First Thing You Ever Forged Topic

[Scott NC]

  Is there one?  I searched and found one from 2008 with one page, and am loathe to dredge up old topics.  I found the first thing I made today, among a bunch of other stuff.  I bet not many took a photo or remember anyhow.

[LarryFahnoe]

But you will share a photo of it now that you've found it won't you Scott? 

--Larry

[Frosty]

Do you mean successfully or just the first thing we tried to forge? I had to sneak time, Dad actively discouraged blacksmithing, he said, "Learn a paying trade." It wasn't till after Dad passed I was talking with Uncle Fred, reminiscing about their early days when I learned that Dad ran a power hammer sharpening plow shears for IIRC $0.75/ 5 day week, if he put in 20 hrs. Sat & Sun he made $1.00.

 No wonder he didn't want to see any of his kids pick up a hammer at an anvil. It wasn't until I was out of the house, moved to Alaska in my late 30s with a solid career, that I was able to convince him I smithed for fun.

I don't know what I actually hit first but I was trying to make a knife. I've told the gang about the episode of "Have Gun Will Travel" that Paladin being stranded by bandits forged a knife and spear points, made an atlatl and caught and took the bandit out. 

I remember my first forge, it doubled as a stove, yeah I was cooking back then too. It was an old stamped steel truck cab, Tonka maybe. I broke up branches with a hammer to feed it and beat stuff on a piece of die steel I snuck out of Dad's shop in the garage. We moved into that house in the late 50s, I was maybe in 3rd. grade. No idea what I made, I just beat the stuffings out of whatever I could sneak out of the shop.

Photo?       

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

First thing i ever forged? Back then there was no internet and polaroid instant cameras were the thing. 

I used to go into the barn as a kid and heat nails up, then hammer then into little knives. 

Fast forward to high school and the first "real" thing i ever forged was a cold chisel then a screw driver in metals shop class. 

[gewoon ik]

Round bar 15mm lemgt 500mm to square bar of ?? Longer.

Than round again and than square 10mm lengt 650mm rest was mostly burned off.

No pictures.

[Scott NC]

  First off, I was just wondering about a thread I could add onto.  Yes, most started before photo's were handy.  I just happened across the first thing that came out of the first forge I built (at work on the sly, night shift) and was wondering. 

33 minutes ago, LarryFahnoe said:

But you will share a photo of it now that you've found it won't you Scott? 

   Of course.   It was a experiment....   I suppose it's a shiv. Or poker.  No control with only one finger hole though.

[Scott NC]

Ok.  Not entirely on the sly, I had the ok from the foreman.  We all got along great...

[Frosty]

Shiv and poker are synonymous aren't they?  Pretty fancy first there Scott, atta boy!

Frosty The Lucky.

[LarryFahnoe]

Nice Scott!

While digital photography had become common by the time I forged my first blades, I was typically too absorbed with what I was trying to do than to pause and take some pictures, though I did make sketches and notes. A little older now & slightly wiser, so I do try to do a better job at photo documenting. Anyway, my first blades were done in a class at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais MN, July 2008. The class was focused on forging the Finnish puukko style blade. The two on the right were from that class while the two blobs on the left were from a later class... One blade from the puukko class did become a completed knife, though not one I'm particularly proud of. Many hours spent at a picnic table refining the shape with hones and wet sanding; got the finish I wanted, just not the shape. Steps along the way! 

Other knives that I've made: https://www.fahnoetech.com/handmade-knives/

--Larry

 

[Scott NC]

  Memories can sometimes be better than photo's.

[JHCC]

The first thing I ever forged (in the summer of 1982, if memory serves) was a fireplace poker that could have doubled as a defense against the uruk-hai. Neither it nor photos of it survive, which is not necessarily a bad thing. 

[Frosty]

Yes the are. That's probably why they aren't admissible in court without cross examination by the other lawyer.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Nobody Special]

Mine was a pendant made from a copper clad grounding rod. The pendant was ugly, but the swirled copper was a cool effect.

[George N. M.]

Larry, Grand Marais is my old stomping ground.  My grandparents lived in Duluth and I spent a lot of time on the North Shore.

G.

[LarryFahnoe]

Amen Scott. The memories of the experience have lots of fidelity while the photo or two can only hint at it & yet somehow seem so clear...

George, I'd bet you would be amazed at the changes in some of the downtown of Grand Marais. I don't think the residential area changes too much over the years, but the downtown keeps changing (not necessarily growing). The folk school has expanded quite a bit, Joynes is still an institution, but the Pie Place is history as are a few other buildings that have been lost to fires, most recently the lodge at Lutsen. Great little town.

--Larry

[George N. M.]

Larry, the last time we were there was 2018.  I have introduced Madelynn to the North Shore and she fell in love with it.  When we were looking for where to relocate for retirement Duluth was on the short list but I ended up wanting to stay in the Rocky Mountains where I have lived most of my adult life.  Northern MN is still one of my favorite places though.

Grand Marais has a place in my family history.  My parents met at the USO club in Duluth during WW2.  My father, who was in the Navy, had been sent to Duluth to tow subchaser hulls built there down the lakes to have their engines installed.  A storm required them to take shelter in the harbor at Grand Marais.  My father called my mother in Duluth and said, "Hi, Honey.  I'm in Grand "Mare-iss."  My mother teased him about it for the rest of their lives together.

One of my earliest memories is going with my grandfather to the place of a friend of his who smoke white fish and dried them on outdoor racks somewhere along the North Shore.  I don't think it was very far from Duluth.  Probably between Duluth and Two Harbors.  My grandparents lived at 5601 London Road.  Any time you drive from Duluth to up the North Shore you go past their house (a few blocks before crossing Lester River).

G

[BillyBones]

Here is an old one. I think this is the first pic i posted here. It is supposed to be a bottle opener. 

Here is also the first and only gas forge i have ever built. 

And the burner

Yes cbbled together plumming and grill parts, the valve and jet are literally the old ones from a gas grill. Hard firebrick in a steel frame. I could get welding temps out of it. 

[Scott NC]

  That made me curious what the first photo I posted ever on here was so I looked back.  It was a fish of all things, in my very first post 

[George N. M.]

Scott, is it solid or two halves welded together?  Actually, very nice work, particularly for a beginner.

G

[Scott NC]

  Thanks, George.  It's solid, I started with 1/2" bar.  I welded the two front bottom fins on though.

[Frosty]

Pretty fishy art there Scott. I've loved this piece since first seeing it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  I specialize in fishy.....  Thanks, Frosty.

[Frosty]

And trains, I'm seeing fish trains now thank you. Thinking about it just now I don't know a fisherman who isn't always looking to land the Bigboy.

Frosty The Lucky.