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I Forge Iron

Beginning Blacksmith


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Hello everyone! I am what I would guess you'd call a beginner blacksmith having little experience. I have wanted to learn how to forge things since I was a little boy and finally was able to visit a monastery in Saxony over the summer and learned as much as I could in the two days I had. I made a few crude pendants and two knives and now I am back in southern California and infected a friend of mine with the passion of metal working. We built a sort of forge in his back yard, although it is very low budget and also not the best quality. It is built out of a wheel drum attached to a shop-vac (with some piping so that the darned thing doesn't melt) and some fire brick stacked on a workbench. It mostly works but it has been an adventure. Anyway, I was wondering if any of you guys know if I can improve this set up! Or if any of you know a forge I can use in the San Diego area. I attached a picture of my first knife, what do you think?

post-25926-0-17621500-1339612052_thumb.j

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I tend to advise people to join their local blacksmith club/guild so that they can try different forges and equipment so as to find out what equipment works best for them as well as to take classes when possible.

Your question is similar to asking, "what car should I buy?" The answer depends on what you plan on using it for, the space you have to use it in, what you are most comfortable with, and what you can afford.

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