June 7, 20224 yr Hello everyone, My name is Philip, 38y old and hailing from Belgium. I have been thinking of picking up blacksmithing for quite a while and I took 2 lessons a few years ago. I recently decided to finally go for it and have been researching the internet, books and youtube ever since. Last week I picked up an old anvil which looked perfect for a beginner. As I live in a suburban area I have decided to pick-up a propane forge to get started and normally it should arrive in the next couple of days. I also pick-up some square stock and am going to assemble a wooden anvil stand. So hopefully I can start forging this weekend. Planning on practicing tapers, shoulders and so on first before moving forward to nails, leaves, .... I already browsed around the forum a bit and I'm sure I will be able to learn a lot from everyone here. Greetings, Philip
June 7, 20224 yr Welcome aboard Philip. Be sure to share your journey with us. Looks like a fine anvil. It will serve you well.
June 7, 20224 yr Howdy from eastern Oklahoma! And welcome to the forum, we’re always glad to meet new people! remember we love pictures! Cant wait to see your work!
June 7, 20224 yr Read up on ways to quiet that anvil; after coal smoke the anvil noise is the thing that annoys neighbors the most!
June 7, 20224 yr Welcome aboard Philip, glad to have you. That's a pretty nice looking anvil from what I can see. If you can weld or know someone who can a steel tripod anvil stand really damps the ring quieting them down considerably. There are other good ways to quiet one down a steel tripod is just my preference. There is a section here about anvil stands with pictures build details, pros and cons. More importantly read up on basic safety. PPE covers You and others around you, eye protection, hearing protection, Natural materials clothing, fabric or leather. Synthetics will melt, stick to you and deep fry you, trying to get it off will burn your hands too. Wear, cotton, wool, leather, etc. Yes? Propane has inherent dangers greater than you see for solid fuel forges. Propane produces Carbon Monoxide (CO) in large quantities and it's insidious. It will get everywhere so if you're using an attached garage you have to use positive ventilation strong enough to ventilate the whole house. Also a slightly lesser hazard is using a flammable gas in a building, it's heavier than air and will collect in low places. A spark and B A D things can happen. Please don't think blacksmithing is all doom and gloom peril, it's inherently dangerous but knowing the hazards lets you stay ahead of them, Yes? Frosty The Lucky.
June 7, 20224 yr Welcome from the Ozark mountains. Frosty has about covered it, although my preference for anvil stands is a cut off tree stump the right length.
June 7, 20224 yr Welcome from the Allegheny Mtns. in Pennsylvania! Yes indeed! Nice anvil! Sounds like you're heading in the right direction! I built a stand for my anvil a couple of years ago (haven't used it much. Pic is when I fabricated it with a repro. garden claw for a customer the same day in 2019 :-) ) but agree with Irondragon! Last year I cut some Ash Trees and had a "Y" that I couldn't split by hand so put it in my shop to use as a stand, to use with a wooden hammer and to straighten forged steel without damaging the twist edges! have pics of my welded stand but need to go out and take pic of my wooden one! Edited June 7, 20224 yr by MickKrug pic too large
June 8, 20224 yr 23 hours ago, MickKrug said: I quoted yesterday: "Last year I cut some Ash Trees and had a "Y" that I couldn't split by hand so put it in my shop to use as a stand, to use and to straighten forged steel with a wooden hammer without damaging the twist-edges! have pics of my welded stand but need to go out and take pic of my wooden one! Here ya go! Still trying to set up my blacksmith shop in my fab shop! My son likes to dabble in blacksmithing too but loves civil war reenacting! so yesterday we were fabricating a sheet metal knife for him and I was also setting up a used 7X8 tent poles for our reenactment this weekend! (Sorry for the newby mistakes/posts :-S)
June 8, 20224 yr Which civil war; many if not most countries have had one! Looks like you could cave a dish into that stump! Have you read "Civil War Blacksmithing" by David Einhorn; it covers the ACW with information on the original stuff and re-enactment smithing.
June 9, 20224 yr Good Morning Mick, You have room for your table cloth and fine silverware, for when you have your Lunch or Dinner. LOL Neil
June 10, 20224 yr On 6/8/2022 at 6:58 PM, ThomasPowers said: Which civil war; many if not most countries have had one! Looks like you could cave a dish into that stump! Have you read "Civil War Blacksmithing" by David Einhorn; it covers the ACW with information on the original stuff and re-enactment smithing. Ha ha! Yep! Just moved it back with my Perrin today... Sure have! David shared a lot of info with me (mostly research from his book) he is who led me to Iforgeiron!! Swedefiddle, sure do LOL! I’m keeping an eye out for a smaller in diameter to take with me to re-enactments later! :-)
June 10, 20224 yr If weight is a big problem, I once had a hollow log anvil stump. I cleaned out all the rot and put in a wooden "plug" on the top end and banded it. Not what I would suggest for a lot of heavy work; but for summer plinking on campouts it worked OK.
June 10, 20224 yr I have 2 stumps that are hollow with anvils mounted. Because I don't move them often, I just filled them with ash & clinker from the coal forge. Solved the problem of dropping small stock & punches/chisels in the hole.
June 14, 20224 yr Author Thank you all so much for the tips and kind words. I was able to acquire a tree stump of roughly 50 kg as an anvil stand and my small propane forge has arrived too. Currently installing everything in a well ventilated area that is not attached to the house. I hope to be able to post my first attempt at blacksmithing this weekend! Many greetings, Philip
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