A newbie...

[Paladin of The Light]

I have long wanted to play with hot steel. Unfortunately time and money have for the most part prevented this. Little by little I have acquired odds and ends that I might need to set up a little smithy. Actually I'm doing ok, I figure I should be set to go by the time I'm say 90 or so LOL!

But seriously. I have been mulling over the various types of forges that I should start with. I'm leaning toward a gas forge, simply because it's cleaner and quicker. Perhaps will try coal at a later date. Being a budget minded guy, I'm probably gunna be left with cobbling something together myself. I have a spare propane tank to start with.

I would be grateful if any old hands had any tips to offer on getting a starter forge set up.

(P.S. I worked in the LPG industry for 8 years, so I'm fairly familiar with the safety aspects of working with gas. Just need to know what setup will get the steel to the best temperature.)

[Night Wolf]

this is a man whom i consider a friends site, his one of the best smiths in the world IMO...only 6 others i know at his caliber of smithing. setting a gas forge up is relatively cheap...you can get 99% of the stuff required at scrap yards. i'm building a new one myself...

http://www.cashenblades.com/Info/Gas%20forges.html

^^^ specific to the forge...

http://www.cashenblades.com/Info/Info.html

^^^ info about metal and other forging nitty gritty...

hope that helps.

[Paladin of The Light]

This is great stuff! Thanks!!

[Night Wolf]

no problem, if you have any questions regarding it i'll happily answer or ask friends whom know.

also any other questions in general. :cool:

[Finrod Felagund]

Also see: http://swordforum.com/

THis is a wonderful resource, lots of smiths of varying degrees of skill. Ususally are happy to answer serious questions about making, handling, etc., swords.

[Night Wolf]

watch sword forum, i have the 5th highest post count on there and alot of members tend to be elitist little snobs...they get there panties in a knot with alot of things.

[Finrod Felagund]

If you really want to get them going, mention Titanium and watch the fur fly...
Yep they can be that way but Iv'e found that if I ask specific questions and try to be polite, they aren't too bad... But they might be more receptive to someone trying to get into smithing than some joker asking questions about making a sword from some game or fantasy movie

[Night Wolf]

yeah well new members havnt always been met in the nicest way...i'm close to the 4000 post mark on there, and have seen how alot of them react. I'm a mod on www.axeforum.com which for one of those reasons was started...we wanted a place to talk about ALL weapons and leave the pompus attitude at the door.

I've been offered a position with a smith in 3 years time when my apprenticeship is complete...there were those on there when i started who doubted me, and took me for one of the many noobs on there, well i'll be proving them all wrong...then i can rub it in there faces when they continue to dream about something and i actually do it lol muhahahahaha

[Finrod Felagund]

wow, old school!
I've visited that site too,
I tend to visit the Tolkien Forum on Sword forum only, I'll usually brows the other threads b/c someone has asked the question before me.