"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
Forging it ain't as easy as those guys on Youtube make it look . The
problem around here is that there is nowhere to get instruction
except the craft school . And they tend to cater to the "I've got
more money than sense" crowd . I mean 350 bucks for a 2 day course
in knife making and materials are extra just isn't in my budget .
Lucky for me I have a blacksmith neighbor who is willing to point
and laugh , then tell me where I went wrong ... and the thing is ,
you can often just heat it back up and correct the mistake . Right
now I'm making tools to make other tools to make "stuff" , maybe
some knives , but more likely things like hooks for a pan rack ,
drawer pulls and cabinet handles , other small household type items
. And very likely things for the shop . The whole reason I started
down this road was because the neighbor referenced above didn't have
time to reshape a couple of chunks of steel for a screwless vise for
the milling machine . Who am I kiddin' , I've wanted to do this for
some time now and that was a great excuse . Now if only all this
sheetrock would mud and tape itself , I'd have more time to burn my
fingers fumbling my way to blacksmithing hackdom .

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !


My take from the blacksmithing class was that instead of a forge and
larger anvil to hammer the too-thick parts thinner, I needed acetylene
to build up the too-thin parts thicker, and smooth out the lumpy mess
from trying to build up with stick or MIG.