Hello gentlemen,
Names justin, age 26 from santa rosa CA
I am very excited about getting into smithing so I'm sorry but I'm gonna go on a little rant here.
I am an arborist by day and vintage motorcycle builder and restorer by night. I got the smithing bug a few months back while looking at photos of a 1905 flying Merkel. I spent hours pondering how I could recreate such a beautiful machine, and decided that I really need to learn how to mold metal to fit my dreams. I started thinking about and researching blacksmithing and I was hooked. Big time. Honestly I didn't think anyone smithed anymore, I thought it was a dead art. Boy was I happy to be wrong. I have since spent countless hours reading threads on this site and watching YouTube videos and burying myself in a couple blacksmithing books that I picked up. What you guys do is absolutely amazing in my mind. To take earth, fire, air and water and create something beautiful from nothing is an amazing skill. It has inspired and driven me with a will to create like Ive never felt in my life. So thank all of you out there for sharing your wisdom, and being an inspiration. That being said:
From reading threads here and other places I decided that finding an anvil or ASO would be the best and possibly most expensive starting point. After spending weeks on Craig's list and not wanting to for go my rent for 2 moths on a new anvil, I called every man I know that is envolved in metal work lookin for something, anything, just give me a chunk of steel to create on. And I am happy to say that today, I brought home my very first anvil. Its a 150 pound southern crescent. Very beat up and cast iron with steel faces but for a hundred bucks I would have carried it home on my back. I have access to plenty of wood through my job so a nice big hunk of oak to chain it to will be next. Fabbing up a brake drum forge tomorrow and hopefully next weekend I'll be able to dump doe on tongs and a hammer or two. I have a mini 1 1/2 pound sledge and a few pairs of vise grips for now.
I am very excited to be here and learn from everyone that has wisdom to share. Thank all of you again and cheers gents.

Recommend a good rounding hammer?

Welcome

You might want to look into getting involved with a local blacksmith group or seek out a smith to watch and learn from.  And pound metal and try everything, then do it again and again.  There is no end to the learn curve in this art.

Ive looked quite a bit and there doesn't seem to be an organized group in my area, but there are a few smiths.

organise a group?

Organizing a group is a great idea but I wouldn't even know where to start. Call every smith within 50 miles and see if they want to meet for a Sunday hammer session somewhere? That sounds awesome actually.

contact a few local ones and ask if they know of a meet, some may say that they would go if the was one then when you have a few interested and they know other want it too maybe one will get organized

That's a great idea. Doing it.

California Blacksmith Association has a web-site. They also have a Spring and Fall Conferences.

 

Welcome to our world

Awesome!

there are smiths in youre area I know a few last I heard Jim Joyce is still teaching smithing he is In Stewart's Point

try -- blacksmithbiz.com  there will be a 3 day get together there in Oct  ck with CBA

And be sure to let them know you have anvil stumps to trade for tools and metal!  (Especially if you have any odd species that folks might preferentially want...  Might look into stabilizing burls or exotic woods for knife makers too) 

 

And you might check if there are any good SCA armourer's around as they can do an amazing amount of shaping of sheet metal!  (check out Ugo Serrano's work both for movies and for SCA fighting.)

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. The CBA is a very active group and all over the golden state. don't get in a big hurry to buy tools till you have an idea what you want to do and what you'll need. Most of us have a lot of tools we picked up only to find out later they aren't so good for what we do. No big thing, we all did/do it.

 

As Thomas says good wood is good trade stock, blacksmiths are almost always up for a trade but get your dickering face on. <wink>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

Great advice on tools and the CBA. Much appreciated. I have a ball peen and a 3 pound crosspeen that I figure will get me by, I'm gonna start with the basics naturally, make square stock round and then square again, simple bends etc. xxxx I'm excited. Now, do any of you have a wood you prefer to use as an anvil base? Or for whatever else? I'm leaning towards coast live oak because its the heaviest thing around in CA.

Resistance to rot and splitting are also good traits for stump wood.

I used to own a "ringer" it looked like a typical tree stump for an anvil but in reality is was almost completely hollow---made a great travel stump where lightness was a factor.

A ringer... That's a great idea Thomas. I'll definitely keep that in mind if I ever need to go portable.

I'm liking my steel anvil stands better all the time. They're open so I can work right up to the anvil, have handy hammer and tong racks and really deaden the ring. They're also so much lighter and easier to handle that a block of wood.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

I would love to have a steel stand, but wood I have in plenty so its what I'll use for now. What height is generally recommended for anvil face? I have it on a chunk of cedar and its about knuckle high. Also I just started my first fire in a brakedrum forge, so wish me luck gents.