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Posted by Save Ferrous! on May 25, 2007, 7:36 am
Please log in for more thread options > Save Ferrous! wrote:
> > I'm fresh from my intro blacksmithing course at Peters Valley (http://
> >www.petersvalley.org/2007%20Workshops/blacksmithing2007_wrkshpschd.htm)
> > and the smithy bug has bitten deep. Thanks to the news group, I'll
> > shop around for a tiny farrier's forge (figure I'll only be beating on
> > rebar and whatever scraps I can find plus I'm in a tight neighborhood
> > with plenty of nosy/whiny neighbors) and I can probably get a good
> > section of train rail for a starter anvil. What I want to know is,
> > does anyone have a good source for new/used tools? And if so, what
> > tools should a beginner have? After taking the class, I figure that a
> > bare minimum is a good hammer, tongs, a vice and a hardie. Any
> > thoughts/suggestions are welcome.
>
> Instead of shopping around, why not build a small gas forge?
>
> For a cut off hardie, I use a section of old chevy spring welded fast
> and dirty to the side of a section of square that fits the hardie hole.
> Sharpen it from one side only, and you can cut off to leave a
> square(ish) shoulder, rather than having to rework the face. Cheap and
> disposable.
>
> Different strokes for different folks. I like to use a couple
> different hammers, for different things. I like a lighter hammer, and
> dislike spending a great deal of time swinging a 4 pound hammerhead
> around. I like doing lighter work, too. Once you figure out what length
> hammer handle you are comfortable with, cut the rest off. Saves
> listening to the sexual intellectuals that will tell you that you are
> supposed to grip it way out at the end and such. Put the end where works
> for you. Keep a couple spare handle blanks around for when you feel the
> need to change it up, too. Depending on what you do, you may wish a fair
> number of hammers. I watched one guy doing demo's with a five pound
> cross peen hammer. He was terrible, but insisted that you could not
> possibly do good work with any lighter. :-/
>
> A couple decent sets of tongs will cover a lot of ground. No need to
> go nuts, but at least one set of flat and one set of round jawed ones
> will do almost everything I feel like doing. A shitty pair of garage
> sale vice grips works wonders. Modifying the jaws is allowed too. :-)
>
> A cheap bench vise on a solid mount is far better than no vise.
> Replace the serrated jaws with some flat ones or grind down the faces so
> that they will grip without leaving honking great marks on the work.
> Make a couple twisting wrenches, or weld a handle onto a old crescent
> wrench to be able to use two handed. For that matter an old crescent
> wrench without an added handle will do a lot, too.
>
> A wooden hammer or a rawhide one (smelly) is good for beating twisted
> sections into line, without leaving hanner marks on the edges.
>
> Don't get tied in knots if you cannot find a huge anvil. You are going
> to be building smaller work anyways. Get as good an anvil as you can,
> but don't obsess about it. Use what you can get, it's better than not
> having one. You could treat yourself to a new cast steel one from
> Harbour Freight, if they still sell them.
>
> Get the Centaur Forge catalog, if only to have some prices to show the
> insurance company if the stuff is ripped off. (Does anyone actually pay
> that much?)
>
> A couple full lenght sticks of,say, 1/4, or 3/8 square stock are
> pretty cheap. A hacksaw is all you need to cut them up for to fit them
> into the trunk of a car, or to cart them home on a bus. Buy them from a
> steel suplier, if you can find one that will sell in small quantities,
> rather than paying the rates the hardware stores sell the stuff for.
>
> Borax from the grocery store is a pretty good welding flux. Anhydrous
> is better, but harder to get. You can burn the water out of regular
> borax and crush it up, but that cuts into the smithing time. :-)
>
> Garage sales and flea markets. Remember that good smithing tools do
> not have to start out as tools meant for smithing.
>
> Some thoughts, anyways.
>
> It's supposed to be fun! If it becomes unfun, why would you be doing it?
>
> Cheers
> Trevor Jones
Thanks for the advice, Fred and Trevor. I realize that blacksmithing
doesn't need to be a Williamsburg-grade reproduction of the village
smithy. Most of the major tools can be cobbled together from various
sources, but it seemed to me that tongs would be especially hard to
find a suitable replacement for. Vise grips seem way too short to be
useful, especially since I'll be working with short pieces of what-
have-you.
Trevor, I really do like the idea of building my own forge (it appeals
to the computer-modding geek in me), but where to find plans,
materials and the like? Most of my home built projects are pedestrian
at best and I don't want the thing raining chunks of hot metal all
over the backyard. I've never heard of things like Kawool until I
joined this group. Dick Sargent, my instructor at Peters Valley, told
me about a guy who builds his own small forges (4" by 4" by 9"). This
seems more than suitable for a weekend galoot like me.
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