[TheForge] tools

[Ron Childers]

Jessie, tell us what tools & equipment you do have.

Your mental tool box now contains a plethora of ideas from knowledgeable
people. A friend of mine has made a good living for 20 years as a knife
maker using a forge made of all scrounged parts- it looks like a brake drum
with a barbell weight as the floor- no clinker breaker, just the hole in the
weight. For air he uses a blower out of an old heating & ac unit. The cost
of his forge is zero. 

Also, he makes his own belt grinders and I borrowed his ideas- this is
harder to do for zero $$ because you need pillow blocks and belts which
range in cost from a low of $1.70 ea to $10.00 depending on what you want.
Some friends use a castor wheel and recycle worn belts; they still have some
life and will work but don't cut as fast.