muskiedaze Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Greetings: I recently attended a traditional archery shoot where someone put a tomahawk in my hand. I stuck it in a stump and was instantly hooked. Shortly thereafter I rigged up a forge from a brick lined Weber grill with a sheet metal hood and a shop vac blower with a couple of waste gates to control air flow. I purchased some hammers and chisles, a used anvil, a hawk drift, flux and some books. I scrounged up some steel and made a couple half decent knives. I sucessfully forge-welded some practice pieces then botched a few attempts at wrapped hawks, but learned a few things about making coal fires. I just finished my first drifted hawk and am pleased with the results despite some hammer marks left after grinding. Just wanted to say thanks for the vast amount of knowledge and expertice in this forum. I currently know so little that I don't even know what questions to ask, but I'm learning. Thanks again. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 John, Welcome to IFI. Sounds like you jumped right into it. Good for you. Lots of info to be learned here. Please post pics of your progress. We like pictures. (they're easier than reading). Glad you are hooked because it rapidly becomes an obsession/habit/addiction. There is no 12 step program to get off of blacksmithing because, well, nobody has wanted to quit once hooked. Enjoy your ride. Mark <>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Welcome to IFI !! I sure hope you have not totally succumbed to the DARKSIDE ! The few blade like thingys you have made so far, can be forgiven. Your new obsession with blacksmithing was somewhat polluted with dark tendencies from the start, You can start making scrolls and decorative items instead of weaponry, Turn to the light! If you care to read a lot of information on the craft, go to the IFI heading bar, click on PAGES, go to screen right, open Pages. Read all there. It's fascinating. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Hi Muskie and welcome to IFI. Glad to hear that you got your kit set up and are starting to learn. Post pix of your work and progress. You mentioned hammer marks that were left after grinding. Don't worry about that. It shows that it's hand forged. Also, go back to your profile and add your location so that we will be able to give you more specific info for your area. Who knows, you might even find that there's another smith lives very near you. Take care, be safe and most of all have fun. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskiedaze Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 Thanks for the warm welcome. I live along the Delaware River, way off the beaten path in the wilds of NW New Jersey,in the Delaware Watergap National Rec area. I'm beyond the effective range of a normal DSL internet connection so its impossible for me to upload photos from home. Perhaps my kid can do it from college, but I'm basically an analog guy in a digital world. I live just a few miles from Peter's Valley craft village which offers blacksmithing classes which I'm too cheap to attend, but I've been invited to check out their shop, which I plan on doing soon. I have a pretty well equiped bow shop where I've been making laminated recurve and longbows for the last 4 years.I guide for muskies and walleyes,and I'm also an electrician to finance my other money-pit businesses. I look forward to being a part of this forum. Thanks again. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Welcome aboard John. glad to have you. Narrow band and NO pics eh? You live too far from a library do you? Hmmmm, we dearly LOVE pics but we'll talk to you anyway. Who cares what you're making so long as it involves fire and hammers, weapons are okay but few folk manage to start learning blacksmithing by successfully making bladed implements. The usual route is forging tapers, scrolls, skewers, coat hooks, etc. but Noooo, you dive in with blades and pull it off. Makes me wonder how much background you have in heat treating. Most folk need a number of tries to get their first blade heat treated and usable. Glad you're here John, seems you're the exception that proves the rule. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskiedaze Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 Frost, At one unhappy point in my life I heat-treated hudge racks of aircraft components and learned some metalurgy. The difficult and interesting part for me is trying to develope some skill with a hammer. I may be making some very basic mistakes that I'm not even aware of, as was the case when I first started laminating bows. My work is quite crude compared to the fine craftsmanship I've seen here and on other forums. Hey, the harder one works, the " luckier" he gets. I also need to work on my computer skills. Thanks for the input. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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