Soon-to-be Smith in Oklahoma

[B P]

So, I'm a soon-to-be smith in Oklahoma. Heck, it practically feels like I already am with how long I've been thinking about it and reading everything I can find and watching so many videos about it.

 

I suppose I'm a lot less interested in the whacking things with a hammer part of it than I am in casting things and bringing ideas directly to life - there's just something awesome about that. I guess I've always been on the creative side; I definitely have a big imagination. I write a lot and that's one way to bring ideas into the world but to actually make something tangible that you can hold in your hands, that's just something magical.

 

The thing that got me interested in smithing was the idea of designing my own jewelry. Perhaps not the manliest of things, but I've always thought that it would be so amazing to draw up a design for a ring and then actually go out and make it or have it made, but that's even more cost prohibitive than the raw materials themselves. Gold prices are really up there, eh?

 

Sterling silver is surprisingly affordable though. You always hear about gold and silver being the two big precious metals and they're always grouped together and in fiction it's right up there. In the real world though it's not very expensive at all. Alas, I've never been a fan of the white and grey metals. There's just something that looks so nice about that reddish yellow hue of gold. Of course, that's not limited to gold. There's brass and there's bronze which are both really common. I've never really cared about the prestige of gold anyhow, I just like the color. It's a shame they're no good for jewelry though, green marks on your fingers and quickly tarnishing and all that. I suppose you can use something like C954 aluminum bronze or silicon bronze and be a bit better off. I think you can probably get a bet better still with a manganese bronze or nordic gold - that's the aluminum bronze KME makes the 10/20/50 cent Euro coins out of. You can't get ahold of that stuff though aside from the coins. They sell TECU gold though which is almost identical but you're still looking at having to do something like gold plating or gold filling or some kind of PVD like TiN or ZrN. It was fun looking into all of that though. I pretty much wrote off brass and the other alloys that contain zinc because that xxxx scares the xxxx out of me. I'm not nearly confident enough in the craft yet to be messing with something that gives off toxic fumes like that, even with a fan blowing away the smoke and smithing outdoors with a metal fume respirator.

 

Luckily the gemstone side of things isn't nearly as abysmal as the metal side of things (if you wanted an inexpensive non-tarnishing yellow metal, that is). It's crazy how cubic zirconia have an 8.5 Mohs hardness and a 2.18 refractive index. Prettier than a ruby, nearly as hard, harder and prettier than garnets, and they go for practically nothing. I'm probably one of the odd ones out in that I've never really cared about the price of something as long as it looks good and it's functional - never really seen the point in getting a diamond over a moissanite for instance since moissanite is nearly just as hard and has a way higher refractive index while being vastly less expensive.

 

Sorry I guess that's the affliction of writers, going on and on... I was about to get to some kind of point I think. Ah, right... Well, I suppose what I was getting at is that I'm a lot more interested in goldsmithing and jewelry making than I am in something like hammering out a sword or nails and all that. That's not to say I wouldn't like making swords and the like, I just wouldn't want to have to do all of that hammering. Just doesn't seem like a style I'd enjoy. I think I'd be much more of a casting type of person. Lost-Wax casting or petrobond and the like. I suppose I just like the idea of the more calming nature of sculpting something from wax or clay as opposed to hammering it out of steel. Or, maybe I'm just lazy? Who knows!

 

I'll be getting started pretty soon one way or another I'm just not entirely sure what my first project should be. Rather, I'm not sure I should just try out something cheap and inexpensive to get into it or wait until I can build a proper foundry.

 

I could get started as easily as buying this and this and well, of course some of this. That's under $100, that's not too bad.. it's affordable. Wouldn't be able to do a whole lot more than tiny little things with it though.

 

I do actually need to make something though - a good 3-4 leather stamps. So here lies the dillema: Do I get some temporary little starter stuff to break into smithing and try my hand at making them myself, or do I just have the things I need done made instead and get started later when I can afford to build a proper foundry? Either of those initial options is roughly the same price, it's just that one is a sure deal that it's going to get the job done while the other relies on me trying my hand at something I've never done before and hoping for the best. It's just for another little project I'm working on for fun so it's not a big deal either way, it's just the budget at my disposal at the moment. Either way, once I'm done with that little project I can probably sell a couple of the things I'm working on and start setting up something proper.

 

I'm thinking something like along the lines of this as a proper foundry:

http://backyardmetalcasting.com/hmkit.html

http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/Crucibles.php

and some 3000°F rated refractory

 

That would probably be the easiest to set up but probably not the best in the long run, judging from this comparison between propane and coal. Propane is pretty expensive and I probably won't be making all that much money off of the stuff I'm doing since I'll mostly just be messing around as a hobby. I could get coal from a supplier in my local ABANA group for $140.00/ton ($.07/pound); well, once I join - which I will once I actually start smithing. They look like a great group, they hold meetings in each of the four corners of the state every month and it looks like they have quite a few workshops every year. I'll be pretty lucky to have the opportunity to get to know some smiths in person and maybe learn a bit from them.

 

But back to the point... I suppose there's also the waste oil option which isn't neccesarily a bad option since the fuel would likely be free and it is easier to get to higher temperatures. I only slightly alluded to it earlier but I'm definitely going to want to be regularly working with something like aluminum bronze or silicon bronze. I'd probably like to mess with steel as well but I hear that's pretty difficult to do from a home setup due to the heat needed and it eating up the refractory pretty fast and unlike bronze you have to mess with heat treating it so that would probably be much further down the road. Long story short: It'd be nice to be able to more easily reach higher temperatures, especially if the fuel is super cheap or free. Coal looks to be the most simple overall.

 

Of course, it also hits me that while I'll probably be making some fun stuff that would need a larger foundry like that... if I want to make any kind of jewelry I'm probably going to need a centrifugal setup to get the metal to cast completely where it needs to in such tiny intricate designs and I guess probably a pottery kiln if I plan on doing lost wax casting.

 

I don't know. I may not even go straight to jewelry stuff since there's a lot of other things that sound fun as well that are a bit bigger.... not to mention the need for tools which I'd be a lot better off financially if I forged them myself instead of having to buy them. You can't very well make a pair of tongs in a tiny little jewelry centrifuge.

 

So, I'm very interested in everyone's thoughts on all of that.

 

To tell a little bit more about myself, I guess it's somewhat ironic that I'm getting into smithing since a few years back I developed a hypersensitivity to heat. Craziest thing, I'd never even heard of it. You just break out in hives when your body gets too hot. Cause that's ideal for working around a hot forge, right? Hahaha... Kinda like running a marathon without any legs, but that's not going to stop me. Then again, my legs aren't as good as they use to be either. It's never really been the same after I had a pretty bad knee injury even after surgery. Can barely put my weight on the xxxx things.

 

That's probably another reason I'd like to avoid most of the forging part of smithing and mostly stick to just casting since it leaves a pretty minimal time around a lot of heat compared to needing to be constantly around it pulling a piece of metal in and out to work it. I haven't actually noticed it for awhile now so I'm hoping it's went away. I guess I'll find out.

 

I figure I'll set up a pulley I can just swivel over to the molds for the crucible of a proper foundry cause I may have some pretty wild ideas but trying to carry a bunch of heavy molten metal around isn't one of them. I've got arthritis in my knees nowadays and I just had an MRI the other day, going to another doc tomorrow for a second opinion... might be another knee surgery in my future, so I'm definitely thinking a pulley's probably going to be a thing. I'm not worried about it though.

 

So is this the longest introduction post here yet? It sure feels like it... man, I need to learn to not be so long winded when I write... Anyways I'm pretty excited to be here, looking forward to getting to know everyone.

[mitch4ging]

Welcome BP. I am up in Moore. Glad to have ya. As you already have found out, LOTS of good info here, including casting and making jewelry.
Also, sounds like you have a bead on the Saltfork group, gread bunch of guys.
Happy hammering!

[B P]

Yeah, from everything I've read it sounds like a great group.

 

About the forge, after reading this post I'm leaning towards just getting that book and trying my hand at that style of a waste oil furnace. Propane isn't exactly cheap nowadays and Douglas OK isn't exactly close.

 

I managed to get a really good deal on 4 leather stamps so I'm going to do that first rather than try and get started with a pretty silly temporary setup and tie up all my hobby money in something that might not even work.