New guy from northern California

[Steve Nielsen]

Hello,
I'm brand new to the site. Like many of you I've been playing with metal most of my life. for almost 20 years I designed, installed and manufactured air suspension kits for mostly custom trucks. Nine years ago, December 2012 I sold everything to start a new chapter as a full time artist. Since then I've been learning from trial and error how to shape metal. I use mostly 18ga-16ga stainless steel as you know stainless is much harder than mild steel, making everything I build more difficult. I currently use a variety of hand anvils, a TM Technologies pneumatic hammer with multiple size air units, 14 gauge Baileigh shrinker/stretcher, 36" Mittler bead roller.
In the near future, I plan to build a reciprocating power hammer with thumbnail dies, and a new English wheel using the Hoosier profiles.
Happy to be here and learn from everyone. Also happy to share any knowledge I may have to help others.