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Want to set up a small smithy on my property. It is fairly hilly on a ridge so almost no flat level areas to work with. Wondering if others have setup something in similar location. Would start with uncovered outdoor area near garage likely for storage. Later might be able to cover the area. We have a couple of acres but it’s also a residential area so want it tucked away. Slants from front of the property down the back to a fairly deep ravine and a stream at the bottom.

Well here it is. First off I've never built a forge or anything like it before lol so be gentle! And a big thanks to Wayne coe for all the supplies and super fast shipping! I Ran out of propane shortly after this video so I've only had it running for a few mins. I dislike the air valve I used because it's hard to turn it but it will do for now. It's not 100% finished plan on adding some things ie shelf ect. Seems like it was burning well but in intrested in what the hoard has to say lol. For some reason most of my pics wont upload.

Hand Cranked Forge Blower Build Here are the pictures of my Hand Cranked Forge Blower Build, made using a Mole Hand Grinder found on the internet (which has a 1 to 10 gear ratio), some old side pannels off a PC, a few small rivets, some protective steel corners that came with a kitchen worktop and some 12mm Aluminium angle iron. Here are the picture's of the grinder on its own. The back piece with the right angled brackets. Starting to rivet together the fan blade using 12mm aluminium angle iron. Cutting the brackets to size and drilling the holes for the rivets. After riveting the first part of the fan case together. I then ran out of rivets but decided to continue using cardboard to check everything would work alright. The rivets I needed arrived and so the rest of the fan surround went on as well as the bolts to hold the front panel on. Here is the fan blades and mounting disk, its not perfectly balanced so does 'wobble' abit but it should be fine for the amount I will be using it. And here is the 'almost' finished blower. I ran a line of bathroom chalk around the joins on the inside of the case to cover any small gaps and the bolts hold the front on tight. I don't own a hole saw large enough to make the 80cm dia hole in the front so lots of small holes with have to do for now. All that remains is to find a piece of tubing to connect the blower to the forge and then try it out. The blower seems to be providing a reasonable amount of airflow although I think it isn't recieving enough airflow from the holes in the front. Ill try to take a video when its working and post a link to this thread. This blower has probably cost me between £40-£50 and around 30-40 hours of time, I'm a pretty slower worker but when your doing something you enjoy the time really doesn't matter. Buying a hand cranked blower in okay condition would have most likely cost £60+ but I wouldn't have learned anywhere near as much as I did by doing it myself. My original inspiration came from this thread here: http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/22816-home-built-hand-blower/ If anyone has any suggestions or advice, or wants to ask any questions then by all means feel free. Thanks for reading and hopefully there isn't too many pictures, I know how much you guys enjoy them. Tom

Alright... I have finally sourced the last of the materials to build my power hammer. I have had the baseplate, 1 1/2" × 36" disk. Additional base weights, 2 each 2" × 23" disks. The leaf spring. The pillow blocks. Grade 8 bolts. 1/2" plate for supports and such. Pneumatic hoses. Solenoid actuated valve with 1/2" ports. 2" bore x 24" stroke 250psi pneumatic cylinder, etc... The final piece... a 10.25" diameter x 32" piece of round stock... total cost so far is $50.00 for the round stock! Just need to get that 730+ lb. chunk of steel to my house. Now to get my brother and dad to come help me put it together. They are the ones with the welder and welding experience.

Greetings all! I am new to this site and have read a lot of the posts, along with a lot of research outside this site. I do have a few questions on my build that I cant seem to find answers too. I have been told that 240-350 cubic inch per one burner. Which number is closer? I don't want to build a "cheap" forge, but I sure don't want to pay an arm and a leg for some thing I might only take up as a hobby. I do have a blower to use on build, but I have recently read that it might be too weak. CFM isn't listed. I want to say its 1550 rpm. Most likely its out of a old furnace. It also says "#1 Thermal Protected" so I am not too sure if it shuts down at a specific temp or what that means. As for the burner(s) I have seen so much talk on one way or another for burner builds. My forge was going to be around 600 cubic inches. I do want to make it smaller if I can. I can get the ceramic wool in 1" or 2" from what I am told easily. (we will see when the time comes) Along with cast-able refractory if I need it. I was going to line the inside of the stainless steel shell but I was told it might break and fall into it. is this true? If I am doing a blower + propane setup do I need an elbow before it hits the burner? (to mix the gas I assume) There plans too be 3 doors on it. ! back door that I can take down if I need to do larger items, and 2 front doors that swing out and to either side with an exhaust hole in them when they are closed. There will be a small porch as well. What (if any) is the ratio of burner to exhaust hole size? I plan on making it an outside forge, that is semi portable. If I make the bed or floor do I put it on the blanket or the cast-able refractory, or just cast it along with the rest the shell? As for the propane setup I was planning on running 1 BBQ sized bottle. Will it freeze up? I'm sorry for all the questions, but from what I have read there is a ALOT of knowledgeable people here. Where I live I cant seem to find any one near that has any info. I tell people I want to build a forge and I get either "what's that" or "why?!" (mid west Montana) If there is any one that wants to talk one on one I will be fine with that as well. Just figured that a few of the many questions I had where not listed (or I overlooked them) in the forums and would be helpful for others as well. The more I know, the more questions I have it seems. I thought this would be some simple project in the start but I have created a monster of one for me! :unsure: P.S. I know this belongs in a different thread but I will ask here first since I have asked a lot from you guys/gals as is. I am also looking for an anvil but don't want to buy it if I cant see/feel it. What stores or places would have such an item that would be worth buying? Again so sorry for the long post. I want to get this right and not have to scrap it and start over. If you need more info or questions for me please feel free to ask.

Hey everyone, I'm finally getting to do something I've wanted to do since middle school... Blacksmithing! Like many of you I couldn't afford a great 200# anvil so I decided to build one of my own. I also like the idea of doing this kind of project because it connects me so much better to my work. I've so far designed, cut and rough shaped the anvil and I'll do a little walkthrough of my build, but I am also looking for any advice people can give me for finishing this little beast. I'm lucky that at my work I have access to a scrap piece of 3" steel I was able to use to cut out my blocks. Here I have the blocks roughed out with my colleagues track torch (one of the coolest things, cutting through 3" plate steel like a hot knife through butter). And here they are in all their glory. Can you tell its going to be an anvil yet? About 2 more hours of cutting with the track torch which required very methodical cuts because it can't cut an angled surface, the piece has to be parallel to the track on both planes. I also spend a few minutes cleaning up all the slag with a 4" grinder. And I quickly switched to the 8" grinder, the 4" would have taken probably 4 times as long. This is pretty much the shape I think I want it. I still have to install my hardy hole. For that I'm going to use 1-1/4" square tubing welded inside that rough hole i cut. And that is where I stand today. I'll put my questions and further progess in other posts. First of all, does anyone see any major design flaws in my anvil overall? I know I haven't put in my pritchel hole yet and need to radius at least one of the edges. It is also kind of hard to see from the picture, but the horn is not perfectly conical. It tapers back to more of an oval where it meets the step. Is that going to cause problems? If i try to grind it down to perfectly circular at the step, it will either be a much narrower cone or a much shorter cone. What about the base and the center piece? I cut the center piece a little big (actually accidentally cut the top piece a little small) so you can see it hang out a little on the corners. Do I need to cut the middle piece down to size or would that little oversizing make for a good corner to upsetting/etc? I need to do something to harden the face I know. I have a couple options. I can try to quench the face and even though its mild steel (0.25% C I presume) I theoretically should be able to get up to a 44-46C rockwell. Here is a post of a guy who got in the high 30s/low 40s with mild steel. http://paaba.net/Projects/ZWeekendMet.htm Would low 40s be hard enough for an anvil face? I know it wouldn't be very deep, but I think if anything that would help with the toughness/rebound/etc. My other option would be to weld a hard face material on it. We have hard facing wire at work, but I'm told it is so hard that it will crack if you hit it with a hammer (maybe because they didn't temper it after welding, I dont' know). Any thoughts? Any other comments people have are welcome, even negative ones. Thanks! And on a side note, anyone know what would happen to the structure of mild steel held at around 700-800 F for about 30-40 years? This steel came from a pot used to oxidize molten lead.

I recently heard that industry metalworkers, on their lunchbreaks would make small toys for their families purely out of building layers of mig wire. I've been trying it myself and have made a few coil pots but can't find any images or information about the history. Does anyone know anywhere I may be able to kickstart my research. Many thanks, Josh

A big thanks to everyone here and other places who have put out information about their builds and designs. Due to this I've been able to build two successful propane burners and am moving along to completing my first forge. I'm 50 now and have been wanting to do this since I first experienced black smithing at McCormick Jr. High School in Cheyenne Wyoming. Lot's of "reasons" why, why not. No matter. I'm here and it's becoming a reality thanks in a big way to you folks. I'm documenting my forge build here for now: http://redwagonforge.blogspot.com/ Time permitting I'll get some stuff up here too. Best, John