Hey Sebastian - I am also a newbie here and am getting my small shop up and running. It's pretty amazing how much time and energy it takes just to get something modest off the ground where you can even start messing around and building things.
I am going with a coal fired forge, I think; there are several plans I've been checking out, one for converting an old Weber and another a water heater. I'll probably end up with a hair dryer or vacuum blower to start and see how that goes.
Like I mentioned in my introductory post, my biggest hurdle at this point is finding an anvil, but I've gotten some good advice from some folks here and plan to go haunt (annoy) the markets around here to see if I can get the word out about what I'm looking for. The new anvils look pretty xxxx swanky, but it's just not in the budget right now so, like you, I'll take the best hunk of junk I can and smash on it until one of us breaks.
I am definitely into getting back to basics as well. I really like the idea of being able to craft tools or implements from scratch. We get used to going to the hardware store and seeing a dizzying array of tools for a given job, not thinking that even that selection is limited, but pretty much anything can be fabricated in the shop. It's a pretty powerful feeling I think.
Anyway, good to see another newbie and good luck to you!