OUTBACK FORGE Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Well just joined as of tonight as I was looking for some info on a Friend that I learned Blacksmithing from. His name was Tom Dudkowski. I found out about a year ago that he had passed. I was devastated that I had not kept in contact after he had moved up to Oregon to help take care of his mom. I had moved away from Susanville where I had met Tom and his Family. It was where I grew up and went to school. Tom was by far one of the best Guys to work with and learn from. I was about 16 when I met Tom when I started taking college coarses in welding. I was going to his house on the weekends learning Blacksmithing and to techniques of metal work. He got me interested in signing up with CBA and then went to most of the conferences with him and my grandparents. Then he had mentioned to me about jumping up to the next level and study under a Master Blacksmith. That is how I got to meet Frank Turley in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I went there and spent a month studying under Frank. What a great school and great Blacksmith. Tom was my inspiration in studying metal and the art of it. My down side was moving away from Susanville and getting away from Blacksmithing. Well now where I am at I am able to get my shop back together again and start back up Forging some metal. I built my own Gas Forge from Plans I got from Tom, accumulated numerous tongs and tooling. My grandparents helped buy me a 175 lb LMF anvil. Have a small 4" blacksmith vise and a small portable Coal Forge with a hand crank blower attached to it. So this is just a start for me here and hope to chat with a few of ya and will get some pics posted up later of my metal work and shop. Galen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTBACK FORGE Posted October 4, 2013 Author Share Posted October 4, 2013 Here is a few pics of my Gas Forge and projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Nice work. Good to have you here with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Well welcome back to smithing Galen & back to the north coast :) I knew Tom well and Do miss him alot !!! He just gets under you're skin & stays there LOL :D :D he was one of a kind ! it was always a blast to go up to the farm in Or to have a hammer in or see him down here @ Weaverville & @ other hammer ins, there was NEVER A DULL MOMENT with Tom around he wouldn't stand for it LOL ! Are you in Susanville again or where ? There are many Jefferson Smiths in the northern Ca & southern Or area !! maybe someone close to you depending on where you @ we have had 2 small hammer ins here in the last two years if you're interested give me an EM I will put you in my smith Rolodex If you don't know about it there's a Hammer in the first weekend in March @ Weaverville Ca A not to miss meet !!! put it on you're calendar ;) good to have you on the forum Steve,s Welding em -- IronWolf13@Yahoo.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTBACK FORGE Posted October 4, 2013 Author Share Posted October 4, 2013 Thanx Guy's I am in Redwood Valley,Ca. Glad to find a forum on Smithing. I will have to keep the Weaverville hammer in in mind. Thanx Steve. I just got into Volunteer fire fighting here in Redwood Valley as well so I can put out any fires a may start. HAHA. Lots of great things to be had and to enjoy in smithing so it will be fun for me to be back into it. Outback Forge em--grb700@ymail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Dave Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Galen: Welcome to the forum. I to went to Frank Turley's school but for only one week. One month must have been great. Frank is a great teacher and I felt like I was stepping back in time when I walked into him shop/school. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTBACK FORGE Posted October 5, 2013 Author Share Posted October 5, 2013 Galen: Welcome to the forum. I to went to Frank Turley's school but for only one week. One month must have been great. Frank is a great teacher and I felt like I was stepping back in time when I walked into him shop/school. Good luck. It was great. There was 5 of us and as are leaving project on the last week we made him a sign that said Old Fossil Forge. The letters were all forged from scratch and the cicle was done the same way. It was around $1500 for the month 5 days a week and that was back in 1994. Galen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 Welcome a aboard Galen, glad to have you. If you'll put your location in the header those of us not living in your neighborhood won't have to keep asking. We LOVE pics if you hadn't heard. Shop pics, projects, works in progress, scenery, dogs, kids, food, etc. the more the merrier. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTBACK FORGE Posted October 6, 2013 Author Share Posted October 6, 2013 Welcome a aboard Galen, glad to have you. If you'll put your location in the header those of us not living in your neighborhood won't have to keep asking. We LOVE pics if you hadn't heard. Shop pics, projects, works in progress, scenery, dogs, kids, food, etc. the more the merrier. Frosty The Lucky. Thanx Frosty. Here is a couple pics of today forging Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 6, 2013 Share Posted October 6, 2013 I grooved on the slideshow. You mess with RC a lot? Pretty cool RC off roaders. You seem like a pretty cool guy to have for a neighbor. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTBACK FORGE Posted October 7, 2013 Author Share Posted October 7, 2013 I grooved on the slideshow. You mess with RC a lot? Pretty cool RC off roaders. You seem like a pretty cool guy to have for a neighbor. Frosty The Lucky. Thanx Frosty. Ya been in and out of RC for about 20 yrs. Just got back into it pretty heavy with the new Lipo batteries and the Scale rigs. Lot of fun and cheaper than are quads were. We sold them and replaced them with RC rigs for the whole family. The Forging hobby has been since my sophmore year in highschool when I met Tom Dudkowski up at the college when I started taking college courses in welding. He was an awesome guy and we spent a lot of time together at his shop in Janesville,Ca. He had a awesome old school shop setup. I belonged to CBA for about 5 years then when I moved to Lincoln,Ca for a full time job I had about a 10 year lapse in no forging or metal work. Real bummer and I forgot how much fun it was and all the friends I made during that time. Loved being able to meet Master Blacksmith's like E.A. Chase, Dorothy Stiegler,Toby Hickman,Tom Joyce when I went to Frank Turley's smith school, and many other's. Here is one of the Belt Buckle's from E.A. Chase that I won in Iron in the hat years ago at Fritz's Oktoberfest. Also a couple pics of a rose that I made this weekend out of Stainless Steel. Just the petals are SS. I will be sand blasting them when I get to work to make them shinier so you can aactually tell that they are SS. Just throwing in a cutout I did as well for the Grandparents for there yard that I cut out of SS with the plasma cutter. If I need to post that some where else I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 The last time I messed with RC, was the Alkaline Energizer days. I'm mostly self taught and didn't really start learning till the internet went public in the 80s'. Heck, I didn't even know there was such a thing as ABANA or even books on the craft. There are disadvantages to living this far from the lower 48, you really have to look to find things unless they're really mainstream. If we want to attend a class here we have to ship someone in. Then there was my paycheck job, kept me out of town most of 30 years so I got to practice when I dragged my kit out of a shed in the trailer court. There were exceptions at work, one of my hats was fabricator. I used to get grief for forging up things, just because I could install a finished part before one of the other guys could get a purchase order over the phone didn't seem to make a difference. The change in the office's attitude is a long story I've probably told already. Beautiful rose, I really like the end of the stem. Have you tried electro polishing SS? It's a lot easier than one might think. I'll bet the belt buckle is a keepsake. One of these days I'm going to get one from Pete Fels, we're long time online buddies and I love his bronze doodads, some weird, wild and attractive oddnesses. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OUTBACK FORGE Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Well been awhile since Ive been on here so thought I would post up a project or two. Sorry to hear about Toby Hickman as I have meet him a few times up at Fritz Hagists Octoberfest a few times. Was able to cook with him up there and shoot the you know what with him. Great Smith and great friend.He will be remembered and never forgotten. Well back to me posting my couple of handle projects for a plow disk cooking platter's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Galen,When I first saw the name 'Outback Forge', I thought you must be Australian!Nice work with the rose; great idea for a stem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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