rmanning Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Just getting started in this as a hobby, built a brake drum forge got a couple hammers and chisels, and an anvil of course. thoughts of making knives and tomahawks got me interested now i am hooked. i have made a couple wall hooks and attempted a couple sets of tongs. youtube has been my only source of education. I am in east tennesse and do not know of much blacksmithing that goes on around my area. was wondering about good places to learn or pick up info other than trial and error or maybe a book that is really useful. thanks for any help or suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Try these two ABANA affiliates closest to you, if there not close enought contact them and find out who is. I'm sure they'll know. www.appaltree.net/aba , http://rbfcmemphis.com sorry apparently the second one doesn't work. Copied off ABANA site go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjakkur Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 i recomend that you read theese posts if you are lokking for books to learn from personaly i recomend book called A Blacksmithing Primer by Randy McDaniel http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=a+blacksmithing+primer&sprefix=A+blacksm%2Caps%2C425 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TedT2 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 There are lots of self taught blacksmiths. Some have turned out to be highly skilled and have eventually learned to also work safely. But that route is not for everyone. I suggest that you read the following if you find the time! http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/31268-welcome-new-blacksmiths-here-are-a-few-suggestions/ My very best to you! Ted Throckmorton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borntoolate Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Keep up the trial and error as well. We all learn by mistakes. Sometimes we have the benefit of a teacher beside us to point them out to us as we make them. They can instruct us on the finer points and the why real time. Other times we need to make them and then reflect and critigue ourselves as well as look to others and ask questions in order to improve. BUt I think blacksmithing requires trial and error (Mistakes) in order to learn regardless. Personally I enjoy the journey of learning. These days when I try something that does not work I log it as learning and just add it to the file in my head. Yesterday I was making some feet for a boot scraper. These feet needed holes in them to screw to a wood deck. I punched one of the holes in one of the feet into a section of foot that was not quite wide enough and my final punch done too cold. It split the edge of the hole and made a crack. On another I did not get the slug out fully and was not wanting to make another crack so I reheated. I tried to drive the slug out too hot and ended up with a raggedy push through (not sure how to explain, no shear on the plug). Anyway this was all fine. I learned two more things NOT TO DO! Mistakes are great as long as you learn from them! They also allow you to ask better questions when you do get with someone whos knows stuff as well as what to watch for. I sometimes go back to videos to specifically see how they handle a very specific strike, heat, set-up etc.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borntoolate Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 If you wanna make knives and tomahawks you prolly need to get a partner to strike for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Strikers, nah. It is very helpful to find someone who knows the ins and outs. I had nobody to teach me and wasted a lot of fuel, steel and sweat trying to learn. Even now I only know a couple of smiths and only one makes knives. This site is a great help, there's a lot of knowlege and experience floating around in the eitherworld of ifi, but having someone to show you is priceless. Never tell yourself you can't do something. A little will and some enginuity and you will be surprised at what you acomplish. You don't need a bunch of expensive equipment either, it helps to speed up the process but one can get by. Good luck and give us picks of your progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gor Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I'd also recommend http://www.appalachianblacksmiths.org/ They are a local group for us. I've heard of a group that has meetings at Rocky Mount on the first Sunday of every month, this may be them. I really need to attend a meeting and see what I can manage to learn. Who knows, I may see you there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNJC Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 There is an enormous amount of information available to you on the internet, nowhere better than this site though. Some of the demonstrations on youtube are good, some are frighteningly dangerous, but then so are some smiths! I don't think anything will be better than face to face instruction but... there is a very good book, and accompanying DVD, by Peter Parkinson. The book is called 'The Artist Blacksmith' and the DVD is 'Artist Blacksmithing'. Everything is well illustrated / filmed and explained in simple terms, progressing from first principals upwards. Don't take too much notice of the word 'Artist'. Both book and DVD are all about conveying the information necessary to a beginner and cover the tools used, how to use them and then the building-block techniques of the craft: upsetting; drawing down; cutting; punching; twisting; bending; joining (rivets, welds, tenons etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 One valuable tool if you are having to learn on your own is the video camera, just set it up let it roll while you do your work, then sit down and look at it objectively. You will see how you stand, how you have planned your work, how you work, your hammer control, your working heats, how you waste time and effort by doing unnecessary or repeat actions, how ergonomic your workspace layout is, where things start to go wrong so you can correct it the next time, and many other useful tips that will improve your abilities. Good luck and enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadmetal61 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I'm in south east tn there is a local club here send me a PM and I'll see if I can get your pointed in their direction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in your header it'll make it a lot easier for folk within visiting distance to get in touch. I'm mostly self taught till a few years ago, say 15 or so. There's things to be said for learning on your own as well as for hooking up with someone who knows the craft. One day with a knowledgeable smith can and often will save you months of winkling it out yourself. On the other hand, learning to figure tings out on your own will teach you how to analyze mistakes and much of what we do is failure analysis. Being self taught I find myself learning every time I watch someone else wield a hammer, even first timers. The one true secret to blacksmithing is Knowledge and Practice. Keep in touch here, we love helping folk out almost as much as we love pictures. Pics of failures can tell you more than successes, sometimes lots more. Also, never round file the mistake(s) that lead to a failure, what doesn't work on one thing may be just the ticket for something else. I couldn't count how many times exactly that has happened to me. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmanning Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Thanks guys, i am in east tennesse( hamblen county) I hadnt took time to fill out the profile till now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitsuwa Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 If you are up for a vacation there are week end and week long classes at the Applachian Crafts Center in Smithville Tenn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 here is a free book http://www.metalwebnews.org/ftp/blacksmith-practice.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmanning Posted January 31, 2013 Author Share Posted January 31, 2013 Thanks for the book Francis. I did not know about that site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Learning without a teacher is like being The Butterscotch Man. You have to get warm in order to run, but you have to run in order to get warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.