Fly

[Fly]

God blessed me today in finding this form. Guys I,m a retired tool & die maker not a blacksmith. Even though I have been a metal worker my entire life makes me still a green beginner in this new world of metalworking.

I been watching YouTube videos for days before jumping into this & wasting time & money only to have a forge build fail in a short time as wast of money in thing I bought & not needed. I know many reading my post have been there done that.

Just because I have done heat treatment in the past makes me know anymore than any of you in making a forge. So I will be asking some very ignorant questions in the future. Be a former boss of mine once told me “ Son there is no such thing as a stupid question”. So I have subscribed to that all my life. As Forest Gump said “Stupid is as Stupid does”. So please be light on me from time to 

time. Fly. 

[Scott NC]

  Stick around and learn fly.  Nice people here.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Fly glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a better chance of hooking up with a member living within visiting distance. Lots of information is location specific like equipment, tools, materials, etc. 

What would you like to make? 

What's wrong with the forge you bought/made? What kind of fuel is it supposed to burn? Very few things are total failures, seriously nothing is perfect. It might just need a little tweaking or something minor. You'd be surprised how something little can mess up a machine. 

Machine? Ayup, a forge is a machine and the components need to mesh. Post a couple pics and we'll help evaluate and maybe help get it working. We LOVE pics.

Feel free to join in or pick a spot on the wall. Suits you, suits us.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Goods]

Welcome aboard!

Careful, YouTube has some pretty bad and sometimes dangerous blacksmithing videos. There is a page on here with links to well vetted videos. The best course of action is to find a smith local to you that you can learn from. Putting your location in your profile will help us get you setup with someone. A good source is to look for is your local ABANA affiliate. I’m a member of the Indiana Blacksmith Association (IBA) and the local chapter meets monthly. I showed up a few years ago and the smiths there got me going in the right direction pretty quick!

Keep it fun,

David

[Fly]

How do I put my location into my header. I can,t seem to find any place to do that since I joined.  I,m from eastern okla vian

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark mountains.

To add your location click on your logon name go to edit your profile scroll down to Location.

Is your forge a propane or solid fuel coal/charcoal forge? I bet no matter the kind we can get it up and running.

You are not far from TWISTEDWILLOW up in Stilwell might have to keep an eye on him.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Irondragon ForgeClay Works
add TW thought

[Frosty]

Click on your name or avatar. Select edit profile in the window that opens, upper right side. Make changes you wish and click save when done.

That's it. EZ PZ. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Welcome abaord from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

As Goods mentioned, there are some very good blacksmithing videos on You Tube and some VERY bad ones too.  Check out the list here on IFI.  I like the ones (in no particular order) from Black Bear Forge, JPL Services (our own Jennifer), Torbjorn Ahman (from Sweden), and Christ Centered Iron Works.  Some folk like Alec Steele but I find him kind of annoying.

You will find all kind of folk here at IFI.  Ages range from early teens to early 80s.  Education from HS dropouts to advanced degrees.  Blacksmithing experience from masters to absolute greenies.  There seems to be a higher percentage of military veterans here than the general population.  Just stay away from politics, religion, and sex and keep your language suitable for a family audience.  Don't say anything you'd have problems explaining to your 10 year old grand daughter.

Topics can wander fairly broadly and there can be a certain amount of good natured joshing.  Also, there is a LOT of punning.

I hope you find the craft as rewarding as I have.  I started in 1978 and am still learning.  It has helped me through good times and tough times for the last 44 years.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Howdy from stilwell Oklahoma and welcome to the forum!

your only bout 30-40 minutes south of me, your welcome to come by my junky shop anytime!

if you need some ideas for a forge I can show you a few I’ve built, they don’t have to be expensive to work well!

i might even have some junk laying around to help get ya started lol

we got some great smiths in our area of varying degrees of knowledge!

there’s a wealth of knowledge on here to help with just about everything, I’m sure you’ll be back up an forging in no time

16 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

You are not far from TWISTEDWILLOW up in Stilwell might have to keep an eye on him.

I didn’t do it!  lol

[BillyBones]

Welcome aboard. 

Best advice i was given when i joined here. Grab a cold beverage, a snack and start reading. Plan to spend the day. There is a wealth of knowledge here and some really great people. A welcoming community that encourages you to succeed. As far as stupid questions, my drill sergeant used to say the exact same thing. if looking for something specific do not use the embedded "search" function. Use your favorite browser with "iforgeiron" after the subject. 

Anyway explore around we talk about everything from forging iron to our favorite recipe. Just do not bring up the taboo subjects: politics and religion.  

And as Frosty said we love pics (and puns as well)