I tried making a handle,  and the picture below was the monstrosity that I tried to make work as an improvised forge with materials on hand.  Blew charcoal everywhere when I first started it up. 

Too much blast eh? It can be a pretty normal thought for beginners that a hair drier can't possibly be enough blast and what the hey there's that leaf blower, shop vacc, etc. RIGHT THERE.

I think we've all done that or similar.

Frosty The Lucky.

  My first forge did not last very long.  I burned some hair off on it.  I did everything wrong from the start.

 

I don't actually remember the first thing I forged, I was maybe 8yro and inspired by an episode of "Have Gun Will Travel". I've told that story enough to leave the bandwidth alone. Dad discouraged blacksmithing so I had to "sneak" my attempts at smithing. My first forge was the cab of a pressed steel truck and the anvil was a bar of steel Dad had to build the next spinning lathe.

All I remember about my first few projects is they were supposed to be knives just like Paladin forged from a wagon tire. I don't remember how they came out other than they didn't resemble anything like a knife. My blast was me fanning air through the grill of the truck, fuel was wood, some scrap some branches.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

  I didn't start forging young enough for someone to disuade me.  I always liked playing with fire as kid though and that wasn't encouraged much, either.

The first thing I ever forged was a squished and burned piece of scrap metal. 

I think the first thing I made that was actually usable was a leaf keychain.

 

  Nothing wrong with that.  The former is called "Scrap Art" btw...

"Scrap Art"...I like the way your mind works

Well Y E A H, playing with fire and hitting things with hammers IS the main draw for me too.

Frosty The Lucky.

First thing I ever forged was an attempt at a snake from a railroad spike, 20 years ago now. Lat thing I forged the the dragon head next to it.

Michael, that's awesome that you still have your first piece. The dragon looks way cool

At age 7 or 8, I started making "horseshoes" out of copper wire using the side draft of my grandparents' wood stove.  I had an old claw hammer and I don't remember what I used as an anvil.  Likely a flat rock.  I remember sitting on the kitchen floor doing this.  I was inspired by Quint Asper (Burt Reynolds) on Gunsmoke.

- Paul

That's a great sounding memory Paul. I miss this old westerns sometimes 

That's not much different than my inspiration from an episode of "Have Gun Will Travel." 

There are plenty of streaming channels dedicated to old TV and movies if a person wants to go that route. I had to force myself to stop binging "Northern Exposure" and "Twin Peaks."

Frosty The Lucky.

While looking for something else, I came across this nail header and remembered making this as the first thing I made without help from my mentor Ike Doss in his shop. It's made from 1 inch sucker rod and 10 inches long. It now resides in a place of honor in our shop.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

On 6/10/2024 at 9:43 AM, CrazyGoatLady said:

Michael, that's awesome that you still have your first piece. The dragon looks way cool

only just found it again a few weeks ago.

thanks,

Found the first knife I forged, which was the second thing I ever made after my attempts at rwisted handles.  Not sure if I should rehandle it or keep it as is

No fire involved but the first peice of metal I hammered was an aluminiun gutter spike.

Got it flatish and made a knife shaped object.

My first forging.  Didn't know what to make, but we had horses at the time.

Hand forged hoof picks are marketable if you know horse people. A screw driver was the first through maybe sixth thing I forged but Dad ordered a hoof pick to replace one I'd lost. 

Dad ordering me to make one isn't to be confused with Dad ordering one from me. 

After my first he critiqued it. "It needs a loop or eye on the end to hang it up, WHERE IT'S SUPPOSED TO GO." Emphasis Dad's, so I'd remember I'd lost his other one. 

Mr. Harding the heavy metal shop teacher suggested I make several so Dad could chose the one he liked. Then Mr. Harding and I spent a little time sketching different handle ends AND I walked the long way home by a Tack shop and looked at their selection and a catalogue. 

The next day Mr. Harding showed me a trick to forge two at one time by forging the pic section in the center of the bar over the wide part of the horn. Then narrow the spreading on the flat and cut them with a cold chisel from one side. Bent so the chisel cut was on the outside of the hook bend and make one of the various handle sections. A little filing and brushing and I presented Dad with a selection of 6 to choose from.

I can't tell you how good it felt that it took him quite a little while to choose on and a spare for the drawer. Then he suggested I gift one to a few other horse people we saw daily. 

By the next week I was making several a day in shop class and selling them for a buck or two more than they went for at the tack shop.

My goodness Blue that one picture brought back a saddlebag worth of good memories, Thanks!

Frosty The Lucky.

That's a great story Jerry. Best part is your remembrance of how it felt--easy for me to sidle up to that scene and understand, thanks. Also pretty cool to remember and honor teachers like Mr. Harding.

--Larry

I can`t remember what exactly...  either round to square or square to round or something horseshoe related.  I do remember massive blisters.  

I have lots of good memories from Mr. Harding's "Occupational heavy metal shop" class. He was the best metal shop teacher I've ever had and didn't discover till my last semester he held a doctorate in some field of metallurgy, engineering, etc. and preferred to teach than follow his qualifications.

Mr. Harding wasn't pleased to have to light the forge that many times so I could "perfect" hoof picks but enough other students wanted to do some forging he did. Like Dad Mr. Harding believed blacksmithing was a dead craft and we should learn a paying trade.

"Learn a paying trade," is word for word what Dad said when I said I wanted to learn blacksmithing, he actively discouraged it, as did Mr. Harding. When he and Dad got together I felt like I was in an xray machine! Talk about speaking the same language! 

Heck, they both got assigned to duties in the states because they possessed war critical skills. I don't know what Mr. Harding did but Dad was a guard in a prisoner of war camp in Texas where he ran a metal spinning / machine shop where German prisoners worked. 

Now I'm remembering some of Dad's stories from the days.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

I remember walking into metal shop in high school. It was taught by the same guy that was our football coach and to put it lightly, we did not get along me and him. But i stuck it out and by the end of the second semester... we still did not like each other. 

I was not allowed to take shop classes.  Mom allowed that If there was anything I wanted to learn in the shop, Dad could teach me.  I did manage to sneak in one semester of wood shop. And dropped it after that semester, because I wasn't allowed to use the tools and equipment that I routinely used at home.