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I Forge Iron

New Apprentice Blacksmiths


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If you have a welder and know how to use it a proper 2" x 72" belt grinder is pretty easy to build. For improvised anvils I'm a fan of truck axles mounted flange up. A little cleaning up with a grinder and they make very effective anvils.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Yep, you are right! You ARE in the middle of nowhere, and there are NO blacksmiths and NO blacksmith groups near you. EXCEPT FOR:

The group that does museum demos in Greenville.

The group that meets monthly east of Greenville.

And the other group that meets monthly east of Greenville.

And the NC chapter subgroup that meets monthly in Murphy. At the John C. Campbell Folk School shop.

And the other NC chapter subgroup that meets monthly in Mooresville. At the shop of a commercial blacksmith.

And the SC state group that meets once a year in Westminster. In your county. At the home of a blacksmith.

If you are serious about this craft, "local" means within one tank of gas, and not staying overnight. And asking politely for help, because someone always has more and better information than you possess.

 

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7 hours ago, Frosty said:

If you have a welder and know how to use it a proper 2" x 72" belt grinder is pretty easy to build. For improvised anvils I'm a fan of truck axles mounted flange up. A little cleaning up with a grinder and they make very effective anvils.

Frosty The Lucky.

hey frosty that's what i wanted to do and i watched some videos on it like making it extreme and some other ones and i  don't have a metal lathe to cut the rollers and i have looked at it and this 1 x 30 should do me until i can well get a better one.but for right now im gonna stick to small and medium knives so i don't overload it..

54 minutes ago, John McPherson said:

Yep, you are right! You ARE in the middle of nowhere, and there are NO blacksmiths and NO blacksmith groups near you. EXCEPT FOR:

The group that does museum demos in Greenville.

The group that meets monthly east of Greenville.

And the other group that meets monthly east of Greenville.

And the NC chapter subgroup that meets monthly in Murphy. At the John C. Campbell Folk School shop.

And the other NC chapter subgroup that meets monthly in Mooresville. At the shop of a commercial blacksmith.

And the SC state group that meets once a year in Westminster. In your county. At the home of a blacksmith.

If you are serious about this craft, "local" means within one tank of gas, and not staying overnight. And asking politely for help, because someone always has more and better information than you possess.

 

my 85 Chevy gets about 8-12 miles a gallon with a 30 gallon tank if im not carrying a 5 gallon Jerry can which can get me a little extra but tell me more about this thing in Westminster cause that's where my brother lives. but i would have to get a ride to there but i have only been to north Carolina and Georgia only a few times in my life time and i only have a permit so getting someone who has a license it going to be tough and i don't want to be caught dead in Grenville

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You heat steel using a torch with a "rosebud" tip.  You need to make sure the draw rate for the tip is sustainable with the size of your acetylene tank.

MUCH cheaper in the long run is going to Oxy-Propane if you use a torch and

Much cheaper than Oxy-Propane is a propane air burner in a simple cheap propane forge.

I would suggest a simple lump charcoal forge for your first projects and save your welding gas for building a propane forge!

Note most vises are made of cast iron and the "anvil" on them is good for nothing but light work---like straightening nails.  Forging on it can result in it's destruction and it's sure to cost more than a chunk of steel that can be sourced at many places. (ask at welding shops, machine shops, shade tree mechanics, etc...)

 

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