North State Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 Greetings from Eastern North Carolina! Super stoked, no pun intended, to learn about becoming a Master Manipulator of Molten Metals! I live in the biggest small town I have ever been in. New Bern is the county seat of Craven county. Settled in the early 1700's, New Bern is rich in history. New Bern was the first state capitol of North Carolina, at The Tryon Palace. Tryon was burned after the civil war and stayed in ruin until around the 1950's. It is now operated as a historical museum with many exhibits including a colonial blacksmith shop. New Bern is the birthplace of Pepsi. (Its not marketed here. The original formula was concocted in a pharmacy in downtown New Bern.) My story goes like this. I have lived in eastern NC all my life. I attended college in Wendell, NC and then transferred to another school in Va Beach, VA. It was in college that I met the gal who would soon become the love of my life. I moved back to Eastern NC after graduation to New Bern and we got married a year later after she graduated. We were blessed with two beautiful girls. Way back when we were dating, I told her that there were at least three things on my bucket list: 1.) rebuild a car/truck engine. I have swapped many engines. Both of my beaters are on second engines. My dad and I restored a '79 Trans Am. I have just never built an engine from the bottom up. 2.) I would LOVE to throw a hand grenade! Because, I mean, who wouldn't want to do that!? The red tape involved in doing it, however, has not allowed accomplishing this goal to happen. 3.) I have, as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to take a bone stock piece of raw metal, heat it up, harden it, grind an edge on it, and sharpen it to a better than store-bought blade. I began pursuing this dream but got frustrated and scrapped all the materials that I had assembled. Then they came out with the television show and I was like, "that's it, I am definitely doing it, now!" I have been blessed to accumulate enough parts and supplies to assemble a double burner propane forge made from a 10 gal air compressor tank. its about 95% complete and I cant wait to begin smashing some metal! One of my favorite events each year is when we go to Raleigh where my in-laws live, and go to the NC State fair and stop by the blacksmith exhibit. Being the beginner that I am, and having difficulty locating and organizing other people who are interested in forging has made things somewhat slow, but nonetheless, still rewarding. I look forward to gaining some advice from, as y'all say "curmudgeons" on smithing in general as well as organizing and maybe establishing a blacksmith chapter in the eastern part of North Carolina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 I know of one way you can throw a pineapple: ENLIST! ... both the Army and Marines offer that to its members ! welcome to the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North State Posted July 5, 2019 Author Share Posted July 5, 2019 Thanks for the great advice, Steve! One of my many regrets in life is not enlisting! As an 18 year old, I was not ready for what the military would have required of me! at that time I was too much of a fraidy-cat to do something like that! Looking back, that was a stupid reason! Alas, I do have great respect and admiration for servicemen and women! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 Welcome... Throwing a hand grenade is not all it's cracked be. I did that in USCG boot camp (type that looked like a pineapple). Why I'll never know because I never saw another for the next 7 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 If you want to work with Molten Metals may I suggest you go over to alloyavenue.com? We mainly do black smithing here which is not done with molten metal save for forge brazing. (Even pattern welding is a Solid State Welding process.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North State Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 Irondragon, thanks for your service in the USCG! You're right, Thomas. I am really more interested in the blacksmithing end of the house. That's just a phrase that my coworker uses when he is bragging on his welding skills... you know, golden-armed pre-madonnas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shimanek Posted July 7, 2019 Share Posted July 7, 2019 Welcome, I passed through New bern on the way to go fishing many times while stationed at Fort Bragg in the 80s. As was said, throwing a hand grenade is not all that, unless you drop it while throwing. I earned an Expert badge in Grenade, so I may have a bit of perspective. As to your blacksmithing goals, they should be achievable, with the help of many of the experts on this site (of which i do not claim to be one. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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