Shane Blodgett

To the topic of S Hooks, I used a 1/4" round stock mild steel bar to make my first solid S Hook three days ago. I set up the gas forge, discovered the problem I was having getting it up to heat the last time I used it, fixed the problem, and subsequently got my work piece to heat in 15 seconds. Had minimal scaling problems, got my scrolls in on the ends and bent my hook using a jig I designed myself that same day. I went over the whole thing with a file to give it a half-scraped iron look, and sealed it off with a coat of clear enamel. It came out to just over 6", but I designed it to be a coat hanger I could carry around at my night job with USPS, and it fit to the equipment at my job perfectly. I would like to make higher carbon S Hooks and quench them, but as there is now snow on the ground and my Quonset Hut has not yet arrived, I think that'll have to wait until spring (forging in the open in the Maine winter is stupid amounts of extra work and potentially wasted stock and fuel). The issue with my gas forge was that the pressure was too low, so the top was getting hot, but the box was losing most of the heat. User error, nothing wrong with the forge, just didn't turn the pressure knob up after lighting the forge. I was running at 5 PSI and thinking it was 8, forgetting that pressure drops significantly once the burners are on. I adjusted to 8 PSI after lighting, and BAM! problem solved. Newbie mistakes, but now I know, so... That's a win in my book. As to why the higher carbon S Hooks, I want to make solid mounting hooks to hang pulleys in my shop for lifting heavier items without an assistant and without hurting myself. That's a ways off, though. Lastly, I want to address the hammer situation. I have a 3 lb smithing hammer, a ball pein, and a masonry hammer that I am using for cutoff work (nice chisel on the back end), as well as a larger 12 lb engineer's hammer that I am using as a counterweight to hold down the work for straightening at the end of my work. Here are some pictures of my first S Hook, so you can all see where my skill level is at to start (you will notice the hammer harks, a few notable burn scars, and a slight warp on the more rounded end): P.S. please excuse the drinking glasses on the counter.

Thank you all for your input. It sounds like the most important next step is for me to just use whatever I can muster up to work my skills up. I think my first project will be to use a leaf spring and see how many S Hooks I can make in a day of work. If I can make 12 in 6 hours in my gas forge, fighting against the Maine winter temperatures and the wind, I'll consider that a good start. I need to get the forge set up and warming up, and then I'll be taking pictures of the setup I have now and the project as it goes. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. I appreciate the readiness to offer advice and the can-do attitude of this community. The shop as I want it to be is still a way off, but I'll do what I can with what I have until I get the next thing and the next thing, and as long as I'm working at my skill, maybe it'll help the wait between equipment not feel as long as it will be. On the note of the Quonset Hut, I purchased one on clearance a month ago. I'll be making a topic in shop design and posting pictures as I build it and tweak it and set it up. Any suggestions are welcome, and I think they'll only help me better learn and grow and forge on. Thanks again! I can't wait to get back out there and get that hammer swinging!

Hello, fellow metalworkers. I am just getting into ironwork as a more serious hobby with the hope of someday making it my profession, at least part time. Several years ago, I did an anthropology paper on blacksmithing as folklore (old world or specific knowledge passed down through oration and hands-on learning, so it technically qualified), and the next thing I knew I was working out of a three-burner gas knife-making forge and banging hot metal. I am now a couple of years into that journey and am looking to set up a shop. I live in a small country town in what is technically downeast Maine, and I want to build a 16x16 Quonset Hut with open ends as my shop, but I am having a hard time coming up with the funding for the equipment to get started more seriously. I need better safety equipment, a larger forge body to work longer stock, preferably an induction heater forge (so I can smelt and cast my own custom stock as well as work the metal), a bigger anvil (I'm working off the 55 lb harbor freight anvil right now, but I want a peddinghaus 165#), and of course a quench tank for hardening those tools which will need hardening and the quench oil to go with it. Here's where my problem is coming in. The startup cost for what I'm describing is about 15k, including the Quonset hut. If I don't have the money to invest in the tools right away, I can't work in the manner I want to work. If I continue to use the small anvil and small forge, I will be having to work longer and harder to move far less material. I want to be working on 6' fence posts for fencing for my yard, which I cannot work in the small forge. Should I be saving up and working the smaller forge for the hammer practice, or should I wait until I have more quality equipment so I don't waste what stock I have on smaller projects? I honestly don't know and am a bit torn up about it. The cost of getting the shop set up the way I want it to be could take more than a year to save up if I pinch every penny, I can't seem to find any grants, and I don't like the idea of a loan. I could crowd-source to raise funds, but I'm fairly sure I would not be able to raise the money I need in a strict time schedule. Also, trying to run the gas forge and make anything involved will take a lot more time than with an induction forge, and as I am married and working a full time overnight job, finding the time to complete a project on the gas forge is difficult. It'd be a different story if I was a younger adult and a bachelor with little to no extra responsibilities, but alas, the heat of the forge settled into my heart after I grew up, got married, bought a house, and started a full time job/career that only offers me overnights and that I don't want to be in for my whole life. TLDR; I'm stuck between an anvil and a hammer here. I need to work my metal to improve my skills, but I need better equipment to do the projects I want to be doing. I have very limited stock and somewhat limited funds, so getting the equipment may take a while. Also, finding the time to work on my trade is proving difficult, but I don't want to give up. Some advice from people who have been through similar things would prove helpful.