Metal Working 101

#1
Made a brake drum forge out of a Dana 35 drum and old gas tank skid from a TJ I had laying around. Turned out pretty good. Burning coal and using a blow dryer to add air. Got to dark to do much but I messed around for a while with it.

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#3
Heat up metal duh!


I'm trying to learn some blacksmithing to further my awesomeness of being a master manipulator of molten metal. Something I've always thought cool and it's what I'm obsessing over this week. Gonna try and build a knife or two from RR spikes and some trellis thing for my ma then well see what happens from there. My buddy's mom owns a shop in town that sells cool old people stuff for there houses and what not, figure if I can get creative and stick some stuff together she might can sell it to old people and call it art and I'll be rich and make it rain on hoes.

Gonna pick up a bigger vice here in a few days and try and find an anvil but them fawkers are expensive as crap. Using some RR track I got from deano (thanks dean) at the moment and seen people build anvils from old forklift forks but none are as good as an actually anvil.
 
#5
Gonna pick up a bigger vice here in a few days and try and find an anvil but them fawkers are expensive as crap. Using some RR track I got from deano (thanks dean) at the moment and seen people build anvils from old forklift forks but none are as good as an actually anvil.
I've got a chunk of RR track that I use too. That stuff is crazy tough and great for an anvil.
 
#7
I picked up a 40lb bag of coal from a place in Greenville for $9. I've heard coke (product of coal) was nice too bc it burned hotter, buddy of mine is a farrier and suggested it but the coal did fine from my messing around. I've seen where people have used charcoal though with success I actually started my fire with charcoal as it was easier to light. I've got an old grill I'd like to look at building a gas forge from, just need to figure out a few things with burner and all. Once I figure out and mess with it some I'll post a thread of my shenanigans with it.

Ive been reading a lot of stuff on iforgeiron.com and pretty much a master of it from YouTube but haven't messed with it enough to be wise. There's a folk school in Asheville I'd like to take some classes to get to know what I'm doing better and learn some trick. Uri holf is a guy in Israel who's a boss at it. Also checkout modernblacksmith on YouTube he's some Canuck who does and shows a lot of cool things. I messed around last night and figured how to draw the metal out and twist it and a few other things but my final product looked like doo doo as it started as a torches piece of scrap.


The RR track is great but I found myself running out of flat surface to hammer on last night and how much it rings is annoying. A good anvil won't make much noise. Used good anvils go for as much as $800, I've found a few for around 3-400 but can't justify that. Harbor freight has some cheaper ones that are made from iron I believe that although are still pretty crappy as they'll chip, I've heard they aren't to bad and get the job done. I need to cut the track I have now to about 16" and find a stump or something to mount it on, I've heard it's better to do that and will save my back. Picked up a 3lb mini sledge looking hammer from lowes yesterday and seemed to be alright but I'd like a different one. They sold a blacksmith hammer but had a synthetic handle and I would rather have wood and about a 2-2.5lb
 
#8
Thanks breks.

One thing that sparked my interest too with the whole blacksmithing is I saw a show on history channel that featured Jesse James. He went and learned from Uri and built a bike using a lot of the stuff he learned. Made a springer front by starting with 2 chunks of chromoly. It was pretty sick. He's actually on the forum iforgeiron and gets on a lot which is cool.

If you happen to see it come on history, watch it. It's like 2 hrs but watching someone start off with a square solid stock and make leaves and animals and all kinds of other stuff is just badazz.
 
#9
got any more pics of this brake drum forge? did you have a mount for the hair drier?


I've got a large gas burner probably 8" in diameter with a "bazillion" nipples on it similiar to this one. Thought about seeing if I could do something with it.

 
#10
I'll try and get better pics of it in daylight. I'm using a hair dryer now but will replace it with a bath fan, from there it goes into 1.25" galvanized pipe (I know I know, it's all lowes had) to a black iron T coupler. One end has a plug in it so I can easily dump it, other end has another section of 1.25" that has a cap with holes in it that sits in the drum. I cut out a circle from the scrap I cut from the skid that sits on bottom of drum and has a hole where the pipe comes up and they are all welded together. The drum sits in the whole of the skid pretty close to flush.

Idk if that makes sense trying to describe it. Google or YouTube brake drum forge and you'll see what I mean. I have next to nothing in it. Most was laying around just had to get the pipe. Could be built for less then $40 probably. I picked up a 14 bolt drum I was going to use but decided it may be to big I might use it for another one if I decide the forge I built is to small.
 
#11
Out of curiosity before I go and get locked up, anyone know if it's illegal to pick up old spikes, track,Ties, and other various things along the side of the tracks?

I'd heard you can't try and scrap anything railroad as they won't take it.
 
#12
Yes it's illegal. I have the phone number for Pickens railroad general manager if you would like to confirm that. They are after the metal thieves for this same thing.
 
#14
Ya I need an anvil badly I've determined.


Here you can see underneath the pot. Going to pick up a bathroom fan tomorrow as the hair dryer sucks
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Takes a little bit to light. Breaking the coal up significantly helps tho.
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Also need some tongs that junk gets hot as hell and I'm use to heat/catching on fire.
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