Al Stephens

The Athens Forge, a member of the Alabama Forge Council, will meet Saturday July 27, at 9AM, at 722 Commercial Dr. Athens, AL. 35611 The demonstrator for the day will be Steve Alford, he will be making a "Blacksmith Folder". There will be an Iron-In-The-Hat raffle, donations welcomed. The Athens Forge uses IITH money to continue to provide tools, material, equipment, and fuel, so that AFC members can have a the things they need to learn more about the craft. The tool box that will be raffled off at the AFC Conference is Sept. is done. We still need tools to fill it! All donations are welcome. Visitors are always welcome. The demo will also be live-streamed at Athens Forge AFC on Youtube. More information its available at www.alaforge.org

The Athens Forge, a member of the Alabama Forge Council, will meet Saturday June 22, at 9AM, at 722 Commercial Dr. Athens, AL. 35611 This will be an "Open Forge" day. Any member of the AFC, can come and work on a private project. Bring your tools and material, forges, anvils, and vices are available. Also bring your materials, ideas, questions, projects, or plan on making a key fob to trade at the July meeting. Non members are invited to come and watch, and ask questions. There is a lot of smithing knowledge within the group. The tool box for the AFC conference in September may be done, and on display. Tools are needed for it. Just a heads up, Steve Alford will be forging his "blacksmith folder at the July meeting. Visitors are always welcome. More information its available at www.alaforge.org

Hi Dan, thanks for the link. I really enjoyed looking thru it. Al

Apologies for the Live Stream failure of Travis Fleming Railroad Spike Tong demo. If we can talk him into running thru it one more time we will record and post. Some things just can't be fixed with a hammer! Al

The Athens Forge, a member of the Alabama Forge Council, will meet Saturday May, 25, at 9AM, at 722 Commercial Dr. Athens, AL. 35611 Travis Fleming will be our demonstrator and he will be making a pair of tongs to hold a railroad spike. There will be an Iron-In-The-Hat raffle, donations welcomed. The Athens Forge uses IITH money to continue to provide tools, material, equipment, and fuel, so that AFC members can have a the things they need to learn more about the craft. Visitors are always welcome. The demo will also be live-streamed at Athens Forge AFC on Youtube. More information its available at www.alaforge.org

Let's try this again. I bought this in Gap, Pa. probably 20+ years ago. The stone shop is a reverse image of one I did some volunteer work at in the area, about 7 miles from Lancaster ,PA. I'm sure this one is a reproduction, but I always liked it. It is labeled "Reading the Bible in a Blacksmith Shop.

Sorry everybody, I'm still working with the 1st pic. If I could straighten it out with a hammer, it would already be done! I know there's a way I just can't figure it out. I took the picture with an iPhone and I'm working on a Mac. any help would be appreciated. Al How about now? 1938.HEIC

Guess I wouldn't be so late to the show if I checked out IFI more often. This is a great thread, and I hope it continues so here's another Saturday Evening Post Cover. Al IMG_4319.HEIC

The Athens Forge, a member of the Alabama Forge council, will meet Saturday April 27, at 9AM. This will be an "Open Forge" day. Any member of the AFC, can come and work on a private project. Bring your tools and material, forges, anvils, and vices are available. You might want to try a pair of the Grilling Tongs Steve Alford demoed last month. Non members are invited to come and watch, and ask questions. There is a lot of smithing knowledge within the group. Visitors are always welcome. More information its available at www.alaforge.org You might want to mark the next meeting May 25, Travis Fleming will be demonstrating how to make a pair of tongs to hold a railroad spike for safe and secure forging.

The Athens Forge a member of the Alabama Forge Council will meet Sat. March 23, 2024 at 9AM. The demonstrator for the day will be the winner of the forging contest of a utensil handle made from 24" of 3/8 diameter material. The contest challenge is to forge a handle for a cooking utensil from 24 inches of 3/8-inch round bar. As stated the contest requires only a handle. Of course, if anyone wants to produce a complete utensil from the 24-inch bar, that's a valid entry too. So you can add another piece of steel to make the blade of a spatula, or a ladle, for instance. Or knife-makers can weld in some other steel with the 3/8 round bar. Or use 3/8 round high carbon steel, if you have some. Judging will take place at the March meeting on the fourth Saturday, March 23, 9:00, at Travis Fleming's shop. The March meeting will start with judging the entries and selecting first, second, and third place winners. Any AFC member is welcome to attend the meeting and enter their work in the contest. The first place prize will be $50. Second place will win $25, and third place will win $10. The regular March meeting will begin after the winners are chosen, with a demonstration of the winning entry. That's right, the winner of the contest will be demonstrating his or her winning entry at the March meeting, right after the announcement, so come prepared to demonstrate! Second and third place winners will also be invited – but not required – to demonstrate. There will be an Iron-In-The-Hat raffle, donations welcomed. The Athens Forge uses IITH money to continue to provide tools, material, equipment, and fuel, so that AFC members can have a the things they need to learn more about the craft. Visitors are always welcome. The demo will also be live-streamed at Athens Forge AFC on Youtube. More information its available at www.alaforge.org

Once upon a time, I made my living selling hand forged items. At one point I had active customers in 44 states and 2 Canadian Provinces. Needless to say I had a line of "stock" goods that most customers were able to resell at a profit. Here are some of the lessons I learned. Custom made things were normally used to display or promote others work, I very seldom remade the piece to sell. Custom work ALWAYS takes more time to make, and many times created "shipping" issues. Price it accordingly. Always schedule your work load. You don't do your best work when you are worn out. Don't let a customer decide your work load. If you put one customer's work in front of another's, at what point do you stop? No two customers will ever display your work the same, what sells well at eye level doesn't sell well off the bottom shelf. Set your work standards high, and maintain them. OK, very rarely sells. If you should land a BIG customer, never build your business based on that customer. They will drop your item, just as fast as they started selling them. This was very wise advice I was given and it is TRUE! Living off the "fruit of your labors" can be very rewarding. It can also be very difficult. You must be able to both enjoy the high's, and be able to survive the low's. Good Luck! Al

The Athens Forge, a member of the Alabama Forge Council, will have its regular monthly meeting Saturday, April 22, beginning at 9AM. Our demonstrator for the day will be Zeevik Gottlieb, from Israel. Not sure what he will be doing, but sure it will be interesting. You can see examples of his work at Zeevik Gottlieb Art on YouTube. There will be an Iron-In-The-Hat raffle, donations welcomed. The Athens Forge uses IITH money to continue to provide tools, material, equipment, and fuel, so that AFC members can have a the things they need to learn more about the craft. Visitors are always welcome. The demo will also be live-streamed at Athens Forge AFC on Youtube. More information its available at www.athensforge.com NOTE !!! Zeevik will also be conducting a workshop Wednesday - Friday, 4/19-21/23 at Travis Fleming's shop. At this posting there is one spot left open. Cost is $100 +material cost. For information contact Travis Fleming at [email protected] or, Aston Reynolds at [email protected]

The Athens Forge, a chapter of the Alabama Forge Council, will have their regular monthly meeting on Sat. January 23, beginning at 9AM. The demonstrator for the day will be Athens Forge member Steve Alford. He will be doing a pass through trivet. AFC members also know Steve is the editor of the Bituminous Bits, the newsletter of the AFC. There will be an Iron-In-The-Hat raffle, donations welcomed. The Athens Forge uses IITH money to continue to provide tools, material, equipment, and fuel, so that AFC members can have a the things they need to learn more about the craft. Visitors are always welcome. The demo will also be live-streamed at Athens Forge AFC on Youtube. More information its available at www.athensforge.com

Athens Forge a member of the Alabama Forge council, will NOT have it's regular monthly meeting on Sat. December 24,2022. Wishing everyone a safe, warm, and happy holiday season. The 1st. meeting in 2023 will be Sat. Jan.28th, 2023.

Athens Forge, a member of the Alabama Forge Council, will hold it's regular monthly meeting Saturday Nov.26,2022 beginning at 9AM. Our demonstrator this month will be Athens Forge member Al Stephens. Al will be forging several pizza cutters. There will be an Iron In The Hat drawing Visitors are alway's welcome. For more information see Athens Forge.com. We will also be streaming the demo at AFC Athens Forge on Youtube, starting about 9:15 AM