Back in the states, I used to blacksmith in my backyard. Always loved it but I gave it up when I moved here. Years later, I’m married, about to move into a big house with a good amount of backyard originally used for growing fruits and vegetables. I do plan on starting a garden but my wife and I went on a trip to Bizen last weekend and visited the Bizen sword museum. It’s also a working craftsman center and I got to play with traditional Japanese forging tools. It reignited my old passion for blacksmithing (sorry for the pun) I’m aware it’s probably impossible to do at home, but I can’t find any real regulations online except specifically referring to forging 日本刀 or 新刀. But what if I were just making ornaments, art, tools etc. Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
4 comments
IIRC there are no regulations regarding it for personal use.
I was looking into it years ago but decided it was to big a PITA to get an anvil to my house never mind what to do with it if I moved. For a forge you can find plans online to make a self adjusting induction furnace that will melt steel almost as fast as you can move it through the induction coils – just be aware that the 50A or so it pulls will probably require a new main breaker. This makes a lot more sense than the old propane burners because IIRC you can only get a propane/butane mix which has significantly lower BTU than pure propane.
Yahoo auctions has some used/inexpensiveish tools and anvils.
AFAIK there are no rules that prohibit metal working at home as a hobby. There might be a permit required or at least some registration if you plan on storing compressed gas cylinders for welding.
Wow this was faster than I thought. I built all my equipment back in the states, so getting started isn’t the issue. I just wanted to know the legality of it all
Your neighbors may fucking hate you for the sound.