Darling Daggers

Yes, I'm out in Wasilla.

Hello all, I'm a newbie here and I am dreadfully interested in setting up my own forge and getting started in smithing,first as a hobby but preferably more in the future. The first of many questions I have, I'm sorry in advance if I ask questions that have been asked many times, is where did you start? Should I build an entire forge, buy a burner and build the rest, or buy the whole darn thing? After doing a plethora of internet research I have come to the conclusion that I am interested in setting up a gas forge to start with, nothing too large and preferably something that I could do a majority of forging on. Basically just asking advice based off of where you all started. Did you start as a hobby and grew from there? Did you start with a coal or gas forge? Did you go too big too soon, or was your's too small to do what you were looking for? Did you have trouble finding materials to work with? I'm primarily interested in bladesmithing but metalworking in general is sounds glorious. I am glad I found such an active community of like minded individuals with knowledge to assist in such a fabulous craft, especially local! Thank you in advance for your assistance!