mmondaca

Thank you so much, I will look into the pods and try to keep as much as possible. If anyone around here is from Madison, WI any help finding fellow Blacksmiths is appreciated.

Hello, Just last week I had to move from Tucson, AZ to Madison, WI. Unfortunately, my moving arrangements did not allow me to bring my forge/anvil/etc... What would be the cheapest way to ship it, or should I find one locally and donate/sell my current one? I won't be able to use it either way until I can find a house (rather than an apartment) for at least a year, so I have time. Has anyone made this sort of move before? Any help is appreciated...

Thank you so much, I'm currently reading The art of Blacksmithing and Basic Blacksmithing by David Harries but I will definitively check out that book. Last night I reshaped my chisel's tip and now I'm wondering how to avoid the issue from last time. Should I anneal it and harden it if I'm going to use it for hot steel or should I keep it malleable? Me and my friend also tried a knife out of a square stock (one of those fence square poles) and it looks a bit rough, but it was nice working with a softer steel for a change. I've also noticed a lot of terminology from the forums about steel using numbers. Is there a good place to get some of these terms as far as the steel quality? Thank you all for your help,

Hello my name is Mario Mondaca and I'm in Tucson, Arizona. I recently started (about 1~2 months ago) interested in blacksmithing and I believe I have accomplished a lot in this short time. I have a coal forge set up. I started with a brake drum and a cowboy from Colossal cave was generous enough to give me his forge and some basic tools. The forge uses a leaf blower with a small pipe system to regulate the flow with a butterfly valve. My current Anvil is a rail road piece stuck on a short stump forcing me to work sitting down. I'm still trying things out, I bought some steel springs from the scrap yard. I cut one (very badly...heh took me around 10 heats), straighten it and shaped it as a chisel. However, I did not anneal it or temper it and the tip snapped off =( but the piece is big enough to make a new tip and this time I will try and temper it correctly. My main interest right now is tool making and decorative work but a friend of mine is very interested in knifes and hes been a real help around the forge (hes better built than me and does a great job as a striker =D ) If you guys could maybe suggest some basic projects I would love to hear them, anything and everything to help me get started and keep the forge going would be great help =D! If you are in Tucson and would like to come by and use the forge, its not great...but it works for most basic jobs =) I would like to acknowledge all the amazing Blacksmiths and cowboy that have helped me these last months. My deepest appreciation for their great help and support. I would not be where I am if not for their help, thank you.