Quick intro from South Jersey (USA)

[Archer08080]

I just began exploring this resource and I'm so happy I found it.

I'm male, 49 from South Jersey. I've been interested in building things all my life, but got interested in forging when I took a welding/art class at a university. They had a forge setup and even though there was no one there qualified to teach it was enough to get my brain on the path. They allowed me to play- and that's what I did for several sessions.

I took part in a knife building challenge online (Tim Troyer's) and was amazed at what could be accomplished with minimal equipment. That anvil I had packed away in the garage finally got some use. (I picked it up at an estate sale for $80. It's an 80# Swedish anvil in good shape for what I'm doing with it.

Knife making classes- took a few- they were worth the time and money. One of them was hosted at Peter's Valley (school in NJ) I can't say enough good things about that place. It was my first time (and only) using a power hammer and a "real" studio. Definition- it's not rigged together like my hairdryer forge in the yard.

Tinkering- I belong to a maker space in Philadelphia. Before the quarantine I was learning all the skills I missed out on over the decades- including how to run a metal lathe and basics of milling.

Other hobbies- photography, 3D Animation- my career is in video production so I get to experiment and learn every day of my life.

Recent stuff:

Picked up a new forge. It's not easy to identify, but it looks like a Champion 140 blower (rusted shut when purchased, working on that now) with the shallow four-legged setup.

GOALS:

Need a better forge setup. Thanks to this site I discovered that I am losing heat to too much airflow. It makes sense now that I think about it. I'll post a picture of the garage project if anyone's interested.

So far I've made a few knives that are impressive to non-knife makers (you know the level I'm talking about) - but lately I've been interested in making arrowheads, strikers, and useful small items. Ideally, I want to combine the maker space's technology side with the history and culture of blacksmithing to potentially create something that balances both spheres. I'm also very fortunate to have staff at the maker space who will help me should I need to make parts for the forge I am rebuilding.

 

Off to explore- thanks in advance!

-Freddie

[ThomasPowers]

Howdy Freddie; you from the Barrens or from the Shore in South Jersey; I graduated from Holmdel High School---Mile 114-117 on the GSP, Monmouth County.

When you talk about the historical aspects, How far back are you thinking?   I'm one of the smiths that considers 1800 to be "modern times" and one of the books on my bookcases is "Egyptian Metalworking and Tools".

[Stash]

Welcome, Freddie. In my previous life I spent a lot of time at the nurseries in your area- the garden spot of NJ. I bought a lot of plants. Enjoy the new passion. It gets in your blood.

Steve

[Archer08080]

On 5/15/2020 at 6:23 PM, ThomasPowers said:

When you talk about the historical aspects, How far back are you thinking?   I'm one of the smiths that considers 1800 to be "modern times" and one of the books on my bookcases is "Egyptian Metalworking and Tools".

I may have to check the Egyptian Metalworking book!

Pre- electricity qualifies as historical to me. But who knows where I'll draw that line in the future.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Freddie. glad to have you. What's the name of your Swedish anvil? I'm a huge fan of Swedish, cast steel anvils, good score.

Any time after humans started keeping records counts as historical to me. We LOVE discussing that sort of thing you know. 

We also love pictures, try to keep the file size reasonably small, straight off a phone is likely to bounce. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

The Berlin Foundry Cup has a lot of info an ancient Greek Metal working.  The ancient Greeks were the ones that documented that by rubbing amber on a cat's fur you can lose blood.

The Farm my Mother grew up on didn't have electricity till after the Great Depression...My shop *still* doesn't have electricity; but I'm expecting the CoOp guy to look over what it would take to get it this evening...

Let us know the wheres and whens you are interested in!

[Archer08080]

On 5/17/2020 at 4:59 PM, Frosty said:

What's the name of your Swedish anvil? I'm a huge fan of Swedish, cast steel anvils, good score.

I just checked. It's marked: Kohlswa Sweden

I must confess, until this moment I never bothered to read the script on the side. How did I manage to get it for $80? It was an estate sale in my town that I attended ten years ago. For those of you who aren't familiar with this type of setting, it typically involves a family member passing who has lots of potentially valuable possessions that are either too valuable or too specialized to donate to charity. In this case, the third party sellers were asking a lot for the anvils. Lucky for me none of the attendees were terribly interested in them. As a lark, and knowing that one day I'd be starting this hobby, I handed one of the sellers a business card with my bid on the back ($80) and asked them to call if the anvils didn't sell by the end of the sale. Imagine my rush of adrenaline when the call came! I wasted no time running over there with cash in hand.