Hi all! I'm new to the forum and a complete beginner to blacksmithing in general! Please give me the benefit of doubt where possible and feel free to talk to me like I'm an idiot.
I decided to create an account and a thread here in the hopes I can learn from the wisdom of all the experienced blacksmiths here.
My story so far:
I recently attended a half-day blacksmithing course at the Oldfield Forge in Hereford. We had a fantastic time and "forged" our own wedding rings from stainless steel, which really meant punching a hole through a nugget of metal and grinding/polishing till it resembled a ring. We had a great time, and the instructor was fantastic given the limited scope of the course and time available. Since I finished my ring early, he did show me a few basic "proper" blacksmithing techniques including drawing out, tapering, twisting, etc. Unfortunately I didn't get to have a go at any of these so I left with a real appetite for becoming a hobbyist blacksmith!
The aforementioned instructor gave me a few tips for starting blacksmithing on a shoestring (including a hairdryer based forge, and a rail track anvil.) I've been watching videos by Torbjorn Ahmen on YouTube which have been pretty educational so far.
A friend of mine works on the railway and found me a nice small bit of rail, and can get me an almost unlimited supply of scrap (liberated?) metal including pandrol clips (which I believe are actually made of xxxx good steel!
This weekend I managed to have my first go at blacksmithing. I built a pedestal for the anvil using a sleeper, which seems to be heavy enough to take serious bashing very well indeed. I'm tall (6'4") so needed a tall stand (the instructor recommended the anvil face be "knuckle height" when hands are by sides?).
The forge is built similar to Torbjorn Ahmen's YouTube design. I had some issues initially getting the metal hot enough- I've only been using scrap rebar for now (rebar.... I can hear you groaning already!). I'm lucky enough to have firebricks lying around which I guess are the ideal forge building materials. After some rejigging of the arrangement I had better success, although my pipe gets quite hot and as such so does my hairdryer. I have a plan next time to suspend a layer of wire mesh above the first row of bricks to allow ash to fall, and I can flatten the end of my pipe to allow the air to flow under and up into the fire from under the mesh. Any thoughts? The charcoal seemed to burn out very very fast, but I still found it hard to get more than the tip of the rebar flowing (and only red, never yellow).
Finally I managed to flatten said rebar into a messy uneven... thing. Obviously, I casually decided my first project was going to be a knife. (I can hear you groaning again....!). I'll grind it up into something that resembles a knife soon, for my own amusement.
Next steps: I'm going to follow some advice I found here on the forum:
and concentrate on learning how to draw out, taper, etc by making LOTS of hooks. They'll be handy around the house and should hopefully develop my skills- not only with a hammer, but also when it comes to fire etc. I'd also like to make a pair of rebar tongs ASAP as I have nothing to hold the material with currently.
Any thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated!! (especially comments about my absolutely wonderful squished-rebar-jelly-knife. I can provide detailed engineering drawings to anyone who wants to copy the design.)