JW513

I'm currently taking a 9 week 27 hour blacksmithing course.... A little backstory.....My father, brother and I (we own a construction company) are currently renovating a house built in the 1870s-1890s... A REAL nice house in its day... Anyways by chance, my great grandparents owned it in the 50s-70s..  It was going to be torn down,  they had land, so they moved it across the street and turned it into a boarding house., my grandpa even did the foundation.. He was mason. Anyways, I saw video Joey Van Der Steeg put out where he forged nails into a steel bar. 

I'm collecting all the old cut nails I  can find/pull... Must have a 100 right now. They may be wrought iron, but I'm not sure. I think they are machine made, but they are very old. Once I have more practice and if its feasible iI'd  like made something out of them, especially because of the family history with the house. I may not do it for 2 years, or maybe it will be sooner.. or later. It depends on my skill level.  I'm just curious if what I want to do, is worth the effort. 

Thanks

Thanks for the response.  He only paid $50 for it 10 years ago..  Could anyone take a guess at how old it may be....

I'm starting my blacksmith course next week. I'm very excited.

My uncle is giving me his old anvil.. He restores hot rods, so he never uses it too much.  I think its 29 inches long and a foot tall.   I couldn't find any markings. But i'm sure if I took a wire brush to it I could find something.

Thanks for the input.. What you guys said I kind of figured.

I should look into building one. I don't want to do anything  except read and watch videos until I take the course... I don't want to pick up any bad habits.

Long story short, I've only taken one blacksmithing day class. I'm on a waiting list for the course. Ideally I want a coal forge and will some day (i've done a lot of reading on the pluses and minuses of both), and that is why I want to start with propane, because it seems to be more straight forward.  That being said, until I know what I'm talking about and have experience with both, I DON"T know which one I want.

I stumbled on this on amazon today, it gets good reviews. https://www.handyforge.com/  

I do like the size in some ways, because, I just want to focus on small things at first and it doesn't take up space, but I also realize that after a few months I will outgrow this and want to do bigger things... 

I tried searching the forums for it, but "Handy" and "Forge" are two very popular words on here... Go figure...

Thanks for any input.

2 hours ago, Cavpilot2k said:

Did you take a class at Prospect Hill?

I took their Bottle opener and knife classes earlier in the year, and now I have a forge, anvil, and tools at home (It's outside though until I can convince SWMBO that I need another shed for it - first step will be to forge her something pretty like a horse head something (she's a horse girl) - THEN she will see the NEED for another out-building). 

Yes I did, How is the bottle opener class? I'm sure its similar. 

23 hours ago, Desmond Redmon said:

Welcome aboard JW513!  Mind putting a general location in your profile when you have time?  A wise man once told me the difference between an apprentice  carpenter and a master carpenter is the master knows how to fix all of his mistakes and the apprentice has yet to learn that lesson.  Besides machines can produce perfection time after time but it takes human hands to produce a piece that is unique and special enough to talk about time after time.  And that is not at all half bad to look at, I like the slow fast slow twist.

Whats funny, is other people loved my twist in the class. I thought everyone elses looked better. But the more I look at mine, the more I like it and the more proud I am. 

10 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Why does it have to be symmetrical?  Making the ends symmetrical is for machines!  I often make the hooks different for their intended use: large arc to fit over a pipe, deep narrow arc to hold a bail for example---of the 30 cubical hooks at work right now. One end fits tightly over the cubicle wall, the other  is shaped to hang your coat and or your laptop carrier. (First 25 or so were made from old rusty 1' long landscape timber nails as I had found 25 of them at the scrap yard... My personal one is made from 1/2" sq stock with a dragon head on one end to keep an eye on my co worker in the next cube over...)

It doesn't have to be. The instructor also said, if you mess up its ok, just make it look like the mistake wasn't a mistake. I'm happy with mine.

One thing I really liked about the instructor is that he said stuff in ways that stuck in my mind.. Like, "if your talking with someone while your steel is in the fire, the second you realize you are talking to someone with your steel in the fire, pull it out to check it"..

The class was great. I learned a lot.. I made a few mistakes, like the curl on the other end.. That was the 2nd one, which was harder because I was using tongs. I will be going back to take the actual course.. I could do a 2nd one right now and I know it would be twice as good.  Its not the most symmetrical, but my next one will be.

The instructor was great... It was the most fun I have had in a long time. For some people sitting by a poolside is fun.... For me, working is fun.

Hello from Boston. Blacksmithing has always interested me since I was little kid. About 2 years ago I said why not try it out...Long story short my mother got very sick and it changed everything. She's doing better now and I just booked a day class to learn how to make an S hook.  I'm in construction, so I have a lot of experience with tools, I just have never worked with very hot material.

I'm really looking forward to this class and being a member here. I'm going to be a sponge and absorb everything I can!