r/Blacksmith_Forge

Any reason I shouldn’t keep the tank where it would be if I was cooking burgers on this as a grill?

When working in my backyard I found this. At first I thought knife sharpener but I picked it up and it’s 7-8lb. How can I figure out what kind of metal this is?

I'd like to invite you to our Iron Pour in Lamberton, Minnesota on September 11-12.

It will be the 22th annual city festival centered around the Saturday Afternoon Pour and the historic Hanzlik Blacksmith Shop. There will be Blacksmiths demonstrations through out the day Friday and Saturday. Visiting Smiths are also encouraged to bring a portable forge and set up onsite if they wish. There will be sand mold shops running both Friday and Saturday as well. We welcome everyone from artists pouring museum quality pieces to children to the farmer making pieces to restore their tractor.

We encourage anyone to participated in the pour and can provide all the necessary safety equipment if you wish to try your hand at pouring.

In addition to the pour there will be a craft market, sand volleyball and various food vendors, an antique tractor/car show, and blacksmithing demonstrations.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I hope to see you there.

Here is a link to the Facebook event.

I love blacksmithing as a hobby with a western chief crank blower and homemade everything else. I’ve been dragging my stuff out of the garage every time I’m working on a project.
I don’t have shop space for a permanent forge setup and my equipment shed barely holds the tractor, skid steer and attachments.
I do have large stockpiles of juniper timber and limestone from picking out of food plots.
I’ve also got this absolute bastard of a steep field that feels like you’ll roll the tractor when clipping it off.
Basically I’m thinking real hard about making a “hobbit hole blacksmith shop”.

I will include a picture of the bastard field and adult beverage fueled doodles for the rough draft.

Roughly the order of operations seems to be:

• Taking a level 22’ wide bite out of the hillside deep enough back to leave a 11’ rear wall.
• Dig holes in ground or rear wall for all the posts and beams.
• Build a small sturdy sloped roof log cabin with chimney inside that cleared space.
• Dump a load of crusher run in the floor compacted.
•Wrap in tyvek.
• Back fill with dirt.
• Decorate with more rock.
• Let the top of that field go back to woods.
•Tea.
• Fill it with tools.
• Enjoy.

I think it’s a cool idea and I’ve wanted a hobbit hole of my own for 27 years.
Has anybody made or seen something like this before?
Is this a still a bad idea if I have life insurance coverage in place?
Is this the perfect marriage of Hobbit and Dwarven ideals?