A Forging We Will Go

I just finished Week 2 of a welding workshop at Phoenix Metalworks Atlanta. It's awesome. This week we did forging, and I can hardly type because my forearms are killing me. Here's a shot of the forge:

That's Jake mostly holding up the assclownery portion of the evening. Here's Kyle perfecting his taper:

That hammer looks small, but that junk is heavy. Incidentally, this is also a shot of me hugging the forge because it was somewhere around 34 degrees outside. As the night went on we decided we were getting kind of warm, but we couldn't take our jackets off what with the molten debris flying through the air. (Except for Jake, obviously.) That's when I decided that anyone that forges in a temperature above 34 degrees Fahrenheit is completely insane, end of story.

This nights' projects were a hook:

and a leaf, both of which we drilled holes into with the drill press for the purpose of hanging:

My leaf is anorexic, mostly because I kept forgetting which rod was being used for which project. Kyle's leaf is more robust.

The first week of the workshop covered oxyacetylene welding and cutting. Here are the bits that I cut and welded:

I have decided that I like this very much, and plan to purchase a torch, turn my backyard into a scrap heap, and explode the house at my earliest convenience. After attending Week 2, which I also enjoyed, I have decided that maybe I don't have the Popeye forearms required to make forging a full-time hobby. But I'm having a blast and can't wait for next week!