I'm a big believer in using a whompin stick. I've got a pickaxe handle that I use for heavy work and a wooden mallet I made out of pecan for lighter straightening.
I do the point differently than Kevin, not saying it's better, just the way I was taught and I teach. I forge from barstock, if the piece is short I weld a handle onto it. I'll put the bar on anvil at a slight angle with the tip on the edge of the anvil. Brace the bar tightly against your side (which is why you wear a leather apron)and hammer the top corner of the bar back towards you. It will bulge, so you turn the bar on it's side and flatten. Keep repeating until you get the bar pointed in, hit the point back, flatten the sides. Initially it'll take a while, with practice, good heat and a big hammer it doesn't take long. After I get the blade pointed back, I hammer the general shape I want the blade to follow.
I bevel blades a little differently also, not better, just the way I was taught. I'll forge a taper from ricasso to tip then I forge the bevels from the tip back to the ricasso. I'll hammer a bit from the tip, then follow the line along the middle of the bevel, then follow the lines until I get to the spine. I keep the blade shape under control with the whompin stick and wooden mallet. Most people get different mileage than me so take the way I do it with a grain of salt.
Your other option is to hot cut or grind the end of the bar back to a 45 and shape the tip that way.
You know there's a guy in Maine that's pretty good with a hammer named Don Fogg. He teaches some blade/sword smithing classes at a school in Auburn, Maine or somewhere in that area.
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