K. Bryan Morgan

I own the two burner blacksmiths model as well. I couldn't be happier. Just me in my shop. A hobbiest. But I love how simple it is to set up and how easy it is to use. I block off the "back" side of the forge with fire bricks and just use one door. I run about 5-7 psi for regular forging and bump it up to 10 psi when I attempt a forge weld. A 30 lb. tank lasts me 4-5 days running about 4-5 hours a session.

I'll get "a round tuit" eventually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucfZIjAdXwM&feature=plcp&context=C3ad78aeUDOEgsToPDskK7otBpGzrnsqhFJV06crXE Here's a good vid on the subject.

Very nicely done. I like it.

Seems to me that this is what you would want to heat a shop. Or this Not a rocket cook stove. Just a thought.

I would like to remind everyone that this young, ambitious man, is 15. He may have a very difficult time getting the funds together to get a mechanical hammer like a Little Giant. I commend you on getting your things together, but don't forget to be patient. You have a long way to go yet. Take things in order and do one thing till its finished before moving on to the next. You will do very well.

I get grade 60 rebar locally and use it for punches, small hot chisels and different tools like that. It works very well and I don't need to heat treat it. I just use it as forged. Its cheep, read free there and the local steel company is very gracious to let me dig in their scrap bin when ever I like. Its all they carry so I know I'm getting the same thing every time.

Hey Randy, thanks for the good wishes. I was talking to Jake last night at a local knife makers meeting and we were discussing getting together next month. Hopefully the weather will relent some by then. The last couple of days have been mild in compairison to the last few weeks. It got all the way up to 10 today. Almost forgin weather. Tommorrow its supposed to be -35 we'll see how it goes. The town your talking about, Cordova, is way south from here in the panhandle. The National Guard is there and they are shipping in snow shovels to get the snow off the roofs. They ran out. Some of the houses may collapse because of the snow load. Nome is umm... 5-600 miles west of me. Jake and I are way inland. Closer to Canada than the ocean. The Golden Valley is a big bowl. Cold air sinks in and where I live in North Pole its alittle lower than the rest of the valley. Lucky me. It can be 0 in Fairbanks and just 14 miles away where I live it can be -15 to -20. Alaska is a land of extremes. But thats what you get when your state is 1/3 the size of the United States. The natives don't call it The Great Land for no reason.

I would use a hair drier.. or in my case I use a small cheap shop vac with a dimmer switch. It doesn't take much. Open hearth won't be enough oxygen to heat steal enough for forging. I used a break drum from a small pick up truck and some metal 2x4s and screwed it all together. The hearth is floor plate, flat side up. The tuyere is made from black iron pipe. http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/34905-002-copy/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/34904-001-copy/

I will be the first to admit I know less than nothing about this subject. Its very intesting to me to learn though. Thank you for your input and knowledge. Do you have more examples of this style of axe Raymond? Its sort of the direction I'm heading in axe making for myself. And my next project will be wrought iron body.

Great to see everyones work. All of it very well done. I have to stop working in the shop because of the weather. Its just too dang cold right now. But thats what I get for living this far north.

Hello Raymond, its great to see your work. I'm the Bryan that Bigfootnampa was talking about. Jake Pogrebinsky and I made an axe with a slit drifted hole and a welded bit on a 25 pound wrought iron anvil that has a tool steel face. It was actually a very nice little anvil to work on. We did use a larger hammer. One I got from Knots here on the site. Its about 42 oz. and really moves metal well. We did the slitting with a cold chisel. I would change the chisel profile before I do it again. Definitely the wrong shape. But the main part of my post is to let you know that we did use a small anvil for the slitting, drifting and welding. It worked very very well and I would do it again. I really like the shape of your axe. Its very well proportioned. Thank you for posting your process. That helps me understand more about making these tools.

Yes that sounds about right the dragons breath on mine is the same about 6-8"

Get it. Don't hesitate. Do it now.

I own a Diamondback Forge, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Yours is very similar. Hook everything up. NO flairs are needed.. just use. I use mine at about 7 psi and a 30 lb tank lasts me about 5 days.

On the NWBA site its reported he died of an aortic aneurysm.

What a terrible loss. Rest in Peace Grant.

I have some experience with using a cold chisel as a slitting chisel. Receintly Jake Progebinsky and I have been working on an axe. We used a cold chisel, Stanley 1", to make the slit. I would not do it again for several reasons. 1. It took longer. Because the chisel has the wrong shape it takes longer to make the proper slit. As a hobbiest, I don't care about time so much. However, doing it faster would afford more time to do other things besides slitting. 2. It was difficult to do. I wasn't able to make a deep slit. I had to make the slit about 1.33 times longer to accomidate the profile of the chisel. Again, that is more time slitting and less time doing shaping, ect. 3. Because it took longer I had to use more heats to do the work. This isn't good for the steel. Large amounts of scale loss, more time lost. 4. The ammount of upsetting caused by the profile. There was significant upsetting caused by the shape. We started with a 2" tall piece of mild steel. When we were done we had lost about 1/3" of material height. Using the proper profile would have reduced this loss. I should have listened to John in the first place. I will use this chisel again but with the proper profile for a slitting chisel forged or ground on it. It's -35 F here right now. Just a tad cold to be working in the shop.

Way to go. It looks alike a fantastic project. I can't wait to see it finished.

Hammers are a subjective subject. Everyone has their own favorite style. I prefer a straight peen. But, I started with a cheep cross peen made in Mexico. I still use it and its a good hammer. There are lots of hammers out there. Heck a ball peen hammer is a blacksmiths hammer and they are everywhere. Go to any industrial supply or Home Depot and get one for less than $20. Get some sand paper and dome the face and polish it. And you will use that hammer for the rest of your life. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg for a blacksmiths hammer. Just go for it.

Thats a nicely done RR Track anvil. I started with one and am still very glad to have it. It has its detractors and I can see their points about mass under the hammer. The way you have your set up is a good way to do it. I've also seen some people who do what you've done, that is set it on end, then used a thick piece of plate they weld to the end for additional mass. The end result being, they have a 100 lb anvil. And that is plenty of mass for a small anvil. Way to go. Well done.

Thats great I love it. Well done. :D

Nope no reason at all. You could make a touch mark easy. Either an outline of a heart or a full stamp. I've seen tutorials on how to make a touch mark. I don't know where one is at the moment though. I wouldn't think it would be overly difficult.

Beth, as far as I know that heart shape on the tomohawks is a gimmick. That shape wasn't a symbol for the native Americans from that time period, that I am aware of. Its a european shape that came to symbolize the heart.

Beth, your gate is wonderful. I really like all the elements. My personal choice would be to leave it black so it contrasts against the white stone. Colleen, your daffodil is amazing thank you for showing it. Randy your shells are fantastic. I'm running out of adjectives to call all the wonderful work. I got to spend some more time hanging out with Jake and working more on the axe. I've included some pictures of us slitting the slot. There are a couple of things I would do differently. One, I would profile the chisel for hot cutting, its a cold chisel. Two, I would make a pair to tongs specifically for tools with eyes. I'm in the process of doing both right now. I do plan on making more axes. Its a heck of a lot of fun. The rotund guy with the hammer and chisel is me. And thats Knots43's hammer I'm using. Jake and I were shaping the blade and eye of the axe. I was running the camera so I didn't get any shots of me working on it. But, another great time was had. I'll get pics of the axe as we continue to shape it and also of the tongs I'm making. Not done with them yet but I did get a good start on them. I'll add pics as we go.