Hi From London Ontario

Welcome to CKM. First, let me apologize. Lot's of people have been hooked by pounding on a railroad spike. It's like a gateway drug. There really ought to be a warning on those classes.

If you are wanting to get into forging, I suggest looking at using steel pipe or an old propane cylinder for your forge. Small brick forges are great for heat-treating, but the square nature of the bricks tend to generate hotspots in larger forges. A tubular forge encourages the vortex motion in the forge which will give you a more even heat. Since you're starting out, I'd consider a vertical design too. You'll get better heat for less gas and better forge welding. There's lots of good information around, and plenty of good forge designs to be found.

And if you want to get straight to making knives, consider starting with stock removal. It is (or can be) cheaper and faster to get into the knife making part.

 

Welcome Callum. Finally another Ontarian... (we're seriously outnumbered here). I'm down in Kingsville Ontario. Welcome aboard.

speaking about forges... i recently, via friends of friends, learned about a stash of old scuba tanks. I'm thinking they may be the perfect size for a forge. My brother is a diver and i'm going to measure up one of his to see. If you can't find a tank or a smaller pipe, propane tanks are cool but the forge ends up being pretty huge. I have to say, i'm still a fan of the coffee can forge but i don't know if you can them hot enough. I use mine for heat treating 01.