I was just reading and couldn't resist replying! When I was doing a little smithing (more than what I'm doing now), I loved forging pipe!

The picture is of a set of shelves I did a few years ago. B/c of the time it takes to draw down a schedule 40 piece of pipe down to an dull point (like for the roots), I would often draw the pipe down to about 5/8" to 3/4", cut 90 degrees and simply weld a forged solid piece on the end. I would make sure to chamfer both the forged pipe end and solid end really well to get a good penetrating weld. After grinding the weld smooth, I would usually re-heat, lightly forge to blend the two pieces and bend as desired. I've done hundreds of pieces this way and only had a problem a couple of times - usually trying to bend the welded section when it was a little too cold and would break the weld. But even then, depending on the piece being made, it would add a little interest to the piece as well.

Customer GateCustomer Gate i'm working on.

This roof has scallops "tinned" on to the panels. The original roof had stamped scallops on steel sheets that were rusted through. I also had to fabricate a round gutter to match the original.