Tommie Hockett Posted July 2, 2017 Share Posted July 2, 2017 howdy yall! my name is Tommie... obviously haha. I am just a beginner and I reckon I will make a lot of mistakes in my quest to become a blacksmith. But I will do my best to learn from them and to listen to the experienced hands here so that I do not make quite as many. My wife Chellie will also be joining me on this journey, however she probably wont make a login... other than to read the news and do research she does not play on the internet very much because we have very bad signal at the house and we live so far out the only thing available is dial up or satellite (expensive).. Anyway I work in the oil field so I travel alot and have down time to just be on my phone sitting in the truck so yall will probably hear alot from me. My job has a lot of hurry up and wait going on. Anyway I jave a lot of hobbies I am an accomplished wood worker and I build my own rifles and reload my own ammunition and cast my own projectiles. my ultimate goal in life is to own my own land and be a homesteader. Recently My wife and I have became very interested in blacksmithing and I have alot of questions but I will post them in the appropriate categories. Anyway now yall know about all there is to know about me and I hope to hear from all if yall soon. yall have a blessed evening! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 2, 2017 Share Posted July 2, 2017 Welcome aboard Tommie, 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. By all means get Chellie involved, we're gentlemen here, those who aren't get a little . . . correction. There aren't enough Ladysmiths. They bring a good aesthetic to the craft. I know hurry up and wait jobs good time to read the sections of Iforge of interest to you. Do you know what you want to make at the anvil? What kind of forge? General stuff like that. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 2, 2017 Share Posted July 2, 2017 I got started in smithing when I was a mudlogger in the patch. Back in the early 1980's before the Crash of '83, mainly Oklahoma but I did sit a few holes in east TX and one in Deaf Smith County TX; LOTS of good scrap associated with oil wells; but be sure you get it in writing that you can have it! A drill sub makes a fine anvil for instance. Shared accounts are great especially if there is a problem and the spouse can let us know as has happened to several folks here over the years. We keep the language such that their is no fear if your Pastor's wife and young daughters stop by for a visit... If you want to do homesteading smithing I'd suggest: "THE BLACKSMITH'S CRAFT" by Charles McRaven which is the updated version of his "Country Blacksmithing" and "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" By Alexander Weygers Frosty can tell you about smithing using the campfire when he was working in the boonies and we can help you get a set up you can carry around with you---bet you could sell a heap of hand forged bottle openers to the hands! If you are interested in knifemaking, look up the Bladesmithing school run by the American Bladesmith Society around Texarkana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommie Hockett Posted July 2, 2017 Author Share Posted July 2, 2017 Good to hear from yall guys. Thanks for the warm welcome. Fristy as far as tge firge I am going to start on it on my off week. which was supposed to start minday morning but we have a big job about to pop off so its looking like I wont be home until tuesday night. I am thinking avout building a jabod forge out of a #2 washtub that I have I posted a thread asking advice avout that i. the solid fuel forge catagory. I am hoping to use coal.... Ive read that it is better than charcoal or wood and I dont have the expertise or money to build a propane forge. As far as what I want to make..... of course I want to learn hiw to make a knife or three.... (who doesn't haha) but i also want to learn to make hinges because whenever I am building something I never seem to have the right size or only one of a particular size and I would also like to learn to make nails. I think that it would be very gratifying to build aomething drom lumber that I have milled my self with nails that i forged and maybe uaing a hammer that I forged haha. My anvil until I find a proper one is a very long piece of railroad iron that I acquired a few years back. Thomas thank you for the book referencea, I will have to check them out. The work I do in the oilfields is reatraing ground iron for frac sites and cement pipes when they set in the casing. also we lay out containments to catch any spilled chemicals and make epa happy haha... so no scrap for me. :(. However I do have around 300 ft of 3inch drill cable that i thought would make an awesome pattern if it is hardenable...??? my dad bought aome land here while back and it was an oil field graveyard so there is alot of stuff there. Also thanks for the refernce to the school Texarkana is only 3 hours away from me I live in the texoma area about 10 miles from the river. I wil see if I can edit my original post to include that in my header. Thanks again for the warm welcome and if yall have time check out my post in the solid fuel forge section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 2, 2017 Share Posted July 2, 2017 Coal is better than charcoal in what way? Only charcoal was used for the first 1500 years or so of the iron age---the viking swords were forged with it. Traditionally made Japanese swords are still forged with it. No sulfur makes it better than coal in some ways for blade forging. Without giving the details one can't really say something's better: Cheaper? More easily Available? Less volume required? Fewer sparks? Better suited to the forge you have or are building? It's like saying which is the better Vehicle a Corvette or a 4x4 pickup? I sure know which one would be better to get to the rigs I worked on! (The tale of me having to rescue a couple of worms that drove a brand new Corvette to the rigsite and got snowed in has been told here several times before...) You might also be interested in the Foxfire books ifn you don't already have them. In particular: Foxfire 5: Ironmaking, Blacksmithing, Flintlock Rifles And most rig cable I've had was quite hardenable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommie Hockett Posted July 2, 2017 Author Share Posted July 2, 2017 as far as coal being better I meant to say that I have read that coal is better... I have no proof of good or bad quality of either one. I am solely going on what I have read on the internet and a few grit magazine articles. Awesome news on the rig cable!!. I have had my eye on the foxfire series for awhile I just havent bitten the bullet and boight them yet. I think they would be very interesting and handy, there is alot of nearly forgotten knowledge in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 2, 2017 Share Posted July 2, 2017 I've read that tea is better than coffee. Context is everything! You anywhere near Dalhart TX? I knew an old smith and knifemaker there at one time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommie Hockett Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 no I've never heard of Dalhart before the nearest big city would be Ft Worth and it is just a little over an hour South of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 So not the Pan Handle; me I can see El Paso from my front porch and Mexico from the driveway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommie Hockett Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 wow you live around where I work sometimes. done alot of work around El Paso our man camp is about 2 hours north east of that in Pecos Texas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 If you are ever down this way let me know and we can meet up; shoot I have a guest room available at times! Folks I go back to work Monday, tomorrow, and will slacken off the posts a bit while I get caught up! Especially as I have to go pickup shopping after I get off work for a while. Oh well at least I get to mess with the salespeople's minds. One of my favorites is when they ask me what I want my payment to be and I tell them that I want them to pay me to drive their brand of vehicle! Well they asked didn't they? Or colour: infrared! I've never bought a truck based on what colour it is though in this climate "light" is a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 Welcome Mr. Hockett! If you are ever near hear, by all means drop by, and like Mr. Powers, we too most times have a guest cabin available. We also sell coke (blacksmithing kind...) if you need some. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommie Hockett Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 Haha thats awesome guys thanks for the offers I may just have to take yall up on at least the visiting part of it. where abouts are you from little blacksmith? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 Like where was I born? I was born in Hutto, Texas near Austin kinda. Where we are now is in the south part of college station, which is really Wellborn, but the two have sorta merged together now with all the development. About an hour from Huntsville, 30 minutes from Navasota, 30 minutes from Bryan, just to name a few near towns. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommie Hockett Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 thats awesome you only live about 4 hous south of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 Me, my rental place sits on the edge of the Rio Grande Valley. I'm in the part of New Mexico wedged in between Texas and Mexico, not too far from the triple junction. El Paso is on the Texas side and Juarez on the Mexican side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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