I finally finished up a fabricated railing project that has been languishing for a couple of months. This is for the house that my brother used to own down here and the railing needed to match the style of the existing ironwork - stuff he'd made when we did all the remodeling on the place eight or ten years ago. So I pretty much had to try to match his design style, which was a bit of a challenge for me.  The final railing is pretty much all straightforward fabricated work with one tiny little piece of forging for an accent.  :-) .

I'm about to start a project building a propane metal forge. This is the latest in a flurry of activity brought on by tragedy. I recently lost a very good friend at work when he unexpectedly passed away. This left a coveted opening on day shift that I was able to move to. This change in working hours has had an unexpected effect on me after working night shift for 14 years: I have energy again. My wife just thinks I've gone crazy. Maybe it's because I build a spud gun last week, I dunno.

I am just begining in the metal field, Blacksmithing being my mine muse. I am so happy to have found this site. What a great source of information and inspiration for me at my finger tips.

When I say I am just beggining, I mean it. I have no background in any metal or iron what so ever. My Grandpa was a mechanic and also worked for an electric company in Illinois. My Uncle Tim is a gear head, mechanic and retired race car driver. He still works on cars. I guess much of my interest has been fueled by them. I have always been interested in the history of Blacksmithing and the metal arts in general, I just recently chose it as a path for myself and I have never been so excited about something. I have researched a great deal of books and I am always looking for more. At the present I am reading "The Art of Blacksmithing". I really enjoy it as it goes into the history and details different types of metals/irons. It also described how to make charcoal which I fully plan to try. I can't wait really. I am not sure when I will have a chance to do this but I can think of nothing else.

A fun, fast project for family...around 15 hours, give or take...i don't usually make critters, but this was playful enough :)

This is the crank handle which goes on the other side of the door mount. It makes the two little hammers (left side on overveiw pic) strike a brass bell and the steel coil in front of it alternatively.