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Post by acheron223 on Jul 4, 2017 5:10:50 GMT
As the title says I'm thinking of starting to forge a little bit. I want to know any tips or tricks I should know that you all are willing to share. I know the basics of how it works and will be forging by hand and with very basic tools (Basically a hammer an large flat rock as an anvil and a dug fire pit and quenching pit) Any tips about tools or technique at all please share!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2017 17:48:42 GMT
A rock makes for a cruddy anvil. It will break quickly. I recommend picking up a piece of railroad track. They're not hard to come by and are inexpensive.
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Post by acheron223 on Jul 4, 2017 19:41:04 GMT
Any suggestion on where to find one?
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Post by legacyofthesword on Jul 5, 2017 2:59:40 GMT
Don't wait until you have the perfect setup before you get started. Obviously, make sure everything is safe (eye protection is essential, also make sure there's nothing flammable around your forging area, as you WILL drop the red-hot iron at one time or another), but if all you've got is a primitive setup, just go for it while you look around for more advanced stuff. All I have is a pair of normal pliers, a claw hammer, and two sledge hammers, a railroad track anvil, and a mini propane forge (plus leather gloves and safety goggles obviously). With just that, I've made some pretty decent knives. Do you have a grinder? An angle grinder or belt grinder is really helpful, but you can get along with hand files for the moment. A good thing to remember is this: you can't put back metal. Once you've made a dent, there's no way to get rid of it, so make sure you work the iron carefully.
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Post by acheron223 on Jul 5, 2017 3:06:17 GMT
My plan for heating is a firepit with a hairdryer as a blower at the moment and I'm pretty sure we have a grinder around somewhere
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Post by legacyofthesword on Jul 5, 2017 3:12:46 GMT
Sounds good: are you using coal? I used a shop-vac as the "bellows" on my first forge, which was made out of an old sink and firebricks. It worked great.
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Post by acheron223 on Jul 5, 2017 4:20:02 GMT
Until I can set up to make coal no sadly but we own a few acres of woods so I'll have plenty of wood for the fire.
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