I think we finally have everything to at least start forging.

Safety first.

And PPE

To hit on, we got a piece of track and mounted it vertically.

To hit with and to hold.

And to heat, we got the Mr. Volcano. And picked up some extra fire bricks.

For the shop we commandeered one of the 12 x 12 stalls in the barn. All metal, dirt floor, and plenty of ventilation.

Let the Adventure begin.

Looks good! What's the 1st planned project?

Nice!  Nice choice on the orientation of the track anvil.   Couldn't tell if you made the middle into a cutoff yet.   A quick tip; dress the faces of those hammers or you'll have some really annoying lines in your work.  Let's see lychee off the first projects when you're ready. 

Awesome. Get started and share your progress with us, we'd love to see it. 

 

On a safety note, what was in the barrel your forge will rest on? Whatever was in it wash it out well with dish soap and water. Also make sure the bung isn't in it so it doesn't pressurize from the heat. It likely wouldn't get that hot but better to be safe then have a barrel blow into the air with a gas forge riding it. 

I witnessed an empty barrel that had held windshield washer fluid blow 5 feet in the air when a kid lit an arc with a plasma cutter to cut the top off to use as a burn barrel. 

I had a same barrel but cleaned it out thoroughly and had no issue plasma cutting it. 

Also a guy I knew was blown through a garage door when he tried to torch the top off one that had contained oil. It put him in the hospital for a while, and he was a big guy. 

So that is just something I see and it throws up a red flag as potentially dangerous. 

Do i not see it or do you not have a slack tank?

Also that looks like a couple bails of straw on the left in that bottom photo, i would highly recommend getting them out of there. I took a lunch break once and came back in my shop with a box on fire. It was on the other side of my shop a good 10' away from my forge and anvil. That was from a piece of hot scale flying off into it. Now if i take any breaks furthest i will go from my shop is my back porch which is about 15' away and i can see inside of it.  

Looks like a pretty nice set up to start with. I have a couple suggestions though. Lose the barrel, even if it doesn't do something energetic the top WILL warp and it'll be a PITA keeping long stock in place in it. An easy solution if you don't have anything else for a stand is to fill the end level with soil and cover that with a piece of concrete backer board. The same stuff used against walls to put tiles on or as a fire break for a wood stove. I use cement backer board under my propane forge on the garage sale service cart or it would warp the stuffins out of the sheet metal top. 

You'll also want to extend the top of the stand to support long stock.

Mr. Volcano forges are excellent entry level forges, one of the guys in our club has one and it works a treat. What have you covered the ceramic blanket liner with? The ceramic fibers vitrify at forge temps, break off into little broken ceramic needles that embed in your lungs and do NOT leave. Think mesothelioma. Rigidizing helps but a good water setting hard refractory over it encapsulates the fibers and provides a hard durable inner liner you won't have to worry about poing with a piece of stee. 

You'll also want a way to partially close the ends of the forge to contain the flame and heat. My favorite is a brick baffle wall at each end. They are half an inch or so from the ends so exhaust gasses can escape without causing back pressure that inhibits burner performance. The burner flame heats the firebrick baffle walls to incandescent temps which re-radiates back into the forge where it can heat your work for you. Propane costs money I like getting as much as I reasonably can back. 

One method of mounting the baffle wall ends that works well is to lay 3,000f hard fire brick flat on the stand across each end at the same level as the floor of the forge so you can stand the 3,000f split firebrick on edge and slide them back and forth and adjust the size of the opening. This has the serious benefit of not allowing flame to be directed down against the stand. The other being cheap and easy to adjust in use. 

Lose the straw if that's what we see in the pic!! Pinch offs can fly 20-30' easy and they love to hide out of sight and start smolders which like to flare into flames when you aren't looking. A pinch off is the little bit of hot steel you cut to trim a piece to size. You REALLY have to watch for them when working outdoors. I see other apparently flammable things in your area that should probably be out of range of those pesky hot bits.

You'll want to break the edges of your rail anvil or the nicks they leave in your work will become stress risers and failure initiation points. Just like a glass cutter only scratches the glass where it's to break. The forces from the tap or flexing or use in a forged tool concentrates when it crosses the scratch, nick, etc. Grind or otherwise round the edges so they leave SMOOTH dents, nicks, etc. the forces conducted through steel, glass, etc. can flow around the curve without concentrating and breaking.

I don't know if you plan on doing any arc welding in that area but I highly recommend against it! The shiny sheet metal half walls will reflect the arc into your welding shield and into your eyes. Arc flash burns are no fun, believe me!

Looking good so far, what do you want to make?

Frosty The Lucky.

Masonred,

For a first real project we plan on picking up some 1/4" & 3/8" square and round stock and start with some S hooks. In the meantime we are just playing with horseshoes and rebar.

 

Chad J,

Didn't think of making the center a cutoff. Would I just grind it, and would I need to harden it?

Daswulf,

The top of the barrel (now the bottom)  is completely open. Don't know what was in it but it's mostly rust now.

BillyBones,

No slack tank yet. There is a partial bale of hay. I will get it moved. I thought it was far enough away.  Thanks for looking out for us.

Frosty,

The Mr. Volcano came as a kit we put together. The ceramic blanket I believe is something "new" and different that is supposed to be not as bad for you. It came with a Rigidizer and refractory that we completely covered the blanket including the ends. We also bought extra fire bricks we used to partly close off the end.

The rail anvil edges. How much do I need to round them? Can I just use an angel grinder for that?

 

Thank you all for the advice. My son and I are looking forward to spending time together on this new adventure of ours.

Glad to hear about the barrel. Might be helpful info to the others that come and look at your setup and progress that might not know. A lot of things are viewed by others and sometimes emulated by others without knowing details or possible risks. We want everyone here and that read these forums to have a long safe journey into the craft. 

Glad to hear you are starting your journey safely for you and your son. He will hopefully love it and treasure his time shared with you in it. 

56 minutes ago, Fish4evr said:

The rail anvil edges. How much do I need to round them? Can I just use an angel grinder for that?

You can use an angle grinder as far as the radius on the edge, I suggest several start with about 1/16 Th inch and go to around 1/4 inch. I thing there are some pictures of them in the Improvised Anvils section for an idea.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/52308-a-collection-of-improvised-anvils/

 

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

I have different radii on my anvil's edges, some almost none at all. A 1/8" radius is pretty large though larger are often used as fullers for drawing. I have some edge with less than 1/8" I use for setting down relatively deep steps but for the most part a rounded edge makes it much less likely pieces will break.

The nice thing about an end mounted RR rail anvil is all the different shapes you can grind in the flange and web. The web is generally thicker so makes good fullers. The flanges taper, thicker at the web and thinner at the edges giving you many choices for bottom tools. Hardies, butchers, fullers, ball swages, round swages, etc. 

Don't get in a hurry to grind all the things you think you'll need until you've spent some time working on it and know what you can use. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Good Morning Fish,

Don't ask for permission to Start, Just Start!!  Changes will become apparent as you progress!! Don't be afraid of making mistakes as long as you or the structure doesn't get hurt.  Work with PPE, Hear protection, Look protection, surroundings protection!! There is no wrong shape for your Anvil, as Charles shows. It doesn't have to be done before you start, Start and you will Learn Why and How..

Enjoy the Journey.

Neil

Hate to see you catch that on fire. Hay fires aint no joke, look what Ms. O'Leary's cow did. When i get done for the day i will go sit on my porch for a couple hours with my shop open just to make sure nothing is burning. But i also burn coal.

I would also throw a piece of ply board over that hole. I know i would fall into it. 

"S" hooks are great things to start with and even keep doing. A lot of blacksmithing is making hooks. Even scrolls are really hooks just fancy. Also hooks you can make simple or really ornate. I made some coat hooks a while back that were a simple "J" hook but had scrolls off the sides. I guess a French Baroque kind of design. But still just a bunch of hooks in different positions made from different sized stock. 

You can make a simple bending jig by bending a piece of stock, i would suggest at least 1/2", into a "U" shape to hold in the vice to bend your hooks with. 

On 10/20/2024 at 10:01 PM, Fish4evr said:

I thought it was far enough away.

I used to light my gas forge with a spliff of newsprint and a lighter.  Had a canvas bag of old newspaper hung up a good 10' away from the forge and around 15' from my anvil.  one day after forging I still smelt something burning and found smoke rising up out of the bag.  A small piece of hot scale had rocketed across the room and dropped into the bag.  Glad I caught that.  Have heard of too many shop fires, and now try to keep even more vigilant.

Looks like a sweet setup!
Those tall metal walls will be nice to keep the wind off y’all! 

looks like you got most all the bases covered 

The only thing I see missing that you’ll probably want to grab before to long is a Vise,

It’s not necessary for S hooks or a lot of other things but that would help out with some projects moving forward, 

if you can’t find a post vise right away then you can always use a bench vise for lighter projects and make some jaw inserts so the grips don’t mark your work, 

The only thing is bench vises aren’t designed for the hammer shock like a post vise so i wouldn’t be swinging a sledgehammer at it but should be good enough for working with 1/4” and 3/8” and 1/2” stock without any damage 

I light my forge one of two ways, with my butane soldering torch or with a bit of paper / cloth / string, etc.  wedged in a hair pin bend in an old coat hanger. I keep the torch, bit of paper especially on the far side of the burner so any coals get blown farther into the forge instead of out of it. 

Frosty The Lucky.

This is a general question for the propane users: is it fine to have the tank on the ground, or is there concern of dropped/flying metal landing against it?  I use coal (mostly from an irrational fear of propane).

It's a concern you can mitigate easily enough. Make sure the hose is NOT in the line of traffic and is NOT over or close to the openings in the forge. The tanks themselves are pretty tough, you can't shoot a hole in one with any but the crazy overpowered handguns available. Still you don't want to drop heavy stock on it, especially the regulator and hose so putting it under something is a good idea. Again without the hose stretching across where someone MIGHT try and walk, lean stock, etc.

Braided stainless steel propane hose is extra protection against cuts or abrasion damaging the hose and is a reasonable bit of extra precaution. I've never used it and my hose is probably 25-30 years old and doesn't leak. 

I use a 100lb. 25gal. propane tank, it stands close enough to a "cool" side of my forge nobody even thinks about walking between them so the hose can just hang there and it puts the regulator and gauge close to eye level. I YELL at anybody who even looks like they're thinking about leaning something against the forge next to the tank. Don't be bashful!

If your shop is well ventilated enough to use a propane forge you don't have to worry about a propane leak and fire. Propane smells strongly, you won't miss it. It's a reasonable precaution to brush a LITTLE soapy water on the connections to check for leaks, you can even buy bubbly stuff specifically made for it but a little dish soap and water has worked for since before the turn of the last century. No need to check every time, checking when you disconnect or add something to the propane circuit is plenty good. 

Do NOT crank hard when you put the regulator on the propane tank! The seats on ANY propane tank fitting have a LOT of surface, actually wedge slightly and are polished for precision mating. If you over tighten them it mars the seats and will make the joint leak so you'll HAVE TO crank hard to make it stop. This means your male (regulator) fitting WILL mar any tank you put it on making that one leak too. 

Snug is good, I give a 10" crescent wrench a light bump with my hand. Keep an eye on the guy filling your tank, they tend to overtighten the connection, if your regulator does NOT leak do NOT LET THEM or it will. Checking with soapy water is a good precaution when you hook your regulator up, especially if it's a new or exchange tank.

Hope that helps.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Frosty; good information. 

You're welcome, my pleasure. Same advice for closing the tank valve, cranking them off too hard mars the seats and causes them to leak unless you crank hard on them. Snug hard should be plenty. And no as in NEVER EVER oil any of the propane circuit, not the valve on the tank, not the threads, couplings on the regulator, hose burner valve nothing. No oil EVER!

If you want to build your own burner give me a shout or Mikey, or . . . there are a few of us here who make good effective burners.

Frosty The Lucky.

Looks like a good start; I've got nothing useful to add to the above, so I'll lightly kibitz. The line about "to hit with and to hold" cracked me up. The phrasing just struck me as a remarkably apropos wedding vow (my latest wife being a redhead that plays to the stereotype)..

22 hours ago, Frosty said:

little dish soap and water has worked for since before the turn of the last century

Frosty, the turn of the century was only 24 years ago. 

You can buy slip on heat shielding or heat shielding tape that is made for cars and wrap the hose in. When i ran propane that is what i did. 2 things i do not like working with, flammable gas and electricity. So it may have been an overabundance of caution but and once of prevention is worth pound of cure.  

Okay, I guess I'll have to start saying, the turn of the previous, or century before last? The late 19th. century sounds kind of pretentious to me but what they hey. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah, i was just poking fun, that is what my daughter says to me when ever i say turn of the century.

WELL! Consider yourself retro-poked. 

You should see how different cultures in different centuries write dates and name centuries. Liking paleontology, anthropology and ancient history has me reading stuff by authors trying to impress others. Sometimes I think it's to get published without actually saying anything new. It keeps your mind flexible but sometimes I think mine's become silly putty.

Frosty The Lucky.

We've been busy preping for winter, cutting firewood, winterizing the garden ect. But managed to squeeze in some shop time today. Made some horseshoe S hooks.