Hello from Oklahoma City!

[Bubbadreier]

Hello everyone,

I join you having never had the opportunity to actually move metal, but hopefully this weekend I will get to change that.

I have been fascinated with the art ever since I was a young child, and I watched the blacksmiths at the Tulsa State Fair back in the early 90s. In the years that followed, I never made the time to learn even when my mother encouraged me to take a class or find a mentor. Now at 30 years old I am finally setting aside the time to learn. 

I am lucky that I have an active club in my area and on this forum, the Saltfork Craftsmen based here in Oklahoma. This weekend I am joining them for one of their regional meetings and I hope I will get a chance to learn from those that are there. I look forward to learning the craft and being a positive member of the community. 

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any suggestions or questions.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome aboard, sounds like you are off to a good start. If you haven't read this, I always suggest it to get the best out of the forum. READ THIS FIRST

[Charles R. Stevens]

Welcome to the mad house

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. Take proper PPE,  Safety glasses minimum, to the meeting with you and no synthetics, they tend to melt and deep fry your hide if they touch hot most anything. Natural fibers: cotton, wool, etc. and leather shoes, high tops with your pants leg over them is good to keep hot bits out.  

Have fun and take pics. We LOVE pics.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Note, do not rolle pants with cuffs facing up either...

 

[Bubbadreier]

Thank you guys for the advice. I didn't even think about PPE to be honest, I will definitely get that sorted. I am too tall to have ever had the opportunity to roll my pants up, almost always they are too short.

I will do my best to take pictures and post them up!! 

[JHCC]

Hearing protection is good too; either earplugs or over-the-ear protection.

[Bubbadreier]

Another hobby of mine is shooting, so I do that that taken care of. Thanks for the advice!

[JHCC]

Good. If I'd taken better care of my ears in my earlier career as a woodworker, I don't think I'd have as much issue with tinnitus these days.

[Bubbadreier]

My dad has some tinnitus as well and he has always been very adamant when we would hunt and go to the range that we wear hear protection. Same with me mowing, if I tried without safety glasses and ear protection he would slap me upside the head! Thankfully I like my eyes and hears how they are so I will follow your advice! 

[JHCC]

As someone here likes to say, make a list of every part of your body you're willing to lose, and protect everything else!

[ThomasPowers]

Not to mention that losing parts is often painful and annoying (and with laparoscopic surgery the scars are hardly worth showing off!)

[Charles R. Stevens]

Ah yes, the parental application of the factory reset...

 

[ThomasPowers]

Soft reboot

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

The Gibbs maneuver.

[Frosty]

Mother wooden, spoon fed important corrections. Dad never hit us, he was abused as a child and refused to pass it along.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

So karma saved them up for one good thump?

[Bubbadreier]

Well  I went this weekend and I had an absolute blast!! Now I am looking to build a JABOD forge and use the railroad track as an anvil (stood up and mounted). I was gifted a hammer by one of the members but I was told that they didn't quite get the striking face hard and that I would need to harden it. Can I just heat it up with a torch and quench?

[ThomasPowers]

Do you know the alloy? What were you planning to quench in? Oil, Water, air, radish juice?

[pnut]

So long as your hammer isn't dead soft it's going to be harder than steel at forging temp. and if you miss you won't ding up your anvil. Even dead soft it'll be harder than hot steel.

Pnut

Edited November 11, 2019 by pnut

[Bubbadreier]

Thomaspowers, I haven’t a clue but I am sure I could ask the gentleman that gave it to me. Shows my lack of knowledge, those are things I didn’t even think of!

Pnut, very good point. The test another gentleman did to show that it was still soft was to scratch it with the side of a key. Is that considered dead soft?