Help building a forge/blacksmith shop

Where does your buddy live? I have a cousin who is a smith at a pioneer settlement type place in FL. He's a proud member of the florida artist blacksmith association they have a few regional FABA groups on the facebook. I couldn't tell you shite about smithing, outside of I know nothing about it. I'd assume most states may have an equivalent somewhere, but I could be wrong af about that.

Is he only going to be working with pewter? If so, a metal forge won’t be needed as pewter’s melting point is fairly low.

He does historic pewter but is wanting to expand but won’t let me help him so I’m gonna buy all the shite and ask to put it on his land so I can use it. Life’s too short to not say frick it and do what you love. Fear is a hell of a roadblock. Thanks man does your cousin have a website or something ?

The OT is amazing.

"Historically accurate smithing?"

Yeah, my cousin does that.

Have you ever done any blacksmithing before? Have you ever forged anything?

I ask because it matters. If you haven't, start by sinking as little money into it as you can. Find a source for soft fire brick (usually online at kiln supply places). You can easily make a small forge out of two soft fire bricks, a hacksaw, and old chisel, and a paddle drill bit. You'll also need a small container of refractory cement which can sometimes be found at Lowes. Look up how to make a "two brick forge".

You can run it off of your grill propane tank and a propane torch. Buy the cheap anvil at Harbor Freight. Then, all you need is some scrap steel and common tools.

Make some simple things using this setup and decide if it is for you. Don't sink a lot of money in making some big setup until you know he and you actually want to do it on a bigger scale.

This book can walk you through everything I just typed, in detail. The setup is transferable to most basic blacksmithing.



ETA: I only caution you to take this approach because I have bought a lot of good equipment at really cheap prices over the past ten years or so from guys who went whole hog into it only to decide it really wasn't for them. I just sold a big Hay Budden anvil a couple months ago that I got in a deal like that.

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This book can walk you through everything I just typed, in detail. The setup is transferable to most basic blacksmithing.

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Amazing this helps a ton. Amazing advice

I'll also suggest that you start hitting some flea markets if you have any good ones near you. You don't have to spend a lot of money on new blacksmithing hammers, tongs, etc. You can find good, quality old tools that have been around 100+ years at flea markets if you know what you're looking for. It'll all be rusty and won't look pretty, but it doesn't take long to knock the rust off and get them in good working order. You're also much more likely to find a decent anvil that won't cost an arm and a leg at a sale/market than a shop or online. Hay Budden is my favorite because it is a high quality, forged anvil that people don't seem to lose their minds over quite like a Peter Wright.

Ebay can be a decent source for tools, too. You can get deals there by looking for lots of hammers and tongs. If you don't know how, learn how to put a new handle in a hammer. You'll need that skill.

Getting into the power hammers and such, I'm not much help on those. I've always been just hammer and anvil, but I don't do much of that anymore. I make a few knives all along and some small things, but full time or heavy blacksmithing wasn't my thing. I still buy tools and such when I find them, mainly because I like old forged stuff and I know guys in that line of work looking for the stuff.