Feels good to be back at the hot steel hammer and anvil

Sam Salvati

Sam Salvati

Joined
Aug 6, 2007
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Got the grill tank filled Friday, figured I'd take the weekend to put the new forge through her paces. Took a few minutes to get used to what heats up and where on the bar, and where the sweet spot in the forge is, but other than that it is very good to work with. The only thing I have a peeve with (and BARELY a peeve even) is the long heats, but other than that no problems whatsoever. The forge get's right up to temperature, and I found I was forging at 2 or 3 PSI comfortably and relatively quick. I worked some heavy stock (3/8ths thick 2 inch wide 1095 from Aldo) and some light stock (1/4 thick by 1 inch wide 1084 also from Aldo), the 1084 was in and out pretty quickly, had to bump it up to 4-5 PSI for the thick stuff. The only design change I would make to the forge would be to have a small port on both end doors instead of just the front, because to work long stuff you have to open the whole big back door which vents out alot of the heat, but I will call NC and see if I can get them to send me another door with a port in it and I will change it out.

Felt really good to get back to the hot steel and hammer and anvil, forged out a sword from the 1084, and started on the long blade of a daisho set (katana and wakizashi) from the 1095. Got blisters all over both hands, been out of the forge TOO LONG!!!! Got one on the side of my index finger on my hammer hand that looks like a cherry tomato :barf: . Also, a gas forge needs to be set at a higher height than a coal forge, gotta build a new table for it.
 
Their ain't nothing better than beating hot steel, welcome back.

Sam if your forging down that 1095 to katana sized piece by hand your... well your more motivated than me. I got 150 gallons of waste oil to use, sooooo in exchange for some of your knowledge I'll let you use my power hammer. :cool:

Oh yea I'm inviting some makers in the north east for a tamahagane smelt, I'm not sure when its going to be but if you want to come your invited. Everybody who comes will go home with a chunk or billet of the steel. :thumbup:
 
That's slicker than snot, Sam. Congrats, friend.
Let me ask you a quick question - I see you said you filled the grill tank? I'll tell you what I did that made my forge seem like a brand new and BETTER forge, was to get a 100# tank and run about 20 feet of black pipe between the tank and the forge! If you are just running a hose from a small tank, when the gas gets to the forge at 3-5 psi, it's still almost cold! When it comes from a larger tank and then runs through some piping, it makes a WORLD of difference. You can also forge for hours on end with no interuptions in dealing with a small tank.
The heat is much easier to control and seems so much steadier and smooth that it's hard to describe.
Just a thought.
I look for great things to come out of that forge!!
 
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