Heres my little forging area along with some pictures of my anvil, and my remodeled coal forge. Today I forged out some spike knives, I'm new to this so I figured practicing was the best way to approach this hobby and so far I have made around 20 or so, thanks for all the help you guys offer,Godbless,Charlie

welcome to the Dark side....Check out knife chat Friday at 10pm Eastern time here ar IFI for more knive making info.

That is a handsome bunch. Do you twist the handles? Thanks for posting. You said, you're new to this. Be safe and have fun.

Good looking knives.

But I do have a question-Are you holding the spikes with the nippers pictured to the left of the knives? If so, how well do they hold them?

I've found that a set of tongs that really grip the spike well keeps them from going willy-nilly when I hit them hard, making my forging motions more productive. Also, I had a few times starting out when ill-gripped pieces went airborne. Not fun by any means. You don't want anything you are hammering on to turn or go side to side in the tongs. Bad ju-ju. A couple short pieces of 1/2 inch angle welded onto the jaws of your nippers would make a dandy set of RR spike tongs.

Keep hammering!!

Edited November 22, 200817 yr by keykeeper

I havent gotten my post vice set up yet but hopefully soon I will and get to twisting my handles before I start profiling the blade, Keykeeper thanks for the tip, I will definitely weld that up to my clippers, I cut a half inch off of each tip to hold the spikes and what you said would be perfect for the spikes, Thats what I love about this site everyone is always helping me out, THANKS!!! Godbless to all and have a great weekend, Charlie

Edited November 22, 200817 yr by R.C.Edmondson

No problem, just didn't want you to learn about flying orange hot steel like I did. Had a spike fly up in an arc, straight towards my chest. Grazed my shirt, burning it in the process. Luckily, a wise man told me when I first started, whenever something flies or drops, just get out of it's way quick. Changed my tongs, no more problems or loose hot projectile metal.

I hope you're working under an awning or something; the daylight can really screw with people's judgement of temperature. It may sound obvious, but a bit of shade can make all the difference, especially since carbon steel can be damaged with excessive heat.

Nice bit of practice work.

I just get the piece yellow to red hot and hammer, Its not really that complicated to me. I dont have a shade in the area so I just watch it close and hammer away.

Nice setup! I like the anvil, what kind is it?

i like it that set up looks kinda like mine its outside hopeing some day to get that polebarn built

The anvil is a Hay Budden, funny story behind it. I purchased a Hay Budden from a guy that had it advertised in a newspaper in Montgomery. He owned a shop and used it to remove the bondo off of his spatula, what a waste. I got their and it was covered in bondo, paid 100.00 dollars and got home and cleaned her up but the top wasnt as nice as I wanted so I contacted a Blacksmithing friend that collects anvils and he had one EXACTLY like mine that was in beautiful condition and traded me even, both weighed the same and all!! By the way if you ever looking on here Matt THANKS A MILLION!!!!! Godbless you man, I really appreciate it! I really like the anvil and will have it until the end which I hope is far away,LOL It weighs 168 lbs

I like the anvil stand. I've been looking to replace mine and that may do the trick. Since the saw mill where I work got stingy with their steel ( something to do with a poor market ) I have a problem getting the guys down there to make me anything.
Flying steel: I learned about that one early. I was holding an orange RR spike in Channel locks. I hit it and it came straight at my face. Thanks be to God that I have pretty fast reflexes. I felt the heat as it whizzed past my right ear. If I hadn't moved, it would have been between my eyes. I bought a set of rr spike tongs from Blacksmiths Depot shortly after that.