bluey hocking

Hi my name is Denis from Winnaleah in N.E.Tasmania, Australia. I am just starting to get into forging and have no experience at all in forging but have made knives on and off for the last 15 years. I have purchased two books by JIM HRISOULAS and was going to make a small forge out of the end of a hot water cylinder and use the blowing side of a vacuum cleaner for my air supply. If anyone is able to assist me with a plan or ideas it would be much appreciated.

I have some metal rods marked COBALIDE 1 Which are about 12 inches long some are about316 diameter and some 14 You can't mark them with a file or a hacksaw ,the grain structure seems quite coarse .I obtained them from a station in the north eastern goldfields of west australia . Could they have been used for hardfacing? How would I use them in forging knife blades

I lived in the goldfields area of West Aust some twenty years and was working on minara station just before it was sold to a mining company In the blacksmiths shop were some short metal rods which were very hard and had the word COBALIDE 1 written on them Were they used for hard facing ? And could they be used in the forging of knife blades?