Hello from Norway

[Shmygelbryl]

Hello !

New member from Norway here.

Blacksmithing has been intriguing and I’ve always been fascinated by it, but for some reason I never felt I had enough equipment for it, so it always where put on hold.

That changed a couple months ago!

I was about to go catatonic from boredom as I was switching from channel to channel On the tv. Suddenly I found myself watching forged in fire .

After binge watching this for a few days I told myself “f**k it, I’ll go forge stuff with or without any anvil and proper forge!”

I got myself a piece of old railroad track,put it on an old log,grabbed my wife’s hairdryer, taped it to a couple Aluminum pipes, lit up some firewood in an old bbq grill I turned into a monstrosity, stuck the pipe in the fire and turned on the hairdryer !

It all turned into a glorious blaze of smoke, fire and sparks! I then grabbed some rebar ,  jammed it into the fire and forged it into random hooks, a toilet paper roll holder and other random things.

Now, a month after , this forging bug has really gotten a hold of me. I have welded together a coal forge , bought myself a couple anvils,forged all kinds of things and completed my first order.

I have added a photo of the ugly but functional contraption I made, to inspire (or scare) anyone who think they need fancy stuff to start forging things. took me about 10 minutes and I was ready to heat some metal and bash it into shape.

Thats my story so far and I am here to learn more and get better at blacksmithing.

 

[ThomasPowers]

Yes the bare minimum to start blacksmithing is some scrap wood, a hole in the ground, two rocks and a way to blow air into the aforesaid hole.

That set up above would probably work better with not tape around the pipe to pipe junction as you need very little air for a charcoal forge.

[Shmygelbryl]

Yeah , with charcoal it got to hot and the metal burned, but with firewood it was great  

[contraption maker]

Hello from another noob Shmygelbryl. I only signed up a couple of days ago but have lurked for a while pouring over the site and ingesting and digesting everything I can. This is a great site and absolutely loaded with info. I have smithed on and off for a few years and I am finding new to me info. So hope you like it here and welcome.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Shmygelbryl, glad to have you. 

Find some steel pipe for the air blast, aluminum will melt too easily, I'm surprised it's lasted this long. Let the wood burn down to coals and slow the air blast, it'll make more than enough heat. It's easy to make LOTS of heat but you need controlled heat more. It's also a lot more comfortable standing near a small HOT fire than a BIG pretty hot one.

The blacksmith's craft is every bit as much fun as you're having right now. You ARE wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) yes? Safety glasses at a minimum. You only have two eyes ad hammering hot steel puts a lot of HOT bits in the air! 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shmygelbryl]

Thank you.

With that setup I did not intend for it to last long, I just wanted to start, se how it was and then take it from there.

The Aluminum pipe did indeed melt and it got shorter and shorter  

 

I’ve abondoned this setup now and I am using a portable forge I made. Still using that hairdryer ,but with vent holes and more controlled flow of air. 

I am using ppe , safety glasses and welders gloves when it gets a bit hot.

It is winter now , so I am using wool clothing, wich is naturally fireresistent . I will probably get an apron sooner or later , but at the moment it is not needed.