Hello all. I'm a retired machinist of 35 years and it's time for a change. I've been building things since i was 12 and making what i need rather than buy. I've built cars and motorcycles from scratch. Machined knives from exotic materials and even built a gun or two from scratch. Now i want to get back to grass roots, so to speak, and try my hand at smithing. I love some of the projects people have done here and intend to lurk and study until i've collected and built the tools i'll need. I'll start by building my anvil first, i have a few hundred pounds of 8620 gear steel which i'll cut, weld and shape to what i need then after i build my forge and blower, heat treat it and go from there. There are some good ideas for power hammers here and i think i have most of what i need to build one. i've a great interest in damascus and along with planned knives and hawks i have some ideas for custom car and bike parts from damascus! When i've learned enough to be proud of what i create i'll post some pictures of my projects. I think this will be fun and i'm happy to be a member of this group, thanks for having me!
