Hello everyone! I've been intrigued by the art of blacksmithing for a while now and finally took the plunge.  I am an architect and have done wood working in the past. I really enjoy bringing creations to life. I live on the coast of North Carolina which I'm slowly finding out might be the wrong side of the state for blacksmithing haha.

 

Nevertheless, I bought my first anvil yesterday and am truly excited. I will try to get pictures uploaded soon to see if any of you can tell me more about it. I do know that it is a 147# solid wrought in what seems to be very good condtion (85-90% rebound using a ball bearing). I was told it is a Peter Wright and from what i have seen/read online that seems to be true. The stamp has faded but there are traces of the solid wrought circle around the middle number. I think half of the fun of this is learning the history behind it.

 

As of now I have an anvil, a pair of tongs, a brake drum off of a transfer truck, a ton of questions and even more ambition. I hope to learn the basics and then migrate into knifemaking and finding out how many things I can make out of a railroad spike.

 

Thank you for taking time to read this and I look forward to learning the trade!

Welcome

Welcome to this site.  Take some time  and read all you can of any of the thousands of posts here that interest you.  You will find a wealth of information, and a lot of knowledgeable people willing to answer educated questions.  Then practice, and practice more.  Try to find someone to show you the basics.  Go to a blacksmithing event and watch and question.  This field has no limits.

Hello and welcome. Plenty of good information here to look thru and lots of guys who are willing to help if you do a bit of research 1st.

 

 

I think wrought iron is what got me interested in studying Architecture to begin with. Right now I'm still very intrigued with architectural projects, brackets, hooks, hinges and so on.

On 9/2/2014 at 12:05 PM, blackironskillet said:

... the coast of North Carolina which I'm slowly finding out might be the wrong side of the state for blacksmithing haha.

Blackironskillett, I was thinking the same thing! My in-laws family is all from the Black Mountain/Swannanoa/Asheville end of the state and forges seem like belly buttons, everyone's got them, the farther west in the state you go!