Wow, this is such a warm welcome. Thank you to everyone who took the time to say Hi and reply. I'm unsure how to edit the title but will look into this when I have a free second to browse the forum. That is almost certainly somewhere.
Hey Frosty. I'm so sad to hear about his passing but it really does sound like you have fond memories. Honestly that has to be one of the most pure and amazing things we can leave behind to people. His setup sounds awesome. I doubt I will be able to actually forge tools (It will be reasonably small and not very enclosed minus a small funnel) but I'll do my best to learn about it because it might be my main option.
Also reply to George: The tools above look great! I have a planishing ball steak and a small 20 kilo anvil (plus a planishing hammer and a few Bunnings hammers I have sanded down to some curves) to work with so I can start mucking around at the very least.
I have actually made some 15th century pauldrons and and segmented upper arm attached before, and did that entirely by dishing into a stump cold and then planishing them to smooth surfaces so I know I can definitely do it. My thinking is, being an SCA fighter most recently, the 1.5mm steel I can get won't meet the standards if I dish because I'll be stretching the metal, so raising was an attractive skill to learn because it thickens the metal. It also seems like a very valuable skill for the craft to learn from what I have read. At the very least coveted.
I found my motivation coming from two directions which helps a lot. I want to do more combat, so making my own (I'm in Canberra so my population here is small) made a lot of sense because it is a time rich but low cost setting over time, and I also just genuinely really enjoy the craft. I find it almost meditative and get a lot of p[ride from finishing a project and seeing what my time has produce... even something poor quality warmed my heart with pride.
