Hello everyone! I am what I would guess you'd call a beginner blacksmith having little experience. I have wanted to learn how to forge things since I was a little boy and finally was able to visit a monastery in Saxony over the summer and learned as much as I could in the two days I had. I made a few crude pendants and two knives and now I am back in southern California and infected a friend of mine with the passion of metal working. We built a sort of forge in his back yard, although it is very low budget and also not the best quality. It is built out of a wheel drum attached to a shop-vac (with some piping so that the darned thing doesn't melt) and some fire brick stacked on a workbench. It mostly works but it has been an adventure. Anyway, I was wondering if any of you guys know if I can improve this set up! Or if any of you know a forge I can use in the San Diego area. I attached a picture of my first knife, what do you think?
