After youвЂ™ve gained some experience blacksmithing, youвЂ™ll be able to make your own tongs. But, for starters, you only need about 1-2 pairs, which you can buy for $30-40 each from a blacksmith supplier. Having tongs that are the right size for your materials makes it much easier to keep a good grip on your metal and improves the quality of your work. Over time, youвЂ™ll need many different tongs, one or two for each thickness of metal that you work with. ItвЂ™s best to get a larger vise that will stand up to the hammering well, and youвЂ™ll need to fit it with smooth jaws so that it wonвЂ™t mar the workpieces. If youвЂ™re not able to get a post vise, you can start with a machinistвЂ™s vise. The place to look for post vises is farm auctions and estate sales. Machinist vises, particularly the smaller ones, can be damaged from the repeated hammer blows. It is designed to stand up to the hammering. There are two main types of vises: the post vise and the machinistвЂ™s vise. Once you develop some skill with blacksmithing, youвЂ™ll be able to make hammers. You can also order various types of blacksmith hammers from a blacksmith supply house. You can usually find these at local hardware stores. You can start with a basic ball pein or a cross pein hammer. WeвЂ™ve also found anvils and other blacksmithing equipment at farm sales, estate sales and farm auctions. A вЂњwantedвЂќ ad in the paper is a good way to find these and other blacksmithing equipment. Even if an anvil has some dings, it can be cleaned up and resurfaced if necessary, and it will work just fine. You can find them for about $1-2 per pound. Unless you have a lot of money to spend, itвЂ™s best to start with a used anvil. My dadвЂ™s first forge was basically a brake drum with legs. You can find blowers in antique stores or salvage them from air conditioning units, clothes dryers or other used appliances. The forge I use is made of brick and firebrick and is more substantial, but IвЂ™ve also seen forges on old farms made from concrete poured into a tractor tire, with a depression for the firepot. The firepot should be about 4-5 inches deep and can be made from an old brake drum. It consists of a firepot to hold the fire, a work surface and a blower. The forge is what youвЂ™ll use to heat the metal that youвЂ™re working.

My little blacksmith shop tools