Hello. 

My Name is Jesse, I am a long time lurker, new member. I like making things out of metal and wood. I also enjoy picking through scrap and junk yards saving "treasures".

With that being said I think Black smithing would be a good addiction for me.I have been trying to find a decent anvil for years. I have a small coal forge and am looking to build a propane forge soon. I Have done a fair amount of machining in the past and I do lots of welding on the farm in my free time but have never done any forging.

Great Forum with tons of helpful info. I hope one day to be able to contribute to the wealth of knowledge here.

 

Welcome, I can't really say I have any knowledge to share but welcome and stuff. Now I shall copy things asked and said to me!

Do you have anything to beat metal on like a rail road track? (they work great). 

Join some kind of Smithing association in your area, theres so much you can learn first hand from a blacksmith instead of watching a YouTuber about it. 

It also helps the community when you have your location on your profile

You probably know all of this if you've been lurking for awhile but maybe this helped.

 

-EJ

Welcome aboard Jesse, glad to have you. Don't wait till you find a "real" anvil, the London pattern that is most commonly associated with being a "real" anvil is historically a real recent development and hardly universal. Almost anything hard and heavy enough will serve fine as an anvil, heck if you're beating hot steel on it it's an anvil. Period.

Frosty The Lucky.

my first anvil was a sledge hammer head, then a railroadplate, then a piece if railroad track, then I borrowed an anvil from a farrier I know, and finally I found a hundered pound Trenton anvil and is what I currently use.

                                                                                                    Littleblacksmith