Hello all Blasterjoe here,

I started blacksmithing about a year ago. I live in a small mining town right smack in the middle of Nevada. I am a blaster by trade. I have a small devil forge and an NC anvil. I have taken a handful of blacksmithing classes in Tonapah NV. Learned a lot of the basics but now I'm going at it on my own. I really enjoy the forum and am looking forward to sharing projects and get feedback. 

I have visions of explosive welding! Lol. Welcome aboard. 

Welcome aboard Joe, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the Iforge gang live within visiting distance. It's not like telling us where you are one post is going to stick in our memories after we open the next one.

Pretty nice pieces, especially for early work. A little refinement and they'll be very marketable if that's your aim. What would you like to make once you get a good working handle on the craft?

Good job on the tongs they look a lot better than the first few pair of mine and I must say that's one of the Cooler display tables I've seen.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Frosty, the tongs are actually the first set that "turned out". The fork spoon is a broken rein from a previous learning experience. I am in Round mountain NV. About as far from anything as you can get. 

Just because something didn't turn out doesn't mean it's not perfect for something else. I see my meaning didn't penetrate, stand to close to the shots do you? General location inn the HEADER. click your name at the top right of the page, select the header in the menu that appears on the side. enter your general location and Save.  See, easy enough for a blacksmith, honest even the kids can do it.

Never been to Alaska have you? I don't recognize anything in the lower 48 as being far from anywhere.

Oh I'm going to like you, one straight line after another.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Alright got my kids to help me with the header. I'll give you Alaska for being far. For us lowly 48er rural Nevada is as desolate as it gets. The good part is that I have thousands of miles of scrap to dig through. Old timely miners traveled light.

Welcome from Southern Nevada. 

A tip on the fork. You left a notch at the base of the fork. If it breaks that is probably where it will break at. You want smooth radiused transitions without notches, or nicks as those become stress risers. This is especially true of items that do any flexing. 

I actually ground that notch in. That makes total sense. I won't be doing that anymore. Thanks doc

Ah, kids are good for some things, I have to borrow one if I really need to k now how to do something on my computer. No argument about Nevada and desolate, been there was thirsty the whole darned time. I envy you the salvageable reasonably rust free miner leavings. There are a lot of mines around but they're ALL "preserves" can't pick up a rock, let alone a historically significant artifact. But. . . but. . . it's a broken coil spring on the side of the road! The under canopy grows so fast here small stuff like cars is overgrown and hidden in a couple seasons. Long daylight hours in summer grows big plants fast, then winter cold and snow knocks a lot of it down and covers stuff. In a couple seasons the dead grass and leaves on the old wreck are soil, growing their own cover.

I'm about 10 minutes from the thriving megalopolis of Downtown Wasilla so not that remote.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Gotta love the dirt road scrap yard . I haven't had to buy any steel since I started. Maybe I will get lucky and find an old forge and a 250# anvil laying around. You never know.

2 hours ago, BlasterJoe said:

Gotta love the dirt road scrap yard . I haven't had to buy any steel since I started. Maybe I will get lucky and find an old forge and a 250# anvil laying around. You never know.

Ayup, you never do. Old mines, ghost towns, logging camps and ranches come to mind. Now you're rubbing it in but having been to Nevada I can resist  the urge to pack up and move there.

Frosty The Lucky.