Thanks for all the kind remarks made concerning my videos. Trying to remain totally traditional in a modern world is almost impossible and many an old smith has said to me "if Tijou had an arc welder he would have used it" I totally agree with this statement, but it is like anything that anyone wants to do well and to the best of their ability.....you have to know how to do it right before you can ever hope to understand a technique or process, whether you work traditionally or not.In effect, you have to know the rules before you can break them. I was taught by a renowned English smith and the first thing he told me was "Simon, there is no such thing as a self taught Blacksmith" and I am sure that by subscribing and contributing to this most informative site we are all endorsing that statement. Without sharing in our knowledge and ideas, it is that much more difficult for our profession to move forward. My first ever course 20 years ago was tongmaking, a simple topic or so I thought. My tutor made me fireweld the reins to the jaws. It took me three days to get two pieces to stick together and my career nearly ended before it began. I had never been so disappointed in all of my life, as this was something that I really wanted to do and it was so xxxx difficult. This was my turning point, Blacksmithing was no longer just an option, it was a lifelong challenge.I practised in my own forge for three months solid and then attended another course, I felt on top of the world when I effortlessly welded two pieces together in front of my tutor.He looked at me calmly and said "I see you have been practicing". I was looking for more recognition at my superhuman achievement, but then it dawned on me that Blacksmiths do not become skilled overnight, they have to practice techniques as I did, and on a greater scale than I could have ever imagined. I vowed to myself that Blacksmithing was to become my life and that I would promote it at every opportunity to anyone who wanted to know about it and share my enthusiasm. I was fortunate enough to be pushed into entering one of the County shows about fifteen years ago and this is where I met people such as John B from the Blacksmiths guild and other pivitol figures in the Blacksmithing world such as Bob Hobbs (gold medalist with the worshipful Company of Blacksmiths) and Richard Jones, current live champion Blacksmith,I have never looked back. I am the current UK National champion Blacksmith for the second time and have been reserve twice, I am also a Licentiate of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths of London (a recognised teacher of the trade)and I always tell my students that we don't just strive to make a living, we make a lifestyle. I am sorry to appear boastful, but when my students say to me "you make it look so easy", I reply that "I was in exactly the same position as you once". Without other smiths graciously passing on their knowledge and expertise I would still be trying to stick those two pieces together and would maybe have taken a different career path altogether. The videos are a little bit of payback and hopefully inspiration to other budding national champion and potential professionals, the techniques that I show are not set in stone and don't need to be religiously followed to get the right result. I still learn many techniques from my students who come to my classes with their own ideas and I still "invent" things that I find have been in existence for thousands of years already. That is the beauty of our profession, you will never know it all. Simon Grant-Jones www.simongrant-jones.com