Well, I lit my forge for the first time ever! I didn't make anything, I had no real goal in mind. I had a random piece of flat strap, 2" x 1/4", so I made it really hot and beat on it. Didn't do much. But I started. The only teachers I have are on this forum, and boy you guys are great!

I lit the fire with charcoal, don't have any real coal. It was good enough to get the metal to a bright red color, but I don't think my fire was deep enough to do much more.

It felt great! Even if it was just xxxxxxx around d, trying to learn through trial and error. Learn I did though, so I would call it a great success!

I just thought I would share it with you. I'll try and get a few pics posted.

I'll put up a couple more pics of the strap tomorrow. Maybe I'll try to make some tongs?

thanks for posting, I looked at a forge similar to yours today............deciding on coal or gas , still not sure which way I'm going to go...........look forward to your tong pics !! 

I went with a solid fuel forge because if was given to me, along with the anvil and an old post drill. It all came out of the mine where I work now, back in the 20's sometime. If I had to choose between other styles, I think I would build the 55 forge. They have blueprints here on the site and it seems like a great learner forge! Relatively easy to build, and versital. I may make one for grins one of these days.

I think you've found an excellent forge!
As far as what to do with the strap, why not try folding the ends down and out, then drill (or punch) a hole on each end. That way you could mount it to your stump, and then you can make some S hooks to hang some tools from it. (Like a pot rack!)

Just a thought...

I had not thought of that, Jim! Thank you! I may wait until I cut a better stump, this is pretty rotten. I'll head out to the woods and get something here before long. I'll get more strap and make a hanger anyway!

make yourself some big spike/nails from some biggish square stock (tim miller has a great thread about them somewhere) or forge that flat bar into a strap and secure that anvil to your new stump, keep it from dancing all over under your hammer :)

congrats on the first fire!!! Its great fun and addicting, cant go wrong playing with fire hehe

oops double post

That's a great forge for all the stuff you're likely to do while learning the basics, and charcoal is plenty good as a fuel if you have enough of it and keep the air to it.

 

Tim MIller's thread on making his spikes for holding the anvil down is fantastic and that would make a great first project for you as it will be an immense help to your efficiency.  

 

Were it I, I'd first build a "stump" made from pressure-treated lumber that I could bury a foot or two into the soil.  Then I'd forge 4 of the above mentioned spikes to help develop hammer control and produce something useful.  Once the anvil is spiked solidly to the stump, and the stump is tied solidly to the ground, you'll find that the metal moves far easier even if it's only a bright red in color. All the wobble in the anvil/stand combination is energy that isn't going into moving the metal.

 

You're certainly off to a great start!

Hello Everybody.

 

I am new Here From direction control valves india Company. We Provide Custom Word Wide direction control valves india service as per client requirement. So if you have any question about direction control valves india are welcome.

 

Thanks.

Here is the strap I was messing with.

I'm sorry for the poor quality pictures, everyone. I have only my not-smart-phone to use for both camera and internet.

Congratulations getting over that first step!  In addition to tongs you're going to need some tools for working your forge, ie. fire rake at least.  This is one of the first things I ever made and still use it all the time.

 

I have to rake that goes to my fireplace set, its decent quality and works well enough at the moment. There are some things I don't like about that I will change when I forge mine. I'm looking around for stock at the moment, not a real hard thing considering I work in a mine.

That's a great forge for all the stuff you're likely to do while learning the basics, and charcoal is plenty good as a fuel if you have enough of it and keep the air to it.

Tim MIller's thread on making his spikes for holding the anvil down is fantastic and that would make a great first project for you as it will be an immense help to your efficiency.

Were it I, I'd first build a "stump" made from pressure-treated lumber that I could bury a foot or two into the soil. Then I'd forge 4 of the above mentioned spikes to help develop hammer control and produce something useful. Once the anvil is spiked solidly to the stump, and the stump is tied solidly to the ground, you'll find that the metal moves far easier even if it's only a bright red in color. All the wobble in the anvil/stand combination is energy that isn't going into moving the metal.

You're certainly off to a great start!

This one here?


>

that's the one

Weltall

 

Your forge looks like the one that I have, they could be sisters. Mine has the blower mount cut off. I now know what to make it look like when I replace it.

With mine was a Buffalo Forge # 2EH  blower and a General Electric I/8 hp 115 motor.

 

I think that blower is to large for just 1 forge so I will replace it with a smaller hand crank blower that I have.

 

Happy forging

 

LeeRoy

Aqua man, if you'd like I can get some pics of the mount for you.

Weltall

 

That would be great.

I would like to try and replace the mount to put a hand crank blower on it.

 

Thanks

aquamanlr

Hi weltall,

I still remember the first time I fired  one of those up. I had watched some smithing demo's at a working museum's big forge, they were using coke from a local coke oven and it looked like hard work. The flame was small and puny the air was on full blast all the time and the metal took an age to heat up. It didnt look anything like I remember my grandfather doing when I was a child, he made it look quick and effortless. I thought perhaps my memory was playing tricks on me.

 

Someone gave me some coal that he said was "pretty good" so I decided to have a go. I lit it up and poked and prodded for 20 minutes or so and produced some coke (and smoke) only trouble was the coke was the same size as the lumps of coal, it thought it would break up a bit more than that. The heat coming out the gaps in the coke and coal was so intense i couldn't get near the forge after a couple of gentle turns of the blower handle. i straightened half a dozen pieces of bent shafting in a just few minutes and even tried a weld and then thought "what do I do now, I am out of jobs to do and the fire looks like its got plenty of sting left in it?"

 

There wasn't enough room in the forge to spread the coals out and stop the fire so I had to shovel them out onto a big tray. Not the most elegant of starts, but I learned a big lesson on what a difference quality fuel makes and that my fire handling tools were not up to scratch.

Weltall, spend some time on youtube while waiting on materials to make your tools. If you search for blacksmith you will find T O N S of ideas, and watching them you will start to see the same techniques over and over and over. Those are your money shots.

I like your forge!

Dave

Thank you for the kind words every one! They mean a lot!

I was followed home today by a piece of rebar, and the wife said I could keep it. I made this today...

Nice fire rake, but you need a fancy handle on it or at least a loop to hang it & hold onto.

Think on multiple uses of the fire rake.

 

Poking

Dragging

Scooping

Breaking up larger pieces of coke...

 

or what have you...  

 

Then make one that does it all.  

 

But use the one you got so you can figure out what your list of uses is.

 

A fancy handle would be cool too.  Mine is not fancy on the handle end.  

 

I have not brought myself to quit using it to change the handle!