billtwild

Wonder why he quit like he did. Was there alot of drama involved with him or his business? Just wonder what he meant by taking lumps. Seems he helped the BS community and was somewhat of a famous character.

Yard sale finds ... misc. lengths 1/4" round bar used to tie up bundles of rebar (handles for striking tools), various pieces flat bar and some heavy wall box channel, scissor jack (great acme screw), #18 no-name sledge, and an 18x18" cast iron grate. Total outlay $7 Cash and $3 gas

Cast grate will be top of a small sit-down welding table - no heavy hitting here. The sledge will be hammer for an Ollie I will build this fall - lotsa heavy hitting there ... I've been looking for a sledge this size for 8 months.

Nice. I need to move near you. Best I find are plastic child toys and VCR's. Neither last long in a forge :P

http://www.livelyknives.com/ seems to be down and cant find anything on google. Was looking for the adobe mix for his lively forge. Anyone have any clue ?

Thanks

Like Radar O'Ripley would say "Holy Toledo"

Inspiring! Truly inspiring!

Nice job on the site. I headed straight to the pics section. Love the candle holders!

Hey Guys, saw the picture of the young lady with an IForgeIron.com sticker. I checked the store but could not find any. Was that a special run or are they available?

Thanks!

Just wanted to say I love those knives you made! Incredible!

Love the info guys! Thanks a ton! Keeps me excited!

The auction for that forge went too high for my tastes. I think Im going to do a lively forge style. Not sure about making adobe so Ill do a 70% portland / 30% sand mix for the base.

Thanks for the advice guys!

So I went ahead and bid on a forge on EBay.

Antique Portable Cast Iron Forge & Blower Blacksmith - eBay (item 300329190595 end time Jul-19-09 16:45:37 PDT)

Its a bit higher than I wanted to spend but if I win it will get me started. It doesn't have a clinker breaker built in but it looks to be a good starting point. I only recently bothered to find out what a clinker breaker was. LOL. Oh well.

If I lose this one Ill go ahead and build my own. I was looking at the Lively forge. Seems kinda cool.

Thanks again!

My first fire pot was made from a steal car wheel/rim and worked fine, there is nothing wrong with using a brake drum.
Given where you live you may want to think about a gas forge, just for the smoke and smell but if your stuck on a solid fuel forge I would suggest charcoal and since your not likely going to make your own then buy lump hardwood charcoal not the briquett's.

welder19

Hey welder, good to see Piney around. Much of my youth was spent in Wharton and I still get to Mullica every winter for some pickerel fishing.

For a more definitive answer, we would need to know:
- Where you live; change your profile to show where
- What you can afford
- Access to welding, tools, and fabricating equipment
- Your skills in fabricating

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I updated my profile but I will answer here as well.

I live in a suburban town in southern NJ , just across the river from Philadelphia. Houses are close and yards are small , my lot is 100 x 50 ft. Its a working class neighborhood so on Saturdays and Sundays the sounds of people working on their houses , wood saws and lawn equipment are frequent. I certainly don't want to bother anyone so I was thinking of buying coke or charcoal to start. I do have a fence.

I have a budget of $500 to start. I have no tools , no anvil and obviously no forge . Im sure that anything I purchase used will hold its value for at least the time it takes me to figure out if I like this (cant imange not) and if I am good at it (thats the REAL question for me) or if I DIY it that the monetary loss would not be significant. I figured forge $150 , anvil $150 an tools + misc items $200 .

I have no welding tools and no fab equipment other than a few smal hand tools , drill, belt sander. Probably nothing of relevance to smithing.

I was an automotive machinist for 10 years. ANything from cutting drums/rotots and flywheels to honing blocks and cutting cranks so I do have some of what I will call "grit time" with metal but not in any fabrication capacity.


Thanks!

Hey all! Just found your forums and as an aspiring smith I am really glad I did!

I have a question - I am trying to acquire a proper forge (without breaking the bank) and had considered going the route of the brake drum/rotor DIY built.

One thing concerns me - I found this article :

Brake Drum Forges

I have read through it and being a newcomer I cant form my own opinions about his pros and cons - especially the fuel depth.

Can someone give that a look see and post your opinion. Does he have any valid points that I need to take into account being new to this?

Thanks!

Bill