Thread: How much toothpaste will come out of a tube :)

I didn't know a better way to describe the process I am going through atm.
I have finally given my 120 kilo anvil a try with the hammer I got for fathers day.

Today I bought a couple of old files at a garage sale. They were old and rusty. Good signs.
I started forging a small triangular file, only 8" long and at the widest point, 4/8 wide.
I was turning it into a small meat slicer. As I got nearer the final shape, I marveled at how much it had grown in size. I had never expected to get so much knife out of such a small file

As I forge different things, I am learning how much stock I need for making X.
I've still a long way to go ...

To quote someone on this board "Without pictures it didn't happen".

I have always wanted to learn about steel from the forge and anvil approach. Please keep posting the discoveries a from your adventure.

Jealous! Congrats and learning is sweet. Enjoy yourself Bruno!

Originally Posted by jaswarb

To quote someone on this board "Without pictures it didn't happen".

I have always wanted to learn about steel from the forge and anvil approach. Please keep posting the discoveries a from your adventure.

You'll find that as you spend more time doing things, you spend less time taking all 'before' and 'after' pics.
After a while, you want to get on with actually doing things.
These days I only make 'before' pics when I am working on something special.

That said, if you look for threads that were started by me in this subforum, you'll find pics of my forging setup and my new anvil

Originally Posted by Bruno

You'll find that as you spend more time doing things, you spend less time taking all 'before' and 'after' pics.

Domo sumimasen acknowledged and agreed sensei.

Forgive my foolish attempt at humor.

It would give me great pleasure to read about your discoveries as you learn at the forge.

I agree with you, I am amazed much a little mass of metal can be drawn out and stretched. I know by experience how much razor or knife I can get per given amount of metal. It is not an intuitive estimate it is based on past forgings. Intuitively I always think the metal will not go as far as it really will.

Charlie