Any ideas on how I can blacksmith while living in an apartment? Oviously I can't build a forge in my small flammable apartment. Have you ever heard of "travel' kits or anything, maybe I could take to a location and do my work there? I'm stumped, I was thinking of maybe renting out a storage but I don't want to spend the money each month to have to do that.

Look in the forums on here for groups in your aera and go to meetings..Storage lockers woiuld not likely have the ventilation a forge needs.

The essence of blacksmithing is heating black metal and hitting it with a hammer. That you cannot do in an apartment.

If you start looking at other metal, like silver, gold, copper and brass you can have a lot of fun in an apartment, making small things like jewellery and trinkets. Most of the skills are transferable into big things later on.

here is a guy who has a portable set up you can do it any where.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBrBL3qHwSU&feature=channel&list=UL

If I remember correctly, there was a fellow on here a few years ago that had a portable set up and went to a park to play with it. I think that he finally met someone that allowed him to keep his equipment in their shop and use it when he wanted to. There was also another guy that posted some videos on IFI of his "storage unit" smithy. He rode his bike from home to the unit, opened up and pulled it out and set up out front of the unit. Just some thoughts. :)

Howdy from East TEXAS!! and welcome to IFI! Check here for someone nearest you. http://blacksmith.org/forums/ you may have to email one of the officers of the group. Good luck!

When living in an apartment, I just kept accumulating tools until I could find a place that I could afford with a garage

That was a great video. Great inspiration

Welcome to IFI!

Mark <><

Or go to http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/articles/a0000-blacksmithing-groups-r75

We had one fellow from Hawaii use his apartment balcony as a forge. A fellow from Sweden carried his tools and anvil on his bicycle to and from his smithy outside the city. With induction heating or a propane forge you can work many different sized projects. Just be kind to your neighbors and no pounding when THEIR kids are asleep, or after dark when it looks like the apt is on fire, or a battle of light sabers from the street below...

All of my demo set-up fits in a 4 cyl. Honda minivan without removing the seats. Anvil, stand, table, 3" leg vise, tongs & hammers in buckets, boxes of hand tools, tin slack tub, 10" farrier forge, hand crank blower, charcoal, stock and 10'x10' pop-up canopy. Yes, it takes a while to set up if there is no museum forge to work in. So what. Where I live now, I have no garage, carport or storage building. Every thing I own here has to go up the front steps and then down the basement stairs for storage. Bigger items are in a storage container at my farm, two counties away.

Traveling farriers have a whole shop built in to the back of a mini or full size pick-up, and make a living doing it. Brian Brazeal gets his traveling show in a full size van, and that includes a sidekick, 2 anvils and sledge hammers.

My most used smithing tools fit in a 18"x18"x36" job box, including the 100lb anvil and 2 small swage blocks. And that is 15 years of careful accumulation, one piece at a time. Military traveling forge carts of the 15th to early 20th century got by with less.

We live in an age and country of plenty, the rest of the world gets by and gets on with life with much less than we dream possible. Start by figuring out what is essential, then add on as opportunity permits. The most important step is always that first one.

My first forge was a wood forge 2ft by 2ft with 2 by 4 sides and a plywood bottom, with 2 by 4 legs. The air supply was simply black pipe, with a cap on the end that had a slit cut in the cap. I found a store in a historic district that allowed me to set up in front of his shop. I left the forge there and carried a small bellows to and from his shop.

Years later I found myself living two blocks from the Museum of Industry in Baltimore. They had a small blacksmith shop inside the museum that I volunteered with for a short while.

Now I have my own shop, but many beginner smiths in the area use the local guild's forges twice a month when the blacksmith school is open to members' use, and they also have the opportunity to volunteer in the historic museum shop at the same location.

My advice is to join a local group and see what they suggest.

I've used a set up where *everything* fit in a 5 gallon bucket. Didn't do large work but was fine for small work---I used it to forge nails and silver down in my basement during the winter.

I had one student who was in college. He built a gas forge in an old gas grill body as camouflage and kept it out back of his dorm chained up with the other grills the other students had. Had about 200 pounds of scrap under his bed and replaced the desk in his dorm room with a work bench with a postvise.

I have just moved into a unit and have just moved my workshop into someone's back garden. There is not a blacksmithing group near me, hence why I like this site so..ooo much. I just started asking people if anyone knew of anyone that would consider having me and that was cheap because I could not afford much. This very kind lady Fiona who is a potter invited me to see her garage that was floor to ceiling with 'all sorts' but it is all coming together now and is perfect. Keep meaning to take pictures and post here.

She is surrounded by neighbors but I only forge three times a week max. And keep sociable hours in-between 9.30 - 4 pm and not at weekends. I use a gas propane forge so don't smoke the neighbors washing and no complaints.......fingers crossed. Been there about a month.

When I had a '91 VW Jetta, I figured out how to put an entire portable set-up into the trunk. 103 lb anvil; hollow stand ( I'd pack tongs, fire tools, tongs and stock inside it for traveling); plastic buckets w/lids for coal and water; portable rivet forge (legs and blower are removeable); and some firebricks in an old metal waste basket. Plus a small tool bag for hammers, files, chisels, etc. Pretty much everything did double duty.

Some creativity and imagination go a long way with patience.

I currently live in the second floor of a house in a residential neighborhood. You may live in a high rise and this may not work for you but what I did was disguise/improvise my forge using a rusted out bbq grill for a base. It hides the forge and if you use lump charcoal, people may not realize that a neighbor is smithing other than the sounds and a good heavy metal CD may disguise that. Well just a thought. I look forward to seeing what you figure out.

John
You mention a 15th century forge cart, any pictures? i would be interested
Wayne

You join a Historical Society that has a blacksmith shop. You get get more shop time tham what you'd care for............trust me on this. Orders will POUR in. Your hands will become callused. You will be shopping for tools.

I actually rent shop time to people who want to smith and do not have the space or equipment. Maybe there is someone in your area who can do the same for you.

John You mention a 15th century forge cart, any pictures? i would be interested Wayne

When people think historically about the word "cart" they tend to think *hand cart*, however having a hand cart to move blacksmith equipment more than a few feet let alone miles tends to be impracticable. Instead think horse cart, a larger affair designed to be drawn by a horse. Besides size of the cart, the other main difference between a hand cart and a horse cart is the difference between short wooden handles that would be expected on a hand cart, versus long curved wooden members designed to stretch along side of a horse for fastening to be drawn. Here are three 1700s military forge horse carts (traveling forges), one American, one German, and one French. You will note the long poles in the front of each "cart" so as to be pulled by a horse.

By the 1800s the "carts" of various countries evolved into designs that were more wagon than cart in nature either with the forge attached to a limber or forge built as a one-piece wagon.

By 1865 you start to see patents for increasingly portable sheet-metal forges, at first with bellows, then with blowers after the American Civil War.

Hi Dave,
These three images I have along with another British one from the 1850's period. The reason I asked was that there are some Medieval reenactors doing events with what they claim is an accurate copy of a Medieval travelling forge but have not been able to back it up when asked.
When John mentioned a Medieval forge cart I was wondering if he had any pictures or accounts for one.
If I had the time I would love one like Jymm Hofmans.
Wayne

..The reason I asked was that there are some Medieval reenactors doing events with what they claim is an accurate copy of a Medieval travelling forge but have not been able to back it up when asked....

Hi Wayne,
A somewhat controversial topic/question. In over 39 years of interest in the subject I have yet to come across any documentary evidence of a Medieval traveling forge, or Medieval forge cart. Unfortunately it appears that gossip and word-of-mouth, as well as optimistic imaginations seem to be the main sources of information used by *most* reenactors to justify the historical accuracy of their equipment. One very nice but imaginative smith even went so far as to write a book justifying his "civilian traveling forge" as supposedly being accurate for use with the U.S. Army during the American Civil War. He is a very nice guy, but his book is a combination of poor logic, hopeful thinking, and just plain silly. It takes a brave soul with solid self-esteem to admit to the public that their equipment is their best guess but that there is no physical documented historical evidence of the type of forge they are presenting at an historical presentation. Again, be very leery of any forge cart that is presented as an historically correct forge or traveling forge especially if it is built as a *hand cart* (short handles)!

Hi Dave,
If you go on you tube and search for - artisans court blacksmith and two strikers you will see the cart I am on about.
My own view is that if you were static for any length of time you built a hearth and such but if on the go you just took over the nearest local smithy.

Hi Dave,
If you go on you tube and search for - artisans court blacksmith and two strikers you will see the cart I am on about.
My own view is that if you were static for any length of time you built a hearth and such but if on the go you just took over the nearest local smithy.

I tend to agree with you, and have held pretty much the same opinion that you have described for several years. When looking at the videos (including

) it is a bit difficult to see their forge, but that said, the wheels with tires, spokes and fellows that appear to be mid to late 19th to 20th century 48 inch standard farm wheels. Didn't they use solid wooden plank-type wheels back then? The forge cart appears, at best, to be a hand cart.... I would like to see them try to move it a couple of miles by hand, as it would be fun to see them try... especially over muddy fields and muddy medieval roads. ;-) I especially love their clean and absolutely white shirts. Wouldn't they have more likely worn homespun or some other off-white shirt? And isn't purple called Royal Purple due to the expense of purple dye from the east? Maybe they are noblemen that are slumming it? ;-)

If you are going to do medieval events, my advice would be to build a small portable wooden forge, stick a bellows nozzle through a hole in the back and line the bottom of the fireplace with dirt and/or brick. Either that or even better to dig a hole in the ground and the bellows nozzle into the hole. Form follows function, and in my humble opinion, a hand cart would not have worked very well if at all especially in medieval times.

So in summary, the wheels are from many centuries later, and my humble opinion of a hand cart is that hand carts are just plain too silly to be historically correct.

At least they are using bellows, so that is a big big plus that makes their other stuff very very forgivable in my eyes. It seems to be a reasonably decent presentation where they have made sufficient effort and expense to do the best that they can. No one's presentation is perfect, especially due affordability limitations. All things considered they seem to be doing a decent presentation.

Dustin,
I am fortunate to have plenty of room to forge when I want to and as late as I want to. Though it may be tempting to forge on your balcony, don't do it. It is a violation of fire code to even barbeque on an apartment balcony due to the hazards involved. Good luck and Stay Safe. Jerry

Did blacksmiths wear white dresses then too??? Hmmmm!