[TheForge] Advice for a beginner

[Bob Ehrenberger]

Andy makes a good point about developing your hammer control.

When I took a class from Tsar, he told us that when he apprenticed with 
Hoffie he had to make 50 nails every morning before starting the day to 
develope his hammer control.

You still need to do other things to improve your skills and provide for 
your shop. but time spent doing basic exercises will pay off in the long 
run.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.
eforge at centurytel.net

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 16:35:49 -0400
From: Andrew Vida <osan at netlabs.net>
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Advice for a beginner.

This may not sound very glamorous, but exercises to develop your hammer
control would be a really good place to begin.  Take some of that rebar
and square it up - all edges stick-straight, all corners 90*, and all
faces flat and parallel.  Then taper make some octagonal stock from the
square, and round from that.  Taper an end gently, square flat and
straight.  Turn some of those tapers into cones by going octagonal and
then conical.  Do a hundred or more of these, all the while paying
strict attention to what you are doing with your hammer blows,
endeavoring to correct your errors.  This could keep you busy awhile,
but if you stick with it you may find yourself in possession of some
skills many smiths lack precisely because they never did these exercises.

After that, start making accouterments for the forge like a poker,
shovel, rake and so on.  You will need them in any case so the sooner
you get them done the better off you will be.