Got a P.W. 165lb anvil & forge wifes great grandfathers.Handed down to me & 3 teenage sons.I am a union boilermaker of 18yrs.Am very well versed at welding and metal working.But would love to learn family trade lost to new generations.I live in soutern Mo.looking for adice tooling up my shop.

Find the local ABANA affiliate!

That would be BAM! We likely have a member or several near you.

http://www.bamsite.org/

Im near springfield, the coal keeper for BAM is real close. What type of work are you wanting to do? Ornamental, Tools, Knives, Hardware?

What part of southern Mo.? I am in Iron county. The July meeting of BAM is in Reynolds county. PM me if your close.

Im in mountain view,mo howell county. Daniei 85- all the above. I checked in with BAM. No reply back yet but i may call for help

Welcome aboard Bam Bam, glad to have you. Don't worry about a slow reply from Bam, they're blacksmiths volunteering, not office workers, they'll be with you in a while.

Frosty The Lucky.

Glad to have you aboard, BamBam. With your background, I don't doubt that you'll make an excellent smith and turn out some really nice work.

Thanx for the support. my boys and I have taken the old fire pot of and made a new brakedrum forge.got some cold roll and RR spikes and a mountain of old farm iron to keep us busy for a while! The bad thing is all the family and friends want me to weld every little thing all the time. Now Every body thinks they have new hand rails and knives coming for Chrustmas!...LOL

Got a little $ for tools what would be a good hammer and tongs to start with? got old beatup tongs and old farm hammers.My tools are not doing well.Looked at Pieh tools & a few other web sites.Dont want buy just because its OOH SHINY!

I use a couple sizes of ball pein hammers and a 3lb cross pein, they are cheap and easy to come across, works great. Tongs can get pricy, lots of info on making your own online, once I did buy a pair new from blacksmithsdepot.com and they work great.

Im in mountain view,mo howell county. Daniei 85- all the above. I checked in with BAM. No reply back yet but i may call for help

Just curious, what did you mean by "checked in with BAM'? If you sent in a membership, you most likely won't receive anything back until the next issue of the newsletter. The current newsletter and several years of back copies are available in electronic format on the BAM website www.bamsite.org. The next BAM meeting is July 28 in Lesterville, MO. You are welcome to attend even if not a member. I will have the directions and a map to the meeting on the website shortly. Our last meeting was just yesterday at Hams Prairie, Mo.

my favorite pair of tongs are a short pair of snub nosed shoeing tongs that I paid US$1.50 for at a fleamarket.

They are sized for 1/4" stock (what I generally use for knife tangs and starter projects for new students) and are light and easy to work with.

Picking up some old tongs cheap and then modifying them to work with your methods and materials can be a good idea---be sure to smooth down the reins as rusty pitted reins will make your hands sore fast!

I have a couple of old tongs. I was thinking of doing a mod. to them anyway Good point on the reins.Most of my tools..anvil & forge lived in a small shed with a leaking roof for about 30yrs.I did have a complete working BS vice follow me home today.$55 !! I love old flea markets! I will start putting up pics when i figure out how typeing is hard enough already!

Good score on the vise! I can't put my finger on where but there are how toos here on IFI about making tongs and making tongs is excellent practice. It isn't all that hard, takes some good control but that comes from practice. making nails is an excellent way to practice control and consistency.

Frosty The Lucky.

Got more good news today! I went to see an Amish friend of mine he was not around so his wife sent me to the local Amish buggy shop and wouldn't ya know they have every BS hammer known to man! I bought a (nordic forge) flat -peen hammer for $32. Score again.And BIG SAM the Amish used buggy salesman.took me for a tour of his 3acre horse drawn machinry grave yard! "Just pick out what ever ya want we'll haggle on the price later".I will be driveing my powerstroke back to BIG SAM'S on friday!

Wow, what a fantastic resource! Those Amish know a lot about the old skills, or usually know someone that does. Haggling over old wrought iron parts and pieces is sure to be fun!

I do trade work with a few of them i weld for them they shoe my horses. my blacksmithing started this way a couple of years ago i would bend old horse shoes around and weld a lagg bolt to the back makes a great hitch for tying horses.Get all the free horse shoes i want.

Most of the Amish i have met do alot of farrier work 8 out of 10 have an anvil.But hardly any do any real Blacksmithing.horse shoeing to them is like rotating tires for us "English" as they call outsiders.

The Amish lifestyle doesn't leave a lot of free time to practice a trade as a hobby. Good neighbors from what I hear.

Frosty The Lucky.

And they are noted for driving a hard bargain with "the english"

I have mentioned it before and it is being re-enforced here, being involved with a group of blacksmiths is one of the best ways to accelerate the learning curve.
BAM is a great resource for knowledge and equipment. If you think you have seen some selection and good deals so far, the tailgate tool sales at the typical Meet would blow your mind.
Blacksmithing is not hard to learn but it is challanging to master. A peer group makes it a lot easier.
A good example is what this site is doing here.
Bob

Thanx for all the support and comments.I am lokking forward to going to a BAM meeting.I have foud acouple of members close by.Would love to get together with them and share some skills.