Jeff Bly

Yeah, it followed me home. Only it just turned out to be the money I could be saving with geico. Sheesh!

Hi Zarc, several things:

1.)Welcome to IForgeIron!
2.)Great work in those pics you posted. :)
3.)Glad you did not become discouraged and kept reading and posting here.

And most important...

4.)If I were you I would pack my bags and move down under to Oz and grab that apprenticeship. :cool:

It seems to be just exactly what you are looking for and what forgemaster is looking for as well. If you don't have anything tying you down or holding you back, you should consider grabbing an opportunity that most only dream of. That is what I would do if I could, though this is just a suggestion and my humble opinion.

Good luck and God speed in your endeavors.

Jeff

LOL. The irked looking kid towards the top center of the picture was either the class bully, or someone stole his piece of the project. Either way his Ma must of been proud.

Looks like the ventilation was via the one hood in the back of the room. It's quite possible they assumed that was sufficient back then. With all that water on the floor, I don't think safety was an issue back then like nowadays, let alone worry about safety goggles and such.

I would say the kid with the wrapped bandaged hand got up close and personal with a piece of his work.

Does he have a catalog or website?

I like the fact that they had designs for making a bellows.

I know of some dams where I can get some of those. But I don't think people downstream would be pleased.

Sometimes it's just luck.

Now to just put it to use on a case of suds to make sure it works 24 out of 24 times.

I think that it is a wonderful thing that some of our youth will actually take the time to learn and do something of value. So many people worry so much about their kids. This is what it's all about.

There are a lot of choices and a lot of inspiration. Thanks for all the pics and ideas.

:confused: Are there any blacksmith/blacksmithing magazines out there to subscribe to?

That's a pretty wild tatt! Nice.

That's a nice new looking forge! And a nice trowel too. Good work. Now you don't have any more reasons to not make what you want or need.

Good work Tom. I'm getting my forge prepared for it's (my) first fire up. Looks as if I'll need to make a lot of tongs myself.

Thanks for the replies.

ApprenticeMan & CBrann - Thanks for the info I was looking for.

Frosty - I've seen the results of not having a hard hat, or a face shield for that matter. I'd like to avoid any pain if at all possible.

I have had a lot of luck on craigslist. In matter of fact there are a lot of items that are closer to you than they are to me that I have been interested in, and I am from the Albany area. I would suggest doing a search on craigslist and to put a post that you are looking for an anvil in the "items wanted" section also. Good luck.

I am curious what the steps are to go from a freshly forged object to one that is bright and shiny and reflective? I'm looking for step by step from start to finish and what items (tools, polishes, pads...) are used in the process. I want to put some really nice finishes on some of my work, but I just don't understand how to complete this.

Why not try to forge weld a billet? It's great practice, and by time you complete it, you'll have a better understanding how you do or don't forge weld something. Good luck.

I watched a smith do a forge weld the other day. The first time he stuck the weld but then tried to reshape the edge and it broke the weld, the second time it took the weld nicely. He used a borax flux. He was making a nail header. First he made the loop to form the head which required a weld, then he used a piece of spring steel to make the face of the header. He showed me that he put the hot piece (the handle and looped end of the header) on the bottom, then the colder spring steel face he put on top, with borax in between, and then set it in the fire to get both pieces up to the same color then pulled it out and smacked it together. The top piece slid off center slightly, but stuck. He hammered it back to shape then set it aside to cool so he could finish file the nail header the following day.

God bless kids. He seems to be having the time of his life! Gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside to know they are happy.:)

That's pretty cool. I think David has completely shown me up! LOL.:)

It makes a bit of sense that, if you are going to make the forge portable, why not the vice also. I like that Frosty, gives me some ideas.

That's definitely heavy duty. Very nice. Great use of materials. It is done very well.

My Peter Wright has the number 2 on both feet under the horn.

If you look at the feet on the front under the horn, are there numbers on each foot?