Getting started....

[pandapizen]

Hello,

 

So, I've been planning on getting into Blacksmithing for quite some time. Never having a fixed abode haltered me, but now I do, so....happy days!

 

I have invested in the gear. Built a forge, bought a anvil, a vice, some tongs.....gotta get me some hammers and other bits and pieces. But we're pretty much there!

 

I trained as a sculptor....and that is....eventually......what I'd love to be doing with the iron. My main preparation has been drawing lots of plans, and making models in clay (I have the feeling that clay moves in a similar way to iron).

 

But there is a lot to take on board until I get there. So, has anyone got any advice, beginner projects and the like? 

 

I had the notion, of maybe taking one new project a a week, and doing it over and over again to practice technique. So maybe, like, pokers one week, candle sticks the next, over and over. 

 

So advice is welcome.

 

Cheers :)

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll be surprised how many of the IFI live within visiting distance.

 

Drawing pictures is good, I know I wish I'd learned art drawing instead of mechanical drawing. Anyway, drawing on paper is good, now build a fire and draw on some steel. The craft is composed of relatively simple steps, simple in and of themselves but done in conjunction or joined together the results can be . . . mythological.

 

What books do you have in your library? We were just compiling a list of good learning books. It's good to have an idea of what you're looking at before you start paying a lot of attention to Youtube or know who to pay attention to. There is a lot of . . . drek on Youtube, guys/kids/etc. who just MUST share what they do no matter how backwards and urban/Larp/video game/mythical it is.

 

Anyway, light a fire and make some nails, maybe lots of nails. Once you get the hang of nails, maybe do some twists till you have that down. Then if you combine the two by drawing the end of a piece of stock to a point you can turn a little finial scroll, go back an inch or two and put a twist in it. Oh what the heck put another log taper and finial scroll on the other end. That piece of stock had TWO ends! <sheesh> Okay, that's a piece of twisted stock with pointy ends and finial scrolls so how about bending a hook on each end facing the other direction? Let's see, what next. . . Oh yeah, heat it all up and give it a good wire brushing and when it's cooled a bit wax it.

 

Then all that's left is hang your S hook over something and make some more.

 

Basically build a fire and start beating steel. You're ready!

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Bigcity]

What Frosty said :) also try finding a blacksmithing group around you check the ABANA website they have all the local chapters listed. Its way better to have someone show you the ropes in my opinion.

 

James

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning, Panda

 

The only way to get started is to start!! If you don't get started, you can't get to the finish (the part Frosty was talking about with bees wax, floor wax or I'm sure ear wax will work).

 

This is unlike anything you have ever done before, duplicating to the hammer blow what you played with in your clay (play-doh works well too).

You don't have to ask permission. Mistakes are called learning. That's not a mistake, that's how I intended it to look/do (:> :) :)

 

After a few self training sessions, you can look at your "creations" and decide, to or not to, add them to your "Bish Pile" (Bish=rubish) and start/try again.

Nobody is keeping score, except you. You will be your worst critic, you will be able to see things that others don't. Accept this as "LIFE"!!

 

Don't worry about burning your hands, you will, more than once. Gloves just hide the heat and then bite worse!! Above all else: you only get one pair of eyes and ears, YOU MUST PROTECT THEM WITH YOUR LIFE, NO CHEAP SAFETY GEAR!!!!

 

Find the Blacksmith Group in your area and learn with your ears open, not your mouth. Make detailed notes in a scribler, you can always go back to them.

 

Git Goin' :)

 

Neil