mutant

I would start off small and easy since you can always upgrade. Make a simple charcoal furnace and use a hairdryer as the air source. I would also start with aluminum for various reasons. The main being it's lower melting temperature compared to bass or cast iron. Try melting the AI into ingots as a first few projects, an old muffin tray is great to use. After a few melts, try your hand at lost foam casting. I've done a few projects and it's a great hobby. Do your research, ask questions and use common sense. There is a pretty big risk factor with this hobby but it can be done relatively safely. Check out Alloy Ave. It's a website dedicated to the backyard metal caster. I also have a few casting videos up on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK9rYpRQmiM

That's part of "Among other reason" in what I wrote. You'll be surprised how much charcoal dust and forced air will sand blast away material.

Head over to http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/forum.php It's a site dedicated to backyard foundry. Lots of great info and peeps willing to help out. I'm pretty new to casting as well but from what I can tell from your video, looks like whatever you made your mold out of wasn't fully cured. You were getting steam bubbles and, as others have stated, that's pretty dangerous. Your container failing is common with using charcoal. Among other reasons, a blower and charcoal acts like a powerful abrasive and can quickly wear down material. It's why I switched over to propane. Casting is dangerous but with some basic knowledge AND using common sense, can be done safely and relatively easily. Do your research, ask questions at Alloy Ave. Good luck, be safe and have fun! Check out one of my more successful casting videos here -

Your shop is looking fantastic! Don't feel bad about the size, mine is only 33 square feet.

I think it can be very versatile if you can use the burners separately. If not, don't worry, it's pretty easy to make a propane burner. You would need a high pressure regulator anyway. That would be the most expensive part.

There's always a risk with anything you do. Some hobbies are more riskier than others. Understand those risks but more importantly, at 16, make sure your parents know as well. Do your research, ask question, and seek guidance. You'll do fine and have fun.

Forging and casting are two different things. I've seen a few people make a furnace that can be used for either casting or forging. For casting, you can do this relatively safely if you stick with some common sense and PPE. Making aluminum castings is as addicting as blacksmithing. As suggested, head over to http://www.alloyavenue.com/. You'll get some great advice from people with experience. I would stick with aluminium for awhile if you're just getting into casting. I also wouldn't try to forge any metal but cold rolled steel until you are more experienced.

I say go for it! From my very limited experiences with my leg vise, they're pretty simple devices. Take your time dissembling, de-rust, lube and reassemble. There are a few videos on how to fabricate a new spring.

I live on the island as well and haven't found any association out by us. The closest place to take a class is in downtown Brooklyn.

This is only my 3 or 4th item that I've ever forged on my own. It's my version of a letter opener that doubles as a butter knife. Heh.

Wow! My fragile little mind has officially been blown. I'm so jealous! Not only is the trailer setup so awesome, it's also bigger than my tiny smithy! Great job!

Nick, That hammer came out great! Not bad for just taking one class over a month ago. I'm jealous you're able to get in so much forging time. Nice work man.

Nice! I did something similar. I should go take a photo and post it. I have my anvil sitting right on the sand. It's easy to raise/lower the anvil by adding/removing sand. It also helps to dull the ring. -m

I made a box out of plywood and used 1x2 too skin it and make it look nice. I then filled it with sand. This helps a ton with sound and I can adjust the height as needed by adding or removing sand.

Or Gamera! Nice!

When I took Alec Steele's tool making class we just melted a bunch of beeswax candles in a tin cup and through a hand full of coke powder in it.

Oops! Sorry, I didn't realize that I might of pushed the boundaries. My videos are G rated in general. mutant aka- Peter Mod Note: This post has been edited

I think Alec holds the record for causing the most blisters. Some of the guys got it pretty bad. I taped up as soon as I felt where the rubbing was and saved myself a lot of pain. But yea, we went through quite a bit of tape and bandaids!

Thanks! The hammer was made from 4140, and we heat treated and tempered. The tools we forged were - Hammer tongs Large drift Center punch Flattening hammer Hole punch Cupping tool Top & bottom fuller Final Hammer tempering is a part of heat treating

Ok, in my other thread about what can I do to physically prepare for a 4 day blacksmithing class, I was given a ton of great advice. I started going to the gym, (after a 10 year absence), did planks, bought the finger rubber bands, and hand squeeze things. I did as much as I could do in the little time that I had. Well, I held up pretty darn well! I did struggle but it wasn't from swinging a 12lbs sledge hammer all day. Punching holes that lined up on both sides, punching holes perfectly centered, and tapering was what I had a hard time with. I learned a ton in such a short amount of time. Alec was awesome. The nine other guys that took the class were awesome. Paul Krzyszkowski of Toronto Blacksmith was awesome. I've only forged three small projects before this class. It was beyond fantastic to move so much metal . I've included two links to videos if anyone is interested. The first is when I tried to forge a bottle opener on my own before taking any lessions. The second is the class. I'll let you judge how much I improved. Thanks all for the input and advice I received about what I could do to get in shape for the class! -Peter Bottle Opener The Class Video removed as it does not meet the G rated Family Forum standards.

I almost went to Prat. Wound up at SVA instead.

I work for a major premium cable channel in the design and advertising department. I help come up with the concepts to sell our shows.

Wow! Thank you all for the fantastic response! Lots of simple, great ideas that I would never have thought of. I guess it's why I posted for advice on a blacksmithing forum! Even though I'm still going to join the gym for my general health, sanity and the class, I'm going to try out some of the suggestions that I can do at home and in the office. Infact, I did my first set of sit ups this morning. Littleblacksmith is correct, the class I'm participating in is the February Canada class. I would love to take the one at his shop but I live in NY and this seemed much more doable. I'll try and take as many photos/videos as I can and post when the time comes. Once again, thank you all for the great advise! Have a great New Year! -m

Thanks all for your input and suggestions! I used to be a gym rat for years, but that was long ago. I'm still in ok(ish) shape but at 48, I just didn't want to jump in at swinging a sledgehammer after being sedentary for so long. I'm going to join the gym this weekend. I'm way over do and it's the new year soon anyways.

I grew up in Brooklyn most of my life but spent my high school years living upstate NY. Wood was the main fuel for heating our drafty old house in the winter. I was half lumberjack during those years! That was 30 years ago and now I live in a fairly dense part of the suburbs. Closest I'll get to chopping wood would be doing those planks Kevin suggested! Heh.