ramsies11 Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 hello everyone. i was recently asked by a good friend who knows about my blacksmithing, "why do you blacksmith in the first place?" i sat there for a moment next to him thinking and i replied that he needed a pen and paper for my reasons i told him i smithed because it is a fun and enjoyable craft, it is awesome to forge weld two pieces of metal together and watch them stick together like molten glass. its fun to be able to shape to your imagination. its a great stress reliver. it makes you feel great to beat the crud outta something without negative consequence. the bonuses are: it brings a wee bit of money in if your known, and eventually, you build up a fair resistance to heat. but all this is beside the point. tell me your reasons for loving metallurgy in all its glory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete46 Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 The self sufficiency, if I need a tool or whatever I can make it. Not that I would, but I could if Iwanted to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I have commented that its nice to have a socially accepted way to beat the snot out of something after a long day at the other job, and I get paid to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I first took a intro course on blacksmithing about 38 or so years ago because I wanted to make my own woodworking tools and they were offering an intro course through my college at a local smith's backyard shop. From there I was hooked on the satisfaction of making stuff, and became interested in the historical aspects of blacksmithing. I still do blacksmithing because of the satisfaction of making things, and like any other set of tools, it has become natural to use those tools in the same way I use any other tool, the right tool for the job because without blacksmithing/metalworking I would be much more limited in what I could do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Its fun and rewarding. One sees tangible results from of their work. I get a lot of respect from my peers as a professional smith and a business owner. I love the fact that I can make things that people truly value and will be used after I am gone. It keeps me thinking and physically active. I get to use and maintain all kinds of equipment and tools that I find very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brasilikilt Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 A few years back, some tweeker broke into my workshop/man cave and made off with all my good knives and muzzle loading supplies. Funny they didn't take any of the power tools. Th rest of you guys charge a premium for your wares. Since I'm your average poor American, I was prompted to take a welders cert course and a semester of blacksmith classes to begin replacing my lost gear.... Wouldn't you know it, I had loads of fun and found out that I was sort of good at it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 mmm Why do you eat? Why do you bother to get out of bed? Why is the sky blue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I have a supervisor that has asked me why I don't just buy the tools I need, after all, the stores have them. He doesn't have a clue. He also doesn't see why I hunt when the grocery store has meat. He is a model train buff with an elaborate setup that he does each Christmas. I asked him why he makes his own train stuff when there are people out there that sell it. Why play with toy trains, get a real one. That usually shuts him up. It is the love of taking something that isn't, and making it something that is. Oooo, deep words of wisdom from me . Mark <º))>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 When we build, we should build for the ages. First class ironworks, crafted in the finest possible way. This should be the only specification for consideration by the owners. To engage in the design of, and be the sole provider of, all the ironworks for the entire project, can be so rewarding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 '' This should be the only specification for consideration by the owners'' If I were to suggest to ''the owners'' that I expected them to meet my lofty ideals before I could do their project, 99% of them would bring up boring issues like budget and time of completion............Before they told me to git...........I feel fortunate to get cut and paste ironwork these days............If you can lay that on em' and pull it off, more power to you! I gots to eat....... When dealing with owners my ''reason to smith'' has a direct relationship with their checkbooks.........You want the good stuff? Then ante UP pal, oops I mean Sir......:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Reasons to blacksmith? it is a rule of blacksmithing, you could only build a fire on a day that ended in the letter "Y". The *Y* Rule Anvil therapy (hammer time) is cheaper than a shrink. The shrink just says mmm, and mmm, and will that be visa or master card. Next week and we can continue the discussion. With anvil therapy 20 minutes later you do not even remember his name or what he did that bothered you. Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 You must be persuasive with a better class of owners. " You do know that quality will be considered long after price is forgotten." After all wrought ironworks ARE the jewelry for her home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
son_of_bluegrass Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I can make better tools than I can buy. Besides what other hobby lets you forge stuff and use coke? ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 You must be persuasive with a better class of owners. I've dealt with the giga rich............They can be the biggest cheapscates on the planet ! Assuming you ever actually MEET them to explain why you want to bust the budget.............Or I've had them invite me to discuss the project at their dinner table.........They just got allot more money than you or I that's all.......... The ones I consider classy are the folks who have a real appreciation for the ''good stuff'' and try to squeeze it into the budget, even if it hurts......B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Cut to the chase; It gives me great pleasure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 A little bit of "Two Tramps in Mud time" by Robert Frost: But yield who will to their separation, My object in living is to unite My avocation and my vocation as my two eyes make one in sight. Only where love and need are one, And the work is play for mortal stakes, Is the deed ever really done For Heaven and the futures sakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Sculpture Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I am what I am. (Popeye) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 I got started as I was enthralled by the pattern welded knives back in the '70's but as a poor college student couldn't afford to buy them and so I thought I would learn to make them and so get them *cheap*. (ALL RIGHT EVERYONE STOP LAUGHING RIGHT NOW!) Then I got into medieval re-creation and LH and a lot of the stuff couldn't be bought (and a lot for sale was purely fantasy rather than real!) The creativity aspect is big as is the "treasure finding"---I can take discarded scrap and make things from it that folks will pay hundreds of dollars for (and make less than minimum wage doing so!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spears Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 For what little traveling I do, I’m not convinced that much forged iron work is getting done even with the number of blacksmiths there are in the geographical area. It’s hot, hard, and takes a long time. It also takes a workshop with a substantial amount of equipment. Many times it can only be seen in the wealthiest establishments. I love having a collection of it. So why do it? If I can do it and have it all around me, I’m RICH! Well, at least I get to think I am. It’s the way you feel that counts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willis Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I figured it was cheaper to make rather than buy the iron work my wife and I needed for our living history hobby. We do 1750-1814 living history events. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 It is the love of taking something that isn't, and making it something that is. Oooo, deep words of wisdom from me . Mark <º))>< That's good! I like it. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBrann Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Marksagel,MAking something that isn't into something to something that is, awesome..sounds like my Dad saying " Ugly made beautiful once again..." I smith because I feel a kinship to thousands of years of history, and I like making tools....and beating the .... stuff into submission helps..... I recently decided to refer to beating on stuff the "Gaelic Solution"... I have a lot of Sots Irish in my geneology .. Cliff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 every hour we spend smithing is added to our allotted life span? To cut back on smithing time is to cut back on life itself. ...i think the chinese said this about fishing but it works for blacksmithing and all thing done with a passion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chyancarrek Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 I have ideas I want to execute - smithing is part of how I accomplish that. That the "activity" took on a life of it's own is the reason it's now how I make my living. And like Steve says - I like beating the snot outta things and have folk admire it instead of running in terror! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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