Wim

When I started the adventure of becoming an Artist Blacksmith, around July last year, I thought I was the only one on the continent of Africa. I did not know where to start.
A year later I now have made friends with 10 Blacksmiths and their families, from Gauteng, Mpumalanga, the Freestate and the North West province.
We are a great bunch, have had 3 big events with over 15 people, as well as a few weekends, where one smith invites another for a weekend of bashing and sleeping over. It is at these events that not only a lot is learned of the Blacksmith trade, also frienships are forged, and you build a network of contacts, that helps getting a hold of books, ideas, tools and materials. Most important, you have so much fun together, and your life ends up being richer for it.

Therefore I urge every South African smith, male or female, young or old, wherever you are, whether you are a professional, a novice, or a wannabee, to contact me via this route.
We can help each other, we can do something, to bring this beautiful trade of Blacksmithing back to life in this outpost of the Global Village.
We can make a contribution to the international community of Blacksmiths. (Did I hear an amen?)

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Wim

Glen, Thanks for opening the Forum for us. This is a real breakthru' for us. The Forge In at Coenraad Vegter, aka "The real Ystervegter Forge In" occurred on 31st of March 2007, I have a number of photo's from that event to post.
Regards, Wim.

My setup (Anvil, forge and vise in my backyard) is still too small to even think about a swage block. I have made a tool for the hardy, a piece of 3" pipe welded on a 16mm plate with a hardy shank for dishing plates and other stuff, if I have a job where my tool doesn't work, I'll make something else.
Primetech do you put your wooden block on the anvil or on a seperate table? Thomas, do you have any pics of your hardy swage tools?

Thanks guys, I am picking up so much from reading this stuff.

Thanks Steve for sharing your past and present with us. I saw some pictures of you and Jens on the gallery. Picked up a few idea's for my own setup. I am new to blacksmithing, from July last year, and have set up the basics in my backyard now. Finally my forging sessions become a bit more productive, now that I have the basic tooling made.
It's amazing how each of us has a story of how we started with blacksmithing.
Have a good one!

Ten, are you or is the anvil standing on the plank. Is your anvil on knuckle or wrist height?
I have a tree stump on which the anvil sits, fixed with chain. Top of the anvil is 1.5" above my knuckle height. Works for me.

Clang, thank you, really exciting to be communicating with you, way over in the Pacific. I will keep that in mind.
Wim.

Hi Paige,
Welcome to the site. You are amongst fire and metal lovers. We all are the odd duck in the bite where we live. It's part of being a blacksmith.
I have learned a lot in the last month, just by asking questions, and then later checking reactions.

Regards, Wim

I made a forge from an old barbeque too. No liner. The funnel shaped coal box is made from mildsteel is surrounded by an air box. I blow my air in that box, it come out the bottom preheated and it cools the funnel at the same time.

Thomas, on my first couple of sessions, I used anthracite. The caols break up into a lot of small coals, and then the air cannot get through the 5" of coal. The fan has a little bimetal overheat protection switch, keeps cutting out.

I went to a combined demo on a exhibition of old cars with 8 other more experienced smiths last weekend. Learned a lot about forging, tools, coal, and had lot of fun. It was my first time interacting with other smiths.

Thanks Fredly, Thomas, I have my smithy in the back of a friend's workshop who fixes forklifts, very good idea. I like the idea of making a hardy tool with different edges that i can rotate.

I have a Peter Wright 450 lbs with badly worn edge on the back of the face. There is no edge left the first six inches from the horn, and toward the heel a large radius. I need a sharp edge on that side. What do you recommend? I understand the value of my anvil (hystorically) and don't want to ruin it.

I'm still using my wife's hairdryer to fan my forge, has lasted me two forging sessions so far, and after 5 hours the pressure seems to be too low to get the air through the densening coals.
Wim

Hello, blacksmith men and women from all over the world, here I am. I am a brand new Blacksmith. Have started 1 month ago. I built a forge from an ols barbeque and added a few ideas picked up from the internet (Anvilfire). A GOOD friend GAVE me an anvil. I have had 2 forge sessions so far, am battling with the lack of skill.(keep dropping the hot iron on the floor), but managed to make a pair of tongs, a shape of a horseshoe, and stand for my cast iron pot lid.
I am having so much fun, need to learn plenty, and need to make myself a lot of tools. But I have started what I have been wanting to do for about 20 years.(I am a guy, aged 43 now)