trevarthan Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Just getting started. I've got 4 boxes of anthracite, a home made brake drum forge, and a small 99 lb Peter Wright anvil, which appears to be in decent shape to my untrained eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Welcome aboard! As far a gas vs coal, I use them both. Forge welding takes practice, you know you have to crawl before you walk. You can always blend artforms to make something new. Look forward to seeing your progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Yates Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Welcome to IFI where are you from in Tennessee ? Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevarthan Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 Chattanooga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 In my opinion you need a deeper fire. As you can see the metal should be level or above the top of the brake drum rim. There is a ring or groove around the top of the brake drum. Make a metal shield to go inside the ring or groove and entend the depth of the fire. May I suggest that you move your anvil so it is one step away from the forge. (You are at 4 steps now) This will keep the metal from cooling off, which will be very important when it comes to forge welding. Lessons in Blacksmithing Seeing Colors will help you with colors and temperatures. You are at low orange when you come out of the fire in your video. For mild steel you can be as high as high yellow or above when you come out of the fire and start hammering. You are at low red when you you go back to the fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header we won't have to keep asking. Those are fine first projects ad useful so it's a win win. Coal or propane, both have advantages and disadvantages so having one each is a good thing. You'll want to start using bituminous coal, anthracite doesn't work so well, more impurities and doesn't coke up as well. You can try asking local farriers, even if the one you talk to doesn't use coal s/he'll almost certainly know who does and where to get it. Being a jack of all trades is sort of a blacksmith thing too, there's just no telling what we'll need to make, do, or just catches our fancy. Working in multi media is a natural, for instance. Cabinetry almost demands nice hand made hardware, even if they're just cup hooks under a cabinet but door/drawer pulls, hinges and latches will put the finishing touches on nice cabinets. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowpoke Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Welcome to IFI. There is a lot of good info and people here to help you out. You might try a local group Choo Choo forge they meet at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Station. They have some great talent there. I know that they sell coal to there members and they have a great green coal program. Choo Choo is part of the AACB a Tennessee group www.appalachianblacksmiths.org . Hope to see you some day Slowpoke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I'm on the south tip of Big South Fork. By all means contact the Choo Choo Forge. You can contact me if you would like to come visit and spend a day in the shop visiting and seeing some stuff. Sam is in Cookville so he is close too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevarthan Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 In my opinion you need a deeper fire. As you can see the metal should be level or above the top of the brake drum rim. There is a ring or groove around the top of the brake drum. Make a metal shield to go inside the ring or groove and entend the depth of the fire.How deep should my fire be? I've since modified the brake drum. It was 3" deep, and I thought that was too deep, so I cut U slots in the front and back so the work rests 2" up from the bottom of the drum. May I suggest that you move your anvil so it is one step away from the forge. (You are at 4 steps now) This will keep the metal from cooling off, which will be very important when it comes to forge welding.Yeah, that was one of the first things I noticed as well. Long since corrected. You'll notice I have a nice stump instead of that mess of stacked lumber for the anvil stand too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevarthan Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 You'll want to start using bituminous coal, anthracite doesn't work so well, more impurities and doesn't coke up as well.Really? I've always read that the opposite was true. Bituminous is more impure than anthracite. I haven't really had any complaints with anthracite so far. The start proceedure is a little lengthy, but once it gets going, it seems great.To start, I use about ten brickettes of charcoal on the bottom. I then build a small wood fire on top to light the charcoal. I burn wood for heat in the winter, so I have plenty of dry kindling. Once the charcoal is going well, I pack anthracite around the edges and finally on top and I let it sit for 10 - 30 minutes. Like I said, pain to start, but once started, it seems to work really well.My understanding is that I will need to modify my forge design a bit for bituminous, as it needs to coke first. Anthracite doesn't really need to coke first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevarthan Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header we won't have to keep asking.Doesn't it say Chattanooga, TN on the left under my avatar? It does for me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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