What do you guys do for a living??

What do you guys do for a living??
I work in a call center by day, and i run a smithy at home at night and on the weekends. Going to go full time as a blacksmith/bladesmith and possibly farrier soon.

I sell cheese pizza

I hope you live out of town. Imagine the neighbors having to hear ting ting ting every night.

I just set up my back yard forge my self, just a two burner propane deal, but so far so good. My anvil is still really loud. its a 1900's era peter wright that as seen better days, but it is wrought iron, so i guess that helps a bit.

what do you plan on selling? those cheasy as fuck train tie hourseshoe wine holders they haulk at country fairs?

no i work in my workshop it's not loud.

awesome. i'm using a harbor freight anvil shaped object til i can afford a better one. mostly an old i beam though. it works great. i do my heavy work on that for rough shaping of blades. and the actual cast iron anvil for stuff that needs a horn or hardy tool

you hiring? swinging hard hammers at hot rods is my thing.
Use to be in IT, not unemployed cause retarded(physically).

also i'm working on a propane forge. the burners are the hard part but i've almost got it perfect. can't tell if serious. but no i don't have enough business to need a shop hand or partner. Maybe some day.

Literally work at Harbor and I’ve been researching how to make my own forge and foundry come summer. Coincidental af.

Tfw living with two dudes in an upstairs apartment in a small city with almost no lawn and no garage, not sure how I’m going to pull it off.

well, I got my anvil off of good ol' ebay. the fedex guy was pissed at me. I spent a long time dressing it, and saved quite a bit of cash getting such a relic. tones of chisel marks. I only spent maybe 150 all in though, which isnt bad considering the 75 dollar shipping.

so, really, how much money do you make to consider doing it full time? ive been making bodkin arrow heads for fun, but i haven't really sold anything yet.

Was serious since unemployed however I doubt you live in central Europe.
Hell, Id help you out just cause I have nothing to do for free if you lived near me.

walter sorrels tells of a guy who wrote "the 50 dollar knife shop" i think the author used to work on the balcony of his apartment and how he is making badass knives.

Thats really cool actually

stock removal and tempering lad. no hammer, but still pretty fun. I did that in highschool in my room practically. or if your lucky, you might have a school nearby that teaches it.

Trying to set up my own smithy with a friend of mine
Any tips?
Working as a butcher

i make hard cider
a lot of hard cider

nuthin like being a lil cidah boi

Are you a lord of cinder then?

Initial plans are to build a foundry and melt soda cans into ingots that I’ll use to do some green sand casting, while also using the foundry to get someoractice in shaping rail road spikes I’ll yoink from the nearby track. I’ll probably try to make my own forge if nothings cheap enough

no because i never finished the dark souls series

>I got my anvil off ebay. the fedex guy was pissed at me.
lol
This reads like a Steven Wright joke.

What do you smith?
Show some examples

OP is a pretty cool guy. I'm a portrait painter. Unconventional careers ftw.

hmm. if your getting used stuff randomly like i did, really pay attention to how smooth your surfaces are. any sort of texture on your hammer or anvil will show up in your work.

coal is super fucking cheap, and you can nigger rig a forge will some real basic fan ducting and a thick metal, dont cheap out here, container. break drum is the classic. but propain forges are getting pretty cheap if you go for a one bunner tiny fella, uses regular propain like a grill. really easy.

anvil is harder, rail road track is very usable if you flip it on its end and use the actall cut off edge, get more metal under your hammer. or haurbor freight a cast iron lump and give it a go.

its not a hard as you think, and grinding will help take out all the nasty bit, but read up about tempering and manage heat and pretty much anything can be a knife.

Thread is clearly already derailed, but I'm a white collar business psychopath. I promote synergy and fantasise about killing everyone.

Eh if i can make as much as i made or more at my old job i'll quit it. gotta have clientele. I Make a few different things. Lots of hunters and trappers and bushcraft guys that give me my business now. I'm joining the blacksmith association and taking an apprenticeship for now. Hopefully in 6 months or so that will take me somewhere. Gonna do horseshoes and a few different utensils and tools as my main income, then sell knives at shows and do custom orders.


Nope, usa. but i appreciate the offer haha. i love having people over to be my help hammer stuff.

well thank you sir. It's fun, and addictive. And helps me sleep at night knowing if we have to revert to simpler times *apocalypse, no electricity, etc* then i'm set. The black smith in the walking dead comics got me into it. i wish. i'd be the abyss watchers my dude.

look into the 50 dollar knife shop. also join blacksmithing world or blacksmithing for beginners or knifemaking- a hobby on facebook if you have it. it's where i learned everything i know.

dude i love cider and mead while i'm forging. I do viking seax style knives a lot so it gets me in the mood.

pic included

i made my own forge. it takes coal. i'm also getting a good anvil soon. i'm also well versed in metallurgy.

we are not too different, you and i (op here)

best thing about being a cider maker is the fresh juice tbh. So appley and fresh. It's a whole new experience, nothing like the shit you buy from the grocery.

here's a little boot knife i made. which actually serves as my letter opener.
also i don't really have any pictures of the tools i smith. i make bottle openers, tongs, random artsy stuff, just general scrollwork (leaves, roses, decorative wall stuff, hangers, hat racks, business card holders from horse shoes, etc.

i've read about aluminum casting, its pretty cool. hard to make anything strong, but very manageable. One guy i knew made a foundry out of an old microwave. worked once, but it worked. I have plans to refine some copper/tin malachite ore into a crude bronze blade. Ive been buying up ore on ebay, its funny, its now considered a mineral worth collocating because of its rarirty nowadays. humans really loved the stuff.

good luck pulling rail spikes though lol, they use all sorts of specialized tools for that. and its a federal offense. look for old files, lawn mower blades, car leaf springs, band saw blades, all are good steal.

yo OP

what do you use for dishing?

an old fucking fire extinguisher filled with concrete and welded do some structural steel that anchors it to the ground

not op, but I use the bottoms old air canisters. like oxygen and such. they are really tall and pretty strong if you can find one. hard though.

cold rolled annealed 1094 and any number of tool steel or stainless can be had for like 13 bucks for a 3/32 or 1/8 thick by 2in wide by like 4 feet long. and flat rate of 19 dollars from jantz and new jersey steel barron. cheapest way. no guess work. heat treat is right every time. No room for failure if you know your metallurgy and have known steel.

i have a few. doing that next. thanks.

yeah what i do, but the poor guy thinks he is going seal rail road spikes. might as well point in in the right direction. I use speedy metal, I don't use very much and they send small lengths that fit in my mail box.

dude cast bronze blades are awesome. i love historical builds. my buddy works on the rail road and gets me spikes and track. and my uncle owns a scap yard. so my brass and some steel comes free. i cast brass for bolsters and guards from shell casings and scrap stuff from the junkyard

casing brass is extremely under rated. you can practically pass it off as 14k gold to a sucker.

well lads, this was a fun thread. night time Sup Forums can still have a few cool surprises out their.

Military. Two combat deployments and a whole lot of suicide everywhere. I have two career choices when I get out. Law enforcement, or Private contracting and I’m back in the sandbox. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.