Hello all,

My name is Bruce and I've yet to hammer steel. I'm slowly gathering my tools and setting up a section of my garage. In the meantime I'm learning all I can here and at weekly Saturday meetings held at a local ABS Journeyman Smith's shop.

I'm a degreed welding engineer with a background in metallurgy (slightly rusty), machining, and mechanical design. I'm getting into this new hobby a bit late in life (55) and plan to develops the skills for a retirement hobby. I currently spend much of my free time with hunting, firearms, and bullet casting. Before selling out a small welding robotics company, I also built and sold bullet casting molds.

Thus far I've acquired a 149 lb "Mouse Hole Forge" anvil in very good condition, several hammers, and miscellaneous tools needed. Building a forge will be next on the list. I've got a good grinder picked out and just waiting to make room for it. Hope to have things in place by spring and attend a Hammer In next summer.