JoshIsom

I like that. :-) Hot melt it is. I've made my rounds to several auto mechanic shops in the area. Several were gracious enough to give us some coil springs of various sizes, and a full set of leaf springs they pulled out of the dumpster for me. And they told me I am welcome to come around and check for more of the above every few weeks if I'd like. My son said he wants to "get good enough at knife-making so that he can make each of them a Bowie knife in return, as a thank you." The leaf springs are pretty thick. Look like they came off a pickup truck. I'm currently out of town, or I would measure what "thick" is. They will take some hammering to thin them down for sure. But it'll be good practice to teach us what kind of thick is too thick, and what is manageable. Thanks for the link! I think we will try some of those when I get back home. Thanks! This is perfect.

That's something I need to be more diligent in doing. It's starting to get into the upper 30s at night here.

Absolutely. I'm giving myself a few weeks before trying tongs again. In the meantime, I have been straightening cut off pieces of a coil spring a mechanic shop gave me a few weeks ago, and making some basic chisels. I'm trying to get a feel for how the metal moves under heat, vs the mild steel I've worked with thus far, from home depot.

That has often been one of my biggest problems. Biting off more than I can chew with various projects. So I'm trying to take baby steps with learning blacksmithing. So far, I've failed to make two sets of tongs. I got so frustrated on my second go that I almost cut out the metal shapes for some bolt jaw tongs, and welded some together. But it felt like I'd be cheating if I did. So I'm determined to keep trying until I successfully forge a useable set of tongs. :-)

Hi George! Thank you for welcoming me here. I will definitely look into the Great Basin Blacksmith Guild, and the tip is greatly appreciated. I've begun looking for some resources in the area for beginners. Yep, you guessed it. I live in St. George. Grew up in Vegas, married a Utah girl who doesn't want to leave. :-) Thanks!

Hi everybody, I've visited this forum countless times over the past two years. I'm long overdue for signing up, introducing myself, and thanking the iforgeiron community for quite of a lot of advice you've given me which I appreciate. I've tried far too many professions over the past few decades, and I am finally starting to figure out what I want to be when I grow up (I'm in my 40s). My dream is to someday have my own shop, and make things. In the meantime, I still need to put food on the table, so I currently work in the IT field, taking care of the technology needs for 3 separate elementary schools. Before working in IT, I've worked far too many construction jobs, I've, been a bank teller. I've worked in corrections as a booking officer. I've worked for a company designing and building climbing walls and ninja warrior courses. I've been through schooling for an IT degree, and then more schooling for a Masters in 3d modeling, and I've taught as a part time college professor. I've been part of musical theater, both on the stage, and behind the scenes building sets. So I've gained what experience I have to make and build things from all of the above. I've pasted a link below to a recent project I was working on in my garage, that went somewhere I had never expected it to go. https://kutv.com/news/entertainment/artist-channels-the-hulk-to-combat-depression I've got 4 kids, and one of my sons struggles with some depression and anxiety. He has shown interest in blacksmithing, which is the reason I've visited these forums so often. It has always been an interest for me too. I am looking for a healthy, creative outlet for my son rather than what he is currently doing (video games.) Hopefully I can get him interested in hammering hot metal to work through the things he struggles with, and make some cool knives and swords along the way. I'm working on building a small forge in my garage at the moment. Our starter anvil is a big chunk of a forklift fork, which seems to work great for the time being. Anyways, I'm happy to finally be a member here, and to keep learning from you guys. -Josh