What is a cheep way to get into the craft?

[efarley]

Hello,

I've always had a fascination with blades and sword making and as an adult I've learned to love cooking, so as it goes I'm interested in creating my own knife(s), but as I watch videos and read about the craft I'm finding there isn't a lot of information on a cheep way to get your foot in the door and see if it's for me, and most tools are priced for professionals that sell blades which isn't something I intend to do unless it turns out I make awesome knives. Instead of selling knives I envision a future where I make myself a nice set of knifes and make some knifes to give to family and friends as gifts from time to time.

From what I can tell I need 3 expensive things.

Forge: These actually don't seem crazy expensive and I've found some that look decent for a few hundred dollars, but that is still a lot more than I'd like to spend unless I'm making blades regularly. I've seen some videos on making a coffee can forge which seems like it would work great for the forge. Has anyone tried these, would they work fine to forge and harden a 8 inch blade w/ full tang?

Anvil: I am still struggling to believe how expensive these things are! It's unbelievable how much a simple hunk of steel with a rounded pointy bit costs. I've see some people making functional anvils out of rail road track, so if I can find some track cut into a short piece then I could make an anvil, but I'm not sure where I'd find that so some other options would be great. Again I intend to make a chefs knife with a blade about 8 inches long, so whatever I use needs to work for that.

Grinder: All I keep finding is these big giant grinders with like 70 inch belts that take up tons of space and cost thousands of dollars, this seems like so much overkill for someone just trying to make their first knife and see how they like it. I keep thinking that I should just be able to get a table grinder from Lowes like my dad had. I know the belts would wear out quickly due to how short they are, but other than having to buy a bunch of belts would this work?

Hopefully I make a few knifes out of rail road spikes and get bitten by the bug and decide to buy all the fancy tools but for right now I'd like to forge & harden an 8 inch blade and not spend over like $400-$500 for everything I need. Suggestions?

Also before anyone suggests it, I'm not interested in the cutout and grinding method of knife making. No offense to anyone that does it, as clearly some incredible knifes are produced this way but it feels like cheating to me. A lot of the draw to knife making I have comes from the process of using only fire and sweat to turn a block of metal into a functional piece of art. Using a cutting wheel and grinder just doesn't strike the same cord.