[Dana Acker]

Well hey there pcpc201, how's things in Alabama? Did y'all get hurt much by Hurricane Laura?

So you're new to blade smithing? Well we all started somewhere.

I've had a love affair with knives since I was a youngster and my Dad took me to see John Wayne's "The Alamo" at the movie theater, ( I'm dating myself). Remember movie theaters? Once I saw Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark) pull out his famous knife, I was hooked.

It wasn't until many years later that I got into knife smithing. Took a few classes up in the mountains of NC. and actually got struck by lightning at my first lesson, during a wicked thunderstorm. But that didn't deter me.

My first forge was made from a tractor trailer brake drum. I had an old hand crank blower, and an anvil made from a chunk of railroad rail. There was a coal source not far away, and that's how I started.

The Neo-Tribal Metalsmiths who I joined a couple of years later were big on using only muscle powered tools to make knives, proving that one didn't have to have a large, well equipped shop filled with expensive machinery in order to make some diverse, nice looking, and quite serviceable knives.

So, what are you using and what are you making? If I can be of any help, give a shout out.There ARE ways to do more with less. Thanks for introducing yourself.