Hello, I am brand new to smithing and I am excited to start the craft. I have a makeshift forge and i am in the process of building a anvil stand. (Pics of the forge below) I am looking for any tips/tricks that you guys/girls would be wiling to provide. I will post update pictures as I progress. **update**

 

Here is the anvil stand I made, I plan on reinforcing the legs and I left room for a vise on the other side. The face of the anvil is just about at my knuckles which i read is a good height. 

***update***

 

Started the first fire and started to smith a little, the forge worked fine just have to get used to the whole craft, I am going to be buying some rebar to forge with to get used to it. The forge heats the stock well which was a railroad spike in this case, I need to get used to holding the stock and holding it still. 

It's good to see you're working it but there are some fundamental problems with your set up. The forge needs to force the air up through the fuel, the fuel opening in your's is above the fire so the draft is bypassing above the fire. That's why you have to use the hair drier to get heat. Check out the solid fuel forge section for designs that have been working for a couple thousand years. A blow drier is more than enough draft for a forge. Side blast forge are much better suited for charcoal fires and work just fine for coal.

Using an old wood cook stove is tempting but they were designed to radiate heat to the atmosphere and cookware on the top, NOT concentrate it for heating iron to forge. It's just not a very good forge candidate I'm afraid. Check out the 55 forge on Iforge, inexpensive, easy to make and works a treat.

Next, you want to do some reading in the "anvil stand" section. What you've built is going to be too shaky and the anvil needs as solid a foundation under it as possible. Better yet a proper anvil stand is a lot easier to build. don't worry there are plenty of things your present anvil stand will be good for in the smithy.

I'm not trying to pick your kit apart I'd much rather you were successful so I'm suggesting things that will improve your kit so you can make cool things I can look at. No joke, have you checked out the pictures of some of the stuff the Iforge gang does?

Frosty The Lucky.