Greetings and welcome to any and all! My name is Liam, and I am a self-taught bladesmith here to give those interested in bladesmithing advice and tips for starting out in this exciting craft. I do not claim to be the best at what I do, but I have learned a lot about starting up this hobby.
My start to bladesmithing was slow and painfully embarrassing. I saw a video of master blacksmith Tony Swatton making a sword, and immediately wanted to do the same. I told my friends and my relatives about my hope to start blacksmithing without actually doing any research first. When I finally decided to do research, I immediately gave up. The purpose of this site is to reduce the amount of people who gave up as I did. I gave up after seeing how expensive belt grinders, anvils, and forges are. It took me a while to realize I didn't need any of those things to start out. All I needed to start was a $20 dollar angle grinder and some scrap metal I found in my grandfathers workshop.Since then I have made dozens of knives, and learned a lot along the way.
I plan to format this site so that each post is focused on one aspect and give the full extent of my knowledge to that subject to make your bladesmithing experiences go smoother. Feel free to contact me on my contact page if any aspects are unclear, or if you have a specific topic you want to be addressed.
My start to bladesmithing was slow and painfully embarrassing. I saw a video of master blacksmith Tony Swatton making a sword, and immediately wanted to do the same. I told my friends and my relatives about my hope to start blacksmithing without actually doing any research first. When I finally decided to do research, I immediately gave up. The purpose of this site is to reduce the amount of people who gave up as I did. I gave up after seeing how expensive belt grinders, anvils, and forges are. It took me a while to realize I didn't need any of those things to start out. All I needed to start was a $20 dollar angle grinder and some scrap metal I found in my grandfathers workshop.Since then I have made dozens of knives, and learned a lot along the way.
I plan to format this site so that each post is focused on one aspect and give the full extent of my knowledge to that subject to make your bladesmithing experiences go smoother. Feel free to contact me on my contact page if any aspects are unclear, or if you have a specific topic you want to be addressed.