Beginning forging

[Jacob1]

Hello I just built a forge for charcoal/ wood  the refractory is a mix of bentonite clay kitty litter and sand moistened then rammed into the baking pan to form a sort of u shaped trench 

I chose bottom blast because  of a tutorial I saw on YouTube  and the guy just used wood and it worked 

U shape because I've heard to forge with wood the fire has to be deep so there is time to charcoalize 

The second picture is of a large sledge hammer head I will use as an anvil it is either 12 or 16 pounds and will probably end up mounted into a 4 by 4 or maybe a stand of 2 by 4s if the head is too big 

I plan to make carving tools for woodworking 

I know wood isn't ideal but I always have tons of scraps since I do woodworking and I don't really have the money to buy coal or charcoal and I don't have the space to make charcoal at this time but will try to make some in a little metal fire pit 

Plan to start forging (trying) over the next week or two 

[Jacob1]

Managed to get 3/8 rebar to red heat with wood scraps I need to remount the sledge hammer head it was moving around too much and it was too high 

[whitewill1412]

If you are working outdoors I would suggest finding a log to sink in the ground as an anvil stand for your hammer head.  I recon it would be much more stable that way.  I buried a log 2 feet deep and my stand is rock solid.

[Jacob1]

I would sink the log in but I can't as I'm 17 and it all needs to be non permanent the chunk of wood and bucket works but kinda sucks but anyways

I took a .25 by .75 piece of mild steel from a broken clamp to make tongs 

Got the first jaw kinda forged but need to make the sides more parallel 

Be being the regular Socrates that I am had the impeccable idea of just taking a nail that I was going to use as a rivet and also using that as a punch which obviously didn't work 

Idk why I thought that would work I've literally seen so many blacksmith videos and read lots of books in which punches are used 

But I have a piece of coil spring  I got it  tapered to make a punch so I just stuck it back in the coals to anneal it so I can shape it with files

Also I got a empty paint can I'm gonna fill with veg oil for quenching punches and such from hi carbon steel

Also got charcoal 

Can't wait to finish the tongs I had to use channel locks for the coil and it slipped a lot

I also managed to burn myself slightly kinda annoying 

Also think I did decent on air control as there wasn't a whole lot of sparks and I didn't go through fuel like crazy

Also made the forge side blast 

But I'm definitely gonna build a bigger forge like a jabod but long bottom blast like a Tim lively forge 

[Jacob1]

Some rather long cold chisel type tools perhaps masonry given the + cross section of one might cut off the weird section and make some punches because the coil spring piece is kinda short 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

15 hours ago, Jacob1 said:

I also managed to burn myself slightly kinda annoying 

That is the beginning of blacksmith tattoos with many more to come.   Thomas Powers always said that when in a boring situation,  he would sit there and count all his tattoos, may he RIP.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.~ Semper Paratus

[Daswulf]

Those are called star bits. They are masonry bits but make great punches and chisels. I just used a bunch for new shaping punches and chisels. I only cut off as much as necessary of the X part. Or if it's too long will cut off what I need to get it the right length.  You don't want them too short because of the radiant heat off the workplace. Too long and it can be awkward to hold and strike. 

Make sure you grind off the mushroom on the striking end. That is dangerous and when striking pieces can break off and become projectiles. I didn't do much for heat treat after shaping. I heated the end to cherry red and just quenched in water. Havnt had an issue with them. For hot work I don't even know if it matters, just cool them in water if they are in contact with the piece long and they get hot. For deep punching I cool the punch after so many strikes, otherwise the punch end can heat up and deform. 

[Jacob1]

I have a woodturning scraper from a big old file  that I'm gonna try and heat treat  as well as a quarter inch punch from the star bit 

[The Jeff]

I think you should clean up the shoulders of the blade and the mushrooming on the punch before you do.

 

[Frosty]

Ditto! The saw cuts between blade and handle WILL be cold shuts, also known as stress risers, initiation points for catastrophic failure. Think of the minor scratch a glass cutter makes that lets it break predictably with a light tap of the striker. Heat treating high carbon steel with cold shuts is inviting it to fail in the quench tank. Controlling the situation is why inside corners are always rounded and why we round an edge on our anvils so we can forge steps without introducing cold shuts.

You need to grind the mushrooming off the struck ends COMPLETELY. It's not the look that's dangerous, the tiny bit of overlap and cracks are stress risers and they are NOT surface features, they penetrate the shaft. The cracks are just what you can see.

The SNAP sound made when one of these chips breaks off isn't the sound of the steel breaking, it is the sound of the chip breaking the sound barrier! Sure they slow right down in a matter of 3' give or take but guess what's within that 3'? And just because the chip isn't moving faster than the speed of sound doesn't mean it isn't going plenty fast enough to penetrate your hide and eyeballs are VERY soft targets.

You're going to get plenty of wounds, burns, bruises, strains and sprains pursuing the blacksmith's craft, we don't do anything that isn't hot, hard, sharp, heavy and ready to get us. Hedge your bets, your safety is in your hands. Of course you can count on us to yell at you for taking unnecessary chances. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Jacob1]

The scraper wasn't forged just cut out after annealing i actually made it a while ago before i had an anvil or forge I am gonna clean up the shoulders though 

The Pic of the drift was an in progress I ground it down more 

I also quenched it tonight in water like was suggested 

Scraper was quenched in vegetable oil and definitely hardened 

[Jacob1]

I just realized that this is in blacksmithing general discussion when I meant to put it in the members projects area anyways 

This is gonna be a carving knife with a handle set at an angle ie a mocotaugen 

needs a bunch of shaping then hardening and make the handle 

material is an old file 

 

[Nobody Special]

Good evening,

It's a steep learning curve at the beginning. The first instinct is to start trying to "fix" ya, but aside from a few safety issues like the mushrooming on the tools, you're going to get there, and you're going to make mistakes on the way. If you're smart, you'll learn from other people's mistakes. Mine for one.

It's good to see that you're enjoying it as a hobby and passionate about it. I would say though, that if you can, join a blacksmithing group as soon as you can. You'll be able to watch other people work, and they can often help with lessons, or by providing material, tools, support, and advice. If you're in Pittsburgh, I believe there's the Pittsburgh Area Artists Blacksmith's Association, and the Barefoot Forge also gives lessons.

Regarding knowing something from a video or a book - there's a big difference in knowledge and experience. You'll need both as you improve. In the Army I could tell one of my joes that if he drank too much, he'd get a hangover and wouldn't be good for much. But if you really want to make that bit of wisdom stick, wait until about 6:30 the morning after and then take him out for a nice long-run at PT. My NCOs did...

[Chad J.]

Welcome to the hobby!  I'm looking forward to your projects and progress.   Don't worry about the burns, pretty soon you'll be handing people steel like it came out of the freezer and they'll say you just burned them.   My GF still hasn't let me live that down... 

If you have questions ask, and also Google is c your friend for searching stuff out here.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

A tip like in the "Read This First" thread about doing a search on IFI. Seeing as the search function leaves a lot to be desired. Using your favorite search engine like Google put in what you are searching for and add site:iforgeiron to the end of the string. So a search would look like this if you were looking for information on say a Vulcan anvil  vulcan anvil site:iforgeiron.com

You will be amazed at how many responses will come up.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.~ Semper Paratus

[Jacob1]

I'm definitely gonna make a washtub type forge so i can get more depth to the fire I see the japanese style forges that are like a trench but are sideblast I wonder why but I'll likely end up making one of the Tim lively type washtub forges bottom blast and get a brick or something so I can limit the length of the fire 

[Jacob1]

Although monumentally ugly the scraper tool works quite well now that it has a handle

[Jacob1]

Found this tool which if im correct is a farriers nippers I might try and reforge them into a small pair of tongs 

[Daswulf]

The ferrier nippers that are longer with more of an opening up at the nipper tend to be better for reforming. The ones you have there might be a bit too short and cause you trouble trying to reforge. 

There are good tutorials on making simpler tongs from bar stock. 

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning,

I have those in my Tool Box. They are ??Side Cutters with the jaws on the front ( I know they have a name, look in Craftsman tool Catalog)

Neil

[Frosty]

They're called "end nippers" Neil, a farrier uses "hoof" nippers. The only other type I can think of are "tile" nippers but I'm sure there are many more. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[swedefiddle]

Thanks for remembering me (LOL).

Neil

[Frosty]

How could I forget you, you li'll nipper you? <grin>

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jacob1]

Sadly the punch does not work i likely need to re quench it after i straighten it a little

But got the curved knife quenched just need to sharpen it 

And my anvil is way too wobbly that sand bucket sucks 

But luckily I have a big wooden circle I can use as a base  and make some braces from 2 by 4s 

 

[Frosty]

Any time you do hot work on a heat treated tool like a punch you need to normalize it for the minimum to annealing if ideally. THEN re-harden and temper if necessary. I usually don't temper punches, mine spend too much time in hot steel.

Sand anvil stands work very well IF you make the anvil stable in the sand. First you don't want alluvial (river/creek) sand, the particles are all rounded and smooth so they can shift under the anvil. Think a sack of marbles, no matter how hard you pack it they'll still shift in your hand. Yes? Pick up some crushed sand from the local sand and gravel supplier the broken particles key together and once compacted won't move. Your anvil will be solid.

You can improve the crushed sand stand by attaching a plywood base to the foot of your anvil so no matter how hard you hammer or twist the anvil can't settle into the sand. 2-3 small angle iron tabs screwed to the bottom of the plywood will prevent it from twisting on the sand in case you want to use bending forks.

A large wood circle on the ground is a good thing too. I used similar with vertically screwed and glued 4" x 6" for one of my old anvil stands. I changed to steel tripod stands quite a while ago and really prefer them for lots of reasons. 

Frosty The Lucky.