Well, xxxxx You mean I've been doing it wrong all along? Hands, Huh? That explains a LOT!
Thanks for the Welcome.
My setup is coming along nicely so far. I bought an old Peter Wright anvil, and 2 hammers - a cheap cross pein and cheap rounding hammer. I've built a gas forge: It's fabricated steel shell, with fire bricks and 1/2" refractory lining, and a ribbon burner. I bought one pair or wolf jaw tongs that I've used to make v-bit and flat jaw tongs so far. And I've built a 2x72 belt grinder out of mostly scrap from work.
I have a 1 hour lunch break every day, which seems like the biggest waste of time, so I use it for building projects like the forge and grinder. I enjoy that kind of thing.
I'm lacking in hardy tools, which I'll need to address soon. I really need to get a cutoff, and maybe a fuller. I just hate buying things that I know I'll be able to make given enough time and practice.
My local scrapyard has about 50ft of 1045 1.625" round that I can get to 40-50cents a lb depending on who's at the gate. I grabbed a bit of that for future tool making.