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The Forge Is Complete! My friend Dave has finally got all the pieces together for his home blacksmith forge. It all started when Dave got a hold of this thing that we believe to be an old feeder for livestock. We started thinking about how we could turn it into forge. We had everything pretty much planned out but a good air source. For months we debated different ideas. At our blacksmith class we used hand-crank bellows or blowers. The equipment we used was a blower made by a company called Champion Blower & Forge. However they’re antique and quite rare. Often these units can be found online for big bucks. Dave lucked out on this one at a local swap-met. It did require some work. The internals were locked up. Dave took some time and got it working again. After that the rest was plumbing and building a stand for the blower. Hopefully we’ll get to use it soon. All that’s left to do is to add coal!

Tonight was an excellent night for forging outdoors using the coal forge. The wind was fairly calm and much warmer than normal for this time of the year. Since it was our first night back after a three week hiatus. Jeff had us work freestyle with 1/2 inch round stock. It was a little challenging for us. We’re not use to that large of material. Dave went to work on a door hanger hook while I got an artistic hair. What started out as an end for hook ended up being this. Meet the table snake! Got left over meat? I don’t think so!

I made this during blacksmith class a few weeks ago.

Tonight we made letter openers in class. I still need to finish the blade work. But I wanted to post my progress. I’m really enjoying learning the trade and art.