Blacksmithing

[xjoex]

A local fella was offering 1:1 blacksmith lessons. It was incredibly fun. The smithy is in a 100 year old cabin and very tight quarters. I built a coat hook and a pair of pliers. I am going back in two weeks for more!
P2110181 by Joe, on Flickr
P2110164 by Joe, on Flickr
P2110155 by Joe, on Flickr
P2110144 by Joe, on Flickr
P2110133 by Joe, on Flickr
P2110129 by Joe, on Flickr
P2110168 by Joe, on Flickr

-Joe

[drietz]

Well where are the finished products?!

[72gmc]

jealous. of the lessons, and of the time you spend in that smithy. cool tool overload

[Paul Jacobs]

Hammering without wearing safety glasses?

[chris7ed]

Is that a hand cranked drill press? I guess it has a flywheel on the left. Cool looking tool.

[xjoex]

Is that a hand cranked drill press? I guess it has a flywheel on the left. Cool looking tool.

Yes! But you can remove the crank and run it on a belt using the fly wheel.
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-Joe

[Eric Estlund]

I like the wee little gas forge.

[rwsaunders]

We have had a pair of these old heart patterned cast iron andirons for about 35 years, along with the handmade tongs...pretty cool stuff. I'm always on the hunt for the Prussian soldier andirons...unicorns if they are old.

[11.4]

It's almost like a knifemaker's forge. A shop that does small piece blacksmithing? I'd have expected to see a big power hammer if they did bigger stuff. No knock against them -- I've seen some amazing blacksmiths who do home fittings, balusters, and the like, all easily handled without the big knocker.

I did blacksmithing for years, outfitting a whole home in Connecticut and then one in Seattle with custom key latches, rails, balusters, pot racks, plant racks, rose trellises, and on and on. In Seattle I made endless hammers, stakes, anvils, and other products for metalworkers. I still have my eye out for a good power hammer. I have a 550 lb Hay Budden anvil that came out of an Amish barn where it was only used for occasional horseshoeing and fixing farm hardware, so it's in virtually new condition. I dragged it around more times from one home to the next, waiting for the opportunity to set up a forge again.

You'll have some amazing fun in the forge. And you can get a small furnace very inexpensively. Watch for anvils early on because they are hard to find and very expensive new in larger sizes. Even for small pieces a bigger anvil is a plus. If you're only thinking about an urban dwelling, you can find a great barndominium in the country near a city -- a barn attached to a house -- where you can set up the barn into a first rate forge plus bike workshop plus whatever. Dream big. Blacksmithing deserves it and gives back big.