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[kisame12794]

In light of Girlinhat's recent chainmaille topic I have created a thread for Blacksmiths and any other people interested in learning about this ancient trade. More pictures will be posted as they are made, found, and requested. Any questions you have will be answered as soon as I can, or if I can't answer them I will point you in the direction of someone who can.

PICS!

Several shots of my forge.

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Some knives I have made.

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Some random crafts.

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[Biag]

Question to kick off the topic: I have been mildly interested in getting into blacksmithing for a while. What'd be the typical price of entry?

[kisame12794]

Well it depends wheter or not you want to get a full sized anvil or a proper firepot. My anvil sits at 150 pounds and cost 300$ canadian. My fire pot is an old brake drum sitting in a metal table I threw together that cost about 100$ to make, this will vary depending on the size of the table and how much you could recycle. Whether you want to use coal or propane will count too. A good gas forge can be anywhere from 300$ up. An 80 pound bag of coal can cost 120$. So all in all Expect to spend anywhere from 50$ to 3000$. It all depends on what YOU want. And that is only startup costs. you have to buy material and tools. It helps if you can get old metal lyng around or in scrap yards. Again it depends on YOU.

[SolarShado]

Posting to follow

[_DivideByZero_]

Posting to follow

[klingon13524]

PTF.

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That's a hipster abbreviation for posting to follow

[Hubris Incalculable]

... anvil ...

My Opa (German/Dutch for Grandpa), who has a love for hands-on work and anything mechanical or metal, uses a 1-foot section of discarded railway track for any anvil-like use. I don't think he uses it for any hot metal, though.

[kisame12794]

You can use an old section of railway for hot metal too, but you have to harden it. A block of steel 5 inchs by 5 inchs by 10 inches is good enough for an anvil. Some smiths prefer smaller anvils because they don't need a large one to do all the things they want.

[Nospherat]

Absolutely awesome.
Watching this topic for pics

[Aklyon]

As am I.

[Anvilfolk]

Awesome! More blacksmiths!

Not to steal the thread, but here's a couple of pictures of pieces that I did when I "apprenticed" for one year.

Unfortunately, since I went back to Portugal and then to the USA, I haven't had time, money or place to set up a decent workshop, so I've barely done anything since then

Share your pics, shaaaaaaaaaaare, want more blacksmithing! Grarrrhhh!

[kisame12794]

CALM THE F*CK DOWN. Pics incoming soon. Real soon.

[kisame12794]

Like how about now? Soon enough?

[Eagleon]

Here's the only thing I have of my old work, when I still had equipment for cold working anything respectable. Whole thing is around 3 ft, with 6 inches of usable handle, the sheath (work-formed thin steel tubing, very simple and light) adding another 6. It's not a clever design - the most that can be said of it is that the balance is fantastic, towards the back of the blade and just above the non-existant guard. It can double as a nasty club with the sheath on, but it's basically a costume piece since I had no way to temper the steel the way a light sword needs. Fittings made from leather, wood, strong masking tape, steel wire, faux sinew, quartzite, and sweat.

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I miss making stuff Kisame: I love the twisted handle design Very elegant. I've always liked the simplicity of single-material stuff.

[Anvilfolk]

That's a nice looking workshop! Man, I miss the smell of a forging workshop....

Aren't you worried that the walls will catch on fire though? The heat of the forge canopy itself is brutal!

The horseshoe looks pretty damn good too, very symmetric, nice I'm personally not a fan of making blades of any kind. It's just super boring having to polish it to all hell... it's like, 10% forging!

Share more! Love seeing what people do And by the way, iforgeiron.com has a bunch of interesting projects you can do, and it's a real friendly community!