Lars Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 I took blacksmithing at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA) this fall & fell in love. A couple weeks ago, I drove 5 hours up to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to pick up a forge from the 1880's, a Mousehole anvil (unsure of date-- hand punched hardy & pritchel), 60 pounds of coal, 40 antique files, and a random bit of tools. What a road trip! Totally worth every mile. A little more: I'm taking glass blowing this coming semester, but I doubt I'll enjoy it as much as smithing. I'm married to a tattoo artist & my right arm will have a blacksmith-themed sleeve begun this month. Bacon makes everything better. Questions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maillemaker Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Welcome aboard. It's a pleasure to have another ladysmith join the ranks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 yeah welcome lars, good to have more women smiths :) but male or female - you'll be in good company here :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 I'm taking glass blowing this coming semester, but I doubt I'll enjoy it as much as smithing. You will find that the media is similar, except once glass starts to cool, that is it. You can not fix or adjust glass with a hammer. While hot I would imagine you can do most anything in / with glass that you can do with hot metal. Cut, slit, punch, round to square, square to round, twist, etc. And to a certain extent you can do many things to metal that you can do to glass, mold, blow mold (hydro molding with metal), etc. Learn all you can so you can then mix the media in projects, like putting glass in the opening of a Fredrick's Cross. Welcome to IForgeIron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Both are *plastic* mediums---when hot. I tell people that you can tell how people got into smithing by looking at how they treat the metal---If they tend to treat it like a carpenter treats wood: leave most of it untouched, cut some off, weld some on; they probably came in through welding. If they treat it like a potter treats clay---pushing it around and constantly changing the cross section, cutting some off and adding more on as needed but more shifting the mass around hot; then they came in through the arts like glassblowing or pottery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Blythin Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Bacon makes everything better. Yes. Yes it does! Sounds like a great road trip ... Now the issue becomes finding space for your new (and what will be an ever-expanding) toy collection. I've always wanted to try my hand at glass blowing. Let us know how that goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K. Bryan Morgan Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 PICTURES! We like them. Welcome to the madness. Get ready for a wild ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundsau Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Hiya Lars, welcome to the Hood! You were just a bit south of me, I'm near the Lancaster, Berks and Lebanon County marker. The Lancaster area is a nice place to sightsee. Have you gotten hooked up with a local blacksmith group yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Thanks for the welcome, everyone-- I don't have much time to address everything mentioned because the sun is out & winds are coming in a few hours, so I'm setting up to forge. Pics will come tonight, K. Bryan, and yes, Grundsau, I joined the Tidewater Blacksmith Guild a few months back. I haven't been able to make every meeting, but they're good people & I've seen that Travis maintains the TBG forum here. Ok, now I'm off to find those scrolling tong design ideas that made me join this site to begin with! I can't make my mom's Christmas gift without them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Yates Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Welcome from the hills of Tennessee I look forward to seeing your work . Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Do a search for "bending fork" and it comes back with 97 hits. One is sure to work for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Welcome to the world of blacksmithing. Soon you will be able to make BRANDS ! A new line of skin art for your tattoo artist hubby to offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars Posted December 22, 2012 Author Share Posted December 22, 2012 Have you visited the Tidewater Blacksmith Associaton? A google search returned no organization with that exact name. The Tidewater Blacksmith Guild was the first result-- I've been to 2 meetings so far. Do a search for "bending fork" and it comes back with 97 hits. One is sure to work for you. Danke! Soon you will be able to make BRANDS ! A new line of skin art for your tattoo artist hubby to offer. Funny, we were just talking about that last week. I'm not sure if he'd be legally allowed, but he probably knows people that can throughout the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 Tidewater Blacksmith Guild has a forum right here in IForgeIron http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/92-tidewater-blacksmith-guild/ IForgeIron hosts a forum for any blacksmithing group or organization. They just have to requests their own forum and we set it up for them.. http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/24-blacksmith-groups-forum/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 Welcome aboard Lars, glad to have you. I know a few folk who play with hot glass and iron/steel. They both have their points, good and bad. Feel free to ask anything, we'll have an answer or six, even if we have to make something up. That's actually an old blacksmith joke: Ask two blacksmiths a question and get four answers. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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