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Posted

Hi everybody! Just wanted to jump in and introduce myself here, as I've been reading the forums the last few days and found a lot of quality information.

My name is Matt, obviously, and I'm out in the San Diego area. I don't yet have any practical experience, though I have been doing quite a bit of reading as well as following several smiths on YouTube/Instagram and the like for the last year plus or so. I'm currently in an HVACR trade class and living with family until I can pick up a job in the industry, so making a home forge and acquiring any large or expensive tools is probably a bit of a stretch for now. I am, however, very interested in taking some practical classes at some point in the near future.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all!

Posted

I once made a forge and assembled a starting set of tools for under US$25; I'd bet that whatever you are reading this on cost a heck of a lot more!

Check for an ABANA Affiliate and attend as many meetings as you can.

Posted

Well I have less than $20 in the Any of the JABOD forges, and the latest packs flat. I have 3 servicible “anvils” and stands and have less than $20 in all of them. I have 4 hammers rehandled for the cost of one hoe handle. 2 harbor freight ball peins and a cuple more oddballs, say $50 in hammers. This is a set of hammers for each “anvil”. This is all portable demo stuff that would fit in the trunk of most cars. 

Now my farrier kit is a separate animal, 2 commercial anvils, two commercial hammers, two sets of commercial tongs one commercial forge and assorted other tools.

contrairy to popular belief you can get started with a kit the size of a large suit case and less than $100. You won’t be forging structural elements for the Golden Gate Bridge but can tackle tools up to 1” and neirly any project starting with 1/2” 

welcome abord. Junk AC parts have found their way into many a forge!

 

Posted

Thanks for the ideas! I've been meaning to check out some of the local swap meets and flea markets, just been busy getting settled and starting school/work after moving from NorCal to here. Honestly it isn't so much the money, more that we have a lot of physically close nosy neighbors who I'm not sure how they'd react to all the fire and banging around (it's a pretty quiet neighborhood).

As for ABANA, it does look like there's an affiliate up in Vista, which is only about a 45 minute drive, so it looks like I'll have at least one phone call to make tomorrow. Might have to wait for next month unless I do really well driving rideshare this weekend, but I think that's a pretty workable short term goal.

Posted

Perhaps you should check?  One of my neighbors was a widowed retired schoolteacher---she loved it when I forged as she grew up in Pittsburgh and so the smell of coal smoke reminded her of her childhood when most of the houses heated with coal back then/there...

Get a quiet anvil and use charcoal or propane so no smoke, (not to mention being able to ask if they were wanting to shutdown every one using a grill in their back yard) and you can be amazingly discrete.

Posted

Welcome aboard Matt, glad to have you.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, Sylmar mostly. It takes almost nothing to get started, you should have access to ceramic blanket refractory in a HVAC class. Yes? A sq' a bean can and a Bernzomatic torch makes a fine small forge, IFI has a thread about them with how tos and what not to dos. An anvil is anything hard and heavy enough to beat HOT steel on, a smooth boulder works just fine and usually has any number of useful interesting shapes to make use of. Seriously I speak from experience. Any smooth faced hammer around 2 lbs. or lighter is all you really need to forge with. Heavy hammers are for after you've built your hammer control skills. My favorite go to hammer is a 2 lb. drill hammer they have a shorter handle which gives your more precise control and they're heavy enough to move steel well but light enough they don't make your mistakes permanent as quickly nor do they tire or injure your arms and joints as quickly. 

After that a couple cold chisels, punch set and some: Allen wrenches to make small punches, chisels etc. from. Garage, yard, etc. sale stuff. Look for ball pein hammers, for cheap too, missing the handle is prime, they go for next to nothing and you get to make a handle that fits you. I put slab handles on mine for comfort, control and power. 

To get started I recommend you just buy a stick or two of steel rather than scrounging. Evaluating found steel is another entire skill set as is forging high carbon steel, no need to be climbing more curves than necessary. Once you've built basic forging skills learning a new steel is a matter of getting used to it, fast and easy. Honest.

1/2" rnd and 3/8" square hot rolled are the same linear weight so either shape is basically the same. 1/2" square is a good size, it's heavier and harder to work but is more suitable for larger projects say trellis frames, etc. I like to start folks with 3/8" sq. large enough to hold the heat for a while but light enough to get significant work done in a reasonable time.

Frosty The Lucky.

Posted
On 5/4/2018 at 10:59 AM, Frosty said:

Look for ball pein hammers, for cheap too, missing the handle is prime

Also prime stock to make into other hammers like hot & cold cutters, cross & straight pien's, handled punches & drifts. Just about anything you can dream up.

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