Sandrion Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Just wanted to drop into the general discussion forum and say hello! I recently bought an anvil (made a thread about it in the anvil forum) and have decided to eventually start smithing. I wasn't aware of such a big community for it, although I am happy to find it and maybe be a part of it. Now, school me on what I should have first, since I have the anvil, obviously I won't be needing one of those anytime soon. I have a ready supply of all types and sizes of steel to choose from. I look forward to hearing from everyone! Oh, and a little about my background. I grew up in my dad's machine and fabrication shop, which now has 6 employees for machining and 45 for fabrication and I went to school for machining, then worked in the shop for 2 years so I'm pretty familiar with steel in those forms. Afterward I worked on the maintenance/mechanic side of the business for 6 years. I'm now in Industrial supply at a local place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Welcome aboard Sandrion. I guess now you need something to heat the metal and something to hit it with. Next question to ask yourself is what kind of fuel is available and what you plan to make determines the size of the forge you will need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the gang live within visiting distance. I grew up in my Father's metal spinning and machine shop so I understand the transition. A pic or two of the anvil will let us evaluate what you have, there are techniques for getting good performance from less than stellar anvils. You need smooth faced hammers in the 1 1/2 - 2 lb. range forget big HEAVY hammers, while a lot of smiths swear by them they're not a good learning tool. a 2 lb. drill hammer will do good work without tiring or injuring you so quickly and not make your mistakes permanent so quickly. A cross pein, or farrier's rounding hammer are excellent choices for pein shapes and a straight pein is no slouch. I see Das and I are typing at the same time so I don't have to repeat his advice on a forge type and size. You won't need tongs for a little while if you use stock long enough to hold. Steel doesn't conduct heat so fast one end of a say 18" stick won't stay cool enough to hold in a bare hand. If it gets too hot cool THAT end, NOT the end you're forging. Forget what you see on TV or the movies it's a really rare thing to want to stick hot steel in water, bad things can happen. And one last thing, we LOVE pics, shop, tools, projects, kids, pets, landscapes, anything you'd show a 5 year old you didn't want to have to explain. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Richter Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Welcome Sandrion, regarding your backround its a good start. Let us know where your from and about your blacksmith ambitions. Cheers, Hans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Welcome to IFI, I always suggest reading this thread to get the best out of the forum. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/48833-read-this-first/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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