Thoughts on Setting up Forging Shop

Sean O'Hare

Sean O'Hare

Joined
Jul 24, 2003
Messages
1,183
Okay I know this one will have a tonne of opinions and I'd like to hear them all as long as they are constructive!

So far I am a stock removal guy but am interested in getting into forging. If I can afford it I plan to build a small forging shop this summer and the equipment needed to start forging some time this fall if all goes well.

My question is what good choices did you make when getting setup to forge and what things would you recommend I steer clear of in terms of bad investments or wastes of time?

I would like to not hammer it all our manually, I'd like to if I can afford it buy a treadle hammer or a hydraulic press. Good idea or bad?

Also what am I looking at in terms of hammers to buy, size of anvil, etc.?

Thanks for any input you can give.

Sean
 
Idealy, you'd have a press, a powder hammer, and a rolling mill. In the real world you'll probably start off with a press unless your lucky enough to come up on a good hammer cheap.

A press is nice, but my prefferance is a power hammer. A press realy shines when doing mosaic damascus and regular damascus, a hammer shines making larg stock small, and you can use the hammer to get basic forging to shape, the point, the tang, and a nice tapper to the blade all on the power hammer.

The first thing you'll need is a good anvil. The ideal would be one with the welded hardface plate on top with good rebound and flat and smooooth. It wouldn't hurt to have one that is like the Japanese swordsmith anvils, just a hardened rectangular block with no horn or heel to get in the way. That said I'm still using an old cast steel anvil till I can find what I'm after. Stay away from cast iron anvils, and carry a 1/2" or larger ball bearing with you to test the rebound of any anvil your thinking of buying. The best ones will put the bearing back in your hand.

Good luck
 
Good advice from Will52100. For fuels, I think charcoal is the easiest to start up with, a good charcoal forge is easier to build then a good propane, and you don't need to learn how to tend the fire in a special way like you would with coal, though both coal and propane do have their own strongpoints.
 
tongs are important tools as well. When I started to forge I had a tiny tong I bought. The pieces red-hot jumped on the ground on every hit. It was too hard to forge something heavy or thick, when I made a bigger and stronger tong all the forging experience eased significantly. At first buy a good, long, strong wolf-tooth tong IMHO.
 
I like propane forges ,partly because I live in the city.Also ,build your forge shop twice (maybe three times) as large as you think you will want.Trust me,many of us have learned that point.Make sure it has good ventilation.When buying equipment,get the best you can afford.Start with an anvil, tongs, hammers, heavy vise,and a post vise if you can get one.Add a press,then a power hammer.Good luck,you are starting down a road from which there is no return.It is worse than heroin.
 
Here's a loaded question, heh? I prefer gas forges. I started with coal and switched over for ease in maintanece and fuel. I can send you the plans/parts list for mine (same as George's). A good surface, whether its a good anvil or block of steel in a concrete filled bucket. A couple tongs, a couple good hammers and a wire brush. That's really all you need to start. Once you start getting into the more involved forging and damascus you'll want to start looking for a good welder, power hammer or press or both, post vice. Here's what I have.
http://www.mountainhollow.net/shoptour.htm
 
Thanks very much everyone!

I live in a very small town in northern Canada, 1100 people with two stores. The nearest large city is a 15 hour drive away so looking around before I buy is difficult. Your info definitely helps me know what to ask about when calling people.

J. I will definitely email you about those plans. Good to have them sooner than later for collecting parts.

Any other info is more than welcomed.

Sean
 
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