FORGE SET-UP

 

I made this brief slideshow to show how easy it is to set up a working forge. Just wish I was capable of showing how easy it is to   USE   it.  I was pretty lucky in finding the stuff I needed to do all this.  I went to an auction and bid on a lot of blacksmithing gear but got outbid. The winner of the bid gave me, free-of-charge, two broken forge blowers. I was able to fix both of them easily. I bought a metal gas can for an outboard motor for $1 at a garage sale and I paid 30 cents/lbs  ($42) for a 4x4x32 inch piece of steel that I used as a post for my anvil.  I also had to buy a plumbing cap for the tweer pipe. The total purchases for the forge and anvil was $44.50 and a few welding rods. I scrounged everything else  from my scrap pile.

I cut the top off of the gas can and used  it for the forge body. After drilling a 1-1/2 inch hole in each end I mounted a tweer pipe with 1/4 inch holes on one inch centers and packed it with a clay/sand mixture. I took the mounting bracket off of a TV satellite dish and used it to mount the blower to the forge. The holes on the blower and connecting pipe were different sizes and unthreaded.  I cut the tapered tube (that the wooden handle goes into) off of a broken shovel. The tapered tube worked perfectly. Again, "It is better to be lucky than good." I bolted all this together and mounted the whole thing on a piece of 3/4 inch plywood.

The anvil base is a brake drum off of an old Frieghtliner. I put it wide side down and welded a piece of angle iron on each side of the bottom and bolted them to a piece of plywood to stablize the base.  I thought the 32 inch tall stake might make it top heavy. Then I welded together large angle iron and strap to form a long square tube that would just slide over the four inch square stake. This square tube was inverted vertically in the center of the brake drum. Two pieces of angle iron were layed horizontally across the brake drum so that they touched the tube on each side and then welded to the brake drum on the ends and to the tube in the center. I also welded a piece on the inside of the brake drum to both drum and tube to give it strength. It was easy to then slide the stake into the frame.  A small piece of angle iron was then wedged between stake and tube to firm up the standing stake. I had intended to pour cement in the brake drum to add mass and give stability. It was unnecessary.

I had everything else needed to set up shop.

Winter

My family and friends in the northwest love winter.  I don't.  After living in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and Nebraska  for twenty plus years, I still don't like snow, Artic temperatures, or wind that tries to cut you in half and knock you down. I love Arkansas but wish it was in the Carribian from October through March. I am still looking for  consolation in our normally mild winters.

 Winter causes more defensive work and less productive work on the farm. I like to work on the farm but I like productive work, something that adds to or improves the farm. Defensive work(winterizing the well pump, constantly changing frozen water for animals, mulching in warmth loving plants, protecting my worm beds, etc., etc, etc.) isn't fun and doesn't give much satisfaction.  Mowing the yard is nonproductive. Cutting, raking, and baling hay is  productive. You want the grass to grow in the hay fields, you want the grass  in the front yard to quit growing. One of the best things about winter is that it stops the grass from growing in the yard.

 I don't hunt any more so the coming of winter no longer has the pleasant consolation  of  hunting season. I don't object to hunting. I got out of it because I  traveled so much during the last forty years. It is difficult to hunt if you don't know the countryside and don't know people willing to let you hunt on their land. I threw myself into fishing instead because there are usually public places to fish almost anywhere you go. I grew up hunting and fishing but now I  only fish. Another reason to dislike winter is the unplesantness it adds to fishing. I still catch fish in the winter but shiver in the process. 

I started forging knives this summer as time permitted. Now that winter is here there is less farm work and more time for knife making. I think this will be a cosolation for the cold. I am working on a couple of new knives now and will build a fire in the forge to heat treat them this week. I plan to anneal several pieces of steel at the same time so that  I can do some preleminary work on them. I cut up a plow bit and several pieces of a skid plate from the bottom of a Bushog. I think they will make good blade steel. There is also some blades off of an industrial meat grinder that I want to try.

I will make the best of winter. There are a lot of slab crappie in a flood control lake five miles away and my boat is in good shape. I just got more charcoal and my scrap bins are full of good blade steel. I still like spring, summer, and fall the best.