GoodWife

It takes about 10,000 hours of practice- not just grinding out at what you already know, but pushing yourself practice- to hit a mastery level at anything you want to do. You're 18, you found something you like doing, and if you want to make a living at it (which is completely do-able), here is my recommendation.

Go to the local meetings, find every local smith, buy them a lunch and ask to interview them. Anyone who does this, does it with love and passion in their hearts, and many of them are incredibly happy to find young people who are interested in preserving these skills. Find one who's work you respect and admire, who's personality you think you can work with. Show up every day and offer to work for whatever he can do for you, offer an old-school apprenticeship (you sleep at your parents/on the shop floor/ trade in your car for a van with a mattress on the back and he feeds you), and work your tail off doing every odd job in the shop. If he says no, show up and clean and do all the grunt work, and show that you mean it and you'll do the work of three men, and do that until someone gives you an internship.

Listen. Write down what they say. Absorb all the knowledge you can. Work your tail off. Ask questions. Do stupid errands, even when you don't want to or they irritate you- picking up your boss's wife's dry cleaning won't teach you anything about metal, but it WILL prove to your boss that you're willing to do something most young people haven't figured out yet- your job is to make your boss's life easier. 

If your boss is a successful smith, soon, you'll be working on the basic parts of things they are doing to make money. Then you'll start doing simpler assignments by yourself, with them checking your work. Then, when they are too busy with the more complicated stuff, you'll start doing some commissions solo.

If you choose a good mentor, by the time you are done, you'll not only know what it takes to make metal bend to your will, but you'll also have some fantastic local reviews, a source of referrals, and a darn good start in business.

I'd also suggest that you take book keeping and accounting classes at your local CC, as well as blacksmithing.

If you don't have a couple of smiths in the area who can afford to take on an apprentice, work something out with them where you apprentice with one two days a week, and other for another two, and just work your tail off that way.

While at the community college, become friends with a photography professer or students, or even take a class yourself. Take some good photos of your work, and go to the local architects firms. You can make a nice photo book of your work at lulu.com, print some out and leave them with the architects, go to their meetings, and get to know them. One architect who works on a dozen wealthy client's homes in a year, who loves your stuff and can tell their clients about this amazing local artist who uses nothing but traditional techniques and blah blah blah- you can fill that all in at the time- can make your career and fill your days with as much work as you can handle, until you start needing to get an apprentice.

You'll end up with what you need to be successful, without the college debt, while following your dream. While you do this, you will be broke and there are days it will suck, but it's the fastest and surest way I've seen to get to where you want to be. This is basically what my great uncle was desperate for before he retired- he was a master deep mud tile setter, and there were no boys around who wanted to put in the time to learn what he did. The real craftsmen have a powerful desire to pass on their knowledge. Just prove to them that you want it.  My two cents, worth what you paid for them.

Hi there, I'm the wife of a newbie smith. My husband has been wanting to get into blacksmithing for ages, and I'm all about him getting to do fun things for himself. He's not very good about spending money on himself, or taking the time to do the things that really make him happy, so once he finds something that he wants to do, I sort of bounce at it Tigger style and make things happen.

We have a cool old shed in the back yard of our new house that we call the Murder Shed- it's this rusted metal monstrosity that looks like something from a horror movie. One part has been claimed by my gardening stuff, but a second semi-attached shed, with power already run to it, is slated to become the smithy.

Hubs has stated a preference for working with a gas forge, which I'm all for because the thought of having to clean coal dust off things Does Not Make For Happy Wife. I'm trying to find nearby (Austin area) workshops and things for him to go to, and generally figure out what needs to be acquired to get him started. At this point I'm mostly trying to find an anvil for him, because he can (and probably will) do the rest. 

I might do a little smithing myself, because I'm a bad XXX Irish peasant wife with mad upper body strength (from years of breeding for hauling potatoes, I assume), but this is mostly his thing. 

Nice to meet y'all and I've already learned a LOT from just lurking!

please watch the Language.

I wanted to say thanks for this thread- I know it's an old one but I actually joined so I could see the pictures for how all this was working!