cat_bones Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Hi all, Been looking at this site on-and-off for a few months now as well as others, as I'm keen to get into metal-working. I found out recently that I'm actually not a bad sculptor but want to move beyond casting my creations in plaster and see if I can manage them in bronze. No doubt I'll be asking lots of questions in the near future! Once I've got a handle on casting bronze, I'm hoping to give smithing a go... I feel very inspired by some of the pattern welded swords I've seen! CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Welcome to I forge Iron There is lots of good stuff here . I am an old hand at the damascus stuff but started Playing with Bronze casting 16 months ago . there is an exelent class in Herne bay that specialises in casting your own sculptures . Its quite an interesting medium . as for smithing ....if you catch the bug there is no stopping!! All the best Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Hi C B welcome to the site,I am sure you will get a lot out of this site, check out www.blacksmithsguild.com and come along and see us if you can, we have had casting courses in lead, aluminium and brass/bronze in the past, mostly as replacements when remaking /restoring ironwokr, as a lot of the rosettes and attachments are made of bronze. Anyway whichever way you choose to go, enjoy yourself and good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 hi cat bones - im uk too - welcome to the site - im just getting into a bit of casting myself actually - and you came to the right place for learning the smithing stuff. jive been on a couple of johns guild courses and they are great - hope to see you on one this year :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat_bones Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 Thanks for the warm welcome I'm amazed by the wealth of info on this site... so many things to try! Sounds like I need to get myself on a course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 welcome wife is English and cheeky we will be in london area sidcup april end. meet for a pint? also my good friend Godfrey South Darenth Valley Forge is emmigrating to canada and is selling smithy he is a GREAT guy, you would have to drag boast from him with a mule. a talented smith, and an award winner from the worshipful Company! see if he brings it up in conversation. do you or anyone you know make pork pies? or like marmite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat_bones Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 welcome wife is English and cheeky we will be in london area sidcup april end. meet for a pint? also my good friend Godfrey South Darenth Valley Forge is emmigrating to canada and is selling smithy he is a GREAT guy, you would have to drag boast from him with a mule. a talented smith, and an award winner from the worshipful Company! see if he brings it up in conversation. do you or anyone you know make pork pies? or like marmite? Apologies for only just seeing your reply Rusty otherwise I'd no doubt have responded in the affirmative! I've taken on board some of the advice you guys gave, in particular with regard to getting onto some sort of course. I'd priced up one local to me but then as luck would have it, I was given the opportunity to get some tuition for free. I'm a member of the local mine exploration group who are connected with a trust who maintain an old lead mine site at Snailbeach in the Shropshire Hills. One of the extant buildings on the site is the old smithy, some 150 years old, which has been restored to a working state. The local blacksmith does demonstrations there on open-days and myself and some other members were lucky enough to get a day working with him, learning a few of the (very) basics, with a view to doing the open-day demonstrations ourselves. Here's the forge at Snailbeach... This really fired up my interest (pun sort of intended!)! The Trust who own the site have been extremely kind and allowed me to go and use the forge each Sunday, so for the past few weeks I've been spending my Sunday afternoons getting to grips with smithying and chatting with any members of the public who wonder in. So far, I've managed to almost sound like I know what I'm talking about when I get asked questions... usual response to "what are you doing?" is "well right now, I'm ruining this perfectly good piece of metal...". Very early days yet but I'm inspired enough to have started getting the things together to set my own forge up in the garage at home... bought my first anvil yesterday! I've got a fairly good idea of how I'll build my forge; I figured on making a variation on the "55" design, leaving the barrel almost intact so that it serves as a chimmney hood (I want to use it inside as the climate in the UK is unsympathetic to working outside!). No doubt, I'll be back here soon enough asking for advice on that Thanks again for all your advice and am looking forward to learning from you all!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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