After prepping it properly with rigidizer and refractory mortar, I finally got to properly heat her up and hit something.

I'm pretty happy with my first attempt ever at forging anything, though it felt like it took me forever! (About 2 hours!)

Hello folks,

Does anyone here have experience smithing in a (rural) residential zone WRT noise levels?

I'm talking the 2-5 acre lot size "country residential" type area, not shoulder to shoulder subdivision.

Do you find you're generally able to smith indoors/outdoors during the daytime or did you need to do any special modifications for noise reduction to keep good relations with the neighbours? Soundproofing required?

I was originally planning on having a (covered) outdoor area for a forge. But we were looking at 20+ acres originally. An interesting lot has come up but its smaller (4 acres) and closer to neighbours so I'm trying to figure out if we'd need to change our blacksmithing plans. If outdoor isn't possible on these lot sizes without complaints then I'd need to pull permits for a structure which would be a bear to get approved for noise reasons I'd reckon

Dinner bell triangle set with Ringer and Strut to hang it from. The ringer hangs on the triangle when not in use. The strut is probably the largest "hook" I have made and the larger curve is the size of the horn on my tiny anvil. I haven't found much difference in sound quality from quenching the triangle in oil, I wonder if that's just something people say?

Stocking hooks! Got to practice two kinds of tapers and try an offset for the first time. Plus they fit my mantle exactly which is pretty nice

This project went sideways real fast when I ran low on gas and couldn't forge weld. Still I got some workable buckles for my leather apron and learned how to do it better next time. Ignore the cold shuts on the tapers I made these from previously forged scrap/mistakes

Halloween decoration holding up the punch I made this afternoon. Made of S7 so it should last a bit

Made penannular broaches, made enough to recoup cost of material and fuel and profit!!

I made a pair of log dogs for my dad for $10 worth of rebar. These can cost around $50, so they were well worth the time.

The process was really simple. Heat the rebar til pliable, and bend it in a vice. Re-heat, and quench in oil.

I thought this was cool, and my dad was super happy with them.

(I'd make and sell them if anyone was interested :) )

Please see the link to the ABANA forging fundamentals.

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