I got back to Las Vegas from a Christmas trip to St. Louis and, with a wad of newly-gotten cash in my pocket, I decided to forgo the shipping process and to see if anyone in Las Vegas sold forges. (I was too scared to make one. I'm new to metal!)

While trying to buy a house I distinctly remembered that there are a number of horse properties in the valley, and so it seemed that there HAD to be a farrier supply that might - just might - have a forge. Unfortunately, all of the farrier supplies that I found in my online searches no longer exist, so I called the Tack Shack and they told me that IFA country store might have one. I called down there and they had two models - the Whisper Momma and the Whisper Baby. So I drove to investigate.

They were asking $605 for the Whisper Momma (the one with only the backdoor opening) and so I mulled it over for a while and then asked the lovely lady at the counter - Doreen, of course - that I'd like to buy it but it was a bit overpriced. She rummaged around a bit and said she could go $525. Probably still overpriced, but I was eager to get started, so I caved.

Went to the Home Depot, used my gift card (thank you aunt Betty!) for a propane tank, a ball peen hammer, a bucket and some vice grips, and sped home.

Spent the better part of the night (and this morning, from 4am on) ruining perfectly good metal into pointless abstractions. Luckily I live in a Mexican neighborhood that appreciates the value of a hard day's work, and my neighbors have only looked on in curiosity. No angry CALLATE!'s yet!

It's pretty much every bit as enjoyable as I've thought it would be. It's been 15 years in the making, and even though the process was very much... built up... in my head, it's beyond satisfying.

Anywho - I'm off to the scrap yard to find more stuff to ruin.

Thanks to everyone here for the reading material and inspiration!

:) :)

Anywho - I'm off to the scrap yard to find more stuff to ruin.

There is no ruined metal when you are learning from it! Sounds like you are having a great time and as long as thats true it doesnt matter if you spent a little extra on the forge or something.

I haven't heard of that brand / model before. Post some pictures of it when you get a chance!

My NC tool Co. Catalog lists your forge @ $495. Since you didn't pay shipping and didn't have to wait I think you came out good.

northtowntom,
Whisper Daddy, Whisper Momma, Whisper Baby, we are all in the Smith Family.
I have a whisper Daddy II and love it!
The main thing is that you have your forge at home now where you can use it.
Because you have put your thoughts put into action, you have created a good foundation as a starting point for hands on creativity as a blacksmith.
I believe that getting to the starting point of where you are (when you light your first forge fire and strike hot steel that you have heated) may be the most physiological difficult part of the trip.
Now you can relax and enjoy the rest of the ride as you travel along the Blacksmith trail.
Congratulations, but please keep it fun and safe!
Old Rusty Ted

Congrats Northtowntom,
I use the Whisper Daddy also and really do enjoy it.
If you have any problems or tech questions The guys and gals at NCTool are great
They have been more than helpful in phone calls with me and quickly ship out info on tweeking
the forge also faxed out a few pages I had lost along the way.
Show us some Pics of what you are doing

Enjoy
TIM