This thread is permanently archived
I'm a blacksmith AMA
| Do you have your own proberty to do it on?
Is it expensive?
Is it hard to learn?
Can it be danger/u/s?
Can you make money with it?
| >>262738
1. Yeah, I've got my own property where I forge on.
2. You need some basic stuff to start blacksmithing. Like an anvil or a heavy steel bar/plate, something you can use as an anvil. A home made forge is not really expensive, there are plenty of tutorial out there on how to make one. You need something to fuel your forge. For the first time you could try charcoal, it works well.
| If you're serious about forging get yourself some good coal. 'Christ Centered Iron Works' has a splendid series on fuels for the forge. Also you need tongs. I would by my first pair of tongs and then forge my own depending on what I need. You can basically forge all your tools by yourself if you got the hang of it.
3. It is hard to learn. There is so much stuff that can go wrong.
| But it's also fun and challenging. When I tried to forge my first bottle opener it took me like 6 tries. Trial and error~ Just watch tons of youtube stuff and you'll be fine. Just don't give up!
4. Protecting yourself is important. There can be some quite nasty fumes if you heat up metal with a zinc coating you gotta watch out for that. Otherwise there are sparks hot scale flying trough the air.
| Eye protection is a must! Some cheap welding gloves are good too if you're a beginner. Hearing protection is a good idea too. If you're grinding use a dust respirator mask.
5. Haven't tried it so far. But as soon as I finished my belt grinder build I'm gonna start making knives and tools. Maybe I'll sell some, dunno about that yet. But I guess you can sell stuff like bottle openers or little keychain fobs
| can you forge like a metal dildo?
| >>262760 Sure. Wouldn't be stainless though. Stainless steel sucks, way too hard to forge this shit cuz if you heat it up to higher temperatures than red the steel is no longer stainless.
| what do you like forging the most and why?
| >>262827 To be honest I like forging regardless of what I'm forging. Knives are super cool but so are tools. Imagine forging a fat steel billet and making a hammer from it. Then grinding the hammer, heat treating it and using it the next time you light the forge and get things going. It's amazing!
| So can you make a sword
| Can you make a mace?
| >>263076 OP here. I think I can forge a sword. It certainly wouldn't be perfect but functional, I think. Although I'm not too sure on how to heat treat it. I have to look into that. Also I gotta practice forging bevels first, lol. It's super hard.
>>263079 Depends on the mace. A Skyrim one? Nah. I don't think so. Not yet at least. A simple weight on a steel bar? Sure, why not?^^
| What's the craziest thing you smithed
What level black Smith are you currently
| Is it a decent job? (Economically speaking)
| >>263154 It might sound lame but forging a 1.5 kg hammer was super amazing. Also I forged a pattern welded steel pocket knife.
>>263221 Dunno. As I told you, I'm not selling my stuff yet. It's just for personal use stuff yet. But I think you CAN sell nice knives. If it goes well, maybe I'll go to some medieval festivals and make a live demo or something.
| Props to you OP. Always dreamed of smithing.
| OP what is the most complex thing you have smithed?
Have you ever, or are you interested in, joining pieces together on slides or hinges?
| >>264372 I forged a leaf ring once. That was fun. ^^ I'm still at the very bottom of this craftmanship but I'm learning as much as I can and my skills certainly are improving.
This is an amazing idea, lol. Thank you! I could learn a shit ton of stuff with this sort of project. It just never came to my mind. Awesome, will try it, I think.
| do you have a beard
| What inspired you into blacksmithing?
| Op I got offered to join a blacksmithing club by my college's education director should I do it?
| Is it hard? What does it take to become a blacksmith?
| >>265094 It's not teabag, I guess. I started wacking some scrap pieces of steel to get a feeling for striking steel on an anvil and then I just tried to forge some shit. At first I often overheated my material and it melt. That was kinda frustrating... but I learned to avoid this by constantly checking for the color while heating it up. I failed quite a few times but eventually manages to forge a bottleopener. Start small by forging keychain fobs or something. ^^
| Also check my first few posts at the beginning of this thread, I explained all the stuff you need to get into blacksmithing.
| Oh, and also watch lots of youtube. Christ Centered Ironworks made a neat little set of videos on hammering techniques. Also some oler livestreams of Alec Steele are nice to learn stuff. If you fail a project, look up how other people did it. I watched like 5 different videos on forging a bottle opener until I managed to punch the hole into the steel and make it big enough to fit a bottle.
This thread is permanently archived
| Yo. Been smithing for two years now. I learned it the hard way (and I still learn) by watching other blacksmiths on youtube and trying a lot of shit.