Anyone into a bit of blacksmithing as a hobby?

[ErnieB]

On 07/12/2015 at 18:41, Mike Dempsey said:

Gas forges seem to be reasonably easy to get hold of as a lot of schools had them and no longer use them. I was offered one a few months ago but turned it down as I dont have enough room in the workshop. Thats not to say I wouldnt fancy having a go as I did welding at night school for a year and have done milling, turning and grinding at day release classes for a year. I enjoy working with meatal as its so different to the cabinet making I do for a living.

Mike! Be very careful with these cheap Gas forges, as 99% of them are not finished off properly, if they are using a Ceramic Fibre as the liner, they all need to be sealed with Liquid Glass, this gets very hard with the more heat the get, the Fibre is very bad, if it get into your lungs, one other thing they cost a arm and a leg to run on the gas use age, you need a Air Forced Gas Forge, they only use one fifth of the gas, and get a lot hotter for using less gas! You need one with a door at both front and back, as Open forges wastes gas heavily, unless you wish to heat your workshop up with it, but once you start striking metal, you will get warm very quickly, as the billets of metal start to lose heat, that heat goes in to the air around it, mine heats up a billet of 50mm x 50mm x 100mm long, in about 4 minutes to welding temp, you need a gas needle valve somewhere on the gas feed line, you set this and leave it alone, when you are starting it up, just turn on fully at the value on the bottle, but always have your air blower on first, then light it with a gas touch. You will see the inside change colour to yellow/white hot in about two minutes, then placing you metal in! Then get productive, but never strike metal when it as get cold, as it will crack it, reheat every few minutes, it make your life much  easier! But one other thing make are bye a forge to the size you will need to fit the projects you have in mind, the larger your gas usage will be, there is no point in heating something up that you won’t gain any benefit from! Hope this as helped all you budding metal knocker’s out there, but remember to ware your safety glasses, as sparks fly, in this game!

[Khriss]

My forge / hearth is an old Rail grating with ceramic bricks n sand, an electric leaf blower from hardware shop - I will post pics later as at home now. I use charcoal , Good fr most jobs . K

[Baldbloke]

35 years ago I spent my spare time as a gofer to our local country blacksmith and learnt a few tricks from him. 2 years after he died our local foundry in the nearest town closed down and I bought their forge with a 3 phase blower, tongs and assorted equipment. Used it for 20 years to make and repair fire baskets, gates, flower stands and even did a few cart wheel refurbs for a chap who ran horse drawn carts. Unfortunately I moved house about 11 years ago and had to leave my workshop and equipment.
I have however recently bought a farriers portable forge with a hand cranked blower. Good enough to straighten some gates and effect some repairs[emoji1303]

[Baldbloke]

 

Kennels are before and after shots from about 10 years ago taken from different sides. I discovered these gates buried underground when doing some drainage. They’d been hit by a car and needed a heat and a stretch to get them back into shape. Then mounted them at the back garden to keep the dogs in. Metal work is my hobby.

 

[gary112]

On 04/12/2015 at 23:29, Coletti said:

Having made a couple of knives I fancied making a proper gas forge and an anvil and having a go at a bit of blacksmithing. My first and current project is a rose and heart picture frame for the Mrs as a present. Just wondered if anyone else has forged anything? Would be nice to see picks of other people's work

Not done any but intetrested,what sort of knives did you make?(kitchen,hunting?)