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How to Start Blacksmithing as Hobby

 

 

Blacksmithing can be an interesting and fun hobby to practice. It is known as a common job in middle ages, and now it has been millions of years ago. However, recently it has been an interesting hobby to try out. For years blacksmithing has been a promising job. As technology advances, traditional methods used in blacksmithing have been left behind as factories adopt the use of modern technology or machine to create their products. In last two decades, blacksmithing has made a came back, but not as a profession, but some people take it as a hobby. It sounds weird or nerd, but you got to admit that this thing could be something you never imagined being a blacksmith. It looks hard at first because you have to take a metal cube and then you have to shape it using hot fire. It looks dangerous also, but when you have known the technique and then got your creativity on it, you will be simply gone and happy to do blacksmithing as a hobby. You don't need to worry if you want to try because there have been so many classes you can join and claim yourself as newbie blacksmith.

How to start blacksmithing

First of all, you may need to know the basics. Blacksmithing is the art in manipulating or creating something creative with iron and steel using heat, then you have to follow the basic steps including the safety guide, and also things to prepare before you start blacksmithing. Preparation is the key to success as a newbie. So, the first thing to prepare is, of course, a forge. You have to set it well as forge is the main key of blacksmithing where you can create anything with steel and iron there. In the forge you have to prepare, there is need for hammer, safety kit and the right place to manipulate your hot steel. You can use gas or coal to burn the steel and make it soft ready to mold and reshape it.

The second thing to do after preparing the forge is to learn the color of metal you should have when you are going to start blacksmithing. You should place your iron or steel in the heat source you have built in a forge. As the source is getting hot, you could put the iron on the heat source. The time when you are ready to do hammering is by seeing the color of your steel. The first color you will see on the forge is red and then yellow. When you let it burnt, it will turn into white when it is melting. The good color for blacksmithing is orange or yellow because it is the proper forging temperature. Don't wait until the color turns into white color. You may fail to hammer when the color is turning into white. You have to keep the color of your steel in orange or yellow color.

The third thing to do is hammering. It is the art of shaping the metal. The skill in blacksmithing is high in this because the core of blacksmithing is in hammering or shaping. There are many ways to do it and you can get it through classes you can join for newbie blacksmith. You just can make anything when you are hammering the hot metal. You can make sword, knife etc. Another way besides hammering is welding. It could be called as an advanced step in blacksmithing. As you may not be able to do single metal in hammering because you are a newbie, but in welding, you could make it double. Put two pieces of iron in welding heat and then join them together.

That's all for the beginner steps in blacksmithing. The keyword in starting this hobby is the patience and skill that you cannot earn fast because it needs time to build the blacksmithing skill.
 

 

Related hobbies: Glassblowing, Gunsmithing, Candle making

 

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