Hi folks, I've posted a few threads already but I wanted to post a pic of my first pieces to see what people think. I'm a complete novice, been tinkering around with some scraps for about 2 weeks, learning from my mistakes and using my brake drum forge. I'll get some one to one tution at some point. The things in the pic are my 2nd and 3rd pieces I've made, my first being a pair of tongs.

Any constructive criticism or advice would be appreciated. Cheers



they're for screwing into the ceiling to hand stuff from.

You've got a good eye and decent hammer control.....Go for it!

Thanks. The bigger piece was very frustrating & I had to re-do some bits half a dozen times! The reason being that I don't yet know instinctively where I should be hitting the metal for the desired effect, though one thing I've discovered is that often you've got to hit the metal in the area before you want the bend. Making up the design as I went along probably didn't help either.

The bigger one illustrates the care you put into it. Good job! They're both really good pieces.

Ahh cheers man! I'm a perfectionist by nature so I can't help picking holes in whatever I do and these are no exception, but I suppose you've gotta start somewhere.

I put up an ad in a local shop window offering free commissions on small basic items explaining I'm a novice, the deal being if I think I can make it I'll give it a go, if you don't like the end product then don't have it & i'll reuse the metal...so someone gets free iron work & i get a challenge. Makes good advertising sense to me as they say word of mouth is the best advertising & in the future i'll want to earn something frm blacksmithing.