Josh D

Hello, my name is Josh. I've been an amateur woodworker for a few years and thought black smithing would be a nice addition. My wife think its because I have all the major woodworking tools, so I found a new hobby to spend money on... Anyways I'm outside Columbus Ohio. I have a pretty nice Peter wright anvil, a homemade forge, a few pairs of tongs and a couple hammers. My dads friend is a pretty awesome blacksmith and he's trying to teach me. I have started to experiment on my own. I have a 12x16 shed to use. I also have a half bag of coal left. I hope to learn a lot from this forum. I am pretty entertained by heating and pounding steel in general right now, but eventually would like to make some larger projects like a pan rack, iron gates for the driveway, and some woodworking/black smithing projects.

It seems like i have a never ending list of questions.. what would be a couple decent metals i could use that: wouldn't rust or oxidize excessively? wouldnt leave stains or marks on skin? is there a way to treat mild steel so that it doesn't leave that metal residue on your hands. I will be using these fairly often on skin on skin so i'd prefer not to have to scrub my hands every ten minutes.

unicorn~ thanks for the information. These would be a personal set that i would make to try to improve on previous designs and incorporate some new curves and whatnot that would engage areas such as wrists and feet that the current graston doesn't cover as well as i'd like. as far as insurance coverage, i could be possibly held liable. i'm sure my malpractice doesn't cover this. My goal would be to develop something that i could patent or sell to either a graston or starr tool for a portion of profits. Also, i am trying to start working on some race animals so that the standard sizes used by graston would not apply to the size of a horse. Could i get some suggestions on types of SS that would be good for my purposes. one guy suggested 304 steel. I have been reading on mcmaster.com about the different SS. There is way more variations than in woodworking. I priced out 304 and a 1" x 3/16" x 36" is around 14 dollars. Figuring that the average tool is 6-8 inches. that would give me 4 or more attemps. What other sites do you guys use? id like to try and order this week and maybe experiment this weekend thanks fellas

i know my dad would get me setup. I have done some work with him at school before and it made him have that goofy smile all day.. He's in the hydraulics and pneumatics but he has free reign on using any tools.. is there a difference between woodworking belt and disc sanders and metalworking? Possibly speed the same as metal bandsaw are slower??

I really want to let you guys know i appreciate the advice. i have ordered from mcmaster.com before. is there any other sites i should look at? Did i mention my father teaches in the industrial department of a community college. What tools wood i be looking at using. I'm sure he'll be able to have one his friends help me learn to use them safely. i'm guessing i need a metal cutting bandsaw to cut the edge at the 45 degree bevel and a grinder to rough out the initial rounded edges. Is there an ossicilating spindle sander type tool in metalworking that i can use to round inside curves?

element, yes on humans. Look up Graston technique. It is definately not pleasurable but with injuries you develop scar tissue that can cross link between the different muscle fibers or other tissues which then limit their function and weaken them. The tools help break up these erroneous linkages and then you can rehab the body to work better. if you want to talk about it further i'm more than willing. steve sells, sorry about the pictures i will try to link to some better ones. I'm not confident in using the messaging boards as this is different setup than i use on the woodnet wwforum. I also didn't take you as discouraging. frosty, these tools are used outside the skin. As far as strength of steel i would need. i'm not sure. The force used on the tool is enough that it can break minor blood vessels over the tissues you are working. now, for the pictures. Copyrighted photo removed, use this link Also, here's a link that tells a little more about these tools and has a picture of them.

I would say my experience is zero. i had a little in high school but that was nothing. I thought working with flat metal would keep the learning curve to a tolerable level. For the project i thought i would need to be able to grind a rectangular blank of metal into a rounded off end. with my woodworking i have made/sharpened lathe tools and plane irons.

I'm just getting interested in metal working. I have done a decent amount of woodworking. I have a project in mind that i would like to make a set of tools out of stainless steel. Tools shown here I hope i did that link correctly. Basically, they are ~ 3/16" thick stainless steel tools that are beveled at a 45 degree angle. All the surfaces are rounded over. They are used for rehabbing muscle tendons and ligaments. I have an idea that would be along the same lines but not duplicating what was pictured (if the link worked). Would anyone here be interested in helping a newbie learning metalworking?