HoosierBlacksmith Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Good afternoon from Northeast Indiana! My name is Mark and am relatively new to blacksmithing. I, currently, can only dedicate the occasional evening and weekends to the craft...and am unable to forge over winter. My skills are limited but (I think) growing. I am intrigued and fascinated with all things forging, especially the history of the craft. I appreciate knife-making but am more focused, personally, on the opportunities of forging tools, artistic pieces, and functional pieces. My setup is very crude: I have an anvil shaped railroad rail set horizontally and a rail set vertically to work on; a post vise, and a homemade gas forge - single burner. It is a small set up but one I am growing accustomed to. I purchased the tong set from Ken's Custom Iron to get my tong set started, but have "forged" a simple set of tongs from rebar. I have joined a couple "challenge" groups on FB to provide ideas and projects to work on - even if I cannot get those submitted in a timely fashion. I joined this forum to learn and listen. I am 54yrs old and understand that "children should be seen and not heard", so to speak. I am not afraid to contribute if I feel I have something, but look forward in growing in my skills, abilities and knowledge. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Welcome from the Ozark mountains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierBlacksmith Posted April 21, 2022 Author Share Posted April 21, 2022 Beautiful country in the Ozarks! Thank you for the welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Welcome aboard! Sounds like you're getting off to a good start. We have a number of members in Indiana (including bladesmith extraordinaire Steven Sells, who lives in Fort Wayne), and I believe the Indiana Blacksmiths Association is having a gathering at the Tipton County Fairgrounds the first weekend in June. That would be a great place to watch and learn, as well as to meet people and browse the tailgating sales. The brochure is on their website, indianablacksmithing.org. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Welcome aboard Mark, glad to have you. Sounds like you already have all you REALLY need to practice the craft of course there are LOTS of tools that are handy. What kinds of tools do you want to make? Ornamental pieces are a good way to develop skills without having to worry about more than basic heat management. It's a good place to get started. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Welcome from the Southern Nevada desert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave51B Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Welcome fellow Hoosier........ Life is Good Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 The Maumee Valley Blacksmiths chapter of the Indiana Blacksmith Association meets on the 2nd Saturday of each month. I’m not familiar with that chapter, but if that is close to you look up the IBA newsletter for more information. Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 I've been to the IBA Conference in June and it was a good one back 20 years ago; probably even better nowadays! Hope to see you at Quad-State this Fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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