Hobby blacksmithing

[TradLife406]

I played way too much kingdom come deliverance the past month or two.

Kind of thinking about setting up a forge to tinker with. Something my kids and I could do.

There's way too many dudes making knives and selling them. Don't want to be that guy. Just want to give my boy something to mess with. He's obsessed with making toy knives and swords from whatever he can find.

Anyone know how to start? I see there's a lot of different DIY forges on YouTube.

What other basic tools do you need besides an anvil?

Too bad taking railroad spikes from work is a fireable offense

 

[survivalistd]

What's more important your son's happiness or your job??

 

[Lil-Rokslider]

Forge, tongs to hold whatever dimension stock you are working with, anvil, rounding hammer, steel to make whatever you want.

That's the basics, and like anything, the further into it you get, the more things you can buy. The cool thing about blacksmithing is that you can make yourself the tools that you don't have. Make a bunch of different sizes and styles of tongs, hammers, hardy hole tools, punches, drifts, etc....

By the time you've made what you need you'll be better and forging, understand how metal moves, have better hammer control, and have a bunch of tools.

 

[AZDC]

If you’re close to a city you can go to a makerspace and try it out while you gather tools

 

[Nicaburns]

There are lots of great YouTube vids to get started, Christ Centered Ironworks, Black Bear Forge etc.
I made one set of tongs an decided I wanted to make knives and not tools so I buy my tongs from fiery furnace forge but there are lots of choices.
It really doesn’t take much to get started but you can go down a rabbit hole awfully fast!