john_zxz

For a couple of weeks, I seek the Internet and local shop to find a 2 to 2 1/2 pounds hammer for forging and I wasn't able to find one. All local hammers are 3 pounds and the shipping for a hammer is more than the price itself when I check on blacksmith supply websites. So I decided to give it a go and make myself one. I didn't have any big high carbon steel so I made it the old way. Mild steel body and high carbon steel face. All I had was a piece of 2" round mild steel and spring steel flat bar from a car's suspension. I slit the eye and then drift it, tapered the pein end and then forge welded the spring piece to the face. It was a really good practice for forge welding. I don't do it very often and I learned much with this hammer. I had diffuculty to reach welding heat on the hammer body and I have tried at least 15 times to do the forge weld. Putting the small face plate on the right place and at the same temperature as the body was real hard. For those of you that say that if your weld did not take after 3 attempt, don't try anymore it is worthless... then it is not true. As long as you don't burn the steel it is okay to continue. I finaly succeeded when I started the forge weld in the fire directly. They stick together when they were at the right temperature and I was able to lift the whole thing to the anvil and set the weld then put it back in fire and do this 2-3 times to make sure the weld was good. Once the weld completed, I forged the face to shape and then I did the hardening in oil and then the tempering. I tempered it to a purple color because I was scared that a missed blow would damage the hammer or the anvil if it was too hard so I feel more safe with purple on the face. I did not tempered the pein as it is mild steel. The handle is red oak. So far I'm really impressed with this hammer, not because I made it but it happens that it feels very comfortable in my hand. It's like I have nothing in hand, my arm is never tired like with my other hammers. I used to forge with a 3 pound hammer for a long time but now I'm getting the same work done in the same time with a smaller hammer. I can hit faster but with no fatigue. It seems that I found the right balance and weight for me. I was scared of doing all this hard work and then realize that it is not good at all, but it was the inverse totally. Plus, it is very satisfying to forge a good forging hammer like they did in the past. Give me your impressions guys or your own story with your first hammer, I'm curious to read yours.

I'm pretty sure it is fiberglass. I know a blacksmith that did work for movies like 300 and Nouvelle-France (Battle of the brave) and he said to me that almost everything was made of fiberglass. Even the houses!

Never heard of a hardy hole in the middle, yea pic would be great.

Very nice beast. I like this pattern.

Thanks for the explanation on A36, I didn't know that this steel can be different in composition from batch to another batch.

I know this is an old post but I ordered a month ago a Smoosh-O-Matic from Mojave Southern Machine Work too. I waited 2-3 weeks and didn't receive any email for the shipping price, so I wrote them an email and they said that they will get the post office flat rate price in the next days and that they will get back to me with this.... still no email after 2 weeks. Now it's been a month, I ordered the 5th of June and no answer from my email. Is it normal that it is so long for a small object? I think if next week I don't get any answer, I'll want a refund. Paying for something you don't get is frustrating. P.Bedard, did you finaly receive your blacksmith helper? If so, after how many month or weeks? Thanks

Aww... Sorry for your loss Pete. I know it's tough to live with at the beginning but they are young and they will get through it. How old was she? My 2 cousins (same age range) lost their mom recently too and they are getting better and better. It was hard but now I can see a smile on their face, that means they are in peace now. I hope you the same for your family.

I like them. Well executed! They look as ancient as the chest itself.

The steel is 44W (A36 for US I think?). Is there any issue with working it at yellow color? This is the only mild steel they sell at my local supplier and I'm a total newbie with the differences in mild steels. It think it may be because of my new light bulb (fluo compact) I must have misread the color of the steel. If I grind it to remove enough of the cracks it will be too thin, so I'll cut the bad part and weld a new rein (the jaw is still in good state)

Yes Macbruce, I learned that last week :wacko: when I quenched a 1/8 thick plate in water and then bend it cold to a 90 degrees angle... It snapped at 20 degrees and the center looked like carbon steel... By chance I didn't receive the piece on my face.

Well if it started to burn I didn't notice, it was yellow at its brightess.... but I recently changed my bulb light for a brighter one so maybe the color appears different in my shop now... Thanks

Hi, yesterday I began to forge a new pair of tongs. I started with 3/8" x 1" mils steel and I fullered it with my flypress. When I was drawing the handle, I noticed there was a lot of cracks on it. I never forged it colder than orange color, it was always yellow and I stopped when orange. One rein was correct but the other was definitely ruined by these cracks. What happened? My dies for the flypress is 2 pieces of 3/4 round that act as a fuller so there is no cold shuts... The first pic is the 2 reins when I stopped working on them because of the cracks. The second is the one that is fine and the others ares the cracks in detail of the other tong. What can cause that? I'm pretty sure it is not the flypress because it is not powerfull enough to squeeze the metal in one heat, it took several. Is it the repetive heats? I must tell that I'm using hard anthracite (clean one) as a fuel. I wonder if it can transfer carbon to the steel due to repetitive heats and then becoming brittle? I noticed that when I put a little piece in the fire several times, it tends to develop cracks too, that's why I'm asking for the fuel... And it never happened with coke or coal. For now I will have to forge weld a piece for the reins because the cracks are too deep it will shatter when put into stress I guess...

Yes sillicon in tube. It works like a charm to reduce the ring! Just wait for it to dry almost completely before putting the anvil on it.

Hi, you could check on these websites. The first one is where I order my stuff for straight razors, they are very nice and offer a great service, plus the price on the handles are cheap. The shipping may be slow as they advertised but its because they check every products with great care before they ship. http://classicedge.ca/index.php?route=product/category&path=75_67 This one looks great and their products seems to be more exotic (special woods, etc) I never ordered from them though, can't tell you if it's good. http://www.classicshaving.com/Razor_Display_and_Razor_Restoration.html Hope it helped. John_zXz

It is a beautiful tool but IMO it is more for redressring or for little jobs than for forging. Since there is not much mass under the table, it is hollow, your hammer blows will be a lot less efficient than on a full plain anvil. Plus these combinations are often cast iron. For that price, I think you should wait and get a real anvil, you'll be better served. You only need something with 70-100 lbs or more and you're good. Look on local ads or craiglist, that way you can save on shipping if its near you. By the way, I like the stamped "scientific" on the vice/anvil. Just my 2 cents. Good luck! John_zXz

Wow I wish I had that much luck. One day I found an old leg vise in a scarp yard, rusted but it worked, and the guy said: Na! It's antique, not for sold... Man! Why put such a teaser in the scrapyard when you can't buy it?! I'm pretty the guy returned the leg vise in the back and let it rust again... Anyway, that Fisher looks flawless, I envy you! :)

I can't see the video. It says that it is blocked for my country by the user who uploaded this video.

Vegetable oil can become rancid with time. It is suggested to use mineral oil or beeswax (soft paste and applied on cold steel) for cooking wares. (I heard that on a tv show, they were telling what to put on wood ustensils and cutting boards) I bet its the same for metal...

I remembered a video where you can see a rather small firepot for charcoal. You can inspire yourself with this forge. I had a similar one when I started to forge with charcoal and it was surprising how you need less fuel than with a regular firepot. In the second video, the guy is welding billet with almost the same setup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TyS2t1fFm0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_709493&feature=iv&src_vid=rV7dFp4IkZM&v=gi1f2dd_dMM

Wow I'd love to get this one for my collection. This anvil is old fore sure!