Hello all,

I am a soldier in the U.S. Army who plans to get out in two years. I am nearly 30 years old and currently live in London in the UK. When my tour is up, I plan to settle in Oregon in the U.S.

I have absolutely no experience with metal working or blacksmithing, but believe it will be a worthwhile profession to follow my current one.

What should I consider, positive or negative, about trying to pursue such a career? If appropriate, how can I get started now given my current commitment to the Army? What can or should I do when I get out? Who here on the forum should I talk to about being a blacksmith in the Northwestern US? (I saw a forum for NSOBA, mostly posted on by nakedanvil- is there an NSOBA website or anything?)

Thank you for your patience in entertaining all these questions.

Bif

first of all.Thank You for your service!there is a few smiths up that way,but that's a long way from texas, they will probobly chime in.i think the best way is to do a serch in that area, and see what comes up. best of luck, and stay safe out there,jimmy

Stop by the Stepping Stone Farm in the middle of London and look up Ian, one of the directors, who is a blacksmith and frequents here (believe he is in Australia for a few weeks now). Talk with Ian and his blacksmithing partner to see what is around London you can get in to. In Oregon there is one blacksmith, audragon, who frequents here also. Worst part about blacksmithing as a career is the years it takes to get the experience and training needed to establish yourself and gain a reputation, but it is possible. Good luck.

It may very well be that the only way to find out if there is a blacksmith in you waiting to get out is to pick up a hammer and pound on a piece of hot iron. Either you will love it or change the channel. Fortunately a body can try it out almost anywhere for almost no expense. Good luck!

Try to get as much exposure and training while you are over there as you can. It will stand you in good stead back here. Every smith has a slightly different way of going about things---why the journeyman journeyed. (and also customers get excited when you can truthfully state that you were trained by an overseas smith! I have it a bit different: when I was in Germany for a summer I trained a smith at an open air museum on how to pattern weld...)

Blacksmithing is a lot harder to do correctly than it looks
Watching a master work it looks like you hardly do anything and it is a perfect what every they are making but then you try it and realize how good that smith realy is.
As they say it is a craft that takes a lifetime to learn

Good luck in what ever you do after your tour

Won't hurt to get related metal working skills in the service if you can. Most blacksmiths spend more time doing things other than forging.

Here's the Northwest Blacksmiths Association: Home Page

Many professionals in the Northwest

Look me up when you get out, we're a pretty friendly bunch and we run a far second to the Ozzies in beer drinking (nobody actually close to them).

Edited November 5, 200916 yr by nakedanvil

Thanks for the advice and encouragement! I'll get in touch with Ian at Stepping Stones Farm and start learning what I can now. Nothing beats getting started and trying it out.