4dam

Hi, new arrival to the forum. Location is in my profile. I'm not running my own forge yet for a lot of reasons (it's not a problem for which I'm soliciting solutions, I just Do. Not. Want. To). I do have some small, inexpensive tools I'd be willing to use to help anyone else around here do whatever you're trying to do, so if you need an extra set of hands or whatever, let me know. Unfortunately my schedule is slightly complicated so I can't just say I'm good for particular days and times but let me know what you need when and I'll try to make it happen. Advance notice is appreciated and will most of the time make it easier for me to be there when needed.

That's actually a great idea. If I can't find home forge space wherever we end up after Vegas I'll give that a shot. Ultimately the reasons I don't wanna set up shop here are: it's too hot (I'm a cold weather type of person), and the home healthcare thing takes up most of my time and energy. I don't mind putting my own projects to the side for a while, and now that I have at least my own hammer I can go to the Vegas thread and offer help to anyone who lives close enough and works when I'm not stuck at our house. It's good enough for now.

I could make every excuse under the sun but ultimately it comes down to just I don't wanna do it here. If I could find like a shared workshop space I could afford I'd probably go for it there but I haven't found anything yet. On the plus side, I just was introduced to a fellow smith by a mutual friend. He's cold-forging armor so I'll be helping him out with that and, assuming he's not doing blue barrel armor, I might could use some of his scrap metal for a set of articulated epaulets I've been designing for a costume...thing. Such specific, wow, I know We'll see how things go.

Thanks for the welcome. Yup, that's one of the threads I read. i don't really have a forge setup due to lack of space and HOA rules, right now I'm gathering the tools I can't just make myself and are easy to move because once we're done with the home healthcare gig I don't think we'll (I'm married, no kids) stay at this house. Whether that means staying in Nevada or going elsewhere is still up in the air and I Really don't wanna have to lug an anvil out of here. The plan is to use solid fuel as that's what I have experience with.

Hi, I'm Adam. Currently living in southern Las Vegas, working in home healthcare. I'm more of a general maker than specifically black/white smith, so I'm learning the craft more as an ongoing thing rather than working towards making cutlery (for example) full time. As such, if you wanna know whether I'm here to learn more about bladesmithing, jewelry, utility items, or general metal sculpture; my answer is "uhhhhhhh...yes". I've been involved with a SCA-adjacent historical recreation group called Norseland for about 20 years and watched my dad forge his own armor when we first joined when I was like twelve, but it really took Forged In Fire coming around for me to catch the bug. My plan was to go back east once we were done in Nevada and learn to smith from a really good friend of mine who used to hold forge weekends that I, foolishly, never went to. Well he died a few years ago so that spurred me on to do what I usually do when learning a new craft and teach myself. I've been biding my time here, reading books, watching Alec Steele videos, and amassing the types of tools that I can use for non-smithing projects I have going already but they're really for using on metal once we're somewhere I can build a forge and get to work. I've had a little bit of forge time and made some leaves, one of which came out cool (pic at the end) but I left all the forge scale on with the intention of grinding some off and leaving some to build contrast. The grinder I had access to at the time (basically a dremel tool I bought for doing rough-carving in beeswax) couldn't do the job so I still consider it unfinished. As for why I joined the forum today, of all days, it's because I ordered my first hammer (2# cross pein) and it came in today so I was looking for tips on how to dress it and ended up here. I've been reading for a few hours, including both threads people are gonna tell me to read, and I really like it here. Looking forward to learning from, and hopefully at some point contributing some valuable knowledge to, the forum.