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I Forge Iron

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I read the first couple of books in the series; felt they were terribly over plotted.   I don't own a TV.  I have been smithing 38 years now and find it very soothing after a day working with computers.

Movies; bah.  At least LotR was a fantasy...Remember the Robin Hood movie where they *CAST* an arrow head to puncture plate?  Or the Pirates movie where he's going on about "folded steel"---when the cook's knives were probably shear steel and thus folded steel. Or the 13 Warrior where AB couldn't use a sword that weighed at MOST 3 pounds and so ground off the hardened edges to make a lighter curved sword. Lets see: rotary grindstone wasn't around then, Middle Eastern Cultures were using straight swords back then. Swords were light (Battle swords were around 2.5 pounds for around 1000 years in Europe---and in Japan!)

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Compared to JPH I'm just a dilettante!

Speaking of which....one of the few books that go into detail on swordsmithing is James Hrisoulas: The Complete Bladesmith, The Master Bladesmith, The Pattern Welded Blade.  You will need to own them.... (He posts here at times; usually to destroy our keyboards through excessive drooling over what he's made lately!)

Now Steve Sells "Introduction to Knifemaking"  is a great beginner's book as I suggest you start small and work your way up to Stormbringer....Steve's a moderator here.

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1 hour ago, ValyrianSteel said:

Valyrian Steel is a type of steel in Game of thrones series

Well there you go. even the trailers don't hold my attention long enough to have a clue.

At least you didn't go so far as to call yourself some version of Mythril Mama.

Frosty The Lucky.

47 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Valyrian steel sword "Ice" is melted down and cast (CAST!!!)

It's magical steel John. I'll bet you don't even have to sharpen them.-_- <sheesh!>

Frosty The Lucky.

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Well, the books describe Valyrian steel blades as incredibly sharp, even after hundreds of years.

Oddly enough, the TV show frequently shows characters sharpening their Valyrian blades,  usually in ways that would probably take the edge off faster than it would put it on! 

Don’t we have a member here who was an extra on the series?

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I haven’t seen anyone with a Valyrian sword sharpening it....

I am glad to see everyone posting here and meeting everyone! I love all the information and advice! I don’t know enough to go to search for tools/materials in my own cause I have no idea what I’m doing so I’m going to search for someone in my city to go with me so I get what I need 

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You have only been on the site 19 hours.  Blacksmithing is a lifelong journey, not a sprint.  You are expected to absorb knowledge one small piece at a time, and then build on that in order to form YOUR data base.

Your NEEDS are simple. Something to hit on, something to hit with, and something to hit. The fire or heat just makes the something to hit move a little easier. The price of the somethings depends on how well you can scrounge.  One fellow on the site used a piece of headstone (as in unused grave headstone) as an anvil.  Flea market hammers can be found for a dollar or so, and metal to hit is found in alleys, behind buildings, and in dumpsters.  Make friends with an auto mechanic as they throw away more metal than you can ever use. 

 

As I said,  DO NOT LOOK, but SEE the possibilities.  

 

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I reread it once a year for about 20 years and now can recite large parts of it by hears and so generally only reread sections I particularly like---and that changes over the years and circumstances.   Abby, you mention  that you have watched/are watching the Game of Thrones;   Are there other works that have inspired you to take up the craft of smithing?

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I should revisit it; I haven't read it in a few years. Tolkein really set the pattern for "comprehensively designed fantasy world" for anyone who came after him, especially if their middle initials were also "R.R."

Just now, ThomasPowers said:

Are there other works that have inspired you to take up the craft of smithing?

Answering for myself, the blacksmith/bladesmith sections in The Chronicles of Prydain (especially Taran Wanderer) were pretty influential for me.

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Valyrian:  This may be the suggestion of the older generation who grew up with only the printed word to a younger generation raised with electronic media but you will get much, much more enjoyment and inspiration if you read things like the Lord of the Rings and the Song of Fire and Ice.  The details are much better developed and you get see things in your head instead of relying on someone's special effects.  That said, the LOTR movies were something I had waited to see for nearly 40 years after first reading the books.

Also, keep in mind that things like the Vikings series are only stories that bear only casual relationships to actual history and what the actual Norsemen were like.  They are entertainment, not history or reality.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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On 3/12/2019 at 4:52 PM, JHCC said:

Fits, because swords aren’t cast! 

Unless you're a Viking and cast a dead warrior's folded sword into a bog with his carcass. 

The Lord of The Rings is probably the first fantasy I really enjoyed, I'm inherently a sci fi guy. I read it occasionally and have the audio book. Written is FAR better, your mind's eye is far better than CGI. That said it wasn't till the recent movies special effects could do the stories a passing justice.

Once you're read it a couple times and have a few friends who have. Plan a camping trip, sit around the evening fire and take turns reading it out loud. Doing it  by chapter is good but assuming a character is experiencing the living story.

Frosty The Lucky.

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14 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Unless you're a Viking and cast a dead warrior's folded sword into a bog with his carcass. 

It took me quite a long time to realize that “The die is cast” referred to throwing a numbered cube rather than pouring molten metal into a mold to make a thread cutting tool. (It was studying Latin that did it: “Alea jacta est” and all that.)

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And The Rubicon is not a way of swindling a bumpkin?

And after my disappointments with "Black Blade Blues" I run across the following in it: (page 162)

"When I am overloaded with stress I crave the forge---to swing the hammer, strike the steel, feel the heat. I let the conscious mind fade back to the training, the rote. FIring the steel to the correct color, striking the correct points, each took finesse and knowledge that came from doing, from working and reworking until you were exhausted. Like martial skills, blacksmithing could be taught only so far with books and lectures. Until you held the hammer and tongs, felt the hair on your arms curl and wither as you got to close to the heat, felt the agony of failing at a task. Then you could improve, work upward to better skill, better patience.

That's what it was  all about. If you rushed it, if you looked for shortcuts, you failed. If not this hammer stroke, or this finish grinding,  then when the tool was put into use, the item was put on display, or utilized in it's intended fashion, your mistakes would show, your flaws would appear to mar or ruin the piece."

If you knew how bad my typing is you would understand how much the above spoke to me to share it!

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TP,

I do understand what you mean but everyone is different.. people have different ways of learning .. some learn by hands on, some learn by reading, some learn by looking at charts and graphs and some learn by having someone explain things ... cause our brains work differently... I’m not so young and I’ve read all the LOTR books and HP books and GoT books .. I enjoyed them but I always enjoy the movies more because I’m a visual person , when I read books my imagination isn’t that strong it’s hard for me to visualize what’s happening but when I see the movies I’m emotionally involved and that’s just how I am, again not undermining the books , they are wonderful but I always enjoy the movies or tv adaptions better 

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Charles R. Stevens, I was curious the farrier you mentioned in the caddy. Was that in the Columbus, Cincinnati area? When I was assisting the photographer at Turfway Park there was a farrier on the backside who worked out of a Cadillac. Wondering if it's the same person. If not quite a coincidence.

   Pnut (Mike)

This was probably around 1995 or 1994

He also worked on the backside of River Downs. I saw him at both locations.   

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