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I Forge Iron

Noob, working with my kiddo


sgtstraightrazor

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I'm just setting up our first forge. My 13-year old son decided he wants a starter set up for his birthday, and I've always wanted to take up blacksmithing, so here we are. I'm going to set up a pretty basic coal forge in an old charcoal grill with dirt and fire brick lining the bottom. I've ordered a cross pain hammer and am working on getting a piece of railroad track or an anvil. He's picking out his tongs. We have eye/ear protection and face shields. Anything else I should make sure we have before we get started?

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Leather gloves. You'll probably just be wearing one on the tong hand but you never know if you might need to move or handle something a bit warmer than you'll want to touch. 

A fire extinguisher. Forges if built and used right tend to be pretty safe and containing but best to be safe than sorry for a freak incident. 

Make sure you both are wearing natural fiber clothing likecotton, and better with leather shoes or boots. A lot of kids cloths seem to be synthetic fibers and melt or burn easily. 

Be sure to read through the safety topics and beginner topics. 

Any hands on experience so we have a rough idea what you might know? Some don't, is why I ask. Nothing wrong with it, just helps to make more detailed suggestions. 

Also what type of coal? Anthracite or bituminous?

Will the forge be side blast or bottom blast? 

Welcome aboard and to the addiction. Good on you for also helping get your young man starting too. Get him started safely. 

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The more you read the less you have to spend.  Most subjects have been covered on the site.  If you both read things that are of interest each of you, you can then compare notes.  Search with your browser by using "subject" and then adding iforgeiron.com to the search string.

If you have questions, ask and someone will point you toward the answer.

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11 hours ago, Welshj said:

Where in Michigan?

And explanation of user name? Former army sgt here... first thing that caught my eye. Lol.

I'm in Ohio, wauseon- just across the border by toledo.

I'm in the Saginaw Bay area, about 45 minutes north of Flint. The username is pretty straightforward. I am a police sergeant,  and I use straight razors to shave. I was an Army SGT, too. 1996-2004.

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Welcome aboard, thank you for serving both times. Don't worry about buying "blacksmithing" hammers, any smooth faced hammer around 32 oz or less will work just fine. I start folks with a 32oz. drill hammer, they're heavy enough to move metal well but not so heavy as to make your mistakes permanent or tire and injure you as quickly. The shorter handle helps with hammer control as well, I see them at big box stores like Wally World for under $20, they're selling 3lb. versions too but stay away from heavy hammers until you've developed the control and muscles to use one without soft tissue damage. Yes?

You'll want safety glasses with side shields AND a face shield for any grinding, power brushing or any task that can throw things. Safety glasses during forging is a must, scale is always popping off and sticking to your hide like a steak in a frying pan. Get used to it, the web of your thumb seems to be a hot scale magnet. A squeeze bottle of Aloe Vera gel is a good thing for a hot shop. 

Hang the fire extinguisher by the exit, NOT the thing that might catch fire. Having to reach through flames to grab the extinguisher is NOT recommended procedure. 

You two are going to have a ball blacksmithing together, it's more fun than should be legal.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Sgt- ditto to what frosty said! Thank you for your service.

I'm alot farther away than I'd hoped to extend an invitation to come play in my work shed... sigh. I don't have alot, but have several hammers and tongs you could have beat some steel on the anvil with to see what you might like.

I'm jealous that your boy wants to learn, and you get to have that fun with him! :D thats awesome!

Congrats on starting your journey.

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I bought him a Stanley anti-vibration 2 lb cross pein hammer to start. It was something like $18. Face shields are on their way. I am neurotic about safety glasses, as I've been hit in the eye with stuff before. We have a scrap yard about a mile from home, so we'll probably stop by there and see if he can pick some scrap metal to start with. We are sure looking forward to starting off.

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Very nice, sounds like you're well on your way then. I hear you about the safety glasses. I caught a piece of scale on my eyelid (with my glasses sitting on top of my head) when I was first started... Needless to say that was unpleasant. Now I'm much more careful that I (and anyone around me) have safety glasses on where they belong when I'm working.

On 11/29/2020 at 9:23 AM, sgtstraightrazor said:

I use straight razors to shave

Nice, me too. What's your preferred razor? 

Twice I have tried to make one... never got past the grind.

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On 12/1/2020 at 9:33 PM, Frazer said:

Very nice, sounds like you're well on your way then. I hear you about the safety glasses. I caught a piece of scale on my eyelid (with my glasses sitting on top of my head) when I was first started... Needless to say that was unpleasant. Now I'm much more careful that I (and anyone around me) have safety glasses on where they belong when I'm working.

Nice, me too. What's your preferred razor? 

Twice I have tried to make one... never got past the grind.

I have a Torrey that generally shaves like a dream, but I rolled the bevel on my strop. I have a Geo. Johnson from about 1890 that is great. But my go to is a Sheffield Army Special. Been trying to get my hands on a WB, but no dice. 

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On 12/2/2020 at 5:14 AM, ThomasPowers said:

Shaving---What's that?  My wife has started using my beard braids as a handle to pull me down for a kiss.

Hush you, before my wife will try to do the same.

 

Yeah, face shields are the way to go. Getting stuff in your eyes is one thing, but getting a piece of grinder disk on your lip is also not much fun. (Same goes for eyebrows, got a very nice scar from one of those.

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Face shield AND close fitting, safety glasses with side shields! 

Remember gritty dust and shavings LOVE to get caught in your eyebrows. When you remove your eye glasses bend forward so your eyebrows aren't directly over your eyes and CAREFULLY brush debris from them. I do the same in the shower and rise my head and eyebrows especially before I open my eyes.

I've had too much junk dug out of my eyes to take the chance of not using all the safety measures I know. NO AIR HOSE, E-V-E-R!!

Frosty The Lucky. 

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For that reason I always wear a bandana when I work, it will keep my forehead from sweating, and stuff getting in the sweatband of my face shield/welding mask. 

No compressed air on any part of your body / clothes, don't even think about it. If you do get junk in your eyes, just keep them closed and get to a sink, don't try to blink, it will only make it worse. Then open your eye with your fingers and let running tap water clean it (or use a bottle).

Another thing, never wear contact lenses while you weld, if by any small mistake you get welders eyes (no idea what you guys would call it) the contact lens will get stuck to your eye, and the doctor will have to remove it. Sounds fun right? 

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We call it flashed and if you flash yourself badly enough flash blinded. Contact can stick but you can usually get them free with eye drops. You're still much better off wearing corrective glasses. Either can be an issue because they focus light on your retina, including arc flashes which is double badness. 

I LOVE my auto-darkening welding shield, I have a spot light on my work so I can see without flipping it up. 

I got REAL careful about not getting flashed, I have a bandana that clips to the head band of my old welding shield so I wouldn't catch flashes reflected of the inside of the lens from arcs behind me. 

Been flash blinded, wasn't fun and lasted almost 2 days.

Remember, no safety equipment is any more effective than the person wearing it. 

Frosty The Lucky. 

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Did not know you could get them loose yourself, only got flashed (the bad way) once, lasted about a day. Lucky for me my grandma came over that day and she got me some Eyebright tea compresses for my eyes, that really takes the edge of it. Fresh potato slices also work very good.

One of the first things I bought for my shop was a auto darkening helmet, it is so much better then the old helmets where you had to nod to get them in place (it really ruins your neck)

Good point about the reflection, I used to weld on and in pressure tanks, the big ones where not a problem, the metal had scale so it was nice and black. The smaller (till about 1 - 1,5 meter in diameter where sanded and very reflective. Took me about 5 second before I got my welding hood to keep my face and neck from getting torched.

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