Why blacksmithing? initial pull

[MC Hammer]

For me, I was / am a well established flintknapper.  I set up at a local history festival and right next to me was this nice blacksmith.  He came over and apologized for the smoke and I told him I was thankful for it because it kept the bugs away.  I watched him and thought "I think I could do that someday" and I loved the sound of his anvil ringing slightly.  A year later I set up at another historical festival and who was next to me again, the same blacksmith.  This time I spent some time watching him and decided I wanted to try it.  Someone suggested I watch FIF and that sort of pushed me to start into it.  My dad gave me a small 70 lb no-namer anvil, I bought a gas forge a couple of tongs and some HF hammers and got going.  Man was it hard, but I found it so refreshing that if I make a mistake, I stick it back in for a heat and try until I get it right.  In flintknapping, once you take a flake of flint off, you can't try again if you screw it up.  I like learning old crafts and new skills, so forging fit right in with the period stuff I wanted to make someday.  Like most, I do want to make knives someday, but I'm having so much fun making the little things that I really can wait to get into that when my skills come along more.  So really, chance brought me into this great craft.

These days I got better tools a much better anvil and I'm learning.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Dad said I started early ( 5 or 6) by putting nails in the fireplace and beating them flat on the anvil he made the pattern for and had cast when he was in the Air Force. Later Dad bought a coal forge, post vise, and an anvil for us to work with.  We started taking courses at the local community college under Dave Nourot, and it just progressed from there.  My Dad was a machinist, and aircraft mechanic in the AF, and he was always trying something new. I was the only one who took after him with the metalworking and became a machinist myself. I have not done any forging for some time due to a messed up work schedule, but that job is no longer, so I need to get back out there. My focus this time will probably be on more artistic items. I also do wood carving, leather work, ceramics, and would like to incorporate some of those with the metalwork.

[Marc1]

On 01/02/2018 at 4:03 AM, Tock said:

What is was your reason for learning wanting this as a hobby/trade/art/job?     For me it is a cure-distraction from a life of Ptsd! I might not be good at it and I just wanted to “hulk smash” stuff at first but it is evolving into so much more learning and love of being creative!  Some veterans get a service dog. I get a service anvil. 

Lots of good personal answers. Mine is rather simple. I was 15 and needed a job 

[ThomasPowers]

While it was not the reason I got into smithing; I have found that after a day of dealing with computers the chance to hit things with a hammer repeatedly is a great help...(and no I don't do Windows!)

My wife claims it's got for "Constipation of the Soul" and when I'm hard to live with she will send me out to the forge knowing then when I get back I'll be human again.

[Marc1]

No chance to take a hammer to work and hit the computer with it?

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That's called percussive maintenance.

[Tubalcain2]

11 minutes ago, Marc1 said:

Lots of good personal answers. Mine is rather simple. I was 15 and needed a job 

When I was 14, Starting a business was the excuse I used to convince my mom to let me blow the $800 I had saved on smithing equipment. 

[Marc1]

Yes ... I remember doing that to my old black and white TV ... very effective! 

1 minute ago, Tubalcain2 said:

When I was 14, Starting a business was the excuse I used to convince my mom to let me blow the $800 I had saved on smithing equipment. 

The advantage of getting started as an apprentice is that you don't need to buy anything. I used to pack a bit of cotton wool to stuff in my ears and that was it. 

[Jclonts82]

Grew up on a cotton farm, 5th generation. Learned to weld out of necessity. Became REALLY good at 'making do' with whatever you could get your hands on to fix equipment. Fell in love with re purposing 'junk'. I was always interested in knives, and general metal work. Plus a huge history buff.

Fast Forward to 5 years out of pharmacy school, 33yo,  wife, 2 kids,  and in need of another hobby for stress relief. Saw something on the history channel called "forged in Fire" Figured it was about something dumb like aliens or something, but watched one episode. Thought it was kinda cool, obviously lots of made up drama for TV purposes, but cool enough to watch again. 2 more episodes and I decided, "I'M DOING THIS'  

That was March of 2017, and I now have 3 anvils, 2 forges, 3 different sized belt grinders, a VERY high speed buffing wheel, drill press, log-splitter press, shopsmith wood worker, 3 vices... and not nearly enough time to use all of it!

[ThomasPowers]

REDACTED; No I'm not allowed to bring hammers onsite and it's maintenance if there is at least a microscopic chance to fix the issues.  I have offered to deal with bad disk drives at a former employer by pouring an ingot from them---not even the NSA can extract data from that!

[Marc1]

Good way to dispose data safely. In Australia the Government has an easier method. They lock all the highly sensitive documents in a cabinet. Wrap the draws with tape and sell the unit to a second hand dealer. Job done !

[ThomasPowers]

Well they might have been released in less than 20 years anyway...Our Gov's traditional method seems to be  to allow someone not supposed to take data out, take it out and then allow it to be stolen from their vehicle.  (I read the BBC as I'm tired of reading *ONLY* about the antics of the POTUS and Gun crime.  Though I am worried about a possible crackdown on burning Coal or Wood in the UK and it's possible pollution effects...knife crime and laws dealing with it I find interesting.)

[Marc1]

Oh my ... don't get me started with the anti-coal brigade. I have a string of epithet to define them that are not site-friendly. 

Back to the original question, why blacksmithing. 

The trade has certainly benefited from a resurgence fed mainly from bladesmithing TV series. i am not complaining. The tool market has widened and I can buy tongs, hammers and assorted blacksmithing tools on line from the most unlikely places. Not necessarily cheap but 20 years ago completely non existent.

The last blacksmith supplier went out of business in Sydney just about 25 years ago.

It is mainly a hobby this days for most this side of the pond. Short of a few hanging in there, most so called blacksmith are actually metalworkers that hardly ever use the forge. Unlike Europe and USA we don't' have a tradition of blacksmithing and no one knows the difference between a farrier and a blacksmith anyway. Small patchy little blacksmith associations around the country all amateur and what you see is horseshoes, little hooks, and someone showing how to make tongs. 

Sad really. 

So why do it? For me it is because I like doing it. Surely don't need a job anymore but it is a satisfaction like modeling clay or carving wood, build a gate or a railing or some stairs. 

Was thinking in making a lift shaft for when I can no longer go up and down my 3 story house. Lets see how that project pans out

[Jeff Amundson]

Retired now, I taught high school shop and did manufacturing engineering, so I've dealt with lots of materials and processes. I gravitated to smithing mainly because it has a seemingly endless supply of learning opportunities. The fact that it's an ancient craft with physical and mental challenges is a bonus. And I like fire.

[Tom May]

Someone at a local flea market was telling me about the blacksmithing instruction I could get just an hour or so away from my house.   When I made my first "thing", a simple double-ended hook, I fell in love.  Not sure why.  Maybe it's the feeling of being able to shape and bend hard metal objects, things that I'd always subconsciously thought of as being static and unchanging.

[Buzzkill]

A lifelong romance with fire, sharp things, and hitting things with hammers.  All of that in one bundle is hard to pass up.  Also, when very young I saw a gentleman with a gray beard pull a bowie style knife out of the sheath slung on his thigh, drive it into a 55 gallon drum, pull up and down several times to widen the cut in the barrel, then hold a piece of rope with one hand and cleanly cut through it in one swipe using the knife he just drove into the barrel.  I couldn't help but be impressed.  In addition, hammering hot steel is zen-like for me.  Whether I accomplish anything or not, time disappears into the fire and hammer blows.  If I happen to make something useful there is a sense of accomplishment that I can't get at a keyboard, writing on paper, or talking on the phone.  As others have noted, it's just plain good therapy for the soul.

[Daswulf]

17 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

when I'm hard to live with she will send me out to the forge knowing then when I get back I'll be human again.

Hmm.. So that's why my fine lady sends me out there.  

[bajajoaquin]

On 1/31/2018 at 9:43 AM, Charles R. Stevens said:

Yep, swords as a kid, horseshoes as an adult.

Anything that takes enough of ones focuse with out being exhausting (like driving on ice) keeps all the squirrels caraould and moving in one direction. You will find your not alone in forging chains to keep your demons fettered.

This is exactly why I love blacksmithing, surfing, motorcycle riding and everything else I do for relaxation. I need something that demands my whole attention to quiet my mind. It might sound crazy but I really need the things that keep me on a single thing. 

While that’s why I love to smith far out of proportion to my ability, it doesn’t answer the question.  I started because my dad and especially my grandfather made stuff, mostly from wood. When my grandfather died, he gave me his last piece, a cherry rocker he’d built in the Sam Maloof style. 

Unfortunately, I never got anything done. It  wasnt until i thought about making things from metal that I realized the medium mattered. Once I thought about metal, I soon bought a welder, cutting and fitting tools. While looking for information about how to weld, I came across forge welding and blacksmithing. I found out that the there was a great program through the CBA at the Vista Forge and started in 200......6? I’ll have to check my badge. 

More than a decade later, I still suck. Really bad. And it’s not false modesty. But I still really love and crave the peace it gives me. 

[Tock]

On 2/1/2018 at 1:30 PM, ThomasPowers said:

"Now all I need is the rocking chair."  Forge one!

Get with the times it’s now a glider there more ergonomic lol

[Tock]

That’s out of my league but forge this lol

[Ranchmanben]

Oddly enough, a rocking chair is at the very top of my list of projects. Hoping to start on it this week. 

[Marc1]

On 2/3/2018 at 11:11 PM, Tock said:

That’s out of my league but forge this rocking chair

Hi Tock. That is a nice chair and the forged parts are not particularly hard to make. The forging part is actually basic. Getting the right proportions, correct stock size and  putting it all together nice and neat and symmetrical is the challenge

[basher]

I was completely captured by working the hot metal, still am (25 years later). Luckily I was OK at it quite quickly which helps!!!

[Desmond Redmon]

I got into smithing because it is getting hard to find some woodworking tools that aren't way over priced.  And it is good to spend time sweating out problems.

[ThomasPowers]

I know a number of FORMER wood workers who have fallen into that trap! (And some still fighting against the pull of the dark side...bwahahahahahahahaha)