Good morning all,

Man that registration captcha is brutal... or my contacts need replaced, heh, think it took me 15 tries.

Oh well Im in now! Woot

I am a 48 year old in Waterloo Iowa and have had an interest in metal working in some form or another over the years. I do some copper work and now the hot stuff.

Im an IT admin by trade and been doing that for too long it seems.

I had a rivet forge from the 40s as a lawn decoration for years and was working on it to get it up running again. I used that for a few months until one day the pan popped and scared the coal out of me. LOL

Yes I did have it lined but I think I must have got some moisture under it as it sits outside. Either way its a lawn decoration again as I dont want to mess with welding the pan.

I did buy 2 coal forges, one is a large flatbed one with a big ole blower and the other is a rivet style but deeper and larger. The Rivet style has a crank and the cast plumbing for it too!

I am working on a new modern style coal one as well, but just haven't got very far.

I now mainly use a propane forge from Outlast Forge from southern Iowa. They have a nice little forge and supply the burner, wool, satanite, and the HTC100 or whatever its called again.

All for about 250 but can be less for Vets and mood of the day, heh. He is on Facebook if you wanna look it up. He even does some custom larger ones that are double burner and seem to work pretty slick and are a nice style.

I can get my single burner propane one up to 2300F and the lowest it goes is 1500F.

So I found a group in Des Moines that is a great help and a great group of people that range from the Forged in Fire fanboys to the experienced old timers that show to smell the coal burning and talk about the ole days. Great guys!

I am interested in getting started in bladesmithing along with the other avenues of metalworking.

I have a FB page Waterloo Area Blacksmithing and have tried to post stuff that worked and didn't, so people can learn from my mistakes some.

I tried a few things with a blade and had 1 work and 3 that didn't. I am working on a coil spring into a draw knife for woodworking for a friend, but getting to the point that I am ready for more grind and then the HT.

I am a little nervous on it, Ill tell ya what. Lots of hand hammering to get it where it is and would really like a mark in the win category.

I seen on one of the forum pages that I should grind to 120 or better and the length of the blade so I have no cross scratches to give it a home for a stress crack.

Ill dig up my shop photos and post soon.

Anyone that wants to swing by LaPorte City and swing a hammer or have a beer while I do, let me know.

Would love someone that was closer than the 2 hour drive to the closest group I found.

So, looking forward to the forums and hope to be posting some wins and some lesson learners.