jgirard13

Nice work! Been wanting to make a smithin magician but haven't had the time.

Take some welding classes if you can afford to from yer local community college then go find a job at a welding shop (hopefully ornamental) building gates,railing, tables, chairs, window gaurds, etc. Gives you basics on metallurgy and working metals. IFI and YouTube are amazing resources. Joining a local blacksmith group is a must and go on every site you can. The Arizona artist blacksmith association has free pdf newsletters to even non members. Good luck and work hard for what you want

Y'all goes all the way to Arizona and in these parts redneck is something to be proud of. We just dont say it with an accent like the south easterners do :)

Wouldnt make a good blade. Spring steel doesent forge weld easy due to the chromium content and it would be a pretty soft blade due to carbon migration and because  mild steel isnt a very high carbon steel. You would make a low-mid carbon blade if able to forge weld it. I started off with pallet strap and old bandsaw blades and got good contrast and good quality blades

Lets not jump on this guy for not giving a location. In this day and age identity theft is the number 1 crime if im not mistaken. Alot of ppl have a phobia now of interweb info with good reason. The way it was worded seemed to be the trigger because of the lack of courtesy and manners but maby his response wasnt thought out before being posted. Now the only other problem i see is that mind taker dosent seem to be really working to hard to find a good source of medium carbon steel and that does bug us smiths due to the fact that we are all about doing the work so thats another cause of anger. Sometimes we spend more time, energy and bandwidth on raging on a guy then answering questions and in turn causes them to become defensive. Only reason im saying all this is i've notice this situation in multiple threads. Happy hammering my friends and thanks to all the beginners for asking the questions and all the old curmudgeons for giving the answers.

You can machine almost any form or grade of metal including mild steel. Giving us a description of what it looks like and the ring it produces is like telling a cop the man that mugged you was white with a higher pitched voice then asking them who it was. There is several hundred grades and aloys of steel out there and only several dozen that will make a decent blade and only a couple dozen that make a exceptional blade. To give an educated guess we need a spark test, shatter test, quench test and file test to name some of the many test. Please dont get discouraged if we cant answer your question, we just need more info.

Old files are good (new ones are case hardened), coil and leaf springs, mover blades, old saw blades (if thick enough and non welded on teeth). Look up the junkyard steel PDF cause it will give you a good idea of whats what with useable steels and help you know what heat treatment to use. An old railroad track cut clean and turned on end works good as a bladesmithing anvil and pretty much any large pc of heavy equipment part with a flat surface works to start with. Start with simple stuff and work your way up to knives though, gotta learn alot of basics first (drawing out, tapering, shouldering, etc).

The Dubliners, mumford and sons, emilie autumn and Johnny cash

Bandsaw blades are usually 15n20 and general use pallet straps i think are in the high 10xx's steels. I started out making damascus using those to together and the knife turned out very hard and tough.

Im tired, can't tell if that paragraph sounded right or if i sounded like a kindergartener with adha

Mudd nails for horse shoeing looks good in wood also dinging up the head with the ballpeen on carriage bolts is a quick easy way. Acorn nuts or forge yer own nuts and only drill and tap 3/4's of the way through or weld nuts on the backside of clavoses

Ahh bell metal... just like knife metal and jewelry metal

66 chevy c10 with the original 327. Paint aint pretty but it runs good and is easily repaired

I love my nordic, just gotta dress it before you use it

Flux spoon?

Flux spoon?

What type of metal? Cast alloy is kinda vauge to say the least

6" is kind of a lot of metal to move at once evenly with the cross peen if you don't have alot of practice. That said- practice! Another way is to use the edge of the anvils face (I slightly rounded one side of mine) and use it as a Fuller using even blows at a 45° angle. Oh ya by the way, why 6" x 1/4"?

Very awesome replies so far! Very fun and interesting stories. The road you traveled is so important to your destination and with blacksmithing you have no idea where your destination may lie. I hope more ppl post on this thread, could inspire alot of the newbies

I'm sure there's a thread on here somewhere on this topic but I do my interwebbing from my junk smartphone and it takes to long to go through all the threads. I love to know how ppl get started in blacksmithing or other forms of metal work. I started off as an hvac installer around 18 yrs old banging ductwork them fabbing it, from there at around 23 my dad wanted to know if I wanted to learn to weld and after making some horrible beads with his welder I was hooked and within 2 weeks got a job arc welding corrals and ranch fencing. Within a yr I was working in a general welding/Fab shop making gates and welding in kings architectural prefab scrolls (ugly). About 5 yrs ago I moved across state and got a job at another welding shop doing the same thing but this shop has a blacksmithing setup and forged its own parts, I was hooked. Within a yr I made my own coal forge and pumped out the tools to forge whatever I wanted. I'm 33 now and I know ill be doing this till my body can't do it anymore.

Keep an eye on that hammer... my buddy at the welding shop I started off in said the same thing about his fit after replacing his 2 lb ballpeen and started beating on a pc of steal plate. I watched the head fly off and as he looked up to see where it went came down right between his eyes and dropped him like a sack of potatoes. I saw the whole thing happen yet I was 50 ft away and couldent hear me yell "headache! " he was fine after missing 3 days of work and looking like he was sprouting a unicorn horn. Watch your handle fit and if you hear someone yell headache cover your head and dive for cover

Go to the Arizona artist blacksmith association (aaba) look under newsletters I think and there's an issue on fabbing a post vice for around 150 bucks worth of material. Ill the smiths I no that have made them love them cause u can do interchangeable jaws and run longer stock down the center. Next to a smithin magician its next on my list of tools to make

My shop dogs an all wolf named Loki, 120 lbs of amazing. Keeps outta the way till I have down time then comes over for lovin.

Its good enough when I'm happy with the pc and my gf. Looks it over and says it'd good (just ad anal as I am). I had to emulate a towel rack another blacksmith did yrs back and even though totally it was only 3 pcs. (Two scrolls and a twisted rod) I made 7 of the scrolls and 2 rods. Altogether I made around 5/hrs on the job but it got me alotta work in the long run due to word of mouth. Quality first cause my shop isn't Walmart

I started out as a sheetmetal worker 15 yrs ago then that got me into Welding then that turned into blacksmithing. I'm glad I started out that way cause I got pretty versed in all aspects of metal work and all those skills are still useful today. Charcoals the way to go if you have neighbors cause its low smoke and smell and propane forges are pretty noisy