Forging
I was 14 when I first saw someone forge. They heated up metal until it was red hot and shaped it with a hammer. I became engrossed in the craft, obsessively watching videos in my free time. I eventually managed to convince my dad to help me build a forge so that we too could take part in the artform.
Photo Gallery
The forge itself is made out of an old helium tank lined with ceramic fiber forge insulation. It has a hair dryer hooked up to an opening to supply oxygen and a propane tank for fuel.
Although I have not been consistently making things since the age of 14, there are many things that I am proud to have made. One such thing is this metal cane that I made with my dad. The wrapping design was made by intertwining two pieces of rebar and twisting them around each other, changing the direction occasionally to create interesting patterns.
Here is the design on the handle of the cane. The notches were made by squeezing the metal with the teeth of pliers, leaving indents in the metal before twisting it into a spiral.
The summer of 2021, I began to create a knife, crafting it out of an old railroad spike. I twisted the handle while it was red hot to get that spiral design and hammered the spike repeatedly to flatten out the blade.