ausfire

I guess you experienced blacksmiths have been asked this a thousand times. I would like to know, when you are doing items at a show, how you finish the pieces so that people can take them away?They look a bit raw straight off the forge. I prefer to take mine home, buff them on the wire wheel and then add a spray metal sealer followed by a light coat of wax.

That's not practical on site where people want to take an item home. Straight beeswax appears to be gluggy. I do mainly small items like hooks, handles, keyrings, reo snakes, roses and so on. Is there a quick and easy method to make a forged item presentable?

I have been blacksmithing for only a short while with mixed success. I use a stone forge with a cast iron blower and I always use charcoal for fuel. It's free, clean and easy to get.

There are no smiths working around my area of Australia so it's hard to find good information or help. Books I have read all say part of the blacksmiths' equipment required is a can with holes in it for watering the forge. I made one, but am not sure why. I have had no cause to use it and things seem to go well without it. Am I missing something here? Why would you want to sprinkle water on a forge fire???