Starting out

[AlienNova]

Hello, I hope I'm posting in the right place! I've recently wanted to try my hand at blacksmithing! I've built myself a small forge, and realized I don't know where to start! Can anyone help me out? What are the must haves and what's a great starting project? Any info is great help!

[Frosty]

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

The must haves are pretty simple: A fire, something to beat against, something to beat with and something to beat on. I'm not joking that's all you really need for years I forged in a camp fire sometimes on boulders with whatever junk I found.

An anvil is anything heavy and hard enough to make hot steel move when it's used as an anvil. RR rail has been used to good effect for better than a century. Sledge hammer heads make nice stake anvils. Axles buried flange up at the correct height make a good anvil. Most any steel shaft on end is good. And so on, imagination is a handy tool cultivate it.

For a hammer most any smooth face is good. Don't use a really heavy hammer, 2lbs. is more than enough to learn with. Hammer control is about accuracy and control more than strength. Once you're developed good hammer control a heavier hammer will do well for you but till you have they make mistakes permanent much faster and can injure you. Believe me things you can ignore as a young man will catch up with you later in life.

Sooner or later you'll need tongs but you can use long pieces of steel and not need them. Steel doesn't conduct heat very well so if it's say 24" long you can hold onto one end while the other is melting off.

Eye protection!! The traditional retirement program for blacksmiths is when they lose the other eye. That's a B-A-D tradition do not continue it! Good safety glasses are a must in my shop unless we aren't doing anything but talking. PERIOD.

You want to wear natural fibers or leather, synthetics will melt and deep fry your hide is a bit of HOT something touches them. Cotton, wool, hemp, leather, silk even don't melt and they stink if they catch fire so you aren't surprised. And just get used to the idea of setting yourself on fire once in a while.

Leather boots. Gloves are a maybe and sometimes good or sometimes VERY bad. I run a propane forge so I'm frequently reaching through dragon's breath and it heats up everything within about a foot of the door. It makes wearing a glove on my left hand pretty necessary.

Just remember if a leather glove gets hot it shrinks, traps your hand and bakes it like a potato. Just take a look at the crumpled shrunken mess leather turns into if it gets too hot. Wearing a leather glove on my left hand is one of the only reasons I keep a bucket of water near the forge. If it starts to squeeze my hand I dunk it straight in the water.

Aloe Vera gel is a good thing in the shop, you WILL burn yourself. Treat it quickly and minimize the damage. Do you have 1st aid training? It can't do any harm to take a course. Keep a full 1st. aid kit at hand, you're going to. cut, scrape, poke gouge, bruise, etc. yourself. Learn to clean and dress minor wounds and keep your cell phone handy.

There is a large section of projects and instructions for beginners. I've gone on long enough for now.

Frosty The Lucky.

[SmoothBore]

Believe me things you can ignore as a young man will catch up with you later in life.

 And just get used to the idea of setting yourself on fire .....

Frosty The Lucky.

AMEN, ... and AMEN again.

A high, wide and long leather apron, is almost as good as a suit of armor.

I like mine right up under my chin, ... and reaching well below the knees.

I'm always burning through my shoe strings, ... and last Winter I had a hot bit lodge in my shoelaces, and burn right through the boot tongue, ... and right on into my foot.

( There was just no way to get it off fast enough. )

Based on that recurring problem, ... I'd recommend a smooth toe "pull on" type boot, ... and Steel Toes ALWAYS.

 

.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2015 by SmoothBore

[notownkid]

Get some instruction from somewhere.  Locate and get involved with a local, state or regional organization.  Some very good books out there for beginners and some more advanced as well.  This takes Time and a lot of folks expect instant marketable results.  Practice, Practice.

Frosty mentioned leather gloves as I was reading it my memory woke up and it came to me, at my age it's nice to have a flash of something.

There are some excellent gloves in the Fireservice made of Nomex and leather.  Not cheap but how much are your hands worth, a lot more than a pair of these gloves.  Can find them on line or an emergency services supply house.  I've worn them through some extremely hot and flame conditions for 20 yrs and no burns on my hands. 

I'll take my own advice, for a change, and order some posthaste.  Mother nature did not ship you out with spare parts got to take care of the originals.

Before some else does it, It a good idea to put your location in your heading as there are accommodating blacksmiths from all over the world on here a lot more than willing to give you a leg up. 

 

 

[Latticino]

I use a short, light Kevlar glove on my left hand.  Works a treat and is much more heat proof than leather. Strongly recommended. 

[teenylittlemetalguy]

Two things I was glad I was taught instead of learned the hard way -

wet gloves , with sweat or water will cook your hand bad if you grab something hot.

forging pipe and a water bucket can make a steam nozzle like you have never imagined. I have seen it nearly blast the ceiling of a shop with scalding water 

Good luck and remember that playing is learning. Just play safe.

 

[Stephen Jones]

All of the above and, hot metal HAS the right of way. NEVER try to catch hot metal.

[LastRonin]

I agree with all the above. And want to add, even with all of the dangers everyone is pointing out, forging metal is a LOT of fun. Realize that these guys aren't trying to scare you off (and I hope they haven't) or be mean... They're actually looking forward to seeing you get started and progress. (By seeing, I mean post pics, of all of it. We all love pics) we just want to be sure you're safe as you develop your addiction to hot steel. 

Edited August 29, 2015 by LastRonin
Spelling correction

[DSW]

Nomex and kevlar are heat resistant, not heat proof. At the temps we work with on steel, they will still melt if you aren't careful. If it's glowing, it's probably too hot for any sort of gloved material. I'm not a huge fan of gloves myself, though I do occasionally use them. I see to many guys at the tech school finish welding on something, then instantly grab it wearing heavy leather gloves and watch the glove instantly start to smoke and char because the steel was so hot. Their idea is that because they are wearing gloves, the gloves will protect them... Basic lack of common sense here, there's a set of tongs/pliers laying right there that get used to dunk the steel, but because they wear gloves, they think they can just grab it with their hands... Stupid.

[Charlotte]

In my working life I've worn gloves when ever I was not working at a desk,  At the forge and Anvil I wear a leather palm glove on left hand.  Just a regular construction worker glove with an open cuff. I've found that I am more accurate hammering with a bare right hand.

I've often wished that I'd spent the money on Welders leather sleeves when single handing an angle grinder knotted cup brush,   Makes a really nasty road burn. 

[Michael]

AMEN, ... and AMEN again.

A high, wide and long leather apron, is almost as good as a suit of armor.

I like mine right up under my chin, ... and reaching well below the knees.

I'm always burning through my shoe strings, ... and last Winter I had a hot bit lodge in my shoelaces, and burn right through the boot tongue, ... and right on into my foot.

( There was just no way to get it off fast enough. )

Based on that recurring problem, ... I'd recommend a smooth toe "pull on" type boot, ... and Steel Toes ALWAYS.

 

"Always have a bucket of water you can get your foot into!"  Overheard at a hammer in one time. Haven't had to use it, yet.

 

 

[Glenn]

I strongly suggest cutting the cuff OFF the standard work gloves. I had the cuff get caught one time and it threw me 10-15 feet and to the ground. NO CUFF, no problem. I have had the gloves get caught since and am always surprised when I find me hand bare and the glove gone.

I suggest you do not use gloves when forging. If the metal gets hot,turn it loose. Heat is gone. With a glove, the heat will continue until you remove the glove. HOT iron and close working conditions are a different matter as you need protection. That is why we make tongs.

That said I wear tig gloves for anything that needs protection from abrasion or sharp, rough edges and surfaces, no cuff. Cuffs when welding or if the wrist and fore arm need protected YMMV.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Glenn

[Quarry Dog]

  The most important safety tool around the forge is situational awareness.  After that is safety glasses(welder shade 3 if you stare at the fire) and earplugs (I like the banded style, so I don't stuff a bunch of coal in my ears).  Gloves are good for a little heat buffer, and for accidental contacts, but not for holding on to metal that's already too hot.  I can't think of anything, besides "mickey mouse" gloves, that would hold up to that heat for more than a second, if you're lucky.  They're really heavy, bulky, uncooperative things that are only good for heavy air arc gouging and super heavy duty welding (think 400 amps +) and resemble the old asbestos mitts.  Even then, I'm not sure they'd handle a high black heat for very long before melting/burning.

  The only time I wear gloves around the forge is when I'm working on heavier stock (1.5" +) and I can't keep the #4 rebar (1/2") porter bar that I welded on cool enough to handle comfortably, even when dunking it in the slack tub.  

  I like Tillman "driver's" gloves, although you have to make sure to take the elastic out.  Once you've done that and worn them for an hour or two to loosen them up, they come off in one shake.  They're very durable (I get at least a solid month of abuse out of them, sometimes 2, and the leather goes first.  Home depot's knockoffs give me about 2 weeks before the stitching blows out the side of the fingers, at which point they're useless.) and they're heavy enough that they give you a little bit of a buffer from the heat.  There have been a couple times at work where I started feeling heat creeping through from a piece that would have certainly burnt me had I grabbed it bare handed, and they have completely protected me from accidental contact with things that were still running the second blue from being welded.  I've had similar things produce the smell of "bacon and smoke".  Accidental contact is still a far cry from trying to hold on to something like that though.

[ausfire]

For some great beginner projects get hold of Lorelei Sims' book The Backyard Blacksmith. She has some great ideas there - all well illustrated.

And try not to get burnt; it can really ruin your day. 

[gote]

The most important safety device sits between you ears. Use that! 

If you want to know about a subject; say "nailheaders" Google "IFI nail headers." Use that method on any question you may have and you will find more valuable info than you thought possible.

Have fun!

Göte