blacksmithing

What are some good tongs for someone just getting into blacksmithing? The anvil has been built, the fire ring is ready to go, but no bellows yet. Seems the next logical step is a set of tongs?

Rather than buying an anvil, I decided to build one out of a piece of track and tie plate I found in my grandfathers old barn. The barn is maybe 75 - 100 years old and has various pieces of farm equipment in and around it. There are various examples on youtube of railroad track anvils. A lot of...

Are railroad anvils ok to start blacksmithing? I landed a piece of track that is 15 inches long and 6 inches wide on the base. It just happened to be in my great grandfathers barn. The stand will be a piece of creosote treated power pole. Related thread -...

Anyone have an anvil made out of railroad track mounted? I have seen a couple of examples on youtube and am trying to figure out what to do. In this example the guy mounted the anvil on a couple of railroad plates. I thought about tack welding the plates to the track anvil and then use lag...

Is charcoal needed for blacksmithing, or can I use straight pine or oak? I am working on getting an anvil setup and the forge is next. Can I do primitive blacksmithing with regular wood or do I need to make charcoal?

Anybody have good links for DIY smelter plans? I have a few that seem needlessly complicated, was hoping to find something more straightforward.. I would really like to get this prep done as i believe it would be invaluable for recycling scrap metal into repurposed tools

Just finished my first knife related project- a tanto balisong for my friend, now I have a taste for knife-making :D: I am going to pick up some steel this weekend, was just hoping people might have a few templates already drawn up. If you got em, post em please :D:

Part One of a new series showcasing some Homesteading and Pioneer living skills. We recently attended a public festival demonstrating some of these "old school" skills. In this video we toured the festival and talked with some of the folks demonstrating these skills. With some of these people...