For a first real project we plan on picking up some 1/4" & 3/8" square and round stock and start with some S hooks. In the meantime we are just playing with horseshoes and rebar. Chad J, Didn't think of making the center a cutoff. Would I just grind it, and would I need to harden it? Daswulf, The top of the barrel (now the bottom) is completely open. Don't know what was in it but it's mostly rust now. BillyBones, No slack tank yet. There is a partial bale of hay. I will get it moved. I thought it was far enough away. Thanks for looking out for us. Frosty, The Mr. Volcano came as a kit we put together. The ceramic blanket I believe is something "new" and different that is supposed to be not as bad for you. It came with a Rigidizer and refractory that we completely covered the blanket including the ends. We also bought extra fire bricks we used to partly close off the end. The rail anvil edges. How much do I need to round them? Can I just use an angel grinder for that? Thank you all for the advice. My son and I are looking forward to spending time together on this new adventure of ours.

I think we finally have everything to at least start forging. Safety first. And PPE To hit on, we got a piece of track and mounted it vertically. To hit with and to hold. And to heat, we got the Mr. Volcano. And picked up some extra fire bricks. For the shop we commandeered one of the 12 x 12 stalls in the barn. All metal, dirt floor, and plenty of ventilation. Let the Adventure begin.

Good to know George, thanks.

Thank you all for your advice. I will look into some local associations. I like the JABOD idea, I have a bunch of Pallets left over from a different project I can use. Frosty, thanks for the hammer info that question was soon to follow. Irondragon, the links were a big help. I will have more questions and will post them in the appropriate topic. Thanks again Fish4evr.

Hi. I have wanted to try blacksmithing for a while. The only experience I have on the subject is watching YouTube and recently finding this forum. My son has expressed an interest so we are looking for a forge. As I read through the post I get the feeling that the general consensus is a forge is built not bought. As fun as that would be I'm not ready to start a project (that I know nothing about) just so I can start a project I know nothing about. A search on a popular on line store brings up thousands of options all of which are made in a certain country and I don't want something that will blow up. I found one on another website that's even cheaper. Is this a red flag? Any help on buying a gas forge would be greatly appreciated and may keep the barn from burning down. Of course I'm on a budget, and don't need anything fancy. Just looking for something to get started so we can start the learning curve. I live in Tooele County Utah. Thanks. Fish4evr