I suppose I should give a bit of background info about myself to help you all understand my situation. I live a mostly self sufficient life out in the woods of Washington parish Louisiana. I moved here from a different parish a few years ago, people here don't like "come-heres" which is their term for someone who wasn't born in this parish. I have no connections to people here, and there's no way I could get into any junkyards or old barns or any other sources of scrap. I am recently unemployed and haven't been successful in finding a job for a few months so all of my savings are used up and I actually owe a few hundred dollars to family and friends. For this and other reasons I am trying to find a way to make a bit of money while I continue the job hunt. Lots of bees around so I decided to build hives and bait them hoping that a few swarms will take over. I need to clear alot of my land of so I plan on selling a few trees to sawmills while using some trees to build a better house for my wife and i, selling firewood, and carving beehives, drum shells, and anything I can make a few bucks off. In spring I will chop up about 4 acres to grow food for my family and to sell at farmers markets. My problem comes from the fact that I have almost NO TOOLS. A chainsaw, two files, a draw knife, a hatchet, a circular saw, machetes, a few hand saws, an electric drill with very few bits, a cheap 40 or so piece mechanics tool set, and an axe head and maul head that I haven't had a chance to carve new handles for yet. I don't have much of a choice but to learn blacksmithing, I need tools I can't afford to buy. Making the tools i need is my last option at the moment. Otherwise I'll become stagnate and I need to be as productive as possible until I find a job. I can't go without working, I'll lose my mind.
Alan, thank you. I figured that was the case, and I don't mind sharpening tools often, I sharpen my knives and hatchet for fun. I just hope I can get a hot fire going today, my airflow was inadequate yesterday.