The Blacksmith's tools

Hi there!
I am glad we got a smith's forum, and with a collection of antique post too :U

I learned to bend iron at age 16 and did my apprenticeship with an Italian blacksmith. Worked in my father's workshop for many years but finally life got in the way and I had to pursue other interest.

Today I am slowly putting together a bunch of smith's tools with the ambition of having a fully operational blacksmith workshop in a not too distant future.
I read most of what there is on blacksmiths in Australia and must say that there isn't very much at all.
No one seems to even make a distinction between a blade smith a farrier and decorative or artistic blacksmithing.
Oh well!
Since we are eons away from the massive resources available in the US and in Europe in relation to blacksmithing, it is a bit of a task to even find basic tools let alone at a decent price.

What do we need to get a basic workshop going?

Forge (coke or gas?)
couple of Anvil
leg vise
engineering vise
heavy duty steel bench
collection of cross pein and boll pein hammers
various forge tongs and pliers
Various hardies and anvil tools
Punches and chisels
Electric welder
Oxi (optional I suppose, depending on what you want to make)
Collection of different grinders
Heavy duty drill press
And many more tools
If you have the money, a plasma cutter and a cold saw would be good tools
If you have the money and the room and an industrial or rural site, a power hammer is the best...

But lets start with the first thing people talk about. That is the forge.

It is very difficult to find a forge for sale of any description in Australia, let alone in Sydney.
It is next to impossible to buy one that would be of any practical use for a blacksmith that wants to bend iron for decorative purposes.
So the obvious alternative is to build one yourself.

Since I have built a few coke/coal forges, conceded over 30 years ago, I have a few suggestions for the would be forge builder, or rather a monologue since I am in for the same task because I failed to even see one that would come close to a working forge worth spending time around it.

Before considering building a forge, it is worth mentioning that today we have the choice of gas (LPG) forge. I have little experience with them. They can also be built from scrap material and there is abundance of instructions on the net from the most crude and dangerous contraptions to some more elaborate. All however have one shortcoming. They are bloody small and more suited for the bladesmith or farrier or small decorative stuff. If you want to make a gate, forget it.

As soon as you talk about making a forge, the brake drum comes up. My mother's second cousin removed has a forge made from a brake drum he got for free from a wrecker and the blower is his cousin's sister hair dryer.
I tell you that if you want to get to a good start, you don't want a) a brake drum forge, nor b) a hair drier blower.

A good forge needs to have a generous working table around the fire pot something that a drum forge does not have. The fire pot and the table need to have a recess all across, to place long pieces that need heating in the center and be able to be in the heart of the fire and not on top of it. A brake drum forge negates this. The blower has to be sturdy and able to work in a hot and dusty environment and tolerate a knock or two. If it is electric driven even better, you will need both your hands most of the time.
A good forge needs a hood and a flue. I personally love to have a fan at the top of the flue to suck up all that thick start up smoke if you use coal.
The link below has a lot of very good concepts and pictures and ideas for building a forge, from a portable one to a permanent brick and mortar and even side blast forges.

Forge Design

Let us know if you get started on building your own forge.

Hooroo
Marc