Blacksmithing Help.

[Home Guard]

Hi,

I've been offered a small mobile forge. I've been interested in getting started in blacksmithing for quite some time.

The forge is a bit higher than waist height and has a foot bellow, apparently it is one of the ones issued during the first world war to farriers.

So I was wondering what else I would need?

I cant get hold of an anvil or a piece of railway track, but I do have an old square 56lb weight, would this do?

What would I burn in the forge?

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

 

[juttle]

What do you intend making? If you're into blade making, the 56lb weight might serve, but chances are it's cast iron and not really much use. e-bay is a fairly decent source of anvils, but they do get pricey. If it's only small stuff you're making, the biggest sledgehammer head you can find set in a bucket of concrete should do the trick, or get a pile of steel plate and weld it all together, the thicker the better. For big stuff though, there's really no substitute for a proper anvil, doesn't need to be huge, just needs to be cast steel or cast iron with a thick steel top welded on.

For fuel, lumpwood charcoal, not the brickette things, or forge beans. Both should be available from your local solid fuel merchant, if you're lucky enough to still have a living and functioning one! The charcoal you can probably find at your local garage or DIY store.

Other than that, all you need is a big hammer! Although, not really that big, you can do 99% of forging stuff with any 2lb hammer!

Best of luck!

 

[Home Guard]

Thanks Juttle.

I'm not a big fan of knife making, so I intend on making slightly bigger stuff. I aim to one day be able to make my own set of tongs.
In that case I'll make an anvill out of an old forklift tine. They're good steel.

Is the charcoal expensive?

 

[Paddytray]

The main problem you will most likely find with making larger stuff is the tempering after it's forged .
Have a look through this forum and the many others out there (shout if you need links)
There are also many ebooks to find via a simple google search . https://www.google.co.uk/#psj=1&q=blacksmithing+pdf+books&safe=off
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9798
and so on .
Good luck I'm learning myself and I've found you will find so much information via this site/forum

 

[Shovel]

For an anvil, a cast iron one will do fine temporarily if you weld a steel plate to the top. Craigslist may be a good option as well for equipment. For general information, there is no site I can recommend more than anvil fire.com

http://www.anvilfire.com/21centbs/anvils/making/

 

[juttle]

A forklift tine will do great if you have one, just weld as many bits as you can into the biggest lump you can and that'll do for an anvil, I doubt that you'll ever need anything bigger. Charcoal isn't expensive, B&Q do lumpwood in 10k bags at about £5.00, but that might be an end of season offer, but generally it's not expensive.

 

[Everything Mac]

Avoid using cast iron at all costs. A cast iron anvil is not worth your time or your money. It certainly isn't worth the effort to weld a steel plate onto it, and unless you're an expert welder, it won't weld very well anyway.

A fork lift tune would make a good anvil. And a sledge hammer head in a bucket if concrete will work well too.

All the best
andy

 

[ozzy1977]

Have a look at local farm sales and auctions, they come up almost weekly, but they normaly go for their scrap value, which is always rising

 

[tombear]

I had a quick look at the scanned copy of the Handbook of Military Artificers 1915 we did to save the wifes original and unfortunately I dont think it covers the smaller forges unless your bellows looks like this

Incidentally if anyone wants a e copy we scanned in the whole book, covers a wide range of crafts, blacksmithingh and what not.

ATB

Tom

 

[Paddytray]

Yes please tombear I would like a read if possible

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[tombear]

PM sent, Re the Handbook.

Yes please tombear I would like a read if possible

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[lannyman8]

I searched high and low for an anvil or suitable piece that i could use, i ended up with an " H " beam used to support roofs, it cost me $ 20 (my pound sign is broken), i then cut the 2 sides of the top, i use one as my portable anvil when forging in the woods and the other i welded to the top of the " H " beam making it bigger, the big bit is about 80-90 kg, rings like a bugger, but cost me nearly nout and does the job very well.

as for hammers get round the car boot, old peening hammers are great, club hammers work very well, but the handle might need to be replaced for some thing longer, you can even use a nornal nail claw hammer to start with.

for tongs get some old pliers and crush some pipe onto them for extended handles, or weld some rebar onto them, rebar is very handy and free from the scrap yard normally, or building sites, just go and ask...

that should get you started kit wise for very little money, for fuel use coke from the coal man, or you can use coal but it will need to be broken up into kidney bean size bits, just a little bigger is perfect, if you use coal it will need to be coked up before you use it to forge or all the crud burning off will damage the steel.

lots to take in but hope it has been of use, any questions just PM me.

regards.

chris.

 

[Paddytray]

Carboot sales are ace I picked up this lot for £5 .

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[Home Guard]

Well after a day forging I've made a few tool hooks for the side of the forge, a much needed coal rake thingy and several tyre levers.

As suggested, I used crushed up coal. I still havent got hold of an anvil yet so I have improvised with a 56 weight ratchet strapped to many large logs. It's working well.

I've been using the "hardie" chisel things with a handle on to cut the metal and that works surprisingly well too.

The forge itself is great, not bad for a free tool. It gets extremely hot and I've melted several work peices already.

Thanks for all the advice, keep it coming.

I'm going to spend the next week after work setting up an outdoor workbench for my leg vice which i was given too and a ratchet drill.