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[rich_c]

Hello, everyone!

My name is Rich.  I live in Bordentown, NJ... a few miles south of Trenton, NJ or about 35 miles from Philadelphia, PA.  Just to be clear from the beginning: I own no tools for blacksmithing, yet.

I got interested in blacksmithing and metalworking while I was in the Marine Corps.  I took a welding course where the instructor talked about blacksmithing, and I visited his forge -- a small set up where he did a mix of blacksmithing and farrier work, and I thought it was neat.  However, I had neither the time, space, or money to start forging back then... obviously.  Fast forward many years into the future -- I've put myself through college, started a career, got married, have a family, etc., etc., and that "bug" is still there bothering me.  I've gone to blacksmithing demonstrations over the years where I've asked questions and picked brains.

Now, I have some time, space, and money to try to get involved in this craft.  I've lurked through these forums for a bit and recently joined them.  I have read through the first book Mark Aspery and will probably buy the other two before the year is out.  I've watched videos recommended here: Mark Aspery, Black Bear Forge/John Switzer, Brian Brazeal, Alec Steele, etc.  I also got permission from "The CFO" to invest in taking some classes and to buy the tools needed to get started.  My goal is for this to be a source of creativity and smith part-time/as a hobby.  I'm interested in the creation of something from metal: bottle openers, scroll worked items, tools, etc.

So that's me.  I'm going to go back to reading and researching. 

Edited October 17, 2022 by rich_c
Adding some information on goals and interests.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. Sounds like you are off to a great start. Just remember to hold the cold end and hit the hot end.

[rich_c]

Thank you, sir!  And will do!

[George N. M.]

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

You sound like you are approaching the craft in a very orderly and logical manner.  This is good.  Too many folk who have zero experience want to be told how to make a 2 handed sword.  You don't have to start with expensive tools.  You can start with a JABOD (Just A Box of Dirt) forge, and improvised anvil (a hunk of RR track set on end, a Harbor Freight hammer, and something to grab hot stuff, tongs, vise grips, etc..  Basically, all you need is a source of heat, a "pounder," a "grabber," and something to pound on.

Look up the New Jersey Blacksmith Association or the Pennsylvania Artist Blacksmith Association and seriously think about joining.  Going to demonstrations and workshops is a very good way to learn the craft.

Concentrate in your early projects on making somethong pretty or useful for the CFO.  Also, make sure that she knows that this is a hobby that can pay for itself and can even be a source of supplemental income.

Ypu'll find a very interesting and welcoming community here at IFI.  It is world wide with around 60k folk who have joined but not all post regularly.  Folk range in age from early teens to 80s.  Education from HS drop outs to advanced degrees.  Lots of life experience and blacksmith experience.  Just stay away from discussions of politics, religion, or sex and keep your language suitable for a 10 year old girl.

I hope you come to love the craft as much as many of us have.  I've been doing it since 1978 and it has helped me through tough times and added to my happimess in good times.

There seem to be a higher percentage of veterans here than in the general population.  All services and dates of service from 50+ years ago to recent discharges.  There are usually discussions on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Rich, glad to have you. Thank you for serving, you guys are the BEST! Which ever service. Have you decided which basic type forge you wish to use? You should have good smithing coal available with some looking and a Mr. Volcano is an excellent forge for the dollar, currently the best bang for the buck I know of.

An anvil is anything you beat on, as said RR rail stood on end makes a fine anvil but so does any reasonably heavy piece of steel, a flat face is a bonus. HOT steel doesn't require a hardened anvil to move, it's soft. A smooth boulder works just fine. Honest, I  know from experience you can do good work on a smooth boulder.

A smooth faced hammer around 2lbs. is where I start guys, my personal favorite is the 32oz. drill hammer. It's heavy enough to do serious work but not so heavy it'll tire you quickly or do serious joint damage before you develop good hammer skills. The shorter handle increases accuracy making learning hammer control much easier.

Find something to hold the work or use long enough stock you don't need tongs. Making tongs is an intermediate level project but good tongs can make all the difference. There are tong kits for sale as well as finished tongs online. Tongs isn't a bad place to spend some money getting when started. Anvil, forge, etc. can be improvised pretty easily but tongs are harder. Vise grips and such work pretty well too

Just don't get in a hurry, the only thing rushing guarantees is your mistakes will become permanent more quickly. To balance that tid bit do NOT wait till you have everything you think you'll need before you build a fire and start beating the stuffins out of hot steel! 

Oh yeah, smithing is more fun than should be legal, enjoy.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Latticino]

Peters Valley School of Craft is relatively nearby for you and a great place to take classes.  Strongly recommend taking a class BEFORE making any other investments.  If I recall they don't have a lot of gas forges there, but working coal is great training as well.

[JHCC]

The only thing I have to add to the above excellent advice is to take advantage of your location. Philadelphia has some great architectural ironwork both in public and in its museums, and the Fisher & Norris Factory Museum in NJ is well worth a visit (although they may still be closed post-COVID).

[rich_c]

Good morning, George N.M., Frosty, Latticino, and JHCC!

Thank you for the welcome messages and the advice.  It is much appreciated.

I looked at the NJBA website this morning.  I'm going to send out an email or two to make some local contacts.  I noticed that one of the smith's mentioned on their website, Daniel Lapidow, works locally to me.  I'll check out the PA ABA website later today, when I get a break from work. 

As for winning over my wife (aka "The CFO"), she's onboard.    She does arts and crafts as a side business: sewing, cross stitch, etc., including going to shows and selling things.  She did like the Brian Brazeal video where he forges a leaf-shaped key chain from copper stock and I showed her some of the examples in Mark Aspery's book.

I'm going to start with a propane forge, and have seen a few reviews of the Mr. Volcano.  I'd like to get a coal forge at some point, too, and I did read about the JABOD.  It looks like that would be easy to construct but I have to be careful of some of my neighbors who I know will complain about smoke.  For other tools, I've been looking at some of the anvils by Kanca or the Bulgar style offered by Old World Anvils.  I have also been looking at the smithing starter kits or piecing out a few of the basic tools offered by Blacksmith Depot (Kayne and Son): a hammer in the 800 to 1000 gram range, a pair or two of tongs, a punch or chisel (or two)... something to hold me over until I can comfortably make my own tools.  Safety gear is also on the list: while my military service was not in a combat zone, I do have enough bumps, dents, and scars as is; I'd like to avoid collecting any more, if possible.  Hahaha!

I grew up in Philly and agree that there is a lot of interesting architectural work in the area.  A trip to a museum might be good, especially if my sons come along.  I'll check to see if it's open.

I have the Peter Valley school saved to my favorites list.  It's a 2.5 hour drive north of me.  They have two intro classes on the schedule at the moment but both are wait listed.  There's also a smith afffiliated with ABANA, Dave Collier, who offers classes on weekends.  He's located on the Eastern Shore area of Maryland, about a three hour drive south of me.

Again, thank you for the welcome aboard messages.  I'm looking forward to this journey and from learning from the more experienced smiths.

[George N. M.]

We have commented on this before but a surprising  number of smiths have spouses who are somehow into fiber arts, sewing, spinning, weaving, etc..  These are known as "steel wool" marriages.

My theory is that craft attracts craft.  If a person is inclined to work with their hands they will be attractive to someone who also has the same inclination.

I have been at blacksmithing events where the spouses are set up outside the shop with their spinning wheels and sewing baskets.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

If your neighbors complain about coal smoke you can use charcoal or coke which don't smoke, a JABOD works fine with all three. Side blast forges are as ancient as humans working metal, copper (cupric age) till today. 

Ditto George about steel wool couples and crafty people in general, heck I engage in multiple hobby crafts I'm currently learning knapping and found a mentor locally. Another thing I've discovered is more common than you'd think, is how many people have survived stroke or TBI. We're everywhere! 

This forum is like a giant cocktail party with 60k folks attending. There are genuine experts on virtually every subject there is and some of the most unanticipated professions even my imagination didn't suspect. And one of my side hobbies is writing science fiction and am always coming up with wild professions, cultures, etc. "reality is stranger than fiction" is a grand understatement. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[rich_c]

Hi, George N.M. and Frosty!

I will admit to definitely being a lucky man with having found my wife... or her having found me.  Whichever way you put it, I'm lucky. 

I did spend some time last night reading through the JABOD threads again.  I may build one and try my hand at using it.  As for a gas forge, I'm leaning towards the Mr. Volcano.  I think that will be a great "starter" forge, too. 

I do have a few other hobbies.  I enjoy the outdoors: hunting, fishing, hiking.  Anything away from the noise so I can decompress.  We lived in rural Virginia (near Front Royal) for several years and I miss the space and quiet, especially when compared to living in New Jersey.  I'm also an amateur radio operator with a preference for using Morse code.

[ThomasPowers]

Have you tried the Pine Barrans in NJ?  Back in the early 1970's in Boy Scouts we were still drinking the water out of the streams down there without treatment...

[BillyBones]

Welcome. 

Morse code aye? The company i work for we make base plates for telegraphs. Until i started working for them i did not realize there was that many people who still use them. The owner of the company that actually makes the telegraph said that many of them are shipped to places like Africa where there are vast stretches that that is the only reliable method of communication. 

[rich_c]

Hi, ThomasPowers and BillyBones!

I'm not quite sure what you mean about trying the Pine Barrens, but I don't own land down there and I'm not inclined to do so.  I'll just leave it at this: New Jersey is an expensive state to live in, and I'd argue that I'm not getting a good return from my tax dollars.

Yes, Morse code is still in use.  There's some commentary in the ham radio community that it has been having a resurgence in use in the US.  I have an old AT&T Telegraph straight key at my home radio station.  Outside the US, Morse code is used because you can have a full conversation with someone many miles away while using simple equipment and low power.

[ThomasPowers]

Last time I lived in NJ we were in a place with 1 acre zoning; each house had to have a 1 acre lot and that was expensive even back in 1972; especially since you could see the Twin Towers from the hilltop next to ours...

I don't rightly think the scouts owned any of the land we camped on; but we were "light on the land" and so hard to find/track and folks were happy to let us once we got the reputation of leaving a place cleaner than when we arrived!    I remember flipping abandoned cars for practice in team work; not to hard to roll them but end for end takes a lot of 13 year-olds working together!

[rich_c]

Hi, Thomas!

There are still some areas with tight zoning laws in NJ.  When I lived in VA, one county passed a zoning regulation that forbid lots to be subdivided in parcels less than five acres.  It had a lot of support from the residents, too, because they didn't want to become a suburb of DC.  But that's a digression...

Everyone,

I'm starting to get a better feel for what I need to do to start blacksmithing.  It looks like I may have to wait until the spring to take a class, though, based on my schedule and what I'm seeing available online from those who offer the classes.  I think at this point, I'm going to start asking questions under the various forums based on topics.  Thank you all for the "Welcome Aboard" messages.