New member in Vancouver, WA | Introductions Come First, Right? | Forum

Hello everyone,

My name's Nathan, I work by day in IT, and like probably a lot of beginners for the past few years, my interest in this craft was piqued by watching Forged in Fire. I saw Nick from Red Troll Forge on the show, noticed he was local, looked him up and thought about taking a class, but then sat on the idea for a year or more. Over the past few months, I found myself watching hours of blacksmithing videos on YouTube and finally took that beginning smithing class last weekend.

I built a simple, cheap coal forge at home that I lit for the first time today, knocked out a basic coal rake and tool rack for my forge box, and got some satisfaction from making something that was usable from my very first firing of my forge.

Hopefully I'll be able to make it up to Longview for one of the events at the mentoring center and meet some more of you soon. The few smiths I've met so far have all been friendly, encouraging, and readily share their knowledge.

I'm looking forward to learning, practicing, and having fun making more things.