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I Forge Iron

Show me your anvil


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First off, I want to say that I am having a great time figuring out what end of the hammer to hold because have no formal training at all, whatsoever. Blacksmithing has quickly become one of my favorite weekend pastimes! Everything I learned about this art I learned from books (20%) and YouTube (80%). Nothing complex here. I wanted to set up a backyard blacksmithing operation for as little as possible. I strolled down to a railroad office and asked for a pice of railroad track. After a 5 minute conversation, I was driving off with one. Once I get better at it I am going to blacksmith something for those guys, maybe a few thank-you knives. The knife next to the hammer is my first Railroad Spike Knife! I will be posting a picture of it after taking off the scale and sanding it down with 120 grit sandpaper in the Bladesmithing forum.

IMAG0901.jpg

Its a basic piece of railroad track with metal straps holding to to a tree stump. Simple and effective. I saw pictures of others online as well as this as a simple guide to various ways to mount the railroad track. Anvil: http://www.anvilfire...rail_anvils.php


My hammers: http://www.harborfre...ndle-95129.html
http://www.harborfre...ammer-6746.html

I use these pliers instead of tongs:
http://www.harborfre...iers-44874.html

I am going to attempt to make a set of tongs when I can find a very simple set of directions.

I am always looking for constructive criticism so anything you all tell me that helps will be appreciated.

K-

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There a couple of methods for tongs on Anvilfire. I used one of those for my first two pair. There is a link to the basic tong making tutorial in a thread about tongs in the tool section. Lots of good stuff in the tool section. Your knife looks like my first three, none of them finished yet. One is close to done, and I'll post pics if/when I feel it vaguely resembles a knife. :)

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That's a neat anvil stand, Brian! Looks like a large bearing race and I love how you adapted it for your needs. That's some thinking outside the box right there...

Never thought of that, it does look like a race, I always just assumed it was just a machine stand of some sort. It works well but the ringing can get intense.

Ifn' I was going to pain one of my anvils I would probably try chalkboard paint so I could mark lengths on it for projects with multiple pieces. I do that anyway now just on the rust patina they have.


I painted everything except the face of the anvil I had before this one to stop the rust when I knew it was going to be a while before I could get back to it. Wound up stripping it back off because the smell of burning paint every time something was worked over the side or on the horn was sickening
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