Hey yall 
Where do you live?
North Carolina
How did you get started?
Creating an account here after weeks of research and reading blogs and articles and such
How long have you been in the craft?
About 30 seconds if you count joining this forum.
What has been your most proud project to date?
Figuring out how to receive the activation email for account creation. 
So, that out of the way, i would first like to say thank you for being here. it’s good to have a place to pose questions and learn from others.
I have long been a lover of swords. for as long as i can remember, and i’m 44 now, i’ve been fascinated by swords and armor, mostly medieval. I’m an IT guy with almost 20 years of professional experience in the sector, but prior to that i was basically an unskilled laborer. lots and lots of roofing, framing, form setting, etc. so while i am now fat and lazy, that wasn’t always the case. I’m no stranger to hard work, though it has been some time, and I am under no delusions about how long it is going to take me to get to the point where i am skilled enough to do what i want to do.
Which brings me to the point of joining in the first place.
at some time in the fairly distant future, i want to make tiny versions of everything. like, jewelry sized swords, shields, armor etc. and i dont mean some cheapo “made in china” lookin stuff where you grab whatever steel is available, i mean functional weapons and armor, for like, mice or something lol. i want to, eventually, use high grade materials that would be appropriate for real, full sized, armor and weapons.
again, i have no delusions. i figure it will take me at least 5 years (probably optimistic) to get to the point where what i am making is considered well made by experts who actually know what they’re doing. I understand that there is a LOT to learn, what the various metals are composed of and how that effects what heat levels are required for the various stages of forging and heat treatments, what kind of forge to use, what fuel should be used for what application, the quenching materials, the tools. etc.
I also have no delusions about jumping right in to doing what i want. it will require years of practice on much larger objects, learning how to manipulate the materials at a much larger scale and once proficient, miniaturizing the the process to achieve the results i want.
I guess what i am looking for is a place to learn what i need to know to do what i want to do. but i don’t want anyone thinking i am under the impression that it will be fast or easy. i am fairly sure that i understand that there is a reason why blacksmiths, and more specifically, sword smiths and armor smiths, were the backbone of human civilization for millennia. I have absolutely no doubt that, while very different, this is not, at a knowledge level, very different from learning what i know about networks and computers and such.