May 23, 20215 yr Hello, I appreciate the acceptance to the forum. I have lurked for a while and figured it was time to join up. I am located near Athens, GA. I spent several years in the Service, and now I am an Mech. Engineer at an aluminum casting plant. I have some working knowledge of refractories and furnace construction, which should translate well into forge building. I have been blacksmithing for about two years, but not consistently. I got into smithing through another hobby; I used to do some traditional woodworking, then decided I wanted to be able to make my own tools. I had the privilege of taking a class at the Southern Blacksmith Association Conference in Madison GA in 2019. I'm not nearly skilled enough to make good tools yet, but I am focusing on building my skills by making lots of hooks and other small projects. I am interested in other metalworking; I do some welding and fabrication, as well as some copper work. I'm not really a knife guy, my interests lie in tools, hardware, cookware, and decorative elements. I'm not planning on making a livable wage from this, but I would like to do one or two vendor events per year. Right now, I give away most of the stuff I make. Thank you to the admins for the work you put into this site, I have already gotten plenty of value from the information and discussions here. If there is anyone in the Athens GA area, I'd love to hear from you, and maybe meet up sometime to trade stock and/or make cool stuff.
May 24, 20215 yr Welcome aboard mothman, glad to have you. It sounds like you're off to a realistic start in learning the craft. It's refreshing. You may or may not be surprised how many current hobby blacksmiths are or were cabinet makers, carvers, etc. who wanted a special: chisel, planer blade, knife, etc. and didn't want to pay the silly OUCH price to have one made. Sooo, they take hammer in hand, dress the grinding wheel and become addicted to working the metal. As is right with the world! If you can sharpen your chisels on a grinding wheel you can make your chisels and work from there. We'll help. Frosty The Lucky.
May 24, 20215 yr Welcome. I lived not to far from Athens. About 45 northeast from there but I moved about 4 hours away in Alabama. I do visit family that still lives there from time to time.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.