Blacksmithing General

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Milling this old track tomorrow for a anvil. Will post pics if thread is still around. Also got some spikes to tinker with. Should I mill a hardy hole? What size are they?

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I was thinking of buying this set. What would I still need to get in addition to this besides a hairdryer or something.

>>920608
Lokomo.
I don't know where you live but here on the old continent old Soviet states have good blacksmithing shit. There is still lots of stuff available as it wasn't that long ago they were used. Aren't as expensive. I bought an eastern block anvil for my friend who is a blacksmith. Was cheaper and as good as a lokomo....

>>9290906
Where did u find that set??!!

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>>920622

>>920622
Most hardies are 1 inch square from what I could tell, smallest you should go is 7/8 inch squared if you still wanna find tools that fit unmodified, even then you have to modify the one inches to fit those
>>920906
That looks good to me as a starter kit, but you won't have a horn for rounding if you wanna do more than blades or straight pieces, maybe you could buy a separate horn that I've seen on the internet don't know what it's called
>>920927
I live in the eastern U.S.A. can't really find much around me though, farm town with shittons of horses and not a single anvil for sale, so I have to pick out of those choices pretty much or drive far to get one in a neighboring state

California El Nino is coming up. Which is the dumber idea? Doing forge work indoors with respiratory protection, or doing forge work outdoors with a roof over my head? How can I do blacksmith work during El Nino?

>>920939
the head of the mill that machined that anvil is slightly out of tram and I really want to dial it in

>>921175
I know. I was frustrated while doing it but it's my father in law's machine and I didn't want to argue him. I'm happy with what I got though.

>>921194
I machined both my anvils the other day and draw filed them with some coarse emery paper which gave them a really nice consistent finish, also you might want to drill some holes on the underside so you can fix it down securely

>>921200
I definitely will. Also need to obtain a stump.

>>921200
Any pics?

>>920936
A local smith makes starter sets like that for 250 euros. I 'm thinking about getting one but I'm not sure if my neighbors will like me if I do.

>>920976
For starting that would probably be enough. By the time I want to make more than that I could always buy a real anvil.

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>>921256
before machining

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>>921256
after, the large red anvil was actually in pretty good condition but as I was doing the small one I thought I might as will give it a 15 thou pass and machine the casting marks off the back face and the drop next to the hirn

>>921296
The miniature looked like you had thrown your anvil in the forge...

>>921314
Wut

>>921357
he means that from the thumbnail pic, it looks like that anvil has just come out a kiln, glowing red

>>921358
It's the first thing I thought as well.

>>921298
Lol you posted this on Facebook the other day

Don't you people have facemills and flycutters? Lol.

Any good ways to get raw iron? I've seen an infographic about collecting big iron but I don't live near a river that I could do that in. Would walking around with a large shop magnet be enough to pick up rocks with enough iron content? Or should I stick to using scrap iron from files and nails and shit?

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>>923028
Meant bog iron but my phone auto corrected. Here's the infographic for those interested.

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>>923028
the important question is, what're you going to DO with it? Do you even know what to do with it?

What you get if you "stick to using scrap iron from files and nails and shit" is steel.

Bog iron, and iron ore, is not steel. its not even iron. its an ore, that you'd have to build a tuyere for, and smelt. And trust me, that's not a job like clicking a smelter in "skyrim". its back-breaking work, shovelling probably 1 to 1 1/2 tonnes of charcoal into a tuyere. once you have that, IF you get it right, you end up witha bloom, a spongey mass of iron, packed full of slag, and impurities which you'll have to beat for hours to squeeze all the shit out of it. its back-breaking, hard hard work, to end up with a substance this is in many ways, vastly inferior to a bar of mild.

There's also the important fact that steel =! iron, so files and things will all have radically different properties. wrought iron is very soft, ductile, but tears. steels are malleable, but harden, etc. Knowing What you're wanting, and what you're making, is half of knowing what material to use - even more so, when you're making the materials. I'm not exaggerating when I say that making your own is a fucking hard job, and not one for someone's first time. The harsh truth of it is, if you're asking those sorts of questions, you dont know enough, to do what you're wanting to ask yet.

asking that is sort of like trying to run before you can walk.

Outline what you want it for, what you think the reasoning is behind it, and I'll give you answers to some of your thoughts within the context of what you're doing.

>>923041
Honestly I'm just getting started and I guess the infographic led me to believe it was easier than I'd previously thought, I'm cleaning out space in my garage to store my equipment and I have some plans for a home made forge.
I'm aware of the didference in steel and iron but part of the question was for future reference and because a long term goal is to have a knife made from steel that I was involved in from beginning to end. Not necessarily as a tool but more as something that'll I made from beginning to end, even if it's inferior to production steel tool. I want to make knives and blades as a hobby, for my own satisfaction above everything else.

But I also want to make usable things like hatchets and shovels and the like, for which I'd use tool steel. But I guess I could also ask what the best way to source steel is. I'm got and strong and focused so I'm not worried about hard work and I certainly don't have the conception that it's just gonna be as simple as smacking some metal with a hammer.

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>>923042
ok, that sort of gives a better picture then. (hope you dont mind me being overly blunt.)

It is tough going - assuming you've got a good source of material, its no-where near as straightforward as just "make a little brick structure and put some charcoal in it".

you ideally really do need to have a damn good understanding of metallurgy to do it - well, that, or someone else who has done it to show you the ropes. Same goes with taking it from bloom to billet, that's a lot of work, and more importantly, a lot of practice you need to be able to work well with the hammer, and to learn forgewelding, for example if you're folding it.

So, as I say, walk before you run. start off with using modern steels, they're cheap and plentiful, learn to do shaping work in mild, learn HT methods if you're heading to bladesmithing with known set materials - in the US, try the New Jersey Steel Baron for carbon steels. trying to HT something you dont know the carbon content of is a trainwreck in progress. Learn to do HT right, using Parks' 55, thermocouples, a reliable heat method, all that. Dont dick around with a torch and eyeballing it into cooking oil, and expect to get repeatable, accurate results. Sure, that'll work for one or two, but if you're wanting to make stuff from raw irons, you have to get the experience working on making stuff with good consistent specification steels and you need to do it right, to know where problems could arise later on, when you're using a steel that is inconsistent.

Also, really, depends what you're doing. Decorative blacksmithing doesnt need 1095 steel, any more than decorating the wall isnt going to need finest hand-ground artist's pigments in a pressed linseed oil binder!

its those details which you need to learn, so you know what each project entails.

>>923042
I don't know much about blacksmithing, but tool steel seems like the wrong material for decorative shit. That stuff is really hard and strong. Its used because it is undamaged and maintains its shape under huge stress/pressure. I can't imagine hitting it with a hammer is the best way to shape it, and if you heat it or work it, it will just get harder...

>>923041
Legit you can make cruiceable steel with half the effort mang if you put in a little cash to buy a modern cruiceable... You can also make a cruiceable the old way. But i forgot how it was even made. Basically the cruiceable was one time use because it absorbed the slag into its self. Was pretty dank. 1lb bag of charcoal can melt 5lb of iron in 30 minutes. Its all about keeping that heat in! And MORE AIR.

I want to get into blacksmithing in my garage to make knifes and maybe some larger blades. Could anyone point me to a starting place? Somewhere i can learn abour what i need to get started and also techniques/methods. Thanks

>>923041
Tldr

I've worked as a slaughterman in the past and its sparked an interests in knifes. The next step is making one. Plenty of info online on how to make one, but I'm wanting to keep it nice and small. About how large do you need the forge to be for knives only?

Also, bare minimum gear, tongs hammer and anvil? What else?

>>923264
Big grinder or belt sander a large file sand paper. Drill of some sort. And a piece of flat stock.

Kniofe.

>>923266
Cool. Got all that other then the grinder. But that's ok.

Is there much of a difference between the fire blanket stuff and plaster of Paris?

>>923267
Plaster of paris needs to be mixed with dry sand... The key is getting the sand dry.

>inb4 hurdur you mix the plaster with water tho and then mix the sand in.

You dont need a grinder. Its an or thing. A grinder is good to have for cutting away the waste stock.

The most imporant thing is to make a cardstock pattern before you go hacking away at metal.. Other wise you will keep making autism knives. Basically knives that look like a retard made them becuase your just winging the design.

>>923264
minimum size of the forge is equal to the length of the intended cutting edge. This is because you need be able to heat treat the entire edge equally. Length of the handle does not matter, since that does not need to be hardened.

>>920608
>>sickness

>>923381
If you heat the whole length of the blade and leave the handle unheated, wouldn't there be a heat affected zone somewhere on the handle, thereby weakening it?

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This is my anvil and my favorite hammer. I modelled it after the antique Champion brand rounding hammers. Also made the handle.

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Here's some other stuff I've made that I had on hand.

>>925705
Holy shit lookit that tiny adorable anvil! Please tell me you have a tiny adorable hammer.

Where can the layman buy a tiny adorable anvil?

>>925712
I've attempted a hammer scale to the anvil several times but it's so small I have yet to get it right. As for the anvil, I made it so there's no way to get one exactly like mine, but I know some people who collect miniature anvils. Most are vintage paperweights they find in antique shops.

So, I'm looking for ways to make money so I can finally stop being a lame piece of shit. I figured I'd use some of my blacksmithing skills, but the market I'd like to go for is reenacting. What would reenactors want that would be hand-forged? I thought maybe arrowheads and such, but I don't know, honestly. I don't even know where to look to see what people would want. I thought about forging bayonets for muskets for American Civil War reenactors or something similar, but I don't know about that either.

Any thoughts?

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a little railroad spike knife I made

if you walk along rr tracks u can find spikes that have been kicked out...and they make good little knives

>>925727

Not really. They don't have the carbon to be hardenable. Easy enough to buy plain steel from hardware store and practice with that, same result.

>>925714
>>925712
they're often called "silversmiths' anvils".

>>925727

No. http://www.cartercrafts.com/carbon_myth.htm

Cool looking, but ultimately not acceptable knife steel.

>>925727
You sound like my grandpa. He's a bigmouth and a faggot.

>>921470
I have a fb friend that posts on /diy/?

Whats the best anvil hardness? Anything above 52? If it gets to hard doesn't it increase the chance it breaks the edges.

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>>920608
I did this as christmas present, but it really was just to try cutting the rod in four parts, it didnt went as good as expected, but in the end it is not that bad. Thestand should have been bigger, but I didnt leave enough rod to stretch it into the round rod.

now I have some plain electric welding small job af a chopped wood holder. but considering that i am merely starting with welding, it is a very nice training

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I'm going to give this a bump.
Brand new blacksmith here. I pretty much don't have shit to work with, but I've got a shop, a welder, and I've got ambition!
Can you guys recommend a decent chisel set for a poorfag?

>>927631
did you cut the rod with a zip disk before or with the torch when you were forming

>>927821
I cut it with hot chisel on the anvil. I must admit that as a first attempt, it would be probably better to cut it with angle grinder, but then I wouldnt learned shit about cutting it with chisels... aparendly th hardest thing is to go perfectly in the center on all four sides and cut equaly each time so the cuts meet in the center at the same time. Now I am making fireplace tool with handle done the same way, but this time the cut is inside the rod, so it is closed on each end, it was both easier and more difficult. will post result when its done during this week, maybe even monday.

>>927812
yes, download some literature and make them. forging is quite easy, great training for you and you will also learn about hardening and non hardening and shit. trust me, if you want to do blacksmithing, learn how to make your own tools, you will feel like a god

>>927812
>Can you guys recommend a decent chisel set for a poorfag?
Dude, just get some steel hex bar and make one. We went blacksmithing a bit for fun at welding school and it's the first thing we made.

Okay im reading some later comments on here and im a bit concerned..

Okay throughout history a lesser grade metal (lets use iron for an example) has been used as the main shape/bull of a tool and it of been forge welded to a piece of cruiceable steel for the working end..

So telling someone a railroad spike would be a shit tool and you should avoid at all cost is wrong.. A little bit of w2 steel cut offs and effort will get you awesome adzes.

>>927887
>Okay throughout history a lesser grade metal (lets use iron for an example) has been used as the main shape/bull of a tool and it of been forge welded to a piece of cruiceable steel for the working end..

the problem is, (virtually) no-one making railroad spike blades is forgewelding a scarf-jointed steel cutting edge in to them. the only people who are, are people who arent using a RR spike, but will use genuine wrought, etc.

and that sort of work is vastly more advanced, both in processes, and the technical know-how of how to do it, so those of us who do know how to scarf-weld wrought to higher carbon steel tend not to talk too much about it, simply as it confuses the issue for the vast majority of those playing around with RR spikes.

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/copper-prices-slightly-lower-as-selloffs-continue-1452257370
http://www.metalprices.com/p/CopperFreeChart
Where do you guys get your metals? Im looking for copper and tin but I keep getting jewed out of my money. Everywhere I go copper is sold for $10+ per lb. Halp

Been looking for some hobbies to learn new skills and make things with my hands.

I'm interested in blacksmithing but I live in a neighborhood in a suburban type area.

What are some ways I can limit the noise of banging metal in my back yard?

>>928102
Why? Who gives a shit about noise during the day. If anyone gives you shit, just pull your homemade buster sword on them.

>>928102
Having a properly mounted anvil makes the noise more thunky than high pitched ringing. it also has the benefit of making it less effort to work your metal. The act of making noise is you losing energy as it converts to sound. If for some reason you can't get it to mount right, attach big ass magnets under the horn and the backend to act as sound dampeners

I want to get into blacksmithing, but I am on a budget. I have a piece of old h-beam thats about 2 square foot on the top and is made of half inch steel. I also have various sizes of hammers. Will this be enough to try it? My main concern is the forge, how should I go about heating up the steel?

I don't have much in the way of money, but I have all the time in the world to build what I need.

>>928380
Keep an eye out on craigslist. For free tools and shit. Hammers and vice grips are nice to get. Loose drill bits. Especially large high speed steel 1/2" or bigger. (the silver ones) old bicycles from the 80s are good too. The pedal axles (almost everyone ive harvasted now..) are made of some really hard ass steel. Also steel frames are good for praticing forge welding! Heat.. Squish a section of pipe. Reheat to forge weld. Tap.. ??? Profit?

>>928532

My grandpa was a metal worker who did just about everything, so I have hammers ranging from a 13lbs sledge on a short handle to a tiny little hammer the size of a spoon.

unfortunately he died before I was old enough to learn anything from him. My main concern is a forge, would I have a large vein of clay in the creek, and was thinking of trying to fashion one out of clay and cinder blocks, I just don't know if it will hold up, or what to use as a blower.

>>928596

Brake Drum + Hair Dryer is the "typical" starter Forge. Even with just charcoal you can get it up to Forge Welding temperatures. About the only problem is size. There just isn't a lot of room to work with, in my experience. You can cut a couple of gaps in the walls of the drum so you can stick longer stock through, but that can take a long ass time, and you still can't work on too much at once.

>>928599

Would a coffee can forget work? Everywhere I look says use coal/charcoal, so I don't know if propane gets hot enough. I only am looking to make knives, so it's not like I need lots of space.

>>928691

Oh yeah, propane is definitely hot enough to forge with, and even hot enough to forge weld if you have the right set up. However from my (admittedly limited) experience propane takes much longer to heat stock up to working temperatures. On the other hand, it's also much easier to work with as coal/charcoal requires far more work just attending to the fire. Kinda a six of one half dozen of the other situation, but you also mentioned having more time than money, so you can make your own charcoal if you have the raw materials.

>>926254
Saw it in Blacksmithing for Beginners group

If there's black smithing is there also white smithing? What about nigger smithing?

>>928820

You could try just going and hitting them with hammers but they'll never form into anything useful.

If brass is made of copper and zinc, and pennies are made of copper and zinc, if your melt copper could you make brass?

>>928933
brass is made of copper and tin.

>>928933

Do not melt modern pennies! The zinc is deadly. Like, seriously deadly.

>>928965
That's bronze.
>>928933
Dunno if there would be enough copper for it to be called brass.

>>928990
this. dont play with zinc or you will die and it will be slow and you will have a lot of time to regret that stupid shit.

google zinc metal fume fever

and for those that are starting with blacksmithing, beware of zinc coated shit you pick up at the scrapyard. when you first heat it up, be ouside, not in the way of the smoke and wear at least half mask with apropriate filter

>>929029
I eat lead paint chips and roll around in asbestos dust while eating red meat.

Time to melt some zinc.

Always wanted to do Blacksmithing since I was little, 22 now and been watching some beginners knife making videos on yt. While it seems like a not too expensive hobby to get into, how long would it take to make a semi-decent knife or somesuch?

>>929086

I was told to expect to fail twice for every step.

>>929118
>fail twice for every step
please describe for me in detail, step by step, your first sexual experience

Tongs
Hammer
Chunk of railroad
Forge

Anything else needed to start up? Any recommendations as far as forges go?

>>929118
Oh okay, I mean that makes sense. Not sure if it's something to get into when you live in a remote bumfuck nowhere area though.

>>929029
Then how the hell is brass made then? Did the blacksmiths who made brass a millenia ago have magical gas masks and factories up their ass?

>>930261
> INB4 sarcasm

I built a forge but I cant seem to keep the fire up for very long. I have oil, cardboard, wood, coal, and coke. I can only keep the fire up for a maximum of 3 mins. Is it because I'm using the wrong fluid on the coal or something?

>>929029
>pawpawwilson Article

Oh man, that's some sad shit. I remember reading that a long time ago. Now his whole website is gone. How sad.

>>930297


What seems to be your problem, it ignites and goes out or you a burning off your oil before you coal/wood catches up?

Build a plain wood fire, then once you get it going well add the coal. Building a fire isn't hard.

>>930261
>Did the blacksmiths who made brass a millenia ago have magical gas masks and factories up their ass?

no, but they used a different conversion process which makes Latten, not brass.

the process is similar but released less vapour, and even then, it usually was pretty fucking harmful.

just like they boiled mercury off when gilding, and thought that pills of antimony were a good thing to eat.

>>930307
exactly that. His sad example convinced me into following strictly protection rules even before I got into smithing more often. I didnt know the site is down. It was touching.

I use half mask, goggles (those that go around your eyes and touch the skin), ear muffs

I use fume extractor when welding or sanding and when it is not -15C like nowadays, also open windows and or doors.

great thing is, that I dont have my lungs and nose filled with coal dust or sanding dust of all kind. It helped a lot to get rid of smoking habit completely as you cant smoke with the mask.

>>930261
another thing is that they often worked in well ventilated workshops. But the life expectancy was poor anyways due to many many reasons.

>>930317
After I add the coal it just puts out a big patch of the fire. Is the coal supposed to catch on fire? I even tried to get fluid on the coal but it just puts out a patch of the fire.

>>930596

Coal, doesn't instantly blaze like old dry newspaper.

It takes a minute or five. Then it just kinda sits there slowly getting hotter and after its peak heat it takes forever to get back to room temperature. Which is why people love it for tons of applications.

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How do you think the brass cartridges of 1800 and 1700 were made before big industry? Did blacksmiths hammer brass tubes out by hand, drilled flash holes and swagged to size or something?

>>930686
I thought brass cartridges weren't really used until the end of the 19th century.

>>930691
mid 1800's actually

>>930686
Your ignorance frustrates me.

>>930726
Then enlighten us on how much you know about metal cartridges.

>>930732
Not that guy, but yes, mid 1800's. They may not have been produced by what we consider "big industry," but it was still industry. Pretty sure they were swaged/drawn from a blank, pretty much like they are today; easiest way to produce something like a cartridge case. I'm sure their QC wasn't what ours is today, but with black powder they didn't have to deal with the pressures that we do today, either.

Long story short, they weren't made by a blacksmith, they were produced in a "factory."

How can I tell if metal is galvanized?

>>930997

Heat it up, if you die it's galvanized.

Alternatively you could just look at it.

>>931189
Kekd

>>928820
There is white smithing. Usually tin smithing

>>928820
blacksmithing=iron, steel
whitesmith/tinsmith=tin
yellowsmith=gold
redsmith=copper
silversmith
gunsmith
locksmith


one smith, two smith, redsmith, bluesmith

What can I use as a stable base for my incoming railroad piece anvil?

I'm 6'6" so I need something that'll come up around my waist at least, to avoid back problems.

Any suggestions?

>>931889
Your mom's fat ass would make a good support that should rise to waist level.

>>931889
I'm looking for similar , though I may end up with part of a trailer frame , railroad, or a 25-50 lb plate weight to use as my striking surface

>>931788
I've never heard of yellow/redsmith for goldsmith and coppersmiths though !

>>931889
What you need is something that will have the striking surface rest between the your knuckles and wrist when stand straight up so you don't blow out your elbow.

>>931788
Will Smith!

>>931889 Here, would some stacked up cinderblocks make a good base?

>>932300
Have you ever hit a cinder block with a hammer? They explode dude. He needs like a huge tree stump bolted to the floor and the anvil bolted to that

>>932304
if anon set them upright and properly reinforced them with concrete and rebar they would make a heavy weight and sturdy enough stand

>>932424
Or he could just not do all that work and use a slab of tree

Who here makes their own tools, like hammers and anvil hardies or more complex stuff

>>932012
Will Will Smith Smith? Yes, Will Smith will Smith.

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Smith bros, I'm a runescape nerd, and I am sure I will catch some hell for this, but approximately how much do you reckon having a genuine Zamorak godsword commissioned would set me back? I am thinking how cool it would be to have one.

Alternatively, since it's purely decorative, and I am not completely useless with my hands, do you think it would be easier/cheaper to cut one from plate steel and do the work myself (I'm a woodworker, so metal is kinda a foreign idea to me, but I could probably figure it out)

Ideally I would want it to be about 4 foot long, but I am also toying with the idea of making/buying the full set with them being no more than 18 inches in length.

Pic related

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>>934501
well, as a professional bladesmith, I'd expect to ask about £1,500 minimum for a handmade sword that's right out of a museum, more often I ask 2-2.5k .

for something with that much detail (ie, twiddly shit all over the place rather than the smooth, clean shapes you'd expect on a blade) a lot more of the blade would have to be hand-worked, taking a lot longer. I'd expect to have to do lostwax castings on pommel and the crossguard and have those cast in bronze, but to be honest, the cross is so large, it'd be bigger than any casting I've ever done and would have to be outsourced to a commercial bronze-casting foundry.
The whole blade being blacked would require blacking chemicals and a tank big enough for the blade, which is serious investment for a one-off - I'd never do a blade that big, all blacked, again, I expect. The red, I'd have to think about. maybe a Japanese lacquer, or if you're not overly concerned with material choice, airbrushed automotive lacquers.

Then there's the fact its copyrighted so I couldn't advertise it on my business site without risk of copyright infringement, so I'd have to do it knowing I'd get no formal advertising from it...

So I'd say a finalised quote would be about £3,500, to 4,000 depending on how complex that hilt and crossguard would be to cast up.

18-inch versions, I'd say perhaps £1,000 each.

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>>934613
and as an indication of some of the stages a blade like that might entail, here's a series of photos from a friend of mine, when he was making a bronze sword last year - one significantly more expensive than just £3.5 - £4K...

sort of gives you an indication of the level of complexity that it takes to produce something like this properly.

http://imgur.com/a/jQCwK

>>931889
Stump. I use a stump from an old salt cedar

>>934618

Well it looks like I an gonna go buy some sheet metal and a few new grinder discs.

>>934729
Please post the abortion of the sword you create

>>934750
its probably cruel of me (I'm the bladesmith who gave that quote)... but I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh at it.

people seem to forget that if I'm asking a load of cash, you're not paying for 1kg of steel and leather - that costs £50. what you're paying for is the tens of thousands of hours of skill experience, and the thousands in equipment that isnt an angle grinder, to do the job right, and my income for while I make it.

>>934857
It's like custom knives dude. People don't understand it's not 1 dollar an hour China tier minimum wage to build a knife

>>934922
No, it's €0/hour to pay a robot in Germany to do it.

Robots make better knives than humans do, and knives make crap vanity purchases because you have to tell people why they're supposed to be impressed.

>>934924
What?

Yeah I guess they do but your never going to have a robot build a knife from file, fish hooks, or cable and turn it into Mastercraft art.

They are limited by their tooling

>>934924
Also be it's not 0 an hour. The robot cost is easily more than normal human pay till you turn a profit on blades if you're lucky.

What would I need to get in the blacksmithing trade?

>>935067
A time machine.

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Farrier here, just finished a horseshoeing contest. Got third overall and and second in the draft horseshoe making. Pic related is second place

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This the hind end of the other shoe. The stock is 18" of 1 1/4 x 1/2.

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>>935115
Absolute kek

>>935191
Farrier bro how do you like your job? I've always wondered what it's like to have to wrestle with a big dumb horse everyday, especially those little pony fucks.

>>925726
/k/ cross poster detected.
Post the rest of your edc mate

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Pic related, my current project

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>>936202

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>>936203
19 inch overall length and blade length of 14 inches

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>>936205
I screwed up the surface grinding using a disc but a think I'll keep it that way cause it looks a bit like flamed maple.
I should also add that it's 1/4 inch black rolled steel plate

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What are the best ways to find out information behind a phone number. I would like to do detective type work, and all I have to start is a phone number.

>>936208
so, what, like carbon steel that you get at home depot or menards?

>>935928
Well some horses are cunts but for the most part they're all good. As long as you like horses it'll never really feel like work. I made like 760 dollars today so at least its financially rewarding when you run into a shit horse

>>936271
It's some kind of generic tool steel. Blacked rolled steel is a generic tool steel. I got it from a metal warehouse in Florida. As far as I can tell it's tough stuff, it fucking eats grinding belts and throws hell's fire worth of sparks. I'm going to put a copper spine and guard on it and use ironwood for the handle.

I'm basically just taking advice on steels from my grandpa because he's been a smithy for the past 45 years. But anyways, I like the musso Bowie and am doing a cross between that and the Natchez Bowie.

>>922985
That's nice

>>923028
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlvPnE0o7x4

>>936766
And people say being a farrier is a bad financial decision, I also assume you are buff as hell

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So is this a good design for a forge. Just threw this together in paint while at work.

curious i f anyone here makes their own g10, or aluminum scales for knives, im trying to find somewhere to by some bt have had no luck

>>937085
or if someone knows a place that sells them looking for some for a paramilitary2 and a tenacious maybe a few others

18yo noob here, I've been into this kinda stuff since I was a child and I know I still have a while to go before I can start smithing (last I checked not many colleges have a forge on campus) but how much should one expect to spend on the basic stuff? I'm talking like a good anvil, hammers, vices, tongs, just things to make hooks and knives and then move up to bigger and more intricate stuff later.

>>937334
There is an option to start off cheap by using railroad track as anvil and inexpensive tools. A good anvil will run you over at least a grand unless you buy used ($3/lb) which still makes the starting cost a bit more than cheap( also don't buy cast iron anvils, those are cheap but suck balls). Vices are kinda expensive anything really good is going to be over 100, but you can get a harbor freight special for less. you don't have to get special tongs anything that can grab the metal securely without melting your hand is good. Hammers can be cheap or expensive, cheap will work fine for starting off and probably for most of the work you will be doing, once you get specialty stuff that's when it gets expensive. When you get to that point you could probably make your own.

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First "knife" ever, started blacksmithing last week.

>>937639
actually kinda cool, very mad max.


anyone past the smashing shitty metal with a hammer to make something knife shaped stage browsing this?..

For the love of god I want to get an Adze [flat] and froe made.. I've tried to find people locally. [anyone in CFL?] to maybe trade work or what ever.

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I didn't use a forge but heres my first knife.

Just a little polishing left to do.

>>938343
on a side note, I just inherited a some wood from my grandfather and a small piece of this was in the stack. I love it and want more.

Anyone know what this is called?

>>938343
not a bad first knife there anon.

how did you do the heat treat?

>>938358
Thanks man, I'm actually pretty proud of it.

As for the heat treat, I made a furnace out of an old heating element and then after heating quenched the blade in canola oil.

I just used a small oven at 300f for the tempering since I don't have a way to control the furnace temp yet.

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Made this ugly piece of shit yesterday for shits and giggles.
p-pls be gentle, it was my second time blacksmithing and I made it in about an hour

Gonna try making a pair of tongs next week if I have some free time at school.

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>>938374
can you arm my horde of uruk hai?

What are main differencies and things focus in forging low-carbon and high-carbon steel

>>937441
Thanks for the input, where would I have good luck finding a used anvil? Local CL doesn't have anything and almost everything on ebay is pickup only, which wouldn't be so much of a problem if they weren't on the other side of the country (west coast here, kill me now).

>>938556
Ask around farming communities or areas with horses, farriers might be able to help you out. You might get a farrier anvil which is less useful for general blacksmithing but ultimately if you want an anvil that badly, you can use it. Another avenue is to find a large excavator pin from a scrap yard or a auto wreck salvage, it has a nice fairly large flat face and a very hard surface

>>925724
I would say bayonets would likely be the best seller. I can't say I know much about arrows during the civil war era, but I'm sure you could cast some 'authentic' ball ammo in a pouch to perfect their costume.

>>937026
Only cause I go to the gym as well, my brother is 5" 11 155 pounds and he's a better farrier than I am. Strength only does so much, its almost all skill

Where is the best place to take classes for this, east coast here, all the good classes and official schools are all on the west coast, most of the stuff here is like 2 day workshops

>>923093
I believe the word you are looking for is crucible.

>>940281
penland in nc has good classes. they are expensive.

anybody know if making custom wrought iron fences and gates has potential as an actual business in the northeast?

>>940394
Sure it has potential, I've been researching that too. It seems to me like rich people would really like authentic wrought iron fences just cause they can say I had a man with big forearms and an anvil hand make it for me. that's actually why I was looking for classes desu, structural and decorative ironworking.

>>940394
Buffalofag here. A lot of the older homes in the city and estates on the lake have wrought iron fences. Many are dilapidated and falling apart. Could see someone spending some money on a new one.