Clif Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 I grew up on a farm with smithy at the bottom of the garden. Played with the fire and anvil to make small stuff for farm. Learned to junk weld watching my brother. After 25 years touring the world via the USAF, I found myself in England and talking to a reenactment group. couldn't swing a sword due to a should injury (surgery fix that) and their blacksmith had turned to wood turning, so I took over the forge. That was 4 years ago and still loving it and still learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry neill Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 Well i began blacksmithing some 15yrs ago after loosing my best friend and master blacksmith while we were fishing , it seemed to me such a natural thing to do, to try to continue an art that here in Jersey u.k is a dying trade . I have my limitations and the business is turning over it,s sharing with you blacksmiths that helps me to continue as i can,t ask those question,s to big Steve but i am so close to him every time i light the forge and put hammer to anvil. Thankyou for a great question and a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all of you great people. BARRY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Renaud Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I was always interested in history and the "Old ways". A cheap muzzle loading rifle kit i recieved as a birthday gift back in about 76 got me introduced to some local Black powder shooters at a sportsman club,That got me introduced to "Living History" re enacting for that I needed period correct gear after getting a bunch of "Black powder" catalogs and figuring the price of things like fire irons and shipping and visiting a couple of Museum sites that had blacksmiths I decided it would be cheaper if I made my own iron ware! While watching a smith at work I told the wife " I can do that " The next day using an oxy/acet torch and a scrap of iron plate for an anvil I pounded out some items which i took to the next camp out expecting that I'd be told they wewre not acceptable but to my surprise not only where they acceptable but come Sunday afternoon and time to break camp I had sold everything I had made! I hadn't planned to sell it but I figured" I made these I can make more" a few years later while visiting Edaville Rail Road park and museum my then 8 year old son while watching one of their smiths blurts out "My dad is better than you" well the crafts director was right there and started talking to me( I think after I crawled up from the cracks in the brick floor!) it turned out that they needed a Smith for weekends the one my son was watching wasn't really a smith but was trying to cover the empty shop. before I left the shop that day I was hired on as a Smith and woodworker starting the next weekend . I wortked there for 3 years every weekend till the park closed . Nothing I have ever done gives me the satisfaction I get Smithing I'd love to return to a museum shop if I could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothBore Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I never knew my Great Grandfather, ( who was a Blacksmith in Quarryville, PA ) but my Grandfather had a bunch of highly prized tools, that his "Pap" had made. Now, going forward 25 years, ... to the 1980's, ... I was running a Fabrication and Custom Machine Shop. ... when a series of jobs, over a period of several years, ... had components that had previously been forged by the "local" Blacksmith. ( Like so many others, ... that local Blacksmith Shop had finally closed, when the old Smith could no longer work. ) The process of finding a Shop, ... ANYWHERE, ... that could do the forging on those parts, ... planted a "seed" in the back of my mind. ( And, ... just maybe, ... there is such a thing as "Genetic Memory" ? ) Anyway, ... skipping forward another 25 years, ... I added an Anvil and Portable Forge, and a boat-load of hand tools to the welding area in my home shop, ... and started "teaching myself" Blacksmithing. Fortunately, I'm a guy who can learn things by reading about them, .... and the rest, as they say, ... is history. Having no particular "profit motive", I pretty much just make things that interest me, ... ( mostly Tools and Gadgets ) ... and sometimes make a few bucks, in spite of my unwillingness to promote "SmoothBore Forge" as a commercial enterprise. :D . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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