the forgers diary

[fishfinder401]

well after getting in from doing some forging today i had an idea, why not create a thread for people either experimenting or experienced with forging to show off their stuff
i guess i'll start
most are bodkins, except the one dagger the feather in one picture is for reference and is about 8 inches
http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m631/fishfinder401/forgeing/

[Pat B]

Noel, I'm getting interested in forging knives, hawks and broadheads but it still in the dream stage. Will you post pics of your forge, anvil and tools.
 This is gonna be a good thread! 

[fishfinder401]

sure, ill post some in the morning, but be warned, the forge will resemble more of a pile of ricks than of anything else
thanks
noel

[Pat B]

This is a primitive website ain't it? 

[Gus]

I'm interested in Iron/Steel forging as well as pattern welding.
Done a bit of reading on the subject, but my list of hobbies is already prohibitave...

My uncle up in Fairfield has a old gas forge that we plan on getting back into action next year.
But from what I've read I'm thinking that Charcoal is the way to go for me.

Look forward to watching this thread.

-gus

[jonathan creason]

Forging is a lot like grilling for me, I love charcoal but sometimes the convenience of gas is hard to beat.  I've got a plan in my noggin to convert an old grill of mine into a Tim Lively style forge above then build a small coffee can/ weed burner rig that can sit on top.  That way I'll have the best of both worlds.

BTW, Noel if you're interested in forging bodkins you should check out Tim Lively's website.  He's got a real good tutorial on there.

I just finished up a knife yesterday, I'll try to get some pics up later.  Still need to make a pair of rawhide britches for it.

[fishfinder401]

thanks for the advice, i am actually going to b e getting some coal to try, but i figured out what was causing one problem i was having with my sockets this weekend. you see this is the hottest i have gotten my forge to and i am not used to having the metal work that easy, so i think i over worked it a bit, but the did end up working so no complaint here, just not as clean of sockets as i would like.
and thanks for the link, that is a different way of forming the sockets, what i usually do is flatten it out till it is pretty thin, then i put it over a slot to start the bend and finish bending the edges over and rolling it, cleaning it up on a spike i have
thanks
noel