RDSBandit

No, no I'm not. Though I have looked into them as well.

Yep. That exact same one. :-) I try to take my wife every year for her birthday.

I know of the saltfork craftsmen. A buddy of mine mentioned then to me..... 11, 12 years ago when I had expressed a desire to learn blacksmithing. I got the chance to speak to a few of its members this past weekend at the medieval fair. They seemed like nice guys. And GotMituns you mentioned a 2 hr drive, well..... that's kinda what I'm looking at I think.

My kit currently is a variety of hammers (some need new handles), and an assortment of vice grips, and a couple of vices. A few punches and chisels. A hacksaw and wire brush (I'm pretty sure). I'll try to get pictures up after I get off work. Maybe yall can tell me what I should use, and what I shouldn't use. No forge, no anvil. Though I do have an old propane tank for maybe a gas forge, and a friend of mine has access to a few brake drums. My stock is..... well..... I might have some scrap metal in a trailor right now. And the local scrap yard. As far as what I want to make? I want the ability to make anything. A gate, a Irish knot to hang on your wall things like that. And, of course I want to make axes, knifes, armour, that sort of thing. I don't have any books yet, but the ones I am looking at are The New Edge of the Anvil, The Art of Blacksmithing, and Machinery's Handbook 22nd edition or older. And, yeah, my statement of never hammering was metaphorical. :-)

I haven't as of yet. I have the membership form at home, I just haven't filled it out yet. I got to talk to some of the members on Saturday at the Medieval fair, they all seemed like really nice and helpful guys.

Hello all. Just stopping by to introduce myself. My name is Robert, I am 33 years old, been married for 4 years, and I have 1 son. I haven't begun to smith anything yet, still just gathering information. I am however hopeing to start in the next month, but, well see how it goes.

So, I want to be a blacksmith. I have been gathering information about blacksmithing lately, the only thing is, I don't know where to start. It seems that the underlying theme to everything I have been reading is, just get after it. I just don't know what I should attempt to make first. So, I thought I would ask y'all what your very first project was and how it turned out. Also, any advice you might have for someone who hasn't even picked up a hammer yet would be helpful as well.