Dan W

Before you sell your product, you must first sell yourself. I will buy from an inexperienced but personable young person before I will buy from an experienced but grumpy old man.

Boat and ship yards if you live anywhere near the coast. Tug boat docks are your best bet.

Left overs make great gifts or try a little different market for selling. Try historical reenactments or living history events. The big events always have a traders row or sutlers area for selling the needed period correct items used.
Even the traders and sutlers need a supplier and iron work is always a big seller. Living history is the main reason I got into this hobby in the first place.Our 1814 group has two blacksmiths and between us we make most of what we need ourselves.

How long do you leave the file in the oven?

Mine is my siginature.
"Its not what you look at, its what you see'

I rent from and live next door to my aunt about 40 yards away and the neighbor on the other side is gone all day. I'm retired so all my work is done during the day when the neighbor is at work.I pay my aunt off by helping out around her house:) and making the odd plant hanger, screen door handle, etc....No complaints from either one so far. Nothing behind me but woods for miles and no one across the street.
We have more problems with bears getting into our trash than we do with the folks living on our street.

Welcome
You'll find all kinds here from the craftsman and artist to the dodabbers.
You have stumbled upon a gold mine of information. Enjoy

I've seen this phrase used a number of times in all manner of places on any number of topics here and after due consideration and a few years of experience it is my humble opinion that you cant educate people who have no desire to learn, with the exception of a very select few of course.
After 'dodabbing' around a forge for awhile I have a whole new appreciation for the blacksmith and his work. I once traded a baker flintlock rifle with bayonet for a forged pipe hawk and feel I got the better end of the deal because I know what went into the making of that piece.
Mainstrean America doesnt want to know how, what, when or why, they just want.

Welcome to our corner of the universe. Good folks herre and lots of great info.
I've found that just about anything you make on a forge is a crowd pleaser.
Good luck and again welcome.

Mine is just a 12'x20' portable cover. Like a car port with a metal roof. 1/3 is set up for bench tools, grinder, bandsaw, etc. with two benches. The rest is blacksmith shop with a large general purpose bench along one side. I dont have room for my table saw so I'm now looking for an extention. Its all open. Fourtainately I live in a neighborhood without a theft problem, so I have no fears about leaving everything out.

With todays laws, wills mean virtually nothing. Anyone can contest them and hold up everything in probate for years. Personal experience
If you want someone to have a particular item, give it to them while your still alive once you get to the age where you either cant use it or are just not intrested in it anymore.That way there is no question.
Everything in my shop goes to cousin who is just getting started in blacksmithing.

Try some of the buckskinning sites like Track of the Wolf or Crazy Crow. They sell patch knives and you can get some good ideas of the blade patterns from them. I am a blackpowdwer shooter and have made and used a number of patch or neck knives. The patterns are as varied as the users.
All a patch knife is, is a small knife with a blade length of 3-4 inches. Some folks carry them in a sheath around their neck. I usually carry mine in a sheath attached to my shooting bag strap.

Never really thought about it, but I reckon I'll call it the TTT or Triple T simply because I live in a Tacky Tourquoise Trailer. That Florida 50's tourquoise and yes we have pink plastic flamingos in the front yard. We're into the retro Florida thing.
One thing for sure, we're easy to find.

I'm pretty new here myself, but this place is a wealth of info. I'm on at least once a day picking up helpful info.
Welcome

Check this site out. Grizzly.com Good quality but high dollar. Bench sanders from $79.00 - $1,200.00. I just order the combination 2" belt sander/6" grinder combination. It uses a 2x27 belt, 1/2 hp motor. Its small but will do what I want it to so I'm happy. Its specifacly designed for putting an edge on cutting tools.
Sears sells a Craftsman 2"x42" bench sander with a 5" side disc attachment. I used it for years. The only reason I got rid of it is I wanted the Grizzly. Personal idiosyncrasies I reckon.
I ordered on Monday, the sander arrived on Friday.
They also sell anvils

As my uncle would say."Dang it Boy"!
Thats nothing. I dropped a bolt I had just taken out of the fire, and reached down and picked it up with the hand that WASNT holding the tongs the bolt slipped out of.
I'm sooo glad I kept a cool beer in the bottom of my slack tub.

Got into living history F&I and War of 1812 first. Then started thinking, why pay for the day to day items, s hooks, fire irons, flint and steel strikers, etc when I could probably learn to make to make them myself.Most of my blacksmithing centers around the day to day items used by our 1812 group.
I did take the beginners course at the J.C Campell folk school in Brasstown. Now I play on the forge for fun and have been smithing for about three years, and am currently helping my cousin get his first forge up and going.

I've been dippin N dabbin with my forge for awhile now. Mostly just everyday things for our 1814 living history group, but like all beginners I have to make a couple of knives just because. My problem is:
How exactly do you place a knife in an oven for the tempering process?
Lay it on the rack? Hang it from the rack with a piece of wire around the tang? Place it in a small vise? What if its a large bowie style blade?
Any and all comments will be most appreciated.

I'm partial to 50's and 60's rock, and have recently developed a taste for jazz on long road trips.

I recently read and have since made and used a 50/50 mix of river clay and sand with a handful of hardwood ash thrown in for a binder. It is similar to adobe and should be put on in layers as one thick layer will crack as it dries.
I live in northern Florida and have access to a white clay that is found in most of the natural springs around here.

Pack Pack Pack

JAFO: Just Another Xxxxxxx Observer.
Military slang for an unwanted passenger in a small aircraft.
I have a tendency to hang in the background of any new group or group I'm considering taking part in just listening and observing before taking an active part.
Thats why we live in a county that has no movie theaters, no mall's, only three stop lights and the first Wal Mart just opened last year and we have a bear problem even though we're only 23 miles south of the state capital.

One of my wifes degrees is in history, She concentrated on the Dark Ages, and I was fortunate enough to spend 2 1/2 years at RAF Sculthorpe in East Anglea.
I forge with either coal or charcoal myself. I made the obligatory knife that every smith must make. I like to do our camp needs.
At Fort T/J we have a working 1760's forge that is open at least once a month, and I'm fortunate enough to live within 10 miles of Master Smith Jeff Mohr and he has an open forge at his house every wendsday from 730 - 9 pm
I am indeed fortunate.

We do F&I and 1814, and in fact are leaving for Frontier Days at Fort Toulouse/Jackson in wetumpka Alabama tomorrow for a week long event.
All are welcome, so come join us.

Just joined. Have lurked for awhile. I'm basically a hobbyist rather than a full time smith. My wife and I are historical reenactors and we like to make the things we use. I take care of the iron, leather and wood and she takes care of the woolens, linens and food.