$5k and a dream

[AJ-CO]

Just getting interested in bladesmithing and considering putting a small shop together to "tinker" in.  Wanted to get some feedback from the seasoned smith's out here what you would start with given a $5k budget.  Want to start purchasing hand tools, gas forge, press, anvil, eventually a power hammer, etc...  Also what would you prioritize.  Let the comments begin.

[Daswulf]

I'm not a bladesmith but have made some knives and one of the most time consuming tasks for me is grinding, filing/sanding the blade to final shape by hand.  A good 2x72" grinder can make that work a lot faster and easier. They are also expensive. Other tools can be found or made much cheaper. A press and power hammers are nice time savers but you'll still have to do the grinding in the end. Were it me with what I know now, if I had the money I would start with getting a good grinder and belts. The rest of a basic forge setup can be cheap and easy to get, make and improvise when starting out. You just need some basic knowledge which is abundant here on IFI. 

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard AJ, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a much better chance of hooking up with members living within visiting distance.

Start making stock removal knives, as Das says 90% of knife making is stock removal and finishing. Good grinder skills will erase most mistakes from the anvil but without them forging skills may do you no good at all. Once you develop grinding and finishing skills to a competent level selling blades can pay for the smithing side AND finance it while you develop those skills sets. 

Learn basic blacksmithing to a competent level before buying a press or power hammer. They're great work savers but you still have to know what you're doing, without the skills to use them machinery is just highly refined dirt.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

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

As Frosty says, please put your general location in your profile.  A surprising number of answers and suggestions are geography dependent.  This is a world wide forum and we don't know if you are down the road from me in Wyoming, Lapland, or Tasmania.  Our suggestions regarding equipment may vary depending on location.

As Frosty and Das have said, most of bladesmithing is bench work, grinding polishing, making guards, handles and pommels, leather work for sheaths and scabbards, etc..  If I spend 8 hours making a knife only about an hour to an hour and a half is spent actually forging and heat treating, if that.  The rest is bench work.  That is why I do not make many knives.  I would rather be hitting hot metal.

So, the suggestion that a good belt grinder is early in your acquisition schedule is spot on.  Also, tools for coarse dutting such as hacksaw, files, chop saw, metal cutting (slower blade speed) band saw, etc. will be useful even if you are not forging. 

Even if you afre doing stock removal blades and you want to heat treat them you will need a heat source to get them above critical (non-magnetic) temperature before hardening. An oxygen/acetylene or propane torch can do this.  You will also need a heat source for tempering which can be a torch or oven.

If the CO in your handle refers to Colorado, I strongly suggest that you look up Rocky Mountain Smiths and join.  Good events and good folk.  There is nothing like learning from people more experienced than you are.  Yes, you can learn on your own with good videos and your own mistakes but that is not optimal.  I am a mostly self taught smith and it is a road full of unnecessary potholes.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Buzzkill]

First priority - safety gear.  If you don't already have them, then that includes eye and ear protection, respirator (even the disposable paper ones help when grinding), and non-synthetic pants and shirts. I recommend a leather apron and leather footwear with lace protectors as well.

If starting with a $5K budget I also would make the next priority a 2x72" variable speed belt grinder with a minimum of 1.5 hp.  A flat platen and at least one large contact wheel (8" - 14" diameter) would be included in that purchase. Whether you do strictly stock removal or forged blades you will spend a fair amount of time at the grinder. A healthy selection of belts should also be purchased.  I recommend a few in the 24 - 36 grit range for hogging off significant metal when needed.  I personally use 60/80 grit ceramic belts a lot, followed by 120 grit.  I have some higher grit belts but I tend to do mostly hand sanding above 220 grit.  I do like the Scotch-Brite surface conditioning belts for blades that will see a lot of use.  No point in putting a mirror finish on a blade whose use will destroy it in short order.

I use my horizontal/vertical bandsaw quite a bit as well.  When doing strictly stock removal it is much faster and more accurate to get the profile on a vertical bandsaw than an angle grinder, imo.  Hand held hacksaws come in quite a distance behind those options.

Good drill bits (cobalt) and a medium size drill press can increase your precision and decrease your frustration quite a bit.

If you plan to forge blades you're obviously going to need a forge, anvil, and hammer.  If you have little to no experience forging I recommend purchasing or building a decent propane forge.  That reduces the number of things you are trying to learn simultaneously.   If you use coal or charcoal you have to learn fire management and keep an eye on the steel so you don't burn it in addition to all the other things you are trying to learn.  For smithing small to medium size blades you can easily get by with an anvil or solid chunk of steel around 100 lbs., give or take a little. 

Don't worry about presses or power hammers until you have a fairly good understanding about how hot steel moves under the hammer. In the long run if you plan to make pattern welded blades you will want one or both of them though.  You can definitely do PW blades by hand, but it is a lot of work.  You should start with mono-steels anyway.

Spend a little time/money on a good quench tank with a lid.  Some people like the "tank inside a larger can" approach so that if flaming oil is dripping down the sides of your quench tank it is contained inside the larger can and you can put the lid over the whole thing to snuff the fire without much risk of setting your shop on fire.  A few gallons of good quench oil is also recommended.  If you have Parks AAA and Parks 50 (or the equivalent of both) that should cover the majority of steels you will use for blades.

A tempering oven with good temperature control is also valuable.  You can't really trust most toaster ovens, so if you use one you'll want to get your own oven thermometer to place inside and you'll want a tray of sand or something else that can act as a heat stabilizer to minimize the effects of the temperature fluctuations that are common with toaster ovens.  If you want to get very precise with your quenching temperatures and tempering temperatures then you'll want to look at the electric ovens made for those purposes.

Of course you'll need adhesives, handle material, pins, guard material, etc. as well.

 

[JHCC]

At least some of that $5K should be invested in a basic bladesmithing class.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark mountains.

The nice thing about power tools like a press and power hammer, is they let you make your mistakes faster. Seriously what everyone else has suggested is good.

[AJ-CO]

 

Thank you to everyone and I have updated my loacation and have subscribed to Rocky Mountain Smiths emails.  I am hoping to get into some basic courses in early 2023.  It will be a much more fun resolution than going to the gym. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[ThomasPowers]

Good First Aid kit!   CO  monitor!!!!!