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And in Santa Fe, NM, and in Minneapolis, MN, and in many other cities and towns all over the country. If you want to get into it, find a chunk of iron for an an

And in Santa Fe, NM, and in Minneapolis, MN, and in many other cities and towns all over the country. If you want to get into it, find a chunk of iron for an anvil (railroad section, the anvil on a vice, even a sledgehammer held fast), a pair of pliers or anything to hold the hot metal, a hammer, and some nails; get a wood fire extra hot by blowing into it through a metal tube (curtain rod with the seam taped), can even build a fire on the end of a log and coax it to burn down into a bowl of coals, heat the nail until it's at least cherry red, and start banging away to get a feel for shaping the temperature-dependent "clay". I gave away most of my blacksmithing equipment, but until I die I'll keep the wonderful feeling of shaping metal.

BanazirGalbasi 3y ago
Honestly the biggest restriction most people probably have is lack of space. I'm not even allowed a grill at most apartments, let alone a fire hot enough to work steel. I've been waiting 15+ years to start at this point, so a few more until I can buy/rent a house won't kill me.
- kibwen 3y ago
  There may be a forge in your area that you can rent time at. Here's a place on the edge of Boston that offers both classes and an "open smithy" for working on your own stuff: http://www.prospecthillforge.com/ http://www.prospecthillforge.com/ (if nothing else, click for the nostalgic Web 1.0 design)
  - treyd 3y ago
    Went to this place a few months ago taking one of the intro classes, the guy that ran the class is super nice and has a very fun teaching style. You man the forges in pairs so it's a good idea to take the class with a friend.
- neverartful 3y ago
  I'm pretty sure the hammering noise (ping, ping, ping...) would quickly become a problem in an apartment complex.
- bluGill 3y ago
  Many city parks have grills that can be repurposed into a forge. Annoying to pack everything in and out, but it can work '.
- hacknewslogin 3y ago
  There's a ton of metalwork techniques that don't require heat at all. Some can even be done with only a few hand tools. I started with Chainmail when I was 14. If you're not coiling the wire to make the rings yourself, you can make a ton of things with only two pairs of pliers. I highly recommend one of those pairs be parallel pliers.
wellthisisgreat 3y ago
Hey thanks a lot for the inspiring words > I’ll keep the wonderful feeling of shaping metal. Could you expand on that please? I connect with those words on some level but would love to hear more about what’s special about it. One of my grandfathers was a blacksmith unfortunately he died before I got old enough to ask about the philosophy of it

BanazirGalbasi 3y ago

Honestly the biggest restriction most people probably have is lack of space. I'm not even allowed a grill at most apartments, let alone a fire hot enough to work steel. I've been waiting 15+ years to start at this point, so a few more until I can buy/rent a house won't kill me.

kibwen 3y ago
There may be a forge in your area that you can rent time at. Here's a place on the edge of Boston that offers both classes and an "open smithy" for working on your own stuff: http://www.prospecthillforge.com/ http://www.prospecthillforge.com/ (if nothing else, click for the nostalgic Web 1.0 design)
- treyd 3y ago
  Went to this place a few months ago taking one of the intro classes, the guy that ran the class is super nice and has a very fun teaching style. You man the forges in pairs so it's a good idea to take the class with a friend.
neverartful 3y ago
I'm pretty sure the hammering noise (ping, ping, ping...) would quickly become a problem in an apartment complex.
bluGill 3y ago
Many city parks have grills that can be repurposed into a forge. Annoying to pack everything in and out, but it can work '.
hacknewslogin 3y ago
There's a ton of metalwork techniques that don't require heat at all. Some can even be done with only a few hand tools. I started with Chainmail when I was 14. If you're not coiling the wire to make the rings yourself, you can make a ton of things with only two pairs of pliers. I highly recommend one of those pairs be parallel pliers.

wellthisisgreat 3y ago

Hey thanks a lot for the inspiring words > I’ll keep the wonderful feeling of shaping metal. Could you expand on that please? I connect with those words on some level but would love to hear more about what’s special about it. One of my grandfathers was a blacksmith unfortunately he died before I got old enough to ask about the philosophy of it