BadOlPuttyTat

Will do.

Well from my years of posting on forums it was always polite to quote a post so people could keep track of the conversation. Also it's not uncommon for people to post "done" showing they are done with the conversation. I have changed the profile to reflect my location and I won't quote again sorry.

Done

I appreciate the info, I will look into classes. I have just been trying to learn on my own as where I live is roughly an hour or so away from the closest class on that list. I'll drive that far for a class but I understand with FIF being popular a lot of people pick up the trade just to realize it's more fun to watch than to do. So I wanted to be sure I enjoyed it which I do. Again thank you for the advise.

I wasn't sure if I needed or even wanted a hydraulic press I've just read that they are very expensive and I've seen several YouTube videos of various different Smith's and it just seems like everyone has a press. I have looked into some mechanical presses but I am just learning and there seems to be all sorts of presses. There is just so much information and a lot of info may or may not pertain to my needs. I have worked in IT for 18 years and when I have questions I go to the forums and I get help because there's just is much info. I wasn't coming here to be rude or whatever I live in North America (Michigan) as far as tasks...I am just getting started so I don't plan on making any gates but I also don't really want to be making knives. I've owned my forge for nearly a year and I've just been practicing my work is nowhere near perfect. However I have had to teach myself everything I didn't know the first thing about welding or blacksmithing so I am sorry for my ignorance but I am trying my best.

I am from America and I understand I shouldve put my location sorry for that. As for the extremely rude first poster, sorry I've seen to upset you so much with my ignorance, I wouldn't want to anger you more so please don't bother responding to my posts I don't plan on listening to them anyways. To the other two polite responders thank you for correcting me I am sorry I honestly didn't even think about shipping being a concern, I appreciate it. Any advice you can give would be much appreciated I am pretty new to all of this which is why building my own doesn't seem possible. What is the cheapest press that you would trust? I was going to follow a guide to convert a regular press from harbor freight into a hydraulic press but harbor freight seems cheap and the press just seemed slow.

So I haven't decided if I am going to build my own press or just buy one. One of the reasons I don't want to build is I really don't know how comfortable I feel with it. So assuming I choose to not build my own, what are some good budget friendly presses that can handle basic tasks. I am not looking for top of the line and I don't do huge projects. Any ideas? Thanks.