Finally Forging!

Happy fall!

I don’t write too many of these blogs between work and commuting and trying to spend time with the family, but today is a red-letter day….the new forge is functioning and functional! It’s a new version of the old one a made in ABQ, firebricks, and black iron pipe mostly, this time with the addition of ceramic insulation, and a second tulare line for more even air distribution. I use hardwood charcoal as fuel, and it seems to work pretty well so far. Too bad I don’t have an anvil stand yet. I guess the crouching and standing should be good for my knees.

I now have three anvils also. Two pieces of railroad track, which I haven’t shaped quite to my liking, and my old steel block. I’m planning on making the little railroad piece into a fairly convex shape, to help in drawing out steel. I’ll eventually cut a chunk off my big steel block too, for similar reasons, and a different arc.

So, you’d think that I would start small after a couple of years off. Not me. The first two projects to go into the new fire are a nice long Santuko style kitchen knife (maybe 10-12”) from a heavy duty dodge leaf spring and (ok this one is pretty small) a paring knife from some O1 round stock. After they cool off, maybe I will take some pictures and you can watch them progress….very….very slowly. Obviously there is a little way to go on both of these.

Anyway, I’m pretty excited that the new forge is running, so I thought I would share.

Cheers!

Adam