Smithing; Level up!

[Butlerbandit]

So, I've been leveling my smithing skill over the past few weeks, figured I'd share with ya'll;


Level 1: Homemade forge


The forge is half an old water tank lined with a fireproof plaster made from 50% plaster of Paris, 50% sand. It has a pipe in the middle to bring air into the coals. A small, crappy piece of metal from a computer fan keeps the coals from falling into the pipe. Somehow, despite temperatures of over 2000° F, this little piece of metal has somehow managed to never melt or combust.


Forge is surrounded by an old cast iron fire ring. Really convenient for setting tools on.


Shop Vac on 'Blow' setting supplies air to the coals through a steel pipe.


The anvil; a piece of rail-road rail affixed to a large log. Can't drop it on Wile E Coyote, but it works.


The whole setup, including quench bucket and old picnic table holding tools and crap.

Level 2: Make a thing



First half-decent thing I managed to make; iron striker for a flint/steel set. Reference: [spoiler][/spoiler]


Other thing; Tree hook, used by campers/re-enactors to hang stuff like clothes on trees.

I didn't take very many pictures of the forging process because I only have 2 arms and taking pictures while working/holding hot metal is extremely inconvenient.

Level 3: Iron Knife


Started with a steel bar, about 3/4 inch in diameter and about 10 inches in length. Cut it in half and used each half for each knife.


Curved knife half way through forging.


Curved knife, forged and quenched, now being ground to shape and sharpness on a grinding wheel.


Curved knife halfway through grinding.


Took a picture of my anvil and some tools. Not sure why.


Curved knife finished. Still need to add a handle, maybe do a little acid etching to make it fancy.


Dagger. Didn't take any pictures of the forging process. Didn't finish grinding it yet, so it's still got some very visible spots of forge scale.


Comparing the knives.


Both knives are made of the same amount of material, but the curved knife appears smaller because the blade is considerably fatter.



Lessons learned:
1: If a piece of metal gets too hot, it will begin to oxidize and combust, looking like a sparkler. This is really bad for the metal, and the bane of my existence.

2: Hephaestus has declared; if you need square bar stock, you will only have round and will have to pound it square. If you need round bar stock, you will only have square and will have to pound it round.

3: The coal I am currently using can only be started with a charcoal fire. The charcoal I am using can only be sufficiently started with a wood fire. This leads to an interesting startup.

4: The only reason I still have hands is because of good gloves. Always wear gloves when metalworking, kids.


Any questions, comments or complaints?

[sifitis]

[Jaysers]

How hot does it typically need to be to properly forge different metals?

[bren4q]

Neat!
[spoiler][/spoiler]


Some photos of the forge in its lit/heating stage would be good. I'd like to see what the fire looks like, as regards how big it is, presence of flames, etc.

How long does the steel have to be in the forge before it glows and is in malleable state?

[RevolverMech]

The materials required to make a dagger takes up to 2 hours in game time, Butler how poorly optimized are you? Jesus....

[Butlerbandit]

How hot does it typically need to be to properly forge different metals?

The best answer I can give for that is "red hot". Google tells us that for most steels, that's at least 1000° F. Red hot is the minimum temperature with which the metal will be easily workable, but hotter metal, such as light orange is better because it will deform more readily and will stay workable longer before it has to be re-heated. At the same time, I have to be extremely careful not to let any part of the piece get white hot because that usually results in combustion. The thinner a piece of metal, the faster it will heat up or cool down. This makes it very challenging to work with pieces with variable thickness, such as the tang or tip of a knife.
[spoiler][/spoiler]
The only other materials I've tried in the forge were copper and glass. The copper I put in ended up melting apart and dripping through the vent into the air pipe, forming this ashy copper plug thing;

Some photos of the forge in its lit/heating stage would be good. I'd like to see what the fire looks like, as regards how big it is, presence of flames, etc.

Ya, it wasn't till I started to make the post that I realized how few pictures I had actually taken. Like I said, taking pictures while forging is extremely inconvenient, and not often the first thing on my mind. I'll take some of the lit forge next time I have it going, but I don't know how well my camera will capture what it actually looks like.

There's not a whole lot of actual fire once the wood/charcoal burns out, mostly just a pile of glowing coals [spoiler]Photo from google images: [/spoiler]. There is a small amount of light, whispy blue or red flame that comes from the gasses the coals produce as they burn, but the metal is heated by burying it in the hottest part of the coals, so flame isn't really what I'm looking for. The temperature and glow is directly proportional to the amount of air I give it. Putting a shop vac on blow affixing that to my air pipe will soon turn the whole forge into a small volcano of heat that's uncomfortable to even be around. I generally try to avoid this because it uses up coal much, much faster and makes the system much hotter than I need it. Most of the time I use a small electric blower to feed air into the pipe, and this gives me a nice core of very hot coals surrounded by cooler ones.

How long does the steel have to be in the forge before it glows and is in malleable state?

Short answer; until it's red hot. The amount of time it takes the steel to heat up depends mostly on the thickness of the piece, and how hot it was beforehand. For example, when making my first knife, I put the 3/4 inch diameter bar into the coals for a good 5-10 minutes before it got to a nice orange color. I took it out and hammered it until it had cooled back to gray, then put it back in for a re-heat. Since it was still very hot, it only took about a minute to re-heat back to orange. For a very thin piece, such as the tip of a knife, 30 seconds in white hot coals is too long and often causes combustion.

The materials required to make a dagger takes up to 2 hours in game time, Butler how poorly optimized are you? Jesus....

I'm going to assume my character can work with professional tools, and a real anvil...

[sifitis]

Putting a shop vac on blow affixing that to my air pipe will soon turn the whole forge into a small volcano of heat that's uncomfortable to even be around.

What he didn't mention is that it also blasts a column of sparks out dense enough that it is also UNSAFE to be around. I have provided a more scientific illustration below.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Skitty]

that picture looks highly accurate.

[RevolverMech]

Sif, you are as they say in spain:

"El cagon de mierda"

Which translates to:
Great Artist.

[sifitis]

I highly doubt that that is what it translates to...

[pusur44017]

...Butler is this you? http://9gag.com/gag/anBy42n

-pusur

[Butlerbandit]

Some photos of the forge in its lit/heating stage would be good.

The process of lighting the forge:
[spoiler]
Ashes and cinders mostly cleaned out to start.

Scrap wood.

Charcoal.

Coal + lighter fluid + match[/spoiler]



Video of a steel rod combusting due to overheating. Ignore the sound of my dying air blower.
https://youtu.be/tQu2Eb7LjDQ

Also, @pusur:
If i had to refine my own iron for this I'd never get anything done

[Butlerbandit]

New Item: Railroad Spike Hatchet (with hand-carved handle)

Also, made a handle for the first knife, but it came out pretty bad so I'll probably replace it at some point.