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I Forge Iron

The Self-Proclaimed Ghettosmith


4xdblack

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Hi, my name is 4xdblack. I'm a big fan of blacksmithing and I am currently working on building my own home forge from scratch. I call myself the Ghettosmith because I am one of the poorest aspiring blacksmiths to have entered the game, so 99% of my work is done using resources I've scavenged from my own trashcan, the ditch, and here recently my grandad's century old barn. And it shows. But I always live by the words "it's not what you could have, it's what you do have and how you use it". So now I am working on building my own home-forge using materials that I have laying around or can get for free and the few pennies I have to spend. 

But regardless, I am looking forward to the day that I get to start forging on my own :)

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Search the site for JABD or Just a box of dirt by Charles Stevens and JHCC. You can have a forge is you have dirt. You can forge with wood scraps, pallets, etc. An anvil can be as simple as a old sledge hammer head, and a hammer can be a old ball peen or machines hammer. Go for a 2 pound weight in the hammer if you can find it. Metal is everywhere, dumpsters, alleys, trash, etc. Look up box bellows for air to the fire.

If you add your location  to your profile you may be surprised the folks that may be near you that are blacksmiths. It also helps in getting better answers for your questions.

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Welcome aboard 4x, 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.

Here's a maxim for you. It's not the tools that do the work, it's the human using them. Many years ago to prove the point to an office geologist who just HAD to get a little dirty time for cred. It was pretty well known I played in the camp fire forging things from found material. The rail anvil I packed along was buried in the tool van, I doubt by accident Mr. office mid management mysteriously knew it wasn't available when he mentioned I wasn't going to be able to do any smithing. No anvil, no tongs, no hammer. No sweat, I found a smooth boulder, a couple smooth longish cobbles, one potato shape the other more peanut shaped, the peanut cobble was the better of the two. I used willow switches for tongs and spent hours making tools to forge with. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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