illinois here
 

Hey everyone my name is Jon and i am 27 years old. I was born and raised in good ole central Illinois. Ive always been fascinated by metal fabrication. I learned how weld at a young age and have been doing it ever since then.
Ive been wanting to learn metal shaping for some time now and im finally going to do it. That is once i can walk again. Im wanting to learn how to do it entirely by hand, no power tools just yet. I have a good assortment of hammers, dollies, and spoons from doing bodywork over the years, and my wife bought me some hickory mallets, a leather sand bag, and a steel slapper for my birthday. Well thanks for stopping by and reading my rant. I hope to learn alot you guys on here. Oh and one more thing if anyone has any good thoughts on tools a beginner should not be without please let me know, thanks.

Jon

welcome from another il guy.
sounds like you have the basic tools just need a little project to get started.
what are you interested in cars bikes art ?

what part of central il if i can ask?

Hi Jon, welcome to allmetalshaping, a good hollowing hammer will shape steel panels quickly if used in conjuction with a sand bag or a stump.

David

HI Jon welcome to the forum
you have all the tools you need to start, and like David said all you need now is a hollowing (blocking) hammer.
Learning by hand is a good choise
Peter

Welcome aboard!

Tools are just toys, the techniques are what is important.

thanks for the replies guys. uncle johnny im from the peoria area specifically bartonville. My passion lies within cars, all cars, but in particular it started out with mini trucks when i was a teenager and over the last few years it has grown alot towards hot rods. When and if i ever finish my truck and sell it im goin to look for an old model A sedan.

i have been looking online for places to buy different tools. I am very picky when it comes to my tools. when i need them i expect them to hold up and perform as expected just like everyone else. so far i have found vanzantent.com and tinmantech.com tinmantech is where my wife got my most recent addition to my family. Im hoping that they have good quality tools there. i had seen that they carry Martin hammers and dollies and etc. which is what i have had now for about 10 years and im happy with those so i hope thats a good sign with the rest of their tools that they carry. What are some other suppliers or manufacturers that you guys would recommend.

For hand tool i go to Gulley Performance or Dagger Tools.

Gulley has marton tools and he is a great guy..

Craig from Dagger has some good stuff also.

Im in staunton so if you get down this way stop in.

There is also a meet coming up in golden in a few weeks you should stop in if you can.

Hi and welcome Jon! :)

Welcome Jon,

What part of the area are you from? I live between Washington and East Peoria.

Welcome to the site...
If you can stop down for the meet.. May 12th weekend..
2666 East 2200th
Golden IL.. 62339

Easy to find..