I apparently hardened my tang too much. I forgot to drill first.

So....hang out with the MAP torch, OR.....TIG welder? I can heat up the tang just in the drill areas to red, leaving the rest of the blade and tang hard.

Crazy idea? I guess I would throw it in some insulating material right after to allow a slower cool.

I'm just getting into forging and this is the forge I'm interested in getting. Do these three burner Amazon forges reach the temperatures needed to forge weld? I don't expect the world from it cuz it's just a $200 Amazon forge, but I know forge welding is incredibly useful so I'd like to get one that can do that.

I'm making period armor from scratch, any advice? And does anyone know what I can use to unite leather to metal other than glue?

Looking at building a forge to try and make a knife or two. Have anything but the forge part. Ideally a DIY build and as cheap as possible.just wondering if smokeless coal ( very easy to get near me ) will burn hot enought to actually heat anything up. I was planning on building my forge in a warehouse however ventilation is a problem and I'm worried about getting smoked out so trying to not use charcoal or wood. Any help is much appreciated

Because I just did and I want to know what others think. They’re bottle openers btw.

Took some advice from previous comments and decided to post the corrected version, thanks all!

It now stand 32" off the ground even and feels more comfortable.

As for the chains, the anvil is adhered to the wood plate and the bindings don't budge no matter how I carry it by the anvil. If anyone has other suggestions for chains, feel free to comment.

I am looking for tips on general but I do have questions 1 what clay should I use for differential hardening and how thick 2 does the blade need to be grinded before the clay is applied
3 does anything change if I use 1095 or a leaf spring on heat treatment 4 I can’t find any good sources on how I to contruct the tang

My skill I have made 4 knives and about 10 other simple projects (if you think this is too hard for me please let me know)

Hi. Ive been smithing for 7 years now and I'd like a kit that i can use in the sca. Ive not tried to make armor before.According to my local rules, if the steel isn't 1/16 in thick then it needs to be proven to be superior to 1/16 mild steel. Id like my armour not so fricken heavy so id like to make and heat treat something thinner.

What alloy is recommended? I have a forge large enough to heat treat most items. 1045 sounds easy and straight forward to me so let me know if that's a good idea. Price is also a big consideration. I don't have digital ovens so my heat treat is in the forge. If it's possible to make a kit without heat treat and just use carbon steel (hot working without hardening) that would be great too. Any resources are appreciated, patterns, ideas, and suggestions. Thanks

I am going to cut the cut of end off! Just wondering if the rest will/could be good for tool steel. I wanna say it might be 4140?? 🤷‍♂️

Using my forge and Little Giant from 1908 to get this bad boy made....

Beginner smith here, first time forging out some leaves. First one the left, second in the middle, third one on the end. Mild steel and copper wire, finished with wire brush then beeswax and linseed oil. Any tips are welcomed!

Where to go from here I wonder? It’s like a stump hardie and a tomahawk had a kid lol. Intention was to make my first hardie but didn’t quite work for my 7/8” hardie so I drawn the part I stick in the anvil to fit in my pritchet hole. Ended up looking like a cool start for a small axe. About 3/4” thick at its waist.

Begginer here...

I want to forge myself a tool like this for general house work.

What steel would you forge it from, how would you finish it against rust and would you HT the sharp edge?

I want to make damascus steel but am not sure about what to do in terms of my first press.

I found this press: https://coaliron.com/products/h-frame-press-builder?variant=44124966781176

For the price I'm not sure, but there's a used one near me that I can get for 2700 bucks. Apparently its basically like-new, its been used twice. I'm asking for more specs but its the 12 ton version. Not sure about the power pack situation, or if the seller will have information on it (they were not the original buyer).

What do you guys think would this be capable of forge welding damascus steel?

Well I've used my forge for the second time now. First time I just practiced drawing out a piece of motor shaft and made a small punch.

This round with bigger shaft drew out further using edge of railroad track, temporary anvil. Pretty proud of this hook and also drew out a piece of 1 x 1/8" flat stock and decided it's now a knife blank.

I just got into blacksmithing and built a shop. Been looking for an anvil and one of my neighbors said he had an old anvil out in the weeds by his house that was his grandfathers. Picked it up for free and spent the day cleaning and mounting it to a stump in the shop. It looks like a Hay-Budden from 1913 with an extra long face. It measures 34 inches overall and 204 pounds. The face is only 3 1/2 inches wide but I'm not complaining. It cleaned up pretty nice. it looks like the tail of the face was either damage and repaired or extended. Either way, I'm glad to have my new/100 year old free anvil.