Guest EMKnives Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Hello, first post here so I apologize for any mistakes and totally admit I have no idea what I'm doing :D So at work the other day I came across a set of forklift forks that appeared to be in good condition. As I've been in the market for an anvil for the last couple months I figured I'd try to get one made from one of them. The same job happened to have a few scrap pieces of steel that should work nicely for a stand. I was thinking about getting the back part of the Fork cut into a 21" section and grinding the connections off of the back side. Welding it to the stand and then using 4x4 blocks with lag bolts to secure it to a wooden cushion, made of 4x4"s. I got a quote for 100$ to: Cut, Grind, weld and finish the top surface of the fork. Each Fork was about 110lbs and the scrap steel weighed in at roughly 160lbs. Going to try to use it for knife making and just getting used to hitting steel. As I said before I have no training of any kind, and would really appreciate anyone's feed back on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 first location? where are you? second have you joined your local blacksmith group? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMKnives Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Whoops, forgot to set my location >.< . Anyways, I'm in Southern California and as far as I can tell http://www.calsmith.org/ is the only one who has events near my area. Have yet to join or attend an event as I've been short on free time lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigred1o1 Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 you might want to take a look at this link for your forklift tine build http://www.marco-borromei.com/fork.html thanks to ThomasPowers for the link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Welcome aboard Tourg glad to have ya. Thomas has a good technique for making an anvil from a lift fork and I can't improve on his method. I'm thinking you need to widen the base on what your pics show, you do NOT want heavy pieces of steel falling on your feet or even just raking down your shins. <shudder> Isn't the CBA active in your neck of the woods? They're a darned active group and the more guys you hook up with the more tools, equipment and instructors you have available. Of course we're here and lots of us really love a good question, we'll make something up if we don't have an answer. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMKnives Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Thanks for the input so far, I realize I'm sorta over doing it with that stand now. I like Thomas's Idea and think I figured out a way to tweak it... as my tines are a lot smaller and have hooks vs rods for connection. Basically going to compensate for my tines being smaller by cutting them at the bend and welding one together. Giving me approximately a 4x4 working area. This way should give me a rock solid base if I use a typical 5 gallon bucket with concrete. Although, would it be better to cut the back part in half and get more of a 6x4 area out of it? As for the CBA, they do seem active and I will defiantly be looking in to them once things at work settle down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McCoy Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Search "fork lift tine" at this site and you will get several great ideas for you material . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMKnives Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Yup, lots of uses for Fork Lift tines and they all make me wish I knew how to weld . Think I've settled on Thomas's method as it seems to be best bang for the buck, as I'm just learning. Guess my question would be: how big of an area is needed for knife making? My forge limits the length of the blade to 6" and under, and that has been more than enough for my stock removal knives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 How big is the face of your hammer? You need a little bigger, not much. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigred1o1 Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 if you can end up with a 4x4 working aria or something near that you will have plenty of room and yes you only really "need" something slightly larger than your hammer but having a little extra is very nice heck i was pleasantly surprised as to how nice working on a 2 1/2 x4 post anvil was its not perfect for larger work but it was quite nice for doing smaller work as it has a huge amount of mass under the face it was very responsive and for knife making it should work perfectly for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajajoaquin Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 The group you want to check out is the Vista Forge chapter of the CBA. They're at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista, just a bit down the road from you. Their site has pretty good information on the classes available. It's a good group of people. Until buying a fixer house, I was a regular there every month. I'll be back again shortly, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EMKnives Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Had some left over material from a side job the other day and decided I would put something together to get a feel for what I want. Here's what I came up with, 4x4 base and stand glued and screwed with some 2x4 to keep it all together. The pieces of forklift tine fit nicely and snugly into it and they are held tight with some over sized hose clamps. Has some good rebound and I was able to make a nice little kiridashi / bottle opener with alot less effort than I expected. I'm thinking about making a horn out of the L shaped piece, but still have yet to decide what to do with a peice that was originally going to be for a hardy hole. Also trying to add more weight and stability to it, maybe widen the base with some more 4x4's and wrap some chain around it... or form up a concrete one? Every time I make something my plans seem to change for what I want out of this thing, and I stil have a second tine to figure out what to do with as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Good to see you are hammering! Offer to trade a welder a bottle opener or two for putting the two pieces together strongly! They will help each other out if they are "one mass". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Welcome to the group Tourg! Your getting a great start! Definitely join CBA and contact the vista group, also look at Adam's Forge in the LA area. Between the 2 of them you will get all the instruction and encouragement you need... and then some... Great bunch of people- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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