Feukair Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 It's a place local to me (michigan) where they offer blacksmithing classes. And training on other such rural skills and whatnot... I'm thinking of looking into their basic blacksmithing classes.Tillers International Home I wondered if anyone new of them? L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Yeah, they've been around awhile Have not taken a class there, but hope to. Wish there were more like them - i.e. not just blacksmith classes but traditional farming methods, wheel wrighting, dry & wet cooperage, etc. etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtforge Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I took a two day course in making coopering tools and then a two day course in coopering (using the tools I had made). Very nice place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 A guy i work with told me about them. He's also into hand tools and he took their coopering classes. He showed me the bucket and tools they have you make there. Coopering sounds cool but I thinkg its almost time for me to limit myself to say... only like 10 hobbies or so LOL... Sheesh, i havent spent enough money on blacksmithing yet... so far it looks like blacksmithing can be a cheap hobby if you're doing everything by hand, my dad made our forge, we split the $100 for an anvil, $20 for 250lbs of coal from the Amish folks, and using scrap metal and railroad spikes you don't really have to buy any steel if your just trying to learn. Although once i take these tillers classes the $$$ will prolly start racking up cuz then I'll be more into it and want to do more stuff. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtforge Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 That's part of the fun of blacksmithing, being able to make a lot of your own tools and equipment without buying everything. Tillers have a lot of classes from basic to more advanced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted February 14, 2007 Author Share Posted February 14, 2007 Well, my work for this weekend got canceled and i was able to sign up for the tillers blacksmithing I class this friday and saturday... I'm about to be schooled... woot! I'm really looking forward to it. Lt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkbear Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I hope we can look forward to a report on your course?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Well, my work for this weekend got canceled and i was able to sign up for the tillers blacksmithing I class this friday and saturday... I'm about to be schooled... woot! I'm really looking forward to it. Lt NICE, let us know how it goes Fek! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted February 14, 2007 Author Share Posted February 14, 2007 Yep, i'll let you know how the class was. If it's good i'll probably go back for the blacksmithing 2 class and a knife making class they have. But right now I'm scheduled to be out of town for work when the next knife class happens :-( Have to wait till august for that one probably. F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 hello all, well i made it to the tillers blacksmithing I class and had a great time. Man i really learned alot in just two days, all basic stuff. I'm new at this and just a hobbyist. I've been playing around with a makeshift forge that my dad built on weekends for about 3 months now. This was great timing for this class, after playing at my dads, doing alot of reading, all the info on this forum, then to go to the class alot of things came together in my head. Even though i learned i've been doing alot of things the hard way, and spent a little money I didn't need to, I'm really glad i didn't go right into a class cold without playing around first. We learned how to start and manage the fire, some hammer control, fullering, and did some forge welding which was very interesting, and now that I've done it I don't think there's any way i could've ever figured out how to forge weld just by reading and trying it. We made a cold chisel from a piece of coil spring and grinded then heat treated and tempered it, then used it to cut thru cold mild steel about 1/4 thick. None of the students had so much as a scratch on their chisel. And we made a leaf hook with a chiseled twist. Some of the students made a pair of tongs, i practiced a few more forge welds during that time instead, forge welding is alot of fun i think. We were lucky, only 4 students in the class, they have 6 forges with 2 anvils each, so each student had their own forge and anvil. I'm really excited now to continue with this hobby. I'll be starting to get setup with a more traditional style forge, my fathers home made firepot isn't deep enough for forge welding. Lt Here's a link to a site I've started that I'll be keeping some pics at... Top index page A pic of the forge i used as i was getting the fire going, a leaf hook with a chisseld twist, a cold chisel that we HT and tempered, and a couple rings, both made from 3/8 mild stock, one rounded on the anvil then forge welded, the other forge welded without being rounded. And some thumbs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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