Getting started in metal work

PEP really gets you thinking, it stirs up my creative juices all the time.

In the kitchen, I always look at something in a jar and think, I can probably make that. And then I do.

Wood is pretty easy to get started and it helps that I had woodworking classes at school for three years.

Metal on the other hand, was until recently a total unknown for me. Then I started watching “Forged in Fire” and “Metal Shop Masters” and thought . . . That’s expensive and big a investment. However, they’re Pro’s at the top of their game, probably grew up with metal workers and it’s their passion. I do plenty of stuff with wood and I don’t have a Bourbon Moth style workshop.

How do totally greenhorns get started in metal work? What’s the minimal equipment for each of the Sand and Wood Metal Working badges? I need tools and I’m increasingly thinking, maybe I can make them. I’d love an adze, a froe and some 18 inch spikes for starters.

I really shouldn’t be starting this conversation as I already have way too much to do and on my mind. However, as I’m renovating a house and planning a garden workshop, being able to work with metal makes a lot of sense.

Did you go down the same path? How did you set up your first shop? Are there introduction courses for crazy 52 year old Brits living in the US?

You can really go down a rabbit hole with metal work. Blacksmithing?, take a look at ABANA, Artistic Blacksmith Association of North America In the past they published a Blacksmith Journal that would walk you through different projects. Their Anvil Ring magazine is blacksmith nirvana beautiful work.  Many of the books on my shelf are published in German but the processes are visual so my limited Norwegian helps a bit.

Robert Ray wrote:You can really go down a rabbit hole with metal work. Blacksmithing?, take a look at ABANA, Artistic Blacksmith Association of North America In the past they published a Blacksmith Journal that would walk you through different projects. Their Anvil Ring magazine is blacksmith nirvana beautiful work.  Many of the books on my shelf are published in German but the processes are visual so my limited Norweigian helps a bit.

Thanks Robert. ABANA looks interesting. When I lived in Wales in the late 70’s there was a blacksmiths on the corner of our lane. Must have been one of the last of it’s kind. I loved sitting and watching him shoe horses.

Hey Ed;
I have no clue exactly what the pep badges require but metal working is great fun.
Blacksmithing is really a big step. Quite a bit of tools and a forge and have you ever priced an anvil?   Crazy expensive!
And at 52... starting blacksmithing might maybe could be for a 20-year-old... just saying...

You might think about getting a small suitcase wire feed welder.
They are in the two hundred dollar range so not free but not super expensive for what you can do with one.
Before you say you do not know how to weld, let me assure you that with a wire feed welder and an auto dark welding hood you can weld!

A drill, some pop rivets, and a rivet gun and you can build without a welder.
Bending metal is best done in a metal brake, but clamping and bending with a hammer is also acceptable.

Lots of cool stuff to do with metal.

Give it a go you just might like it!

My advice would be to get a small 110V wire feed Mig welder to start your 'metalworking' journey.  You can make a great many things with sheet or scarp metal without getting into full blown blacksmithing; as long as you can join metal.  As you get further into it, propane forges are very poplar and have a ton of information avialable as to how to craft your own forge and things one can make without a full blown foundry in your garage.

A little heat and metal pipe and you can take a lawn mower blade of leaf spring and make a froe.  Some rebar and a welder and you can make a turning fork.  But most often you will need to join one piece (or end) of metal to another.  Welding is that basic skill.  That is where I would recommend starting, unless you are ready t make a serious commitment to the smiting trade.  

Thanks chaps. I did some welding once when I was fourteen and totally forgot about it until it was mentioned. That sounds like a good plan.

As is the way with the world, I visited my local farmers market today and met a blacksmith! It was his first time there. He’s also new to the area, so looking for commissions. He also teaches basic intro courses. Could be the start of a beautiful relationship. I’d like him to make me a froe and repair the broken door to my future wood fired bread / pizza oven.

Here’s his website : Riff’s workshop for anyone in Mid Hudson area. (He also escaped NJ!)

A third comment here in support of getting a small cheap welder! I started metalworking in 2020 in the height of covid. I bought a ~$200 welder off Amazon that is still going strong right now. The downside to a cheap unknown brand welder is getting replacement parts when something inevitably craps out. If you have access to 240V then an old Lincoln tombstone welder could do you well for cheap. If not then there are plenty of 120V capable wire feed welders out there. You can go the cheap amazon route but be wary of getting parts. A cheap brand name option is this one from Hobart. $300, 120V flux cored, and from a well known company.

If you plan on doing aluminum on some point, you'd want either a TIG or a MIG welder. Stick welding aluminum CAN be done but it is a last resort process. Believe me I tried it at school for fun and it was a wild ride.

But yeah, with a small welder, a couple grinders, a drill, and a vice you are pretty much only restrained by your imagination.

Oh, and protect your lungs!! My favourite respirator filters are the 3m 2097 pancake filters with nuisance level organic vapour relief. With those filters on I can't smell a single thing, welding or grinding or being outside the paint bay at work.

Good luck!

Thanks Cam - great info. I’ve been sanding acres of floor boards so have a similar mask. It’s amazing how much you can smell when you take them off.

I have a 240v clothes drier that came with the house and we don’t use. The cable runs through the basement, so I’m thinking of repurposing. I still have a bunch of domestic appliances that use 240v that I brought with me when I moved to the US. Not exactly to code . . .

Anyhoo . . . Plenty to think about.

It did cross my mind that someone has probably built a rocket forge. 30 seconds on the internet, and yes, people have built rocket forges. Another rabbit hole . . .

Careful Ed, you know what happened when Alice went down the rabbit hole!

I think the metalworking badge is lined up pretty well with getting into metalworking.  Making a simple anvil is in there and I think making a forge is as well.  You can build a simple metal forge with some internet research.

The neat thing about metalworking is that the main material involved (steel) is pretty affordable.  You can take $15 of metal and make a $200 thingamabob.  In the wood department it seems like you need $100 of wood to make a $75 thingie.

Reviving this old thread because I took an arc welding class this week-end and it was amazing.

It's through a maker-space type of workshop - places like this are popping up in most large cities, and are a fantastic trend IMHO. In my case, the teacher was a retired welder, clearly a true craftsman, and also a very talented communicator.

I took the introductory/exploratory class this Sunday, and will follow-up with a project class next week-end where we will build a pocket rocket stove (so quite in the permie spirit!). I'll then be able to use their equipment autonomously, or pay a small amount to work alongside a mentor. Makes a lot more sense financially too to pay 20-30$ an hour to use a fully equiped, fully maintained pro-workshop with an expert who can provide advice than thousands to get equiped at home with lesser machines.

It was a bit intimidating to get into welding - and probably doubly so as a petite woman - so having a good instructor was key. But I realized it's actually mostly about fine motor skills, precision, and understanding that the material will shift in not quite euclidian geometric ways. Not entirely different from sewing actually.

I'm really looking forward to this journey. I don't think I'll make metalworking a significant hobby - I have way too many of those already - but I'm delighted to add a new arrow to my quiver. Already I can see to many ways this can be useful (first autonomous project will probably be to weld a good anchor to my daughter's kickscooter so she can lock it up on a bike rack. )