dickb

I am building a portble forge along the lines of this one (see attached picture) or view the whole web site at http://www.blksmth.com/forge_my_portable.htm . That forge is built with a 115 volt PB-50vs Blower, Variable Speed from Centaur Forge. No doubt this is an excellent blower, but the price is way beyond my budget. I probably will use an air gate in stead of a variable speed blower. I will be using coal or possibly coke. The firepot is 8 inches by 10 inches and about 5 inches deep with a 3 inch air inlet. I looked in the Grainger catalog and they have a very large selection of blowers. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who could help me pick a suitable one. Or if anyone has som other suggestion, I'd be glad to hear that too. Thanks

I recently got a few bars of 3/4 inch square wrought iron bars. To date I have been working with mild steel. Are there any special considerations I should be aware of when forging and/or forge welding it? Thanks

I bought an old post vice in fair condition but missing the spring that opens the jaws. The jaws are about 5 inches wide. It's a little rusty but nothing is frozen. The screw looks in fair condition, but the spring that opens the jaws is missing. I have a source of new leaf spring material, but not sure what size to buy. I'd like to get in the ball park as far as size and would appreciate any suggestions or help available. thanks

I tried to post this earlier but must have made a mictake so here goes again. I have few pieces of wroutht iron that I'd like to forge weld. They've been out in the open for years and have little surace rust. They are real wrought iron. Do I need to clean the area to be welded or just wire brush them. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

I've collected a few pieces of old wrought iron and would liketo try forge welding them. There's a small amount of rust on them as they have been sitting out inthe open for years. Do I need to do anything more than wire brush off the loose rust before welding welding. ? Thanks

I have made a few hot set tools and hammers and have had trouble getting the oval hole to line up with head of the work. What I have been doing is first punch a round hole about the size of the small dimension of the oval and then drifting with an oval shaped drift. Even though I try to be careful, sometines the long axis of the drift isn't in line with the long axis of the work. I've come up withthe following idea. Next time I'll use a punch a little bigger than the small dimension of the drift and get a nice round hole plus a bulge on either side of the punched hold. Then I'll lay the work on it's side and flatten the bulge a little. Hopefully this will help me line up the drift better. On the other hand how about forgetting the oval drift and hust punch an oversize hole and lay the work on the side and flatten the buldg and (hopefully) squash the oversize round hole into an oval. I'd like to hear any comment on this before I fire up and hammer a way. Thanks :confused:

I needed a cutoff hardie to fit a 3/4 inch square hardie hole. The closest thing I had were a few Railroad Anchors. These are steel clips that clip onto a railroad rail right next to a tie and they help keep the rail from slipping. They are installed onto the rail using a sledge hammer. They are shaped like a flattened letter C and are about an one inch by one inch in cross section. It hardened it in water and then tempered the business end to to straw color. Works fine, but I can't find out what the material is. Anyone got an idea. Thanks

I'm relatively new at balcksmithing. A local blacksmith explained that when the steel heats to the point that it's no longer attracted to a magnet then about the right temperature to quench. He said this is easier and more accurate than judging temperature by color because it works the same under any light conditions. The quenchant would be water. A couple of questions, Will it work at all, Will this work well with 1040 steel, in small sections up to about 1.5 inches square. He also recomended plunging the end of the tool being hardened about two inches into the quenchant and then moving it up and down a little until it cools completerly. Later he would dress the tool and finally temper it by heating it from the end that you strike and watch the heat colors flow down toward the working end. Any opinions

I'm lucky enough to live in an area whre I can buy Anthracite, Bituminous or Coke within about an hour's drive, near Spring Valley, NY. I'm pretty new to blacksmithing and from my limited experience I learned that bituminous smokes and smells and anthracite doesn't. That wasn't hard to figure out. I'm using pea size anthracite now. I'm interested in learning about the pros and cons of anthracite, bituminous and/or coke in pea and/or nut size. I'd like to mention that following instructions posted here on Iforgeiron, I have never had a single problem starting a coal fire in the forge. I did have to use two matches once, but that was because a draft blew the first one out. Thanks

I have a 117 pound peter wright anvil . I looked in Anvils in America and they show a few examples but the trade mark and weight are not in the same place as on my anvil . The weight stamps are about an inch below the SOLID WROUGHT circle. The samples shown in Anvils in America all show three weigth stamps with the middle one surrounded by a circle marked SOLID WROUGHT. Can anyone give me an idea when the anvil was made? I marked the picture to show what I mean

Dimensions 23 1/2" long 4" wide by 9" high. The prichet is about 5/8 and the hardy is about 7/8 inches. Hour glass base with a square hole punched in the center. There is an extra hole in the foot under the horn end. I put a piece of paper in it to make it show better in the pics. Can anyone give me an idea about the age of this anvil. I've been told it's a Peter Wright . There is a small step in the foot at foot under the horn and under the tail end. The numbers 1 0 5 are heavily stamped into the side. Some lettering is punched in a circle. I can make out OLT near the top or the circle and possible HT near the bottom of the circle. The lettering isn't too sharp and I may be wrong on it. No cracks, not sure what it's made of but there is a little swayback near the horn and a little mushrooming there also. Can anyone identify the anvil, and did I pay, more or less, a fair price? See pictures at Pictures by dickb_2009 - Photobucket

1045 fully hardened to about 55hrc ( http://www.matsci.ucdavis.edu/MatSciLT/Other/Files/HT-Steel.pdf ). Would it be too brittle for a hardie, chisel, punch to use as is without tempering?

I had just assumed it was forged and welded at the waist, but your note made me take a better look. At first glance the line at the middle of the waist looks like the parting line of a two piece flask. See Cope and drag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I also took a pair of calipers and compared the width at the center of the waist to the width at the top face and at the base of the anvil. The width at the waist is about a quarter of an inch smaller than the width at the top or bottom. If you are familiar with pattern making and/or casting iron, you will remember that an allowence is made for draft. The width at the parting line must be larger than the width at any other point to allow the pattern to be pulled out of the sand mold prior to pouring. If it was a casting then the parting line would have run from the tip of the horn to the center of the heel. There is no other way to withdraw the pattern from the sand prior to casting. As for the "clever casting trick", very doubtful. The color of the steel plate is darker brown than the remainder of the anvil. Using a jeweler's loop, the texture of the plate is differant than the remainder of the piece. Would still like to identify the anvil if possible. Thanks, DB

Can anyone help identifying this anvil? Face is eight inches long by three inches wide by seven inches high. Weight is forty two pounds. Horn is four and a half inches. Steel plate is one quarter of an inch thick. There is a definite line in the middle of the waist where the top and bottom were welded together. It has a half inch hardie and a half inch prichet. The base directly below the hardie is relieved. See picture There is a half inch square hole about one inch deep just below the middle of the waist at the horn end and at the heel end. The tip if the horn is slightly mushroomed The number 4 or 14 appears to be stamped on the side of the anvil, or it may be just ordinary wear and tear.

I'm a relatively new blacksmith and have forge welded without too many problems, so here goes. I am using a coal forge and pea size anthracite coal. Not sure if this is the best choice of coal but that's what is easy for me to get. I'm using mild steel and have welded 1/2 inch square stock and 3/4 inch square stock. It says in the books to scarf the ends, so that's what I did. Next I heated the work to bright red heat and sprinkled 20 Mule Team Borax on it. The borax bubbled and melted to a nice glassy coating. Put the work back into the forge and heated to yellow. Pulled the steel out and gave it a quick flip to throw off any dirt or ash on it and positioned one piece on top of the other and hammered with moderate blows starting from the middle and working toward the edges. I did this as fast as I could, without dropping the work into my shoe. It works fine. I think you have to be careful not to melt the end of the pieces you are welding and make sure the surfaces are properly fluxed. And of course the work cools real fast to you have to work quickly. Hope this helps.

I bought a one hundred sixty pound Mousehole anvil and the top is a little swayback. I can't say exactly how much because it's sitting upside down in the trunk of my car. I haven't figured out yet how to get it out, but I'm working on it. I am a new blacksmith, not a collector, and intend to use the anvil. I'm considering having it milled flat or maybe blanchard ground flat but I don't know if this will damage or ruin it. Can anyone advise me if this is a good or bad idea? Thanks

I am relatively new to blacksmithing. A friend of mine (a machinest) suggested that I should use 1045 steel to make some drifts. It's water hardening, and in the shop where I work, they are reluctant to use oil for quenching. Second, I can get 1045 steel pretty easy. Is it suitable for a 2 1/2 pound hammer? Can an experience blacksmith tell me what is it most suitable for. Finally what are the bad points or limitations associated with 1045 steel?

I am looking for some plans to build a foot powered hammer. I have a few sledge hammer heads including an eighteen pounder, all in good condition. Would these be useable. ?? Thanks

You could switch to anthracite coal. It's available from ornwall Coal and supply They are located at : 22 Station Rd Cornwall, NY 12518 (845) 534-3650

I'd suggest you switch to Anthracite coal. It doesn't smoke or smell and has a higher BTU rating than soft (bituminous) coal . It burns with zero smoke or smell. You can buy it at Cornwall Coal and Supply 22 Station Rd Cornwall, NY 12518 (845) 534-3650 They have a website at Cornwall Coal & Supply Co. Inc. It's pretty cheap, around seven dollars and fifty cents per fifty pound sack and comes in two sizes, Pea size and Nut size. I'm using the Pea size, it's smaller, but I have also used the larger (nut) size. You might try a bag or two of each. Good Luck with it. dick B

I am making some tools including a center punch, a chisel, and some hardy tools, so they have to be hardened. I am forging at around cherry red and quenching as follows : After forging to the desired shape I let the work cool down till it just about stops glowing. Then I plunge the part that I want to harden about two inches into water. I repeatedly put it into and out of the water but I am careful NOT to plunge to exactly the same depth. I am trying to avoid a sharp line between the hardened portion and the softer portion. I continue this till the first two inches are black. The I quickly scrape the first three inches so I can see the bare steel. I watch the tempering colors flow down toward the cool end and when the cool end gets to straw color quench the whole tool till it's cool enough to handle without gloves.

I am making some tools including a center punch, a chisel, and some hardy tools, so they have to be hardened.

I am relatively new to forging and/or heat treating. I am getting cracks in the finished forging. I am using pieces of automotive coil springs about 5/8 diameter, and working on a coal forge and am working the piece at cherry red. I allow the piece to cool down till it's just barely showing any color and then quench in water, a little at a time. What I mean is that I plunge about two inches into the water and then in and out of the water a little less and/or a little more than the two inches until it's black. Then I polish of the tip with a carbarundum stone and watch the tempering colors as they progress down the piece toward the cold end. When the cooler end reaches straw color I plunge the whole piece into the water . What should I do to avoid these cracks. I understand that oil is a preferred quenchant but I am working as a guest at another person's forge and he doesn't want to use oil. Thanks Dick B Thanks