Black smithing kilted

**Southern Breeze** · 26th March 06, 05:13 AM

Blacksmithing as I've found out is as addicting as kilts. I've been doing for several years. A great site to checkout is Anvilfire.
http://www.anvilfire.com/

**Nick** · 26th March 06, 08:56 AM

Hi Greg,

You can get started with an extremely simple setup. I've seen some ingenious methods of building forges, including holes in the ground and Radio Flyer little red wagons! Leaf blowers have been used as an air source to power the forge. You can also go with gas, but I will always prefer a coal or coke forge (charcoal is another fuel that can be used, but I never have). Baisically, if you can get steel up to an orange heat, you've got a servicable forge to start out with.

You can start with hammers with good sized ball-peen hammers. 2 and 3 pound crosspeens are probably the most popular, and can be found in hardware stores. My #1 hammer is an inexpensive Truper that I picked up when I first started, and after a little cleanup it's served me well ever since.

Any hard bit of steel will serve as an anvil. Some use railroad tracks. You can also get the "Harbor Freight" anvil from eBay cheaply. It's something you'll want to upgrade from, but I still have mine close to hand if I need a perfectly flat face or a very sharp corner.

Yes, you'll probably want to keep the PV, nylon, polyester, and acrylic kilts away from the forge, but that's true of any garment. And when smithing kilted, I'd suggest hose and boots that don't have an open top than can catch anything. Regular work boots or combat boots are what I've been looking at.

And definitly research around the web. Start with Anvilfire, and go back to it often. Definitly the best resource. But there are several others as well.

Good luck!
Nick