Greetings from Italy

[Andrea87]

Hello, I'm Andrea from Italy, I'm in my early thirties.

I am a general fabricator in my free time, over the years I've built many things from metal or wood, being household items or general shop stuff.

I always liked to work with fire, and did my first attempts at blacksmithing (very simple things) a few years ago with a propane/firebrick forge and a c-shaped block of mild steel as an anvil. Two years ago I bought an house with an attached barn, and that outside area became my to-go place for metal fabrication jobs. Last year I built a proper forge, still with firebricks, but blown and using natural gas (methane) as a fuel, which I have available as my house main heating system. I have built a few tongs, a couple simple log holders for a friend's fireplace and similar things. Still, till a few days ago, I was working on a block of mild steel as an anvil. 

This season I rebuilt the forge with a variable driver for the blower, easy to replace bricks, and most importantly a ribbon burner to quiet it down significantly. The inside of the forge is small, about 10x10x22 cm (4x4x8,5 in) per burner. I can get up to ~16cm (6.3 in) width using thinner / half size bricks for the sides. If both burners are used, the total useful length is 40 cm or ~17 inches.

On Monday I expect an anvil to be delivered here, so it's time to start doing some more serious stuff. I bought a Fervi 50kg / 110lb hardened steel one, as used ones on the various sale sites are often more expensive than a proper new.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome aboard, hope to see some of your work in the future.

[Cuzzle]

I also bought a new anvil as it was the same price as a used one. I shopped around used anvils on various sites for about 4 months before realizing/deciding that a new one was the way to go.

Until I got my anvil I was using a 2 foot section of old railway track for an "anvil".