Hello to all,
This is A very interesting and informative site well done to all involved.
I'm in Devon in the UK and have a notion to set up a home hobby forge on the cheap to do some arrowheads and knife blades to begin with.
Got some good ideas off the tube for a little forge. Got most of the stuff and some steel scrap at the recycling centre today for five pounds.
I don't have an anvil yet just a cobblers last but it will do for now.
I hope to use lumpwood charcoal with a fan device to get some heat going I will let you know how that goes.
I read with interest the thread on what a Blacksmith is today. 30 years ago I worked as a youth in a forge and there was no traditional forge work being done then. Just re-working old road chisels and making scrolls. The rest was metal fabrication work on railings and gates and made to measure items, with arc welding and grinding and spraying with red ox etc.
I think it is a supply and demand thing. If there is a demand for traditional skills then they will be taught and provided. When that demand dies off because of competition the traditional skills become consigned to history. The Blacksmith/Metalworker has to move forward with technology to get enough work or become a historical skills specialist.
Where the Blacksmith wins over the mass producing factory is by having the ability to repair a metal component or one off item and to produce a small number of made to measure items from drawings. This is something that a large factory can't do because it is not worth their while. However the smaller Blacksmith is reliant on getting enough work like this to keep going.
Great work on the site, I'll be asking for help later,
Cheers for now
