Philosophies of life and finding the new me

I'm starting a new project. The last project I took on was the building of a fire pit, which I believe, turned out pretty well. I've only had it a few months and there have already been some good memories made. Now I am doing something I have wanted to do for years. I am building a blacksmithing forge. Funny thing is, the reason why I am doing this, and the reason it has taken so long, are intertwined. I believe in the immediate gratification world in which we live, where you can go to the internet and listen to any song you can think of, shop online, order food online, watch movies, etc we, as a society, are losing the abilities to actually do things. Working with our hands is becoming somewhat of a thing of the past. Or at least that's the way it seems to me and for the purpose of this post, and this idea. My dad, for example - dude is 80 years old this past june 1. He is constantly working, doing something, making things, fixing things, being active. He knows how to work with his hands because he's done it all his life. I am learning from him and am thankful he has those abilities and that drive. I will never be the man my dad is, but I hope in attempting to follow in his footsteps, I can honor his life at least some. Dad has taught me... well, pretty much my entire troubleshooting skill set. He taught me to look at a problem and work it down to its most basic pieces and start from there. I have also learned the joy of turning bowls out of wood from him. I have made a few, and while I'm not nearly as good as he is, I'm getting better. This new project I am taking on will be the first large scale of my own making, that will allow me to create things with my hands, like dad does with his bowls. Initially I plan on making knives, because I know a lot about knives and other weapons, I understand the different parts and what makes them up. But later on, I will expand my abilities to include anything I can make that will be useful.



So, it begins. Last week, or a couple of weeks ago, not sure when, I discovered videos on youtube of people making homemade forges. I light went off. Ever since I was a little kid, and I went to a craft show with my parents and saw a dude there with a blacksmith forge, making things out of metal, I was in awe. Maybe it was because metal, at least in the relative short lifespan of humans on this planet, seems like a constant, immutable, permanent thing and to be able to manipulate that is akin to some kind of magic, or maybe it just harkens back to a simpler, more appealing time, I don't know while I was so enamored with it, but I was. Since that day I have wanted to do that. But my default approach was "where/how can I buy a forge"? It never occurred to me to just make my own. This goes back to what I was saying about the immediate gratification world in which we live. I'm trying to change my default reaction from watching to doing. Back to the youtube videos - watching these people make a working forge out of everything from a hole in the ground lined with refractory cement, to a dump truck brake drum, to a metal box lined with fire bricks got me to thinking. I thought it would be cool to have some kind of sink, possibly two sinks, one for the forge itself, and one for a quench basin. So this weekend I went scavenging. It didn't take long, actually the first stop I made. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, but I figured I'd know it when I saw it. I wnt to the local habitat for humanity and found an old kitchen sink. It wasn't but 20 dollars, so I figured what the hell. If it didn't work, I could donate it to my sister's yard sale. I knew the sink part, the coating, was porcelain and I know porcelain is fireproof... What I didn't realize was that the rest of the sink is made of cast iron. As it turns out, it is all around perfect for what I'm going to do. As of right now, I have removed the forge-side drain and the next step is to get some furnace cement, coat the forge side to a quarter of an inch thick or so, then I'm going to buy a cast iron drain cover, a large diameter pipe with a valve, connect that pipe to a smaller diameter pipe and to that, I will connect a hair dryer for use as a bellows. I can disconnect the bellows pipe from the large diameter pipe when I need to clean out the forge side, and turn the valve and dump all my cinders and ashes down the "drain". On the other side of the sink will be my quench basin, just a sink full of water. For that side I am leaving the drain in place and will get a simple PVC pipe with a valve that I can close to hold the water in. Then it's just a matter of buying some metal tubing and building a frame and my forge is complete. I am very excited and plan on taking pictures along the way. Unfortunately, one crucial piece of the blacksmith forge has yet to be purchased. And I cannot make this. It's the anvil. It's something I am absolutely going to need, and will have to purchase. Again, unfortunately, those things are expensive. Around 250 dollars for a good 75pound anvil. So for now I will be using my 3/4 thick steel hammer plate for an anvil. Crude, but it will suffice. It has to.