Hey guys, I'm new here. New to Blacksmithing, this website, and most metalworking in general. I am mostly interested in blacksmithing as a hobby, and hopefully to make myself some medieval armour out of it. From the little I've read around this site, most of you tend to make more useful things such as tools, stands, hooks, decorations and other things used on a daily basis. I definitely will not complain about learning how to do some of these things as well. I'm really interested in the craft of blacksmithing as a whole, but if it can also help me achieve some personal goals of making some of my own armour, then by all means I'm going to take advantage of that.
A little bit of background, I've always been interested in history, especially that of the middle ages. I've always loved the idea of knights and chivalry, and have attended Renaissance festivals for years. I've experimented with making my own armour before, I quickly learned that the simplest and cheapest to make as a beginner was chainmaille. Eventually I also moved onto scalemaille, and I make both armor and jewelry from both of these. But still, the dream of creating solid plate armour danced before me. In my eyes, its the next logical step. At one point, I borrowed an anvil from my uncle, bought some sheet metal, both mild and stainless steel, and tried to force the metal into shapes with brute force. VERY quickly learning that a forge is a necessity. Working 16 gauge sheet steel into any type of contour shape is ridiculously hard with cold metal. Shortly after this incident, I looked online and found a local blacksmithing shop/club and went to visit. I've since joined the club, and am now in process of building a simple workshop and forge in my backyard (with the wife's approval of course) I would have done so much earlier, but we only just recently bought our own house. I'm going to check with the city and see what types of codes or zoning regulations I'll need to follow and find if there are any permits required to operate a forge in the city limits. Also, any tips for soundproofing the walls would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to disturb my neighbors much if at all if I can avoid it. Also, is there a type of coal that I can use that doesn't smell too bad, so the neighbors won't complain about that either?
Oh, and for your enjoyment, a few pictures of my chainmaille and scalemaille for your enjoyment!
Sorry if this is too many pictures for a first post. Let me know what you think!
-Ryan Tucker