im looking for something to make with a homemade gas forge any ideas 

Hooks.  Lots 'o hooks.  S hooks, J hooks.

Hooks and hangers are great practice items. Bottle openers too, you need to make and use a punch. Punching holes is fun, for me anyways

Good Morning Jimmy,

Making any kind/size of S-Hook is good warm-up exercise. While you are warming up you may think of something else to make. Hooks are great for hanging anything, there even was Kid's, Toy Monkeys that hooked together. You can try different shapes and features, none are incorrect.

Make your own 'Idea Book'. See something interesting, put it in your 'Idea Book'

Neil

Hooks, leaves,  bottle opener,  steak flippers, to work on learning how draw out metal.   Those are all great basics that will teach you how to use your anvil.   I also agree with Rojo about making a punch, but I'll go a step further and suggest a drift and a ball punch as well.  Those three tools can help you make so many others. 

Make a nail header and  hake half a dozen as a warm up every session. Heading a nail is one type of upsetting and upsetting is a valuable skill.

Frosty The Lucky.

All of these already said are good ideas. 

But you need to narrow down what you're speaking of. The fundamental techniques in most of blacksmithing can be listed as: drawing out, upsetting, twisting, bending, punching, spreading [fullering] and attaching. These seven fundamentals (you may choose to number them differently, or add some specific techniques - the other experts will weigh in) should be worked on intentionally until they become second nature. Yet, most projects combine some features. So, let's look at each one and see what projects use these predominantly (and whether there are multiple fundamentals at work). 

1. Drawing Out. 

This is the process of reducing the cross section of a piece of metal in order to gain length. It can be done by reducing the cross section equally, as in a square or round taper, or in one direction only, as in a chisel taper. The volume of the piece remains largely the same, minus scale loss. 

Most project will begin with this technique. 

Projects to practice drawing out: 

1. "S" hook - two long tapers on a bar, then scrolled and bent. 

2. Drive Hook - this has a built in nail. Two tapers, one round and one square, then scrolling and bending for the round taper, and making a right angle bend for the square taper to hammer into a pre-drilled hole in a beam. 

3. "J" hook - This can combine drawing out for the hook end (with scrolling and bending) and spreading, fullering, punching etc. Or you can flatten the end (spreading) and drill a hole. 

4. Steak flipper - This one is a good practice in drawing out large amounts of material. Most I have seen start from 3/4" round or from Railroad Spikes.

5. Fire Tool - This poker has a long drawn out point with a small 90 degree bend at the last 1/4". It is inserted into the gas forge to check the temp of pieces getting up to welding temp. If it sticks gently, the piece is ready to weld. 

6. Tong Rein Blank - drawing out creates good blanks for tong reins. You can keep a good amount of mass on one end, and gradually taper down to rein size. This makes it easier to make finished tongs when you go to do it. 

7. Nails - these are a taper with an upset head. 

 

2. Upsetting

Upsetting is the technique whereby you gain mass and cross section by forcing the material from the bar back into itself. It grows the cross section while reducing length. This is used when it is impractical to draw out the remainder of a bar. I.e. when only one small part needs to be larger than the rest. 

1. Balls on the end of a hook are upset first to gain mass.

2. Square Corners (a good exercise in upsetting, useful in many applications)

3. Hardy tools, anvil tools (upset into a portable block or into a swage block to prevent damage to the hardy hole) 

4. Nails

5. Sections of bars to be welded are upset. 

6. Table Legs - try upsetting 1" square bar to 2" square. It is a fun project that helps learn how to manage deformation. 

7. Spoon - Uses upsetting, flattening, spreading, dishing (bending on the flat) - good beginner project and useful if forge welding. 

 

3. Twisting

Any stock with two perpendicular sides can be twisted. There are many different types of twists, and mostly serve a decorative function. I will not give separate projects that will help with this - try and incorporate a twist into any project that might use rectangular or square stock. 

4. Bending

Bending is a simple operation whereby you take a straight section of stock and curve it. A variation of this is to make a helical section by bending it on two planes. This is useful in many operations. 

1. Scroll forms - creating your own forms for scrolls is a good practice for understanding how the material moves. 

2. Rings - large or small rings are a good test to ensure you can consistently form a circle. 

3. Flat rings - this is done on flat stock the hard way (on the narrow cross section) and is a good start to many projects

4. Trivets - good use of bending, can be done with punching, riveting, welding and more 

5. Hold Fast - a useful tool that requires a precise bend to work well

6. Simple bending forks (U shaped) - fits in a vise

7. Spring Fuller - handheld tool that uses flattening and bending as its primary processes. Can be done from a single piece.

 

5. Punching

Punching moves material away and pushes a small plug out of a hole. It is done hot, and there is much written about it. Slitting and slot punching is similar. They are used in a variety of projects. Remember to always size your punch smaller than your rivets and drift to size. 

Because punching can be used in many different projects, I will not cover it in length. My recommendation is to make some things with 'traditional' joinery, like a mortise and tenon joint or a riveted joint, using punching and drifting to size. 

 

6. Spreading

 

This process involves moving the material to widen it rather than lengthen it. It is usually done with fullers, of which the pein of the hammer is one. 

1. Chisels - wide end, flared at the end

2. Hardy - chisel with a shank for hot cutting material

3. Shoe horn - this is a great project that can combine lots of different processes. 

4. Knife - uses a fair amount of spreading. Don't expect it to be pretty first time around! 

5. Spoon - see above

 

7. Attaching

This can be welding, forge welding, bolts, rivets, mortise and tenon. 

Used in conjunction with many of the projects above. 

 

 

The goal is not to just make projects, but to practice skills until you can make any project. If you need to practice specific skills, find a project that involves that skill and practice. Get good at it. Repetition is key. 

 

thank you all for the ideas