A Total Newbie Wanting to Learn

Blacksmithing
#1

Hi there!

I’m very new to the DMS community but so far I’ve loved it. I’ve gotten to meet some really cool and knowledgeable people and I can’t wait to keep meeting more of you all!

I’ve been very interested in learning blacksmithing for a number of years. Eventually I would like to get into blade smithing, though I assume that there are quite a few basics I need to learn and concepts I need to practice before jumping in to that.

I just wanted to post and see if there is anyone who would be up for showing me some of the ropes! Also, because I’m so new here, I am not sure if people typically pay for things like this. Any feedback/help is super appreciated!

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#2

Right now things are kind of restricted for social distancing. I don’t see a monthly meet-up for blacksmithing on the Event Calendar at all. OTOH, it’s summer in Texas – we might be skipping because it’s Damn Hot.

@HankCowdog is one of the knowledgeable blacksmithing folks. He’ll know whether there’s a charge or not for the blacksmithing. Typically, the student pays for supplies. Some committees charge a bit so that they’ve got the budget for repairs.

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#3

There is no charge for the induction forge/KMG grinder class. The intro to Blacksmithing and open forge class (Propane and sometimes coal) has a $10 fee to cover fuel and the materials for the class project. It’s likely that outdoor classes won’t resume until September -it’s too hot out.

Joe Brown is now the Blacksmith Chair (@jbrown885). You might check with him re: classes once classes open back up. You might be able to work out a 1-on-1 class with him or Dave Rosenfeld the vice chair (@dsquared).

There are slide decks for the induction forge and KMG on the Committee Drive and hardcopies in a blue binder on the shelf in Metal Shop if you wanted an advance look at the training materials.

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#4

Thank you for the info and for tagging the right people in your post! I appreciate the help!

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#5

Great, thank you for the info!

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#6

I was about to tell him where to find the Committee stuff on the wiki, but I realized that might not be the right place. Is it on the wiki, or in that google stuff? I haven’t gotten into the google… stuff…

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#7

Neither. It’s on the shared “Committee” hard drive on the Jump Servers (and virtually every PC in DMS).

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#8

What are the best books on blacksmithing that would be good to start out with?

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#9

Personally, I like Mark Aspery’s books the best. They’re a little more than some others, but you can by straight from him and they are very well laid out. http://www.markaspery.com/School_of_Blacksmithing/Book_1.html

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#10

This is a good book, and if you work through all the Wizard exercises, you end up with a pretty good set of starting punches and tools (which I have not yet done :frowning: )

This book is also pretty good and has a series of projects which build on earlier skills.

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