Me and the other half did a forging experience day at the weekend and absolutely loved it. So much that we want to more of it and considering some small equipment at home.
Anyone have any knowledge of kits for home/garage use? There's a few small furnaces for forging on ebay but the price of Anvils 8s shocking. Why so much? We were expecting maybe £30 for a suitavly sized anvil but they are hundreds. Anyone know of where I could buy one for less than £50?
If you happen to be in Scotland and near a railway line on a hill side/on an embankment.
Wander along the fence lines. There will be lumps of rail everywhere that you can use. Then you realise how much steel weighs and why anvils cost so much and start looking for a smaller lump of rail.
We used to have a short section of railway track in the workshop for hammering things over. Worked ok. If you really want an anvil try Acme, I think they deliver
A 25kg barbell weight costs £64.99 at strengthshop.com and I imagine an anvil is considerably more weight than that (googling "how heavy is am anvil" suggest this is the case!).
Lots of heavy steel costs money. Especially if you want it posted to you!
Railway sections are a good idea. Scotland a bit far for us though.
I do a bit of smithing in the garage.
The catalyst for me was finding the Anvil! Any anvil under £300 is worth snapping up (assuming the top is in good shape, some people still think that a dead anvil is still worth ££££), their prices have gone up a little recently, but they've been £200+ for many years. That said, a 'proper' anvil is not needed - nice, but not 100% necessary. any large mass of steel will do. I've even seen large sledge hammers heads set in a large oak stump used to good effect.
What do you want to make? Have you priced up fuel? I have a propane forge and it can use a fair amount of fuel, but it's neat and convenient, coal forges can create a right mess, and unless you live in the middle of nowhere, won't make you popular.
A few hammers, tongs, angle grinder. After that you'll figure out what you need.
But, like I said, what do you want to make?
What do you want to make? Have you priced up fuel? I have a propane forge and it can use a fair amount of fuel, but it’s neat and convenient,
We would like to make small things like knives or small ornaments. A propane forge would be ideal. We have a propane bbq so can always get another tank.
Which forge do you have?
Already have a range of hammers bit not got tongs yet.
Already have a range of hammers bit not got tongs yet.
You're not currently at it hammer and tongs then?
I've got a twin burner 'Devils Forge' they're inexpensive, but actually have very good burners - avoid all the cheap copies. I can get through a full 19KG bottle in a day if I try...
Good knives require very little forging really, it's all in the finish.
This is good advice;
Railway sections are a good idea. Scotland a bit far for us though.
It's only because there are alot of remit railway lines in Scotland and you can walk wherever you like.
Next time I'm inspecting bridges I'll keep an eye out I think I have enough doorstops now.
I have made a forge with 5 breeze blocks (one on the bottom to avoid burning the patio), an old length of stainless vaccuum cleaner pipe, with holes drilled in it to let the air exit the full length of the forge, and my daughters old hairdryer ducktaped to it. Gets steel to slippery heat when using anthracite beans.
Have seen that old forklift tines and train track cut up make good anvils, especially where the trains have work hardened and flattened the tops with use.
If just making something small, a sledge hammer head can suffice , just remember to hit the hard faces not the soft sides for proper anvil effect.
An anvil is just a mass with a hardened top, nothing fancy. Remember if youre buying one to take a ball bearing and a 12" rule with you to check for rebound off the hardened face. Just stand the rule up and drop the bearing from its full height. Cant quite remember the figure but its something like 60% minimum rebound is a good anvil. Avoid cast iron, they will just fail in use.
Does anyone forge at their house (in a residential area)? I always liked the idea of getting into forging myself but isn't it crazy noisy to be doing at your house (and renting a unit somewhere makes it prohibitively expensive)
I have made a forge with 5 breeze blocks…
Do you actually mean breeze blocks? As in concrete? If so, not a good idea as they can fail with a bang when heated, drop your fire on the floor and fling bits of block into the eyes of watching baby robins.
If you really want an anvil try Acme, I think they deliver
Can never read ACME without thinking ^^ 🙂
As said,railway line off cuts are very useful for battering and shaping things.
Yes, actual breeze blocks, stored in a dry shed for about 4 years so thered be no steam pressure building up and causing failure . Worked fine,used it to harden a few homemade knife blades and the like, but probably not ideal as a long term thing. You could always coat them with some kind of refractory cement or something like perlite concrete to insulate them from the worst of the heat if you liked. Plenty of videos on youtube showing how.
Does anyone forge at their house (in a residential area)?
I don’t, but a guy who lives 300+ metres away from us does, and I can always tell when he’s at it. To be fair, he only uses his forge which is at the end of his garden backing on to a quiet lane for one or two couple of hour sessions a week at the most. Some weeks he doesn’t use it at all and I don’t ever remember it being late during the evening or at weekends
OP - where did you do your 'experience'? My S-I-L does one in Grassington. He's very good.
This was in Hereforfshire. Was very fun. We made a fire poker and a knife with a few curly bits. I'd put some photos up but it's too complicated to do in here and never works.
The Railway track is a good idea to make an anvil if you can get some. There is a good YouTube video of making an anvil from a bit of old bit of track
I think this is a good YouTube channel https://youtube.com/c/TheArtofCraftsmanship
He makes some interesting stuff.
I have a load of equipment needed, forge, anvils, swage block etc. I just don't have spare time or garage space to use it all at the moment, one day I will hopefully have both the space and time to use it.
My basic setup is in my garage in my garden. nearest neighbours are 100ft away, but with the windows shut, the wife can't hear me in the house.
We nearly went to look at this property recently that has its own forge
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77454021#/media?channel=RES_BUY&id=media1
Op, have you watched Forged in Fire?
Several seasons, big following and loads of intetesting techniques 🙂
Yeah, big fan of Forged in Fire to - although sometimes the initial challenges are too convoluted and time-limited so it's not a great test of the best smith IMO. I probably also enjoy the blades failing in the tests more than I should...