Stories behind smithy/forge names...

[Leah]

I call my place "Pink Hammer Forge." What can I say - I'm a girl and my hammer is pink. Besides, you guys already had all the good names.

[Brian C.]

I call my little hobby operation "Beat & Pry Forge". Got the name from some long forgotten maintenance man at our plant who had soapstoned "Beat & pry pipe shop, subsiduary of ? Metal works" on a giant fan housing.

My wife told the kids a little diffeent story, she says that that describes the way I work on things. ops:

[the other dave]

I call my hobby shop the "southpaw snail smithy". I'm left-handed, work slow and smithy is the old english term for the shop that a blacksmith works in.

[elkdoc]

Love hearing these stories!

When my brother was visiting recently and lending his carpentry skills to putting my out building on a permanent foundation for shop use I fed him a meal of Tex-Mex food. After going back to work in the shop he suggested that we call it the "Heinous Anus Forge".

Wise guy... :wink:

[Dan Crabtree]

Crabtree Forge.... bet no one can figure that one out. Im so creative.

[dief]

Desert Rat Forge cause I is a desert rat. I also thought about Rusty Coyote Ironworks.

[bruce wilcock]

Dan has it in one, just nail your name over the door,and be done with it ,then get on with some work,some of the biggest names in the Sheffield cutlery trade started with a name scratched on a slate

[sandpile]

The one I like the best is BILL and DIANNE DAVIS"S forge name 'LAZYASSED FORGE' not necessarily because of any inclination to sit.grin. They like mules and raise and train them, therefore the name of their forge.
My mark on my knives, spurs and smithing is simply, C.BENNETT-- with DALHART TX. right below my name. It works for me and is easy to put on every thing.

Sandpile

[Tom Stovall]

My shop sits three miles north of I-10 and three miles east of downtown Katy, Texas, in an area that used to be mostly rice fields and cow pastures. The Katy Prairie is the southern terminus for the Central Flyway and winters more snow geese than any other area of the USA - most winter days, I can look out the north doors of my shop and see more geese in a day than most folks see in a lifetime.

I thought of naming my shop the "Blue Goose Forge", but since I planned on being in business the year 'round, I called it the "Katy Prairie Forge." I've since shortened it to "Katy Forge" because I keep forgetting how to spell "prairie."

A factor I overlooked when naming my business is the fact that things change: The Katy Prairie is being rapidly overrun with housing developments and sooner or later, I'll have to move the shop. I don't want to change the name of the business because I've got a certain amount of name recognition, so when I move, I'll just tell folks I finally gave in to my oldest granddaughter, Katherine Stovall - whom we call "Katy" - who thinks the shop is named after her.

Burr Oak Forge sounds great to me - and it doesn't have any place name baggage.

[elkdoc]

Wow. Thanks for all the stories folks! I've enjoyed all the insight into your shop names. The name of my own shop is still up in the air. It's nearing completion, but since it's just a weekend hobby shop it's really no big deal. Needs a name, though. If for nothing else but for the sake of fun.