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I Forge Iron

Beginner - And a bit confused about what I've got...


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Okay, one more ask. I dug around the site and couldn't find this info per se. 

Where do you gents recommend I go to buy good steel (mild or otherwise) for forging structural parts of my shop?

There is nowhere local for me to buy coal (unfortunately) so I am stuck buying it online.... Any recommendations?

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Check out your local Tractor Supply Company for "rice coal" or "nut coal". Both of those are anthracite and not your first choice for smithing coal, but a lot of folks here (including yours truly) make it work. Not sure how much demand they've got for it in Texas, but you never know.

There are a bunch of threads about using TSC coal, including this one

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I buy my new steel from a steel dealer.  They sell me a 20' stick for the cost of a 4' one of the same stuff at a Big Box Store.  I pay a surcharge to have it cut if it's heavy, if it's not I bring a hacksaw and subdivide it myself. I always try to get hot rolled "mild" usually A36 in reality; the cheap stuff!  I ask if they have any mis sized or damaged stock too as for general use I can deal with it for a discount!

 I've also gotten steel from the scrapyard, craigslist---a great deal on 1/2 sq stock where they had overbought for a project and sold it under scrap rate to clean up the place! (I was the first person who showed up with a truck, a large angle grinder, PPE and an extension cord and bought the lot)  Not buying but I used to pick up hundreds of pounds of steel from a medium sized ornamental iron place.  They had to pay to get their scrap hauled off and I would clean up their scrap bin and take everything I could use *and* provide handforged trinkets to the office staff.

For speciality alloys I generally pick them up at blacksmith conferences when I can find them at a good price.   Part of getting things cheap is being able to buy when you find it and store till you need it...

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Well, I get my coal from http://www.blacksmithcoke.com/ . It's actually coke, which in my opinion is better. You have to buy it in bulk (2,000 lbs) which ends up being about 16 dollars a bag which is better that any coal I could find. Now you probably don't need 2,000 pound but (I didn't) and so what I did was I kept half, which sounds like a lot but it really isn't, and with the other half I sold it for double the price. And so by doubling the price I basically got the other half for free. It sounds like you probably wouldn't have to much trouble selling it if you cant find any near you.

About steel. I get mine from the scrap yard. My scrap yard also carries new stock, and cuts it without I fee so that's where I get my new and used steel. if your wanting tool steel (which I don't necessarily recommend for a beginner, because it is harder to work, involves heat treating, and has a shorter amount of forging time.) I would recommend going to a automotive repair shop and asking to look through their scrap pile where you'll find coil springs, sway bars, leaf springs, ect, all depending on what the shop specializes in. You could also ask at a welding/fabrication shop and get some smaller pieces of mild steel (they  are sometimes like blacksmiths and keep their scrap though) you could then while you're their ask where they get their stock at.

Do some networking! Stop by old farms, they most of the time will have a scrap pile in the back, with a mixture of mild and tool steels. Lots of the time they will just give you what you want because your actually doing them a favor by getting rid of their scrap. Be sure and go back to give them something!

Hope this helped!

                                                                                                    Littleblacksmith

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11 minutes ago, littleblacksmith said:

                                                                                                    Littleblacksmith

Your profile says College Station, TX. Is that the same College Station east of Austin? There is a place in Austin called Centaur Forge. I wonder if you have had any experience with them? I'm in the unfortunate position of basically being 2 hours (ish) north or south of my only 2 smithing supply stores...

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2 minutes ago, TheAngryScrapsmith said:

Your profile says College Station, TX. Is that the same College Station east of Austin?

yes that is.

2 minutes ago, TheAngryScrapsmith said:

. I wonder if you have had any experience with them?

yes, I had bought I nail header from them, but I ordered it. I have been wanting to go there, cause I've heard that it is also cheaper to get it their then to order it (I imagine because of shipping) I haven't ever bought coal or coke from them though, others on here have I bet.

                                                                                                        Littleblacksmith

what's the second store that your talking about?

       

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43 minutes ago, TheAngryScrapsmith said:

There is a place in Austin called Centaur Forge. I wonder if you have had any experience with them? I'm in the unfortunate position of basically being 2 hours (ish) north or south of my only 2 smithing supply stores...

If Centaur Forge will allow Will Call, you'd do well getting coal/coke there. There's also Texas Farrier Supply, and Well-Shod, somewhat within driving distance. I'd expect them to stock coal as well. A few bags would make the drive worthwhile, and keep you supplied for a while.

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On June 20, 2016 at 4:11 PM, JHCC said:

Steel from a barbell is probably mild/medium carbon and probably won't harden enough to take an edge. Read the section on heat treatment.

Also, if you're interested in making woodcarving tools, you absolutely MUST read "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Alexander Weygers. Extensive sections on making tools from scrap, although some of his heat-treating information is a bit out of date.

I have that book and it truly is an excellent resource. Weygers is (was?) darn near genius. 

If anything, it's a great read with lots of informative pictures.

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I have about 100ft of wrecker cable from an Army HEMTT Wrecker. It had been partially unspooled and spilled all over my garage floor, so today I decided to cut it up into pieces and make "straws" out of it. I also made a spool of it (I would guess 25 or so feet) to use for bartering sometime. I cut some of the straws into what I thought would be a good knife length and some at about 2.5 feet for... I dunno yet. 

Attached is the video of the spark test and a pic of my little bartering spool!
(Sorry, this is unrelated to... well... anything)

hock of cable.jpg

steel cable spark test and cut (edit).mp4

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Being in the military, you may have a lot of options available to you that you may not be aware of. When I lived on base out near Seattle, we had a fully equipped wood shop almost no one ever used that was part of the Rec program. The Sub base near by had a fully equipped auto shop that included OA torches and a bunch of different welders. I forget what the ship yard had as far as additional Rec facilities. The big thing was very few sailors even bothered to learn what other facilities were available for their use other than the bowling alley / gym etc.

Besides this, the base had any number of machine shops, service areas etc that often were under used that you could get access to if you knew who to talk to. Often if you wandered by and talked to the guys on the floor they'd be happy to let you use the lathe or mill off hours or on weekends if they weren't in use. Swinging buy and talking "shop" with them and maybe bringing some cold ones or a box of donuts could get you access to all sorts of tools and equipment as well as scrap and materials.

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1 minute ago, DSW said:

Swinging buy and talking "shop" with them and maybe bringing some cold ones or a box of donuts could get you access to all sorts of tools and equipment as well as scrap and materials.

A very good idea indeed. I have looked into this a little, but with the military drawdown under Obama and the budgets being slashed those underused facilities have been getting closed up pretty quickly. We do have a pretty comprehensive garage on post called Sprockets, but it is always packed.

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As I remember Fort Hood is one of the biggest installations in  the country. I know it supports armor and artillery, general motor pool and possibly helos, so there should be any number of shops set up for maintenance, service etc as well as facilities for those maintenance troops to train / practice even if they don't perform those tasks regularly. You might have to ask someone who knows someone how to locate and access these facilities.

I'm not sure what other installations might be in your area as well. I doubt with the size of Hood there are very many other Army bases near by that aren't linked to Hood, but there may be National Guard, Air Force, or even Navy installations around that you may be able to access for Rec facilities/Exchanges. Once on base, you may be able to go visit their maintenance / repair facilities and talk "shop" with them for possible access.

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8 minutes ago, DSW said:

As I remember Fort Hood is one of the biggest installations in  the country. I know it supports armor and artillery, general motor pool and possibly helos, so there should be any number of shops set up for maintenance, service etc as well as facilities for those maintenance troops to train / practice even if they don't perform those tasks regularly. You might have to ask someone who knows someone how to locate and access these facilities.

I'm not sure what other installations might be in your area as well. I doubt with the size of Hood there are very many other Army bases near by that aren't linked to Hood, but there may be National Guard, Air Force, or even Navy installations around that you may be able to access for Rec facilities/Exchanges. Once on base, you may be able to go visit their maintenance / repair facilities and talk "shop" with them for possible access.

North Fort Hood is attached and belongs to the Texas National Guard, but is routinely used as a normal part of the main cantonment. I've been here for 4 years, there are motorpools everywhere and there is definitely Air CAV haha. Every Unit has one (typically organized by Battalion or Brigade depending on unit structure and MTOE). I get most of my scrap from the dumpsters in those very motorpools. Sadly, Soldiers do almost none of their own machining or manufacture anymore. Those tasks have been outsourced to civilian FSRs (Field Service Representatives) which leaves most Soldiers only capable of taking parts off and putting new ones in place. The Navy on the other hand (I was Navy prior for 6.5 years) still teaches many repair and fabrication techniques. I was a Submarine Sonar Tech and was schooled in electronic repair and learned hydraulic repair on the side in the fleet. 

I don't want to come across as argumentative, so I don't want this read in that tone. I am always on the lookout for an opportunity to learn a new skill or technique (of any productive kind honestly). I am also fairly notorious around CAV for my ability to BS with someone and get a few favors out of the conversation and a new resource for "item/service X." To whit, if any of you gents are ever nearby and need an assist or maybe some scrap steel I have laying in the garage, lemme know. 

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