77 iron Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Glad to find this forum. I live in central Texas and am interested in learning more about blacksmithing. I am a residential contractor and raise curly horses with my wife on our farm. I've done a small amount of smithing such as fireplace tools,cranes and hinges. Anxious to learn more and acquire some more tools. Thanks for now and Happy New Years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Dean Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Howdy from East TEXAS!! and welcome to IFI! Central Texas is pretty big, how bout giving a little closer proximity of where you live. There are 2 others from Cen-Tex that have joined in resent days, 1 from Brownwood and IIRC 1 from the Kileen area. Balcones Forge is the ABANA group nearest you, unless you are closer to the Dallas area than the Austin area, then you have the North Texas Blacksmith Assoc. www.balconesforge.org and www.ntxba.org are the 2 web sites. Both have great folks and enjoy newbies/visitor at their meetings. I highly encourage joining one or both for that matter as you can learn a ton from them. Once again, welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Welcome to IFI. You're in the right place if you want more info on blacksmithing. BTW, I was wondering who had my horse. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
77 iron Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 Actually from Comanche, Texas which is 30 miles east of Brownwood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 welcome aboard,i am in eldorado,out west of you,jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aranree Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 77 iron; Listen to Thomas Dean and join a group of like minded people. Balcones Forge would be the easiest for you. They have 2 conferences a year, one in spring and one in the fall in Marble Falls. Their monthly meetings often have a green coal forge set up and plenty people to offer help. The north Texas group is still viable and another option for you. And the last is HABA(Houston Area Blacksmithing Asso) which has their 2 conferences In Oldenburg,Tx(Outside La Grange) in the spring and the fall. It just so happens that the monthly meeting of both groups in February(19) will be held in Bryan,Tx at Steephollow Forgeworks. Come join us for what we hope will become a yearly event. My brother, Jeff and I owe much of what we do and know about forging to many members of these groups, and this meeting is going to be our way paying back the blacksmithing community at large. That includes you to Thomas Dean,old friend, hope to see you there. Alan Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Dean Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 77 iron; Listen to Thomas Dean and join a group of like minded people. Balcones Forge would be the easiest for you. They have 2 conferences a year, one in spring and one in the fall in Marble Falls. Their monthly meetings often have a green coal forge set up and plenty people to offer help. The north Texas group is still viable and another option for you. And the last is HABA(Houston Area Blacksmithing Asso) which has their 2 conferences In Oldenburg,Tx(Outside La Grange) in the spring and the fall. It just so happens that the monthly meeting of both groups in February(19) will be held in Bryan,Tx at Steephollow Forgeworks. Come join us for what we hope will become a yearly event. My brother, Jeff and I owe much of what we do and know about forging to many members of these groups, and this meeting is going to be our way paying back the blacksmithing community at large. That includes you to Thomas Dean,old friend, hope to see you there. Alan Lee Well I'll be...you FINALLY started posting here!! I will put FEB 19 on the calendar! 77iron, I grew up in Goldthwaite! My brother in law lives 1 mile of the "Tooty House" between Priddy and Goldthwaite. I really encourage you to attend a meeting of one of the groups mentioned, and the one Alan has planned would be excellent I assure you. Far enough in advance to plan for and not too far to travel. Alan, are you going to do have tailgating? What is the format for the meetings, you guys doing the demos or what....just curious. Happy New Year to you both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
77 iron Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Well I'll be...you FINALLY started posting here!! I will put FEB 19 on the calendar! 77iron, I grew up in Goldthwaite! My brother in law lives 1 mile of the "Tooty House" between Priddy and Goldthwaite. I really encourage you to attend a meeting of one of the groups mentioned, and the one Alan has planned would be excellent I assure you. Far enough in advance to plan for and not too far to travel. Alan, are you going to do have tailgating? What is the format for the meetings, you guys doing the demos or what....just curious. Happy New Year to you both. Alan I am looking into the Balcones group. I will try to make the meeting at your place. Thanks for the invite. Thomas who is your brother inlaw, I know some folks over that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Dean Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Alan I am looking into the Balcones group. I will try to make the meeting at your place. Thanks for the invite. Thomas who is your brother inlaw, I know some folks over that way. Rick Morrow. His wife's name is Claudia and works at the phone co-op there in Goldthwaite. We left that area back in '77 but made the trips back n forth for 30+yrs visiting the wife's folks...sure miss them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aranree Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Thomas; Yes we encourage all to tailgate with Jeff, Carlton, and I. We will certainly have a number of things for sale, including anvils and forges. Jeff and I plan to demo at the same time side by side, similar to what Amit and Sur Sudan did in Memphis. We'll see if we can pull that off. We plan to utilize all 5 of our power hammers, so that everyone will see that like a boat, each power hammer has it's own use. A big plus is that James Johnson is going to bring either a 33# or 55# Anyang for anyone to test drive. We plan to start early and run hard all day. It's going to be our comming out party because we've never done a demo before. Jeff and I have been taking and taking from blacksmithing community for years and we feel like it's time we gave something back. We hope it could become an annual event---wish us luck. Would be honored if you could be here. 77iron; as an aside----My mother was born in Commanche, both sides of my grandparents lived in Brownwood, where I spent my summers and both my parents graduated from Howard Payne Univ. So I appreciate the landscape you live in. Hope can be here on Feb. 19. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAllcorn Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hello 77 iron. I grew up in Comanche but left in the late 60's, early 70's. Perhaps we know each other? I used to know everyone there but my number of contacts keeps dwindling. I'm now living in Paris TX. Saltfork Craftsmen is a great group and very helpful but likely too far from you to be too much good. James Allcorn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
77 iron Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Don,t believe I know you Parents born and raised here. But left in early 60s, I didn't move back until 78 as junior in high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 howdy tex greetings from the bayou a great site here even if they allow yankees in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mycroft Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Welcome! I know I'm a bit late with it, but I'm the Killeen area newbie mentioned in an earlier post. I joined with Balcones back in November, and they're a great bunch! Looking forward to the meeting this weekend with HABA, hope to see you there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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