Brian de Banger Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 G'day to all, I joined Just a tad ago, now that the planets & internet finally aligned I can introduce myself. I live in northern Victoria just a stone's throw from the mighty Murray river, which means I'm in a rural area & lucky to have neighbours far enough away not to annoy them with noise, smoke or swearing. I thought blacksmithing might've been complementary to my late wife's wrought iron cold bending hobby & possibly have extra items to sell at markets, that was over 20 years ago. As they say "The best laid plans of mice & men", anyway I was walking past my late wife's tools (not me looking in a mirror. the bendy machines!) & thought I should start doing something with them, in part to honour her memory, especially the small anvil, instead of letting them going rusty & dusty. So after finally finishing outside I came inside & looked on YT about blacksmithing, one of the first things I came across was the split cross, thinking "I could do that" & instead of just thinking, I decided to get up off my bum & do - thus began the odyssey. 6 months later & a home built forge, based on DF's firepot design, dropped into a big old BBQ plate (that was originally going to be a brake drum that I couldn't find) with a hand crank Rapblo blower for air supply I got to fire it up today. I'm what you'll call an xxxxxt Rank Amateur meaning over 60 & more rank than amateur, one of the questions I'm asked is "Why? your so old!" I answer "Why not, if you give up learning you mos well be on the other side of the grass". Looking forward to plenty of burns & miss hits, 'Ooroo for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Welcome to IFI! If you haven’t yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian de Banger Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 Thank you for your advice JHCC, I actually have & the amount of knowledge here is mind boggling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Welcome aboard Brian. No better time to start then "now", whenever that is in your life. What a great tribute to cary on and it'll be good fun and learning for you too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Welcome aboard Brian, glad to have you. Do you have pictures of your wife's work? We LOVE pictures you know, in fact we have trouble believing some things without being able to see them. Split crosses are excellent practice and can be host to as much forging as you wish. I like a wood texture on small ones, I modified an old ball pein hammer head by heating it to bright red and tapping it on the hardy till it was all buggered up. It leaves a reasonable representation of wood grain sort of a split plank look. Check out twists, the possibilities are about endless and it gives you good practice with temperature management. It's harder than it seems to make a nice even twist the whole length of a piece, even short ones. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 I've personally know professional smiths in their 80's and 90's still smithing so you got some time in the craft yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Hi Brian, g'day from the big smoke. Was down there in Gippsland country just last month. Looking forward to see your progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 13 hours ago, Frosty said: Split crosses are excellent practice and can be host to as much forging as you wish. I like a wood texture on small ones, I modified an old ball pein hammer head by heating it to bright red and tapping it on the hardy till it was all buggered up. It leaves a reasonable representation of wood grain sort of a split plank look. Here’s one I made yesterday with a similar texture, except my texturing ball peen had its face carved up with the edge of a cutting disk in the angle grinder: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 G'day Brian. Good to see another Australian on board here. There is so much to be learnt from these forums. I have a Rapco (Sydney) blower on my forge too. What are you using for fuel? I see you are down on the Murray - plenty of big old river red gums there that could supply you with magnificent charcoal. Looking forward to seeing your work. Hooroo from the tropical north. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian de Banger Posted October 29, 2018 Author Share Posted October 29, 2018 JHCC - that's similar to what got me inspired, the beauty of the simplicity of the design in it's self, meaning that you don't always have to have intricate scrolls & spirals,sometimes less is more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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