jclark42 Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Hi everyone. I've been reading the forum for the past few months and I though I'd finally say hi. I've enjoyed the flood of first project posts in the past few days. It seems like we have a lot of beginning smiths so I don't feel as self conscious. I'll post a more detailed intro in the introduce yourself forum- here's the short of it. I'm a wood worker who has always been interested in blacksmithing. I finally took the plunge and picked up an old Canedy-Otto #105 forge about a month back. I spent some time de-rusting the forge and rebuilding the blower. and I now have a working forge. Some before and after pics: Photo 1 Photo 2 I think it looks much better with a raging fire in it! I fired it up yesterday and got to work with hot metal for the first time. I learned a lot just playing around for a couple of hours. I tried to taper and scroll, I used a hot-cut hardy, and I burned up a piece of steel I'd flattened out to see how much heat it would take. Fun stuff! My only injury is the blister I have on my hammer hand. I made two tools to tend the coal fire. A hooked poker thing, and a water can. Not pretty, but they work! Photo 3 That's it for now. Thanks everyone for the great information posted here. Josh Quote
hammerkid Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Your off to a GREAT start , I REALLY like that design of forge hmmm LOL, You may wanna consder putting twists in your poker and water can . Also you may wanna learn mR. Hofi s hammer tech. and dont be afaird of psoting your stuff on IFI we dont bite LOL also Welcome to IFORGEIRON. Chris Quote
draper84 Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 nice first projects be careful the second day. that's when i got bit Quote
LeoMeyer Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Great looking forge! And your first projects are quite nice too. I may have to copy your watering can design. -L Quote
Thomas Dean Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Howdy from East TEXAS!! and welcome to IFI! Glad you finally got off stump and joined. Nice looking poker and water can. You did a real good job on cleaning up the forge too. Suggestions only, use what you want and chunk the rest. Don't grip your hammer like you are trying to choke it to death, it's already dead. You are on the right track, experiment, only way you will find out what your metal is doing in the fire. Locate a blacksmith group near you and join! Most meet at least once a month and have members that can give you hands on advise. You will have a watchful eye right there next to you with good instruction. If you want to learn Mr. Hofi's style of forging (I HIGHLY recommend it) you have to have the correct hammer. There are a few locations to purchase one, IFI being one location. ENJOY! every hammer strike is a learning experience, either how to or how NOT to do it;) Once again, welcome. Quote
Frosty Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Welcome aboard Josh. Pretty good looking first projects. What Thomas said with one exception. If my hammers are already dead, how come they keep wandering around the shop and getting themselves lost? Hmmmmm? Seriously, a loose grip (I call it a fencer's grip) when done properly will give you a more powerful blow, better accuracy, less fatigue and a much lower chance of it coming out of your hand. Frosty Quote
Thomas Dean Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Frosty, ever heard "dead man walking"? Same thing.... Quote
Finnr Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Here I thought I had elves or brownies or something moving things around. Finnr Quote
Thomas Dean Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Sorry Finnr, no such thing as elves or brownies.... Quote
Frosty Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 What do you mean Thomas? I baked up a pan of brownies just last night! Mmmmmm. Brownies! Frosty Quote
Rob Browne Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Nice forge and a great job on the cleanup. the first projects are fantastic, its amazing just how many people want to make a sword as their first project and not start with the basics. Keep it up :) Quote
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