Hi everyone, I'm a blacksmithing noob and just wanted to say hello before I go posting on the forum and asking inane questions. I have a whole two days of blacksmithing course under my belt and a lot of youtube time so I've got plenty to learn. I'm in the East Midlands of the UK, if there are any UK based guys out there that could give me info on the best place to source metal and the like please let me know (I'll now go use the search function to do some research).

Cheers!

Welcome from across the pond. You have come to the right place for learning, beside finding an experienced mentor. I've been pounding on hot metal for decades and still learn new stuff here or better methods to do things different. There are quite a lot of members in the UK.

Welcome to Glenn's block party! Meds are in the right. Straitjackets on your left. Keep your hands off my crayons!

Phantom,

Just a friendly note concerning searching this site. The search engine here is dreadful.

Use another search engine, type in what you are interested in and add iforgeiron in the string.

There is a list of highly regarded smiths and videos. u-tube has a lot of idiotic erronious, and sometimes dangerous notions in there.

Check out Mr. JHCC's threads on suggestions for newbies and introducing yourself.

There are all manner of members form all over Great Britain. I'm certain many situated near you.

Regards,

SLAG.

Mr. Charles R. Stevens could you mention the colors of your crayons.? Mine are missing & yours may be mines!

Welcome aboard Phantom guy, glad to have you. New guys always ask inane questions but I personally live for the inSane ones. 

Taking a course really dashes my hopes for good insane questions. <sigh> Take anything you see on Youtube with a shovelful of salt, the idiotic enjoys probably a 50:1 majority over the good videos. There is a list of good videos here on Iforge.

We LOVE pictures, shop, work, tools, equipment, landscapes, pets, etc. anything you'd show a toddler you didn't need to explain.

Frosty The Lucky.

Always nice to have new people who are interested in the craft and willing to put the work into it.  Why some of us can remember when we were new!  Frosty moved to Alaska when Clarence Birdseye suggested he could preserve himself longer in a cold climate, Steve remembers Master Po as a white belt,  CRS remembers shoeing Eohippus (eohippi???); but the rumours that I once walked from Gondwanaland to Laurasia without getting my feet wet are totally *false*;-----it rained several times during that trip!

And it's perfectly OK to ignore the silliness we get into---or to join in!

Thank you everyone, I'll post some pics of embarrassingly bad initial projects to feed the beast. ThomasPowers, I personally like the silliness.

don't sweat it. i've been tinkering for almost 3 years and most of my projects can still be described as" embarrassingly bad".

Hi Phantom,

You might be able to use parkersteels for stock if they deliver to your area. I have heard a few good reports about them.

 

Welcome to the forum Phantom309, Where did you take the Blacksmithing course? Depending on where you are in the Notts area you may not be far from Glendon Farm Forge in Kettering, the home of two of our forum members. For stock supply take a look online, prices are very much driven by order size and while some competitive in bulk orders, other offer better terms for small orders.

Hi, I took the course in South Wales near Carmarthen (bit of a trek but worth it). I was looking at some of the online metal guys like metal4u but have no frame of reference for whether their prices are competitive. I'm about 5 miles from Adey Steel in Loughborough so may just call in there, although I don't know how much steel I'll be fitting in my hatchback.

I've used the online company you mention, it's not the cheapest if you need a bulk order, but for smaller amounts they are fairly hard to beat. Calling into your local stockists if you have one is a good move, they may have offcuts (drops) they may let go cheaply.  You'd be surprised what legth of light steel bar you can shoehorn into a hatchback with care. If it's light enough just fold it over it'll straighten out later in the forge!

Or the age old method of tying said stock to the undercarriage of said hatchback...

Or even a small pickup truck for that matter....

Or a cab over Isuzu...

I would not advise underslung loading in the UK Charles......unless it is completely out of view of the local police officer !

Around here more often than not " I don't want to do the paper work" prevails. 

This is no spacific law or regulation against it, so as long as you flag it (3' past the bumper) your golden.