Well, I've given up on any chance of being able to brag about my latest knife or blacksmithing project. So many of you guys can crank something out while you're bored that makes my jaw drop! I bet I'm not the only one who is dying to see some of your first projects. For most of us, it's like "What? I can't belive I did that!". Then there a few of us who had all those skills down by the time they made their first knife, and they created a masterpiece first try. (My first projects would fall into category one!)

let's all share our first projects and see either how far we've come, or how far we may go someday!

Many of my first projects are in a scrap bucket somewhere.  a few hang around to remind me what not to do or to look back on to see how far I've come. 

That's a pretty good first knife. The rebar s hook is something to look back on  

I just found my first leaf sitting in a drawer! It broke off due to working too cold. I remember it took about 2 hours!

BTW, that actually isn't my very first knife. My first knife I made when I was 8 using a broken butter knife blade. I kept it and will try to find it so I can show you guys.

Starting out with leaves and basically anything with a sharper fuller/ taper I was getting cracking. After Reading up on it and working at it now I don't get cracks. It's like I learned over time haha. About any of my early leaves have cracking at that point. 

My very first time at the forge yielded these two -

4 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Starting out with leaves and basically anything with a sharper fuller/ taper I was getting cracking. After Reading up on it and working at it now I don't get cracks. It's like I learned over time haha. About any of my early leaves have cracking at that point. 

Same here.

I never had trouble with the point of the leaves cracking, but actually with were the stem meets the leaf it would always crack. I think it was from working it too cold, and moving the leaf around when the stem wasn't hot. One of my first posts was about this issue-http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/44992-why-do-my-leaf-stems-break/#comment-465362

                                                                                                                        Littleblacksmith

Leaf hook. Surprise. I did actually make the walking chisel that I used for the veins first.

Here it is! My VERY first knife. I was about as proud as an eight-year-old could be when I was finished with it.

If I had to give the design a name, I might call it a hunting katana... Hot glue was my hero. As far as the handle goes, I've seen many commercial companies do the same thing.

...except they call it a "tactical survival paracord wrap"! 

I'd post the pic but my first "blacksmithed" . . . thing was lost decades before some of you were born. Dad didn't want me wasting time blacksmithing so I had to do it on the sly. The first knife I tried to make I heated the steel with one of his spot welders. How was I supposed to now it was 240v? He was . . . displeased.

The earliest I can remember were simple mods to make things work say shouldering and drilling a spot to take a screw. Making a pry bar, fitted bends, etc. I guess my first official smithed project was the scribe I made in jr. high school metal shop 1, though it might've been the screw driver.

Frosty The Lucky.

I would be a bit ashamed to show my first efforts. Simple twist hooks that don't hang straight and have uneven twists, punchings that were off centre, burnt finials, snake heads that resembled screwdrivers. Been there, done that!

3 hours ago, ausfire said:

snake heads that resembled screwdrivers. Been there, done that!

now you could do screwdrivers with snake head handles

20 hours ago, ausfire said:

I would be a bit ashamed to show my first efforts. Simple twist hooks that don't hang straight and have uneven twists, punchings that were off centre, burnt finials, snake heads that resembled screwdrivers. Been there, done that!

Come on Aus, that's the whole point! It isn't shameful to look back on how far you've come, and I think it would encourage the newbies to see that your first attempts look just like theirs.

My very first project was a sort of duck-billed forge poker -- it was actually kind of nice. Last I saw it, my dad was using it at the wood stove in the cabinet shop, but that was twenty-five years ago. Don't have a picture, alas. 

ok, I found a bucket with some of my early attempts. may or may not be firsts but they are failures.( learning experiences.)  But, we get better after. included is one of my first RRspike bottle openers, some knife fork and spoon sets, my first pair of tongs, and other failures." learning experiences". we build off that and get better. I'm still far from ok but I am always working on it and not afraid to show where I came from when I can. 

Hmm my first smithed project was a cold chisel made in metal shop in Middle School around 1970; my father may still have it in his toolbox...

here's the very first thing i ever forged. did it when i was 13. used a propane cooking burner as a forge and a tractor tire weight as an anvil. ah, those were the days. the only pair of tongs i had ever seen before was C-1's first pair of homemade tongs, which were just as bad. we all start somewhere.

This is my first attempt at forging. The knife was first and the hook was second. I should have done the hook first and then done a thousand more, then tried the knife first. The videos made it look so easy....

I hope to spend many years perfecting the art.

Yikes, ugly. My leaves are still not something I would brag about, but I'm getting there

This is the very first thing I hammered out. Ground to death with a stone wheel on a bench grinder after the hammering :/ It was an exercise of I have no clue what I'm really doing and trying to work it out as I went. Much research and studying followed I gave it to my old man as joking repayment for a bunch of copper pipe and cinder blocks I had ruined as a young child trying to pretend I was  a a blacksmith. He hung it proudly on the wall despite the ugliness.

A knife I made from an old flat file in high school shop class 40 years ago. Probably wouldn't even be allowed to make one in school these days. Even back then, the shop teacher kept it locked in his office when I wasn't in class.

After practicing the basics and making some tools I watched a vid about making flowers and this is my first attempt. Heated the petals in the forge to form them. Thats why there black. Now I form the petals cold and run tempering colors on them with a hand torch. Much nicer looking.

ok, did some digging and found some stuff. My first spoon, first ever thing i forged- a rr spike "knife" (of course), first coat hook, and first stock removal knife which was just done with a bench grinder and a piece of mild steel. I'll let you figure out which is which.

                                                                                                                         Littleblacksmith

oh, and my first horse head bottle opener.