adambieber

Welcome I'm a newbie as well. If you read my post (right below yours) at the bottom there are a couple links to help us.

It's beautiful! I like the wrap on it!

Two handed style on the battle field would get you killed, the shield is just to effective as a defensive weapon.
War hammers and military picks certainly gave good service as a relatively low cost weapon for defeating armor.
Economy and effectiveness certainly kept the axe and spear on the battle Felix a long time. But the award as just too effective against the lightly armored peasants for a "Nobel man" to pass up.
:-D figure Tommas will chime in and call me a fool, but I look forward to it!

Tell that to the highlanders! Or some of the Germans! Some of the swords reached 6 (182.88cm) -7 (213.36cm)

feet in length.

Beautiful!

I'm sure you can find some one near by.  A couple of hours with an experienced smith is worth a year without.  In less than a hour I had my nephew forge up a cable damascus knife on his first try..  He'd never picked up a hammer before.  It took months for me to figure it out.

That's impressive. And I do agree.

Welcome to IFI, all the questions you will likely ask have probably been answered.  Would expect your first questions to be setting up a forge and something to use as an anvil, those should be easy ones to find but holler if you need help finding something.  Have you searched for a local ABANA (artist blacksmith association) group yet?  That's probably the best way to get in touch with local blacksmiths who will know what resources are in your area.

Thank you for the welcome Dan.

As for searching ABANA I actually have checked. It seems to be everywhere I'm not. And to be honest I have a flood of questions lol  I'm trying to find the answers before I post and get replies like "I found it here: LINK"

Adam,

 

Welcome to IFI . and Welcome Home, Thank you for your Service. there is a ton of reading on here for you to study and folks are always here to help if you need it . 

 

Sams

Thank you, Sam for both your service (I'm guessing that by your picture) and your welcoming.

No way to pull those suckers out. Absolutely beautiful. Not to sound like a jerk or to make you sound incompetent (if I do please forgive me). How well balanced are they? Again beautiful craftsmanship!

I am not one to critique as I am not even a novice.  It doesn't look too bad as far as aesthetics. As an idea should you decide to make another: Hammer out the spike end and keep the peg end. See where your artistry takes you then. Maybe heating the peg end and twisting it for looks? I don't know I'm merely just giving my opinion. As I said before I have never forged in my life and only giving my opinion.

Very nice. If you wanna see similar blades look up bolos. That's a generalized term. Those are the weapons Filipinos are famous for using.

Thank you sir for your service to our country.  Your right, I think you'll enjoy the warmth of a forge over Iraq.  It is after all a dry heat there.  Post pics, we like to see the progress of new 'smiths.

I'm nowhere near a smith though I'd love to be. I need to get my own place and gear as well. In the mean time I'm tryin' to learn as much as possible. I found a blacksmith about an hour away but he won't take apprentices unfortunately. So i hope to learn from everyone here as well as books and videos. But I know experience is the best teacher. I'm not even sure what kind of forge to make or use. All things I hope to answer soon enough.

As for my service I'd happily serve if the US ever needs me again.

Welcome aboard!  Be prepaired for sweat, frustration and quite a few burns in the beginning.  You'll work past the frustration but there's nothing you can do to get past the sweat and burns. :unsure:

Not too worried about the heat! In iraq daily temps were anywhere between 130-160F with our gear on. I'm dyin to get started..

Hey all,

As my name screen name says I'm Adam. I live in Ames, IA and recently left the military. and was active duty for 4 years. I've always had a fascination for using the elements and taming metal. My particular interest is weaponry (knives etc).  I don't know much about this but  I know I'd love to be called an ironmonger like you folks!