Asa Simons

Here it is!

Larry, I have been debating that myself. It’s half novelty, half something he actually might use, so I’ll probably end up sanding it. Hefty, love that die selection. I still have to get around to making one! Any chance you know what brand you anvil is, its geometry has me intrigued.

Love the ideas guys! We have a great scrap yard near us that is bound to have something like a hot water tank. You bet I’ll have my eye out for usable things!

Do you think it has to get all the way up and over the roof? The wind usually blows against that side of the barn. Do I need real chimney pipe, it’s quite expensive.

Looks like it has made many wonderful things in its lifetime, Chad! Where did you find it? I finished a mini stake anvil for my brother’s silver smithing.

Hi all, I recently built a brake rotor coal forge, and despite all the controversy about them, it works great. I work in the main area of a barn, and when I use the coal forge, I have to throw open the big doors to let the smoke out. I get smokey every time I use it. The forge is completely portable, so there is no good way to mount a hood on it. Do y’all have any ideas on a semi portable coal forge hood? It would have to go out one of the big doors, because I cannot put a hole through the ceiling. The first photo is when the doors have been opened up, and the second is the outside wall of the building. Thanks for the input! Asa

Can we get a good broadside view of the PW, Chad? Today I got home and decided to work on a bunch of miscellaneous projects to finish all of them. All but the stake anvil are heat treated. The stake anvil is made of a rr connector bolt. I tried water, oil, and air hardening, but cannot find out how to harden it! If y’all have any experience, I would love to hear! The punch and hot cut were oil hardened, and the rr spike bowl adze in water. And yes, I know the hardy is twisted, it was my mistake, but the angle actually works better for me!

I would love to see y’all’s forge calipers, antique, forged by you, forged by someone else, whatever!

The C channel flanges are about 2in. The floor is so hard packed there that I dug a nice rectangle, dropped in the stand, and the dirt does not move. My shop is in the main room of a barn we use for storage. It’s a large room, and I can throw open the bay doors when I use the coal forge. The dirt is nice, though I have dug a depression where I work, just from moving around. And the “moon dust” gets everywhere. You can see in the photo that I shoved a bunch of dirt back by the anvil and wet it down, hoping to “reset.” The weight with the thin flange sitting on the vice stand in the 1st photo used to be my anvil. Served me for a long time. The cheap Harbor Freight anvil works great though!

Beslagsmed, nice knife! Love the farriers rasp! A friend helped me put together a stand for my new vice. The base is some heavy C channel, so I could sink it in the ground. It is sooo stable! Huge upgrade from my machinists vice on a stump!

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond! I tried some cold forging, lubricated everything, especially the thrust washer, and it works fine now. Finally got it mounted too.

I’ve tried the vice without the spring, and the screw works freely. The pivot too. I have already tried some cold forging.

Happy Monday, Ive recently acquired an Iron City vice, and I have noticed that the spring is very strong. Winding and unwinding is hard, and not fast. I believe that it is the original spring. What is the best course of action? Thanks all, Asa

It cokes very well. I rinse all the chunked up pieces before I use them, and it makes for a cleaner fire.

I pick them up off the hill side at local spot, not sure what kind of coal it is. I do NOT plan to keep doing this, there is a spot near us that sells actually good coal. The stuff I use is not super hard to light, it stays lit well between heats with no air. So I don’t need to worry about it being all different sizes when crushing it in a bucket, cus dropping a 12lb sledge would make a lot of difference in size. If I do use a heavy screen/grid, just bash it through till everything is through, no matter the size? Thanks for the input. Asa