Robert Voth Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 I'm interested in blacksmithing for a career and I need someone to do an email interview about how you got started, costs, difficulty, etc. there will be about 25 question. I would really appreciate it if someone could do this for me. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Would totally depend on which of the 150 countries that participate here you are in---which you don't list. And type of blacksmithing---which you don't list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Voth Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 I'm mostly interested in bladesmithing, and i'm from Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Have you looked into attending any ABS school sessions? Do you have the capital to get the tools needed to make a decent living from it? Do you already attend the various local and regional knife shows? Have you taken any of the small business courses available? Remember as a bladesmith you are running a business and being able to do that efficient can make or break you! Being in Canada you luck out in the medical insurance department compared to the USA where one of my standard suggestions is to marry someone with good workplace benefits. Generally I advise people to have a "real job" and make knives on the side until they find that they are making almost enough from the blades as from the job and then convert to full time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Welcome aboard Robert, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the iforge gang live within visiting distance. Is the interview part of a class project or for your own research? Blacksmithing isn't a career rich trade meaning there may be a lot of us but very few make a living at it. Thomas's advice is solid there is much more involved than just beating poor defenseless steel into submission. There are career bladesmiths on Iforge and they may have studied and practiced for a decade or more before breaking even let alone making a living at it. It's a tough path. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 19 hours ago, Robert Voth said: I'm interested in blacksmithing for a career Have you located a blacksmithing group or organization near you and gone to the meetings? These are the folks that are doing what you are interested in doing, hobby blacksmiths as well as those making some money at the craft. As Thomas mentioned, you want to start a business that will end up as a career. The business always comes first because without business experience or knowledge, no matter what the product, the career will suffer. You MUST market and sell the product you produce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 2 hours ago, Glenn said: The business always comes first because without business experience or knowledge, no matter what the product, the career will suffer. You MUST market and sell the product you produce. This is the most common reason businesses fail no Business experience. How to make a million $ in business start with 5 million and quit when you get to 1 million. It seems like at the moment there are about a million folks wanting to be a blade maker, well big question is there sales for this many knives at the high end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorō Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 22 hours ago, Robert Voth said: I'm interested in blacksmithing for a career I find that in this day and age most guys that do blacksmithing do it as a hobby to be honest. But there are a few that are full time blacksmiths/bladesmiths such as Alec Steele, Walter Sorells etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 41 minutes ago, notownkid said: This is the most common reason businesses fail no Business experience. How to make a million $ in business start with 5 million and quit when you get to 1 million. Very true. The most successful businesspeople spend a huge amount of time on sales, marketing, customer service, accounting, and -- perhaps most importantly -- on improving the efficiency and capacity of their businesses' structures. If your vision is make a living as a craftsman, be prepared to spend a lot of time on things that are not your craft. (This, by the way, is one reason that I am no longer a professional craftsman, after spending many years as cabinetmaker, violin repairman, and art restorer. Hobbyist blacksmithing is great fun and tremendously satisfying, but there ain't no way I'm at all interested in putting in the business development work to make it a paying concern.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 7 minutes ago, Gorō said: I find that in this day and age most guys that do blacksmithing do it as a hobby to be honest. But there are a few that are full time blacksmiths/bladesmiths such as Alec Steele, Walter Sorells etc When I was on the council of BABA a couple of decades ago it was interesting to note that of our 600 odd members, 550 or so were professional full time. ABANA at the same time had well over 3,000 members but about the same number (550) of professional full timers. Don't take the actual numbers as gospel...it was along time ago, but the number of professional smith members was about the same in both associations. I think the OP should perhaps do a bit of research on the websites of those two organisations as a starting point. BABA for one has information on training opportunities and routes into the profession. It will be a different route for every individual, depending on family and geographic resources at ones disposal, and luck or timing (zeitgeist) to a certain extent. My story of starting out in 1973 is likely to be entirely irrelevant circumstances have changed so much.. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorō Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 But how long would it take for a person to become a full time professional blacksmith/bladesmith? What I was trying to point out to the OP that its not a common trade. Compare that number with say plumbers or carpenters. Theres no structured training around it its all what you put in and learning on the job where as other trades all have structured training etc. But don't quote me on this I might be wrong. I pretty much started in a friends shed making knives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Voth Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 21 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: Have you looked into attending any ABS school sessions? Do you have the capital to get the tools needed to make a decent living from it? Do you already attend the various local and regional knife shows? Have you taken any of the small business courses available? Remember as a bladesmith you are running a business and being able to do that efficient can make or break you! Being in Canada you luck out in the medical insurance department compared to the USA where one of my standard suggestions is to marry someone with good workplace benefits. Generally I advise people to have a "real job" and make knives on the side until they find that they are making almost enough from the blades as from the job and then convert to full time. Awesome thanks! Thanks everyone for all the advice and tips! it really helps, now i'm thinking I should probably just do it as a hobby instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 For some reason, it's construed as "prejudicial" to include your age in your profile info. But it's quite useful to have that information, when offering advice. To me, the thought of arbitrarily "choosing" a career path, ... based on a flavor-of-the-month whim, ... sounds quite juvenile. Having once been a juvenile, ... ( yeah, yeah so what if it WAS during the last Ice Age ) ... I can relate to that, ... and commend anyone who is at least thinking about their future. To achieve prosperity in any craft-based career, it really needs to be vocational in nature. And in my experience, vocations tend to "choose you", ... rather than the other way around. The "nuts & bolts" aspect of equipping a shop also evolves with experience. I suspect we ALL have shop equipment that we thought we needed, ... gathering dust in the corner, ... and other gear, that we use every day. It depends mostly on the specific tasks you perform, ... as-well-as the way you undertake them. And THAT brings us right back around, ... to experience. Without experience, you're just guessing, ... and once experience is acquired, you won't be asking anyone else about your requirements. And finally, ... with knives, ... making them can be as simple, or as complex as you choose to make it. But that matters much less than you might think. The ESSENTIAL question, ... is who will pay substantial sums of CASH for your product. Until you figure that one out, ... you're just another "starving artist". Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 I have a friend who was a professional swordmaker---back in the '70's and '80's! Top end stuff with a 2 year waiting list. He once told me that some years the difference between showing a profit and not depended on how his equipment was depreciated on his taxes. If you can't be your own accountant expect to pay one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorō Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 6 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: I have a friend who was a professional swordmaker---back in the '70's and '80's! Top end stuff with a 2 year waiting list. That sure is a long time ago Thomas! I wasn't even born yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 I feel old now...... but I have seen Iron Butterfly live in concert... so I guess I am old Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Just this morning I felt 103... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Wow and you don't look a day over 102! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Senor Stevens, 98.6 F is normal you may want to get it checked Just sayin, SLAG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 So, hold at 98.6 to normalize? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Some alloys do not improve with Normalizing and it is contraindicated, (S1 for example), likewise a lot of smiths.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Dear I. F. I. citizens, Some, among us, are hardly normal. And several normalizing sessions have an almost zero chance of achieving normality. I speak with years of experience I personally, have not been normal for decades. How long you ask? Only my hairdresser knows for sure. Sincerely, SLAG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 I would say "normalizing" Most of us would be counter indicated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 after my last leg operation the Doc. said I should be back to Normal in 3-4 weeks, my brother when he heard said "Huh you haven't been normal in the 70 yrs I've known you". Robert Smart move on doing blacksmithing as a hobby can always extent it into a business way down the road but the learning curve needed is a long one both from the craft and keeping the business boat afloat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 notownkid, you seem kind of normal in this crowd... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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