I'm not sure if I would quality for the traditional blacksmith title as I am really more of a blacksmithing-related tool maker. Hand-forging is held to a minimum. (However, my birth certificate lists my father's occupation twice as Blaksmith.)
You are welcome to get ideas off of my eBay Store: Poor Boy Blacksmith Tools. Most of the ones I offer can be made with a bandsaw, angle grinder and arc welder. You can steal ideas and make your own - as a lot of other people do also.
On anvils, do not, REPEAT DO NOT, purchase one from Asia (
China or Russia). Either cast iron or something like semi-steel. Horrible shape with a duckbill horn and usually no pritchel hole. However, I do recommend them for buoy anchors as you can put a chain through the hardy hole. Not bad as gluing weights either. Slightly better than using your shop floor.
Apparently someone in Alabama (Birmingham?) is casting one for flea market sales with U.S. on side. Cast iron. A friend bought one and the horn broke off the first time he used it. Those for sale by Grizzly have a somewhat traditional anvils shape but are also imported Chinese cast iron.
For a bit more money you can purchase a good used U.S. or British anvil. Rough rule of thumb: Cast iron body with steel plate (e.g., Fisher or Vulcan), $1 - $2 pound (and, IMHO, Fishers are worth about twice as much as Vulcans of the same weight). Wrought iron or mild steel body with a steel plate (e.g., Trenton, Hay-Budden, Arm & Hammer, Mouse Hole or Peter Wright), $1.50 - $2.50 lb. Cast steel anvil (e.g., Columbian or Swedish), about same. Really only new cast steel anvils are U.S. farrier models or imported from Germany or Eastern Europe. Prices there are $4.00 lb and up.
What is it about blacksmithing which appears to people? Well, you get to do a lot of the things your mother use to holler at you for, such as: playing with fire, getting dirty and making a lot of noise.
If you have close neighbors making and giving things to them from time to time really works. None of my neighbors are all that close, but when one brings me by something they need work done on, I usually stop what I am doing and complete it for them.
And, ohooooo, I am starting to get powerhammer fever.
P.S. It is the Artist Blacksmith Ass'n of North America (ABANA). Their web site is
www.abana.org. To find blacksmithing groups in your area use their Affiliate link.
