Hello from Alaska

[Isley]

I started making knives in 2014, in the livingroom of my apartment while i was still in the Army. It's ridiculous to think about, but I actually did that (fire extinguisher at the ready, and an extremely supportive wife willing to tolerate that nonsense). I was directed to this site by Frosty the Lucky, whom I met at the state fair a little while back. My work to date has been stock removal utilizing hand tools, files and a lot of determination. I built a small forge, etcher, etc and have generally tried to self fabricate everything I use. 

I'm interested in learning more about blacksmithing, particularly the area of tool making. I forged a bit many years ago but alas, demands of the day pulled me away from it. I'll be finishing a larger propane forge in the next week or so and trying to resource a few tools to get started with some projects I have in mind. 

I'm about as social as a ferral cat, so posting here is a testament to how earnestly I want to develop in this field. In fact, this is my first post on the web ever (whew, sweating bullets). I'm in the Wasilla area, if you're in the neighborhood feel free to contact me. Happy to be here.

[SLAG]

Isley,

Welcome to I. F. I.

Scroll up to the top of the page. Find the heading "browse". Click on it and when it comes up, scroll down to almost the bottom. You should see the list of regional groups. Look for Alaska Blacksmiths Association. Click on it and read the posts. The group is very active. You should discover a goodly number of Alaskan smiths there. Also, where they meet. The group has many members in the Anchorage area. You should be close enough to Frosty. Perhaps in walking distance. He is nice guy, (my opinion).

ALL the best of 2017 to you & your journey in blacksmithing. Rumor has it that a few of our more enthusiastic members had to be forceably deprogrammed. (NOT).

But it is addictive.

Regards,

SLAG.