chyancarrek

Oops- should read:

"My circumstance as described is anecdotal and there will always be people who can afford to buy but they occupy a very narrow margin of the consumers."

I am sad to hear that, I was kinda hoping high value artisanal hardware and items would not be affected.

Unfortunately CB, those items and types of purchases are some of the first to be effected. High end artisan work work is typically paid for with discretionary/disposable income and that's in very short supply right now with folks scrambling to hang onto their homes. I specialize in high-end accessories for the home and have an established clientele - How quickly the work has evaporated has been amazing.

The circumstance I describe is anecdotal and there's always people who can still afford to buy, but they occupy a very narrow margin of the consumers.

Hardly any scrap yards left around here - just shredder operations where it's "dump & go" - no wandering around.

Used to be a great one called Koppe's Metals - they'd let me kick around as long as I liked. *sigh* . . . the good ol' days.

Real drop off for me - probably about 70 percent over the last six months.
I'm ok as everything I have is paid off and have very minimal debt but it's hitting a lot of folks real hard. I've recently started working part time with an artist in his studio (bronze sculpture) to make ends meet without hitting the reserves.

Lots of full-timers are calling it quits in these parts too - I've gotten a number of blacksmith auction emails over the last couple months.

It's tough right now - if you've got a steady day-gig, stick with it and let smithing be a sideline - it'll be difficult to drum up enough start up business to make a go of it.

eambo,

I produce my work and run my business in the exact same way - reclaimed materials only, buying equipment and various supplies and tools where available on the second-hand market. It's a practical approach to my that allows me to run with a very low overhead and has nothing to do with "saving the planet".

I live in a county (Washington State - USA) that used to be predominantly farm and timberland but has been completely over-run by development in the last 30 years. Most of my metal comes from the old-boys who have rusting hulks of farming and harvesting equipment in their back lots. With each piece I make, I include a card that gives the provenance of the material - "This piece was forged from the hood of a 1946 Oliver bulldozer, etc.". My clients take great delight in having that information.

When it comes to the "green" movement I don't claim to be cynic or zealot - I'm just motivated by the idea that not "fouling the den" is a makes-sense way to approach life and when presented with folk who are posing to be green while living completely outside those ideals, a certain level of cynicism creeps in. Building a 5000 Sq. Ft. house for two people is not being green no matter how many reclaimed or recycled materials you use . . .

If I wanted to teach metalwork I would look to do it at the community college level which often has classes in welding and machining; when you get folks who *want* to take the class they are a lot easier to teach!

The above is a good idea.
My metal arts professor did exactly that and revived a defunct course in welded sculpture at the local college a number of years ago. She integrated it into the commercial welding courses and it's seen great success in enrollment. It spawned a whole new group named 'Women Who Weld" and they've done a number of public arts placements in the last couple of years.

I run into that same kind of question a lot and it's usually delivered by practitioners of "eco-ethics of convienience". They love to question others about their impact while turning a selectively blind eye to their own. I especially like it when they're asking it with a cup o' "corporate-coffee" in their hands.

What I'd like to say . . .
It's an argon bottle dopey, it was reused many times and contributed to the production of many other goods and products - can you say the same of the carbon footprint of your designer running shoes?

What I'd end up saying . . .
The "carbon debt" for that tank was paid through it's life performing it's intended purpose and what's done for it's next life has less impact than if it gets sent back through the recycle process.

First of all if you want to do blacksmithing on your own as a career what you really are saying is that you want to run a small business that happens to be blacksmithing.

This sums it up really well.

If you're thinking about doing smithing for a living you have got to put how you're going to structure your business first. Write up a business plan, where will your funding to get started come from? What kind of work will you focus on? Who is your market? How will you make yourself known to that market? This list will be very long - check to see if you have SCORE (I believe that's their name) volunteers locally - these are retired business professionals who volunteer their time to help people make sure they have all of their ducks in a row.

I've been a full time blacksmith and woodworker for a little 8/9 years and like Ornametal Smith, I started out selling to family,friends and coworkers. I made the decision early on to purchase everything up front. I worked long and hard and made a lot of sacrifices so that when the time came, I paid for my home, shop and equipment outright. I then decided to only use no-cost reclaimed materials for all of my product - My operational overhead is very low and only consists of consumables, power, insurance, taxes and marketing/office expenses.

I developed a very niche product line (hammered iron serving dishes, small furniture, components for other artists work etc.) and have enjoyed a level of success that up till now has provided me with a comfortable living. I'm certainly not getting rich by any means but I do get by and I love what I do.

My approach certainly won't work for everyone - I'm single with no family to support - I'm totally dedicated to my craft and forgo many (or all, as my friends tell me) luxuries and distractions that most people indulge in.

All that being said and even with advantaging myself the way I did, the current economic situation in the U.S. has made for a 70 percent reduction in my sales over the last 6 months. I've recently started working part time with another artist in his studio/gallery to make ends meet so I wouldn't have to dip into my reserves. The point here is, always expect the unexpected. You won't be selling anything anyone needs - it will all be based on impulse buying and disposable income and that's the most fickle market you can service and much scarcer in today's situation.

The other posters here have made great comments and suggestions - take heed of them and don't get discouraged by the challenges but make sure before you start full time that you're willing to give it 100% of your effort, energy and attention - anything less and it won't work.

Good luck and keep us up to date and what you decide!!

One of the fellow residents of the ridge I live on . . .

My Northern property line is a 40 ft. high rock bluff and I think it's living somewhere down there.

It's been coming out during the day more often so I was able to grab a couple of quick shots.

Welcome to IFI Rasper!

You'll find this to be a great place to hang out and get all sorts of good info!

What part of Oregon are you from? There are a number of smiths from the PacNW here!

Go to your User CP and fill in your location so we know where you're at.

150 lbs for 12 bucks? Oh, how I wish - nice buy!.

Congrats on your first weld! Just keep at it - it gets easier as you start learning to tune the conditions for repeatable results.

Next spring, that area will hold green houses and the orchard/Selden

Ok, now I know I'm becoming "green" saturated from the media - For a brief moment I thought Selden meant a development of environmentally friendly houses

What are you going to be planting in the GREEN HOUSES Selden?

Glenn - Nice pic! My name for them is "vermin" but my GF's kids love to see them all over the field in front of my house so I leave them alone . . . so far they haven't done a lot of damage but my place is mostly indigenous plants - I don't have a lot of delicacies out for them to ravage.

Wulfgar,

Try these folks -

BCS - Budget Casting Supply

Great people to work with - always willing to answer a question and their carbon crucibles are really reasonable

Nice place Frosty - gotta say, that's some shop.

Don't you just love that strolling "commute" with a cup o' joe in your hand?

After doing 11 years of spending about 3.5 hours a day going across city traffic, I'll admit - bragging about my 10 second commute (back door to shop door) to all my buddies is a real pleasure!

Hey Wulfgar,

Ditto to the above posters - Crucibles come in all sorts of sizes and materials depending on what they are used for - metal - carbon - ceramic.

My avatar is a number 80 crucible (if I remember correctly) holding about 300lbs of bronze - it's made of a silicon-ceramic.

Here's a couple of pics of one in use -

John & Unicorn,

Really nice guys! Fall is like living inside of a painting - it's my favorite time of the year.

Sounds like it was an outstanding show. I'd dearly love to have seen the Vampire, Meteor and Canberra in flight - A real treat you had!

I've got an ejection seat out of a Canberra that I'm going to convert into an office chair (one of those I'll get to it some-day projects).

Yeah, I think the best part of any airshow is when all the aircraft leave ( "the bug-out" is what we call it) I went to the 25th anniversary show in Abbotsford B.C back in '85 - They had an SR-71 on display and on Monday after the show, when it took off it was just an amazing thing to see fly - It buzzed the tower on it's way out and went over our position at the end of the runway about 400 ft over our heads at high speed - gives ya chills to see it!

Love the F111 toy, it looks like it has your son's full attention and the little crawler looks like he's ready to hop on for a ride! Glad you were able to find one.

You definitely made a good call deciding that having an air-base in your back yard was a bonus when you bought your place!

Warrigal,

Now that's a view I could live with! Nice to see those ol' Aardvarks in flight.

I had the best of both worlds for a while - the National Historic Site I smithed at and the air museum where I was a volunteer were right next door to each other . . . I could go from outstanding vintage aircraft to coal smoke with just a two minute walk - it was heaven on earth!

The two trunks were for a client that wanted "independence" trunks for his grand kids - he filled them with all sorts o' stuff a young person needs to get started in their first place. (The lock is a commercially made one)

The garden boxes and tools are part of my outdoor line.

Hey Larry,

Yeah, Just cook it on - I paint mine on with a cloth @ about 600 - 800 degrees and just keep wiping it until it won't take anymore.

Tell whoever gets it to maintain it by wiping it clean and keeping a fresh coat of oil on it after use.

If it does rust up a bit - 000 steel-wool dipped in vegetable oil cleans it right up.

Hey Sam,

For my work, it's trial and error - I'm using only reclaimed materials so I never know the exact alloy of the SS..

What's been posted above is good advice - especially that SS will make you earn every bit of progress.

All of my SS work so far has been forged at low to high orange then goes into a Muriatic bath for 24 hrs, gets scrubbed, then sanded using finer grits in stages then buffed. My stuff is usually used as serving dishes so it sees a lot of moisture and so far, using this method has kept my work rust free.

I've attached a couple of pics of a bowl I made from a SS shelf from a computer component rack.

The current owner uses it for everything from salads to mashed potatoes and it hasn't rusted up.

Hey Larry,

The NWBA's scholarship is called the Al Bart grant. It's typically given out for tuition into short seminars or classes - membership is required (not sure about duration) and the recipient has to do either a newsletter article or demonstration (or both if willing) on what they've learned.

Hey Kale,

I've been making my living doing blacksmithing/wood work for the last 10 years and what the fella's above said is true. It's a difficult trade to make a living at.

I have a very established clientel and my business is down probably 60 - 70% from this time last year. Even though I have virtually no overhead ( I own everything outright - house, shop, tools, etc,) and no family to support, things have gotten lean enough that I too am looking for hourly work.

Just remember that most of what is made in regards to ornamental iron work is not needed by anyone - only desired. As such, that type of work is usually paid for with what is considered discretional spending and in these very uncertain financial times those kind of expenditures are the first to be eliminated.

The above suggestion of finding something else that interests you and is viable in today's working world then keeping blacksmithing a hobby is probably the best approach.

Look for that other work but build up your tools and grab every opportunity to gain smithing experience then follow where things lead you.

If nothing else, you'll be participating in a craft that's well worth learning and can bring you a lot of personal satisfaction even if it doesn't provide you with a sole means of support.

Good luck to you and keep us informed of how it goes!

Curly,

That's the way we stored stock at the historic site I worked at. It's a really great solution to being able to sort through the various pieces.

I'll go that route too when I get a corner cleaned out enough to set it up.

Remember, its just another TOOL -Lamey Knives

Tradition for pretty much the entire span of this our Iron/Steel age would have us with *several* trained strikers in our shop as "hobby shops" are non-traditional. - ThomasPowers

So how about if these amateurs are just trying to get what they want out of their craft? - Marc

We all have reasons to do the things we do. None of them are greater or lesser than anyone else's, nor do they require justification. - Marc

Be buggered , i'll use what ever tool i can so i can ENJOY 1 of the things i love most - Dale Russel

The quotes above pretty much sum it up.

Unfortunately discussions like this are akin to chasing rainbows.
The harder you try to capture it, the faster it moves away from you until you end up in the middle of a field exhausted by the effort.

Blacksmithing, like any other craft is ever-changing, and evolving, sometimes reflecting the latest technologies and other times taking a step back into the past resurrecting an idea or method that had previously been abandoned or lost.

Does it benefit you to learn the very basics? Does it make more sense to start there and work your way up? Sure it does, but at the end o' the day what it comes down to is the quality of your work and whether you're satisfied with it.

Not following the romanticized image of the village smith under the chestnut tree isn't a betrayal of the craft. I'll bet some of those ol' boys would dearly loved to have had a MIG welder . . .