Blacksmithing

Blacksmithing is a really interesting thing. You need a tool? Well, why not make yourself
one? The best tip I can give to someone who is interested in doing this kind of work, is to
get a mentor. Taking one class with said mentor you may will decide if the craft it’s not for
you, and I don’t blame you, since it takes too long to get anything right. If you do like it,
you better be asking the right questions in the class, the ones that apply to you, a
beginner, like “how do I grip the hammer?” “Where can I buy a forge?” It’s going to be a
100 times better than spending hours and hours of research in google and YouTube and
hey, you paid for the class that a professional is giving.

Now to be honest with you, nobody in Tijuana is interested in giving a forging class to
anyone, I’ve already researched it, so might as well give some tips in how to get started.
For an anvil you can use just a block of steel, never use concrete or a rock, I already
broke a piece of my sidewalk doing that. The complicated part is making a forge or simply
known as a furnace, I’ve seen a lot of designs for a DIY furnace, but the one I like the
most is one where you simply secure fire bricks so they form a small square in the middle,
drill one side and insert the burner. It’s pretty durable, the least expensive and simple to
construct. Let me make an emphasis on the name “fire brick”, don’t use any other brick
or they will explode, seriously. For the hammer you can use whichever you like, there’s
special ones for blacksmithing but I doubt it will matter at the start.

With that setup you’re good to go, just search up simple exercises, like keychains or rings,
which will help you out with controlling the hammer and start using more complicated
exercises until you get the hang of it. I hope you enjoyed this little talk, maybe one or two
got interested in this craft, have a nice day.

References:

Forno Bravo. (2019). Brick Primer: Choosing the Right Brick Oven Bricks.
September 29, 2019, from Forno Bravo Website: https://www.fornobravo.com/pompeii-
oven/brick-primer/
 S.D. Kimbark. (1902). Manual of blacksmithing. September 29, 2019, de The
library of Congress Sitio web:
http://www.memory.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2010/20100512001ma/20100512001m
a.pdf