Finally started!!

[Ben chip]

Hi everyone! 

After having a fascination with knives, swords and blades for some years, I discovered Alec Steele on YouTube who took my fascination from a low burn, to a roaring flame! The stuff he made has me hooked, but I heard the odd mention of a show called 'Forged in Fire'.

Seeing some of the amatuer smiths that went on there and how basic and simple their setups were, convinced me that it's not 'too' difficult to get started. This lead to me finally getting my xxx in gear and start getting the bits I need to start. 

After a year of a slow start, I finally have a working setup!! I have finally joined you lot! 

This is my first backyard setup! Basic, but proud of it! 

Had some coil spring from a van ready to get started on, got it heated and started hammering away at it. 

had to make a spring for my post vice and a wedge for the bracket that holds it to the stump

and finally the last I shall touch of my first piece (spring and wedge were made after)

Not gonna attempt to fit a handle as I feel that would be a RIGHT pain xx xxx xxx to try to attempt a hidden tang handle on what started as a "lets just heat and beat on this and see just how bad my aim is" practice piece

So all in all, I'm pretty xxxx happy with myself for my first setup and VERY FIRST FORGING SESSION!!

 

Compulsory fail pic:

don't yet have soft fire bricks to block one end of the forge for heat retention. Turns out cinder blocks melt........these are used in buildings.........

concern.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome aboard... It looks like you are off to a good start. As far as the forum goes there are several problems with your first post. This is a family friendly G rated forum and language is strictly moderated. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx BTW: there is a 30 minute window to edit posts.

[Frosty]

Welcome Ben, Chip, glad to have you. Language being mentioned I'll let it lay. 

The wedge you need for the vise mounting bracket and spring inserts horizontally in opposition to the others. That allows you to adjust the mounting bracket for height where wedged as you have doesn't have much height adjustment allowance. Make sense?

Learning the blacksmith's craft before you learn the bladesmith's craft is actually faster and easier in the long run. You need the same hammer and process skills and mild steel is easier to move and more forgiving of heat management. Blade steels require more force and more careful heat management. Swinging a hammer hard with good control is easier once you have good control. Then rather than learning a new skill under precise conditions you only need to adjust. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ben chip]

Hi Frosty

Cheers for the feedback. I realise that the wedge for the bracket is meant to be the horizontal piece behind the keyed wedge, but for some reason it won't lock and hold the bracket in place. Is the keyed wedge meant to be facing the mounting point or the body of the vice?

It was never my intention to make a knife when I started. It was just to practice hammering on. Squared one end off to make a better grip and the other end was just to beat on and flatten out. It got to a point that it started to look like a knife. Just decided to go with it and try to put a shoulder in and turn it into a knife. 

My next session is going to square off another piece and put some shoulders in and try to make a leaf. Blade smithing is something I know I need to hold off on doing until I've got some semblance of control.

[Frosty]

The below pic is my 4" leg vise when it was freshly painted after making the spring and wedges. The keys are red and they are tapered opposite directions so when tapped they lock in the slot.

The vertical wedge goes on the other side of heal jaw. I bent the top over because I wasn't sure if it'd stay in place, this is the first leg vise I rebuilt. Whatever you do do NOT copy the collapsible stand, it's too shaky I keep procrastinating away replacing it. The tool tray works nicely, I got that part mostly right.

Leaves are good beginning projects as are various hooks, hooks are uniform straight tapers with a finial scroll and a hook. A few of those and combine other features say twist the shank or include a leaf, punched and countered for screws makes a nice coat hook. And so on. The most elaborate forged items like the gates around a palace are combination of basic pieces. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

If the mounting bracket slots are not sized correctly to get a good solid hold of the vise you can either adjust them till they work with proper wedges or make in insert that fits in the slot to take up the gap  something sort of like __====__ It will need to be inserted first and then have the wedges lock it in place.

Having the transverse wedge didn't bother me as much as the overly long spring.  The curl at the top is to keep it from slipping down too far by binding on the top of the mounting bracket.  Springs can work their way down till they bind on the pivot area and the curl prevents that.

Anyway GREAT you got started; we just had to razz you a bit, it being the 4th of July and all that!   I think you chose wisely using the coil spring and it will build up your hammer arm and train your eye as well.   

That was a limited fail: no trips to the A&E, no fire department standing in the garden with hoses.  No neighbors with pitchforks and torches---yet! 

It's amazing what high heat can do.  I remember once trying to use my forge as an enameling kiln by using a terracotta flowerpot stuck into the coals---it melted! I learned a bit about high fire and low fire clays after that...