Hit 1,000 hours on my anvil and it hit me different than I expected

I was cleaning up my shop last weekend and added up my forge time from the log I keep. 1,000 hours of hammer swings and heat treating. I mean, it didn't sound like a huge number at first, but then I started thinking about all the failed projects in that pile. Like that first set of tongs I made that still sit in the corner because they don't grip right. Or the ten different bottle openers that got tossed before I figured out the curve. When I realized I had spent a whole thousand hours just learning through mistakes and little wins, it made me appreciate how slow this trade really is. Has anyone else stopped to count their time and get surprised by what it adds up to?

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the_joseph2mo ago

That first set of tongs you mentioned, I still have mine from year one. They're bent, the rivet is loose, and they mar every piece of hot steel they touch. But I keep them on the rack as a reminder that 100 hours in, I was still proud of those crooked things. Once I hit about 800 hours, something clicked where I could finally look at a mistake and know exactly what I did wrong instead of guessing. The real kicker was when I added up how many pounds of steel I went through just learning to forge a simple S-hook. What was the project that took you the most tries to get right?

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mila_campbell252mo ago

Funny you say that @the_joseph, I think my record for worst return on investment was about 40 hours just trying to forge a simple leaf hook that I could've bought for five bucks.

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