Brian de Banger

JHCC - that's similar to what got me inspired, the beauty of the simplicity of the design in it's self, meaning that you don't always have to have intricate scrolls & spirals,sometimes less is more.

Thank you for your advice JHCC, I actually have & the amount of knowledge here is mind boggling.

G'day to all, I joined Just a tad ago, now that the planets & internet finally aligned I can introduce myself. I live in northern Victoria just a stone's throw from the mighty Murray river, which means I'm in a rural area & lucky to have neighbours far enough away not to annoy them with noise, smoke or swearing. I thought blacksmithing might've been complementary to my late wife's wrought iron cold bending hobby & possibly have extra items to sell at markets, that was over 20 years ago. As they say "The best laid plans of mice & men", anyway I was walking past my late wife's tools (not me looking in a mirror. the bendy machines!) & thought I should start doing something with them, in part to honour her memory, especially the small anvil, instead of letting them going rusty & dusty. So after finally finishing outside I came inside & looked on YT about blacksmithing, one of the first things I came across was the split cross, thinking "I could do that" & instead of just thinking, I decided to get up off my bum & do - thus began the odyssey. 6 months later & a home built forge, based on DF's firepot design, dropped into a big old BBQ plate (that was originally going to be a brake drum that I couldn't find) with a hand crank Rapblo blower for air supply I got to fire it up today. I'm what you'll call an xxxxxt Rank Amateur meaning over 60 & more rank than amateur, one of the questions I'm asked is "Why? your so old!" I answer "Why not, if you give up learning you mos well be on the other side of the grass". Looking forward to plenty of burns & miss hits, 'Ooroo for now.