"Backyard Blacksmithing" pounding iron on the forge this evening!

That would save ya some

 

Well it won’t be easy he is a horder of a different sort but we shall see.

 

I obviously can't speak for him, but I'd be very happy to see it used, and kept in the family.

But that's me.

 

X2

 

I agree. I have a large family and sometings that were passed down to others were not taken care of. I know he is upset about it. If I show him that I have interest and the means to not let the stuff go to waste I’m sure he will part with it.

 

Warner, if you think you want to get more forging in between classes, all you need is a ball peen hammer, mapp torch, some mild steel and a solid chunk of steel for an anvil. A small set up will get you plenty of practice. A good chunk of cut off steel, a piece of railroad track or forklift tine. Check out soup can forges on Youtube. Sure, you'll go through some tanks of fuel over a few weeks, but it is a great place to start. I took one intro class and figured the rest at home. I've made lots of mistakes and learned from them. It's a fun process when you finally get it.

 

Thanks for the tip. Is it possible to use a wood stove to heat? The wood beast usually has a belly full of hot coals.

 

You could, but the results would not be stellar. The pieces would have to soak in the coals longer and there would be longer wait between hammering. If you are making several hooks or something similar, you could leave stock in the stove and work them on a rotation so you always have hot pieces to work.

Not to mention repetitive bending over to a stove. Having the forge, anvil and vise at waist level is the most ideal.

 

Hinting at next years secret Santa gift are we?

 

All you tappers can get busy tapping!

 

fishingpol these nails are fun to play with!
Our last name as a test run, very rough test run but fun to play with! Did this with the torch, vise and scroll pliers. I brazed the “N” together, I will cut and weld when I make anything for real I think.

 

Right, try to taper out one nail for each letter. Maybe a lower case "n"? Bending the curves on the flat side is a little difficult. Get em good and bright orange and they will move where you need them. My anvil is cold in the shop, so the hot work gets sapped of heat pretty quickly making for more re-heats. Keep at it

My former co-worker stopped in last week at work and really loved the little "home" gift. I enjoyed hearing right from the recipient.

I have a good project for a customer, but time is really tight right now, and I have some thinking to do.

 

Nice!

 

sooo, your last name isn't Dirt?!?

 

Those letters look great, Joe!

 

Middle name....

 

Thanks for the tips!!! I thought about the cold anvil and the tiny pieces being hard to work. Especially right now at 15 degrees

 

Looks great Joe! The nice thing about working on small stuff is that it goes a lot quicker (heats up faster). I never think of doing small stuff, I should more often! Heck I always seem to do big stuff and the results don't come as quickly, that part can be frustrating!

 

So I finished the shop part of my first project. From here I will wire wheel and clean it up then put it to use. It was made from round 5/8” mild steel. Obviously i have some practicing to do...