I had the good fortune to get to Mississippi and to work with Brian. My wife had watched Brian in NH last summer and to my great surprise and delight, she and her family paid for my time there. (Which means no birthday or Christmas presents for a long time, and that's fine with me. :)

Brian and Karen were great hosts and we had some interesting mealtime talks. At the forge I felt frustrated for the first couple of days at my lack of technique (I have a long time interest but not much forge time.) and my failure to understand the lingo right away. But I got more confident as time went on and I learned a lot. I must say that I was nervous about striking for the first time with Brian's head seemingly in the path of the big hammer. But he said 'nobody's hit me yet, focus.' The hammer we made is beautiful and I was reluctant to use it, thinking it might look better on my mantel.:)

I am now home and looking over my notebook and putting to practice what I learned.

Thanks Brian and Karen, I enjoyed my stay.

Nice I can't wate to get the money around and make the call to hem to set up my time!

You must show what all you made ... pics man!

Your frankness and truthfulness impresses me.
I have had a similar experience when I trained with a great man named “Naham Hersom” in Boise Idaho.
After about 50 years of blacksmithing, I was shocked at how much I really did not know. It was an eye opener.

When you find you’re self confronted with highly trained and talented people; all of a sudden if you are honest with yourself, your mind tells you that “you did not know that you did not know what you thought you knew.

Once you are aware that you have much more to learn, then your mind opens up and you will start learning.
If a person insists on keeping the old bad habits and junk craftsmanship in their minds, it leaves no room for new and accurate information to settle into.

I have no doubt that you will become proficient in what you have been fortunate enough too learn from the very best.
Your attitude says that.

I wish you the very best, but make sure you share with the rest!
Ted Throckmorton

A very great gift from your wife and family!

I am also in the boat of waiting on some extra cash to be able to go down there and get some training with Brian.

Thank you for your story!

And I second Pugxman, we need pics!

Definately worth the money to go there!

A stocking full at Christmas, or a mind full after a visit with Brian??? I'm thinking that the latter is worth far more than the former, and I envy you that.

Just watching Brian's videos has opened my eyes far more than I would have thought possible.

One of my greatest regrets is not taking Brian's hammer making class when he was in the area.

It would be ok to put that hammer on the mantel I guess... It is your after all. But it is much better to store it where it is ready to use. Here is where I generally keep mine.

Thanks for the replies. I'll try to figure out how get a couple of pictures up.

I hope this works. The pictures are of the first two things we did when at Brian's. As he does with most of his first time students we made a curved hot cut hardy and then a hammer. For the rest of the time I used those tools. A before and after picture of the steel cylinder and the hammer head made from a similar piece of steel. I was practicing tapers and Brian was at the other forge making something. I stopped to watch him as he created, in a short time, a picture frame with a bird, cattails and leaves, and a moon. I was impressed as he forge welded the tiny bundle of cattail leaves onto the frame. He showed me how he had forge welded the corners just as I had attemped in a previous lesson and he said "Do you want it?" I blurted out "YES!" It was too big for my small bag and so Karen shipped it to me and it is now in my home. They are very generous people especially when it comes to sharing time and knowledge.

Yes it works looks good! What size was that hunk of steel before you made a hammer out of it?

Sorry Pug, I don't remember. The finished head weighed 3.6lbs.

at that weight, probably 4" of 2" round 1045 if I am any judge of how Brian's style hammers come out ... (I've made a couple dozen now mysself)

Nice looking hammer! Can't wait to get mine...

i just set my 7 days with brian for the first week in March ! cant wate , any more tid bits i need to know about brians class ?

Brian will give you what you need and what you want. Whatever you want to learn is up to you since he personalizes the lessons. If you're not sure what you need (as I was not sure) he'll get you going in the right direction. I was not used to standing for 10 hours a day and I had never swung a 12 lb sledge so I was ready for bed each night! Brian however often stayed in the forge long after I left, so have no worries about getting a lot of forge time.

i am seriously starting a regiment of a mile run a night and a weightlifting workout..ill get my forge time ! lol...

One thing that I have noticed around the smithing community is that most are more than willing to help and teach you. For that I am thankful to all who have helped over the years, but I have noticed that that some think that their way is the only way and when ask they say because that the way I do it. With Brian when he tells you that is the way he does he can tell you why and what the advantage of doing it that way. I learn so much from Brian and Lyle over the last few years about moving metal with the least amount of effort. Can't say thanks enough. A lesson is well worth the money. You will come away with enough tools to more than pay for the lesson.