Need to vent for a second

[Manno]

Spent the last two months trying to land deals on cheap starter tools for my entry into the craft. Aside from the saint of a gentleman who gave me a 75lb Columbia anvil for free, everything else I've found has been obnoxiously over priced. Local anvils are going for 6-10 dollar a pound, tongs are going for more than double what new costs. Today was the final straw however. I drove 45 mins to our local flea market hoping to land a couple of used starting hammers and everything I found that could possibly be of use to me was going for the same as new, firm. No haggle. Why would I buy a used 2lb cross pien with splintered handle for $20?

I'm just now realizing that if I'd just bought new, If saved myself a ton of time and money.

Which is what I'm doing from now on.

Word to the wise, xxxxx xxxxx around Denver is a seller's market. If you are just starting out here, don't bother bargain shopping unless you have zero money and unlimited time.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

As far as hammers go, I pick up cheap hammer heads without handles or broken ones and modify them to suit my needs. Usually old drilling or ball piens go pretty cheap.

[Chelonian]

I understand the frustration with some of the anvil prices, but two months really isn't that long in terms of finding good deals on these old tools. For instance, I've been looking for well over a year now for a good deal on an intact anvil, and I haven't come across one yet (my current anvil is missing its heel. Works fine for nearly everything, but it makes some processes take longer). As for tongs, you can just make them. There are ways to make them just holding the stock with your hand with long enough stock, so you don't need tongs to make tongs.

I was lucky to have some old hammer heads that I could make handles for when I started, but if you really can't find an old one, a cheap hammer from HF or similar will work fine for forging once you dress the face.

[pnut]

I couldn't find cheap used Hammers either. I've been looking for an anvil for a year, don't have a leg vise, but I didn't let it stop me from blacksmithing. I bought a new cross pien, was a given a piece of RR track and made a vise type thing from a  log a piece of angle iron and  a scissor jack. Sometimes you just gotta get on with what you have until what you want shows up.

Pnut

[Anachronist58]

Just looked on Denver CL. You were not kidding. I KNOW that there is a least ONE Interstate going through Colorado!

Try thrift stores? In mining districts? Pawn shops? Garage sale/ yard sale?

Good luck.

Robert Taylor

[bluerooster]

Found a chunk of RR track, made into an anvil shape. $300. Dang, I can go to the local farrier supply, and get a brand new 75 pounder for that.

Today I went to the scrap yard, I found a flat steel, about 2"x6"x3foot. <$20. :D  I'll use that 'till I can find something else.  A friend of mine will give me his grand dads anvil, but it needs re-faced.

[Manno]

To those of you checking out the xxxxxxxxx Craigslist, hold on to xxxxx xxxxxxx

[Les L]

I’m going Phats, you’re not looking in the right places. Go out in the country and talk face to face with the old farmers. Find them working on equipment and offer help. Then while you’re helping them let them know that you’re looking for blacksmith equipment. Go to the grain elevators and feed mills and talk to the old farmers. Stop at the local coffee shop, where the old farmers show up at 5:00 - 6:00 AM and let them know what you’re looking for, while buying their coffee or breakfast. And the old hammers they broke the handles on and threw in the corner of the barn are something that you can put a handle in that fits your hand. 

[lyuv]

When I was young, blacksmithing tools were considered junk, and were free. But nobody wanted them. Now these are sold as antiques for decoration, and priced acordingly. No bargains any more.

Phats - Assuming you"re only starting, I suggest you limit yourself to the bare necessities. Anvil you already got. Buy cheap cross peen hammer at a hardware store. Perhaps a ball peen too. One per of tongs, and make some more. Quick-and-dirty will do. Make a chisel and your done.

[pnut]

There's a blueprint for some easy tongs in the BP section. Punch a hole one twist and peen a rivet and you're done. They don't look like regular tongs but your hide won't care what they look like just that they keep it from burning. 

 https://www.iforgeiron.com/index2.html/blueprints/00-series/bp001 easy-to-make-tongs-r1099/. I guess all the stars lined up today because usually my phone's browser will stop when I try to post a link but anyway here it is if you need some tongs and don't think you are up to forging a pair yet. 

Pnut

 

 

 

[Steve Shimanek]

I am reminded of the story of my mentor, who had a traditional master smith come to his shop with only a hammer and chisel, and made every tool they needed for a week starting with that.

[671jungle]

There is a video going around on similar threads of some smiths doing a lot without what most think they "need". I thought this way most my life. 

What you do need is something hard to hit with, something hard to hit on, something to hold the work and something to heat the work.

Call Fork lift repair shops and ask for old or damaged forks. Tell the crew what you are going to do with them. Due to safety, they may not let them go if they think you will mount them on a lift. A single tine can provide you with an anvil, a swage if needed, some fullering surfaces, and an upsetting block. Big truck repair shops aswell as mechanic shops will have coil springs and leaf springs you can make tooling with. If taking this route a box of doughnuts will go a long way.

I started with channel locks, a claw pein, and a 2" x 4" block of A36 structural. I still don't have a "real" anvil, and am no longer in a frenzy for one.

I now bounce back and forth between my rail anvil and a 120lb upright welded block of plates. They work just fine for me. I also have a fork tine anvil in the works. It will be used mostly for heavy fullering. 

Keep at it. The universe will grant but you have to put in the effort or it won't believe you.

 

[ThomasPowers]

Hitting the junk stores and fleamarkets is a common vacation pasttime for my wife and I.  I've also found a bunch of tools at my local scrapyard---hammer heads for 20 cents a pound.  Sure sounds like you are suffering from yuppification combined with FiFitis in your area.  Are you putting the word out with the TPAAAT?  I have been surprised how many folks have given me stuff just mentioning that I do hobby blacksmithing at my church. Saturday one member told me that there was a couple in town who had a lot of blacksmithing stuff they wanted to get rid of in a building they were clearing out...I hope to go see it Wednesday.

Trying to get a good deal from folks trying to maximize their profit selling stuff is usually not the best way to get good prices...Od course you need to have your money in your hand when you do run across a good deal.

[horse]

There is a farmer’s publication callled the Fence Post. You will find it at most feed stores and farm stores you can also subscribe for it. In there you will many farm auctions and consignment auctions. I have purchased many hammers at these auctions. Tongs are usually too expensive for my taste but not awful. Anvils are very high even at these sales. 

[JHCC]

As I've said many, many times, one of the most important investments a novice smith can make is a good pair of tongs. The vast majority of tongs that I've seen in antique stores, old tool dealers, and even at flea markets and garage sales are NOT good for a beginner, since the most useful sizes tend to get used until they fall apart, leaving the oddball ones that are designed for weird shapes or stock much bigger than most of us will ever forge.

So while it's fun (or not) and cheap (or not) to find your starting kit at a flea market etc, you'll be spending a lot of time looking for something useful, while risking your sanity, your safety, and your pocketbook on things that aren't all that good for you right now. 

For now, go to Blacksmith's Supply, Blacksmith's Depot, Pieh Tool, or the supplier of your choice and invest $30-$40 dollars in a good pair of basic wolf-jaw or V-bit tongs. You can also go to Ken's Custom Iron for pre-cut tong blanks; they cost somewhat less, but need a bit of skill to get working.

Remember: IF YOU CAN'T HOLD IT, YOU CAN'T HIT IT!!!

[Elemental Metal Creations]

On 1/5/2020 at 5:41 AM, pnut said:

There's a blueprint for some easy tongs in the BP section. 

I made a pair of these when I started about 9 years ago. They are still one of my go to tongs

[pnut]

They were the first tongs I made and I still use them, they work fine. They're simple to make, what's not to like?

Pnut

[Hans Richter]

After my humble opinion, the best tongs to hold a work piece while forging -are still the blacksmiths hands. Please have mercy with my simple mind. If I start forging happens this always with a save overlengthen of the work piece in question to handle the stuff as easy as possible. But first in the end and after cutting in to size my tongs will be used.

[CrazyGoatLady]

I agree with you Hans. I try to work a piece long so I can hold it with my hand  as long as possible. It seems much easier to control. Then a well fitting pair of tongs when it gets too short to hold. 

[pnut]

I definitely prefer to use my hands to hold stock whenever possible but sometimes you just have to use tongs. If I can I always try to keep enough stock to hold in my hand for as much of the project as possible.

Pnut

[anvil]

And if you don't have a long enough piece to hand hold, then forge weld up some drop and get her done.

Not only are you using up your shop drop, you are getting some good forge welding experience as well.

[CtG]

EVERYTHING is overpriced on the Front Range... moved for a reason. 

Hang in there, it'll work out. 

 

The way they price things there you'd think a certain recreational activity was legal or something..... oh, wait...

Moved for... many reasons