Miller57

I'm new as well, I just started this weekend. Bare essentials don't even describe what I have currently, as my "forge" is a half of a 55 gallon drum chiseled in half with a blow dryer hooked to a pipe running into the bottom of the side of it for forced air. I haven't lined it with any refractory, and my anvil is just a 65-70 pound railroad anvil from an antiques store. A single pair of what look like some iron needle nose tongs (also from the antiques store) and some old, 4 pound hammers of my grandfather's. I'm only 17, but I fell in love with smithing in the past month, with a video of a blacksmith turning a hunk of steel into a beautiful war axe on YouTube striking my first spark. I would love any advice, suggestions, or criticism from anyone on here. Thank you!

I actually just made a forge (if you would call it that). I'm 17, and was scrolling through YouTube the other day and saw a smith turn a chunk of steel into a beautiful Viking hand axe, and watched the whole thing in awe. It just tugged at my heart, I wanted to do something like that. So I took a 55 gallon steel drum, chiseled it in two halves, and chiseled a hole in the bottom of the side of it. I lit a good, wood fire, put a steel pipe through the hole, and hooked a blow dryer to the pipe. It melted the paint off of the barrel, burned up all of the wood, but I did manage to get a horseshoe hot enough to bend a little. I bought an old railroad anvil and some Tongs from the local antiques store to start. I literally can't pull myself away from any of it. I'm excited for a long life of smithing, and would take any kind of advice from here. Thanks!