tjdaggett

Beautiful! This is in South Africa? Would you mind popping over and giving my friend in Cote d'Ivoire a hug for me?

Seriously though, nice work. It looks like a great spot.

My wife is still in the conceptual phase, if you get my drift. :P Keep 'em coming, folks! This is great!

I forgot: I also have the BFH. My striker, however....

Thank you David! Some of those things are currently out of my reach/unnecessary, but a lot of it I had forgotten.

I will of course look into this on my own, but what are top and bottom tools?

Well folks, I have been yacking Stephen Olivo's ear off with my little tiny bits of progress towards shop-building, so I figured I would let him share the load...with you!

I am in the process of cobbling together my first shop, and here is what I have so far:

Stump: ash, 80-100 lbs.

Scrap: spring steel, plus the caps of the shocks which MIGHT be big enough for a small forge.

That's really about it. Things I still need:
 

Forge

Anvil

Tongs

Hammers

Fuel

Enough for now. Let me know if I missed anything!

 

Living in Alaska I'd have to drive FAST and take a club to keep someone else from snapping it up. Even in your neighborhood it'll be gone if you waffle much longer.

 

 This made my morning. Thanks Frosty the Lucky.

I am so glad someone has already done this! Cookware is one of the things I will be shooting for first once I get a forge-space. Truly well done.

Gorgeous. Scrap never looked better.

My bellows built in 2006.

 

 

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Beautiful, sir. 

That's the plan!  You will be getting a call soon enough.

Blatant testimonial: I posted this topic on Wednesday around 8:30. I knew nobody. Yesterday at 4:30 I met Stephen in person. We spent 2.5 hours talking, and I learned more from him than I have from all the YouTube videos I've ever seen. Thank you!

Yes! Thank you so much. This is exactly what I am looking for. I will pursue these when I get off of work. Stephen, I am about fifteen minutes out of Robbinsdale, over in the New Brighton/St. Anthony area. Will you be around tonight? I'll shoot you a PM.

Evening all! I am a young man looking to try his hand at blacksmithing. I am, it seems, going to need a lot of help. We no longer know who the town blacksmith is from birth, so getting in contact with the actual man-with-the-anvil is not easy. For tonight, I'll keep this simple. 

Who I am: I am a young man just out of college who recently landed his first full-time day job. I have the time and money (FINALLY!) to go to weekend events, slowly accumulate gear, and practice the trade. I currently live in an apartment with three other guys, but there is a garage possibility. 

What I need: I need advice on getting started in general (I see there's a page or so for that). I need to know what people do in situations like mine (can one smith in a garage near hundreds of residences?). I need a community to share this whole thing with; iron sharpens iron, da? My area is the Twin Cities of Minnesota. I know there are guys around here, because I met them at the Renaissance Festival.

I could use some directions. Shoot me a PM or reply here. I'll be busy digging through the posts. Thanks ya'll!

--SDG, TJDaggett