Ratel10mm

I assume the soapstone is what I know as blacksmith's chalk. Used for marking.

Biscuits & gravy. W.R. Case Stockman pocketknife. It's a tool, not a trinket. Obsidian Leave the beer. xxxx is bad enough, thanks! :D

Geez, Aussies really are taking over the site! Welcome to IFI mate.

Welcome. :)

LOL! Didn't mean to sound like I was quibbling Thomas! I figured we may as well get our new member used to 'our' terms in the hope to avoid confusing the heck out of him! I agree on the confusion thing. Trouble is, for so many things in life there are different names for the same thing, and the same names for different things. ;)

Hey, another from the land down under! Welcome to IFI. :)

Welcome to IFI. The more the merrier!

Also note that while it is commonly called damascus, forge welded differential steels are not true damascus. Current thought is that the closest we can get to true damascus is wootz steel - or not, depending on which side of the fence you're on! To differentiate, we call the product you've heard of pattern welded steel, as per Thomas's post.

Inazuma, there's probably a BP on building gas forges here. But as Thomas says, they're very popular in the bladesmithing fraternity. Check out the BP's here, and also search Don Fogg's site and British Blades. You'll find a heck of a lot of ideas. Many of my friends have even made thier own burners, and one or 2 use burners from tar torches (the sort you use to seal tar roofs). Also I recall that burners can be had in the U.K. for a bit less than the $187 you've been quoted, but I'm hazy on that one. Drop me a line if you want to talk it through - I've not yet built mine, but I've been paying attention! ;)

Most gas forges I've seen / used are effectively a tube, which can make it difficult or impossible to work with large pieces. However, gas is much cleaner & so forge welding is a lot easier - especially when you start talking 'damascus', i.e. pattern welded steel. You can also see what's going on in the steel much easier in a gas forge, as there's no fuel covering the piece.

Hi Julius, & welcome to IFI. May I suggest you edit your profile to show where you are, as there may well be someone close to you who's willing to help, and it'll help us to suggest local resources. Second, make sure you don't overlook the sections on bladesmithing here, there are some hugely respected names who are members here & may help. Third, join the forums on Don Fogg's site and British Blades. Both places have an incredible wealth of information & also very many people who are willing to offer advice & assistance. And to answer your questions - depending on the size of steel, you may find you can get it hot enough with a torch. But a small forge would keep the heat in & make it all a LOT more efficient & easier. A one-brick or baked bean tin forge will do fine with a small torch for pocket knife sized projects for e.g. To make pattern welded steel ,which I think is what you fell in love with, is simpler than it may seem, but like so many things is also harder than one feels it aught to be to get it right every time! You'll need to get the metal up to forge welding temperature to stand any chance.

Welcome to IFI. I second what Rob says, but I'd also: Look into weekend or short courses if you're an absolute beginner - I found doing a coiple of them gave me a real boost compared with trying to do it on my own.

You could also see what Blacksmiths are listed in your region - there was one near me who fabbed everything due to costs & demand, they said. There was a forge, anvil & some tools in a corner but according to them they never got used. Find someone like that & they may be open to offers, although they'd likely know the value of the items.

Yes, I'm up for it. We're in the burbs, but at the in-laws for now as we only just got here. Hence no forge yet. The plan is to get some acreage so that I can set up a workshop without annoying the neighbours too much (I hope!). However, where depends on work.

Hi Ian Yep, I'm Matt. Thanks a lot for all the good info! Hope you can make it to 'Get Hammered'.

I recently visited one of the best museums I've ever seen, Maison de l'outil et de la pense ouvrire (Tool & Worker's Thinking Centre, or Tool & Trade Musem) where one of the displays had examples of spanners, wedges, variuos sharp tools 7 other things made from old files & other worn out or unused tools. If you're ever in Champagne, you MUST visit this museum!!!! :)

If you score one, a number of smiths I know with these sew a leather sock over the spring, to catch the bits if it fails. Always struck me as a good idea!

I like Lonely Goat. Are you going to have an opening party / hammer-in?

I'm not sure if this would be ok for controlling the carbon content, but with mild steel I generally just open up the fire a bit & lay the small / thin / delicate bit on top where I can keep an eye on it.

Thanks Dave, defo (trying to get the strain right here! ) up for that if I can get there. I've replied in the proper thread & will e-mail. :)

I'm up for that, if I can get the time off from whatever work I'm doing then. :)

Funy how we're all joining in suddenly! Welcome Jackatrades. Please tell us where you are, and stick it in your profile too?

Hi mate. No, I didn't get any in the end. In fact, I haven't even managed to get an anvil! :mad: Time just got too short. It's a real shame that the Toowoomba Smithy's closed. But I'll be a cheecky beggar anyway & ask if there's any equipment going - or is that the stuff I saw on fleabay? It the Muster @ the Village Smith that I'm planing to go to on the demo day. ;)

Wanna bet? I was astonished how much there was in France & Italy. Assisi in particular was very rich in seriously good wrought iron work. I'll get them up as soon as I have my own PC & internet connection, or can get enough time at an i-cafe, I promise. :)

Welcome to IFI. :)