Crazy Ivan Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Well, after a week soaking up the beautiful South Florida sunshine (a nice break after multiple blizzards in Boston), Its time for me to hit the road out west. This one's gonna be a tough tiring leg of my trip since I planned to be in Santa Barbara California by the 17th which leaves me 1 week to get there all the way from just a bit north of Miami....good thing I love a challenge :unsure: . Anyways, after Santa Barbara I will be hitting most points north like The SF bay area, Eugene OR, Portland OR, I might check out Fort Vancouver in WA, Olympia WA, Seattle WA, then with any luck up to Anchorage AK to find some work for the Spring/Summer months. If anyone would like some free labor in their shop, drop me a line. I will likely be away from any internet for the next week or so until I get out west, but I hope to meet some of you soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 boy that's gonna be a drive! cant offer you much in the way of shop time, but drop me a line if you are in town proper during the work week and ill meet you for lunch or buy you a beer or something :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I wish I was driving, then it wouldn't be that big of a deal to get there, but I will be hitch-hiking and other less conventional/time-effective transportation lol. I'll be sure to drop you a line when I get there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petere76 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Ivan, Try to visit with Mr. Greg. Scenores (sp) in Alamedia Ca. He runs a shop (Forge Works) in a building that was part of the Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda. Great guy, very talented and insightful. His work is amazing. You will enjoy his company, outlook on life and style. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petere76 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Ivan, Correction to my last, Tim Cesneros owns The Forge Works. In Alameda. My apologies for the error. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 So as all great adventures go, I had a quick change of plans after making it out to New Orleans and ended up traveling all the way back to Lake Worth for a couple ish more weeks. I had a friend from VA call me and told me his band is playing in Lake Worth this coming weekend. Not one to miss an opportunity to see old friends and go see some bands for free, I high tailed it around and came back. Its also a good chance for me to make a little more money before the next 3,000 or so miles west. I'll be heading out from here (again) around the end of February, early March. The chaos continues :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 Ivan, Correction to my last, Tim Cesneros owns The Forge Works. In Alameda. My apologies for the error. Peter I'll try and make a point to head out there! Thanks for the tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 It's been a while since I got around to a computer, and heres whats going on with me now. I left South Florida after a few weekends forging with Shaun Wiliams from FABA and a few others. We made some rounding hammers before I left and I'll try to get pictures of Lucinda (my new 3.5 LB rounding hammer) posted up here when I can. Now I am back in Gainesville FL for a few weeks working with Leslie again. Just like I like it, we have been making MORE TOOLS!!! LOL. Been fine tuning her 50LB Little Giant and building up her tooling inventory. We have quite a list created of all the things we want to accomplish before I head west (unlike last time where I got stuck, and turned around LOL). I got a great trade commission for a damascus drop point knife in trade for 5-6 hours of tattoo work for free. I was already carrying the billet around with me in my pack anyways and wanted to get it out of there so I figured I'm making out on quite a few levels. I will also be teaching some workshops while I'm here. So much going on its making my head spin with blacksmith joy!P.S. To the folks I told I would drop by when I made it out west, (which I thought would be in February...) I'm still going that way, I will just be a bit later then I expected. Gotta take all the opportunities that come my way ya know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leslie Tharp Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Hey all! I thought I'd toss a couple photos up of the cool stuff we've been doing at the shop this week. I'm so happy Pete is back and we are making tons of tools and working on a good handful of commissioned work right now. We've been fixing up my Little Giant, which is already running much better, but still needs a little fiddling and then some tooling Pete's already cranked out something like 10 tools for the shop. We also forge welded a wrought iron donut to the foot of my post vice, for more stability when we mount it. Pete's working on a damascus knife right now and cut off the end of a twist pattern to etch and show the client. This wont be the finished pattern, but was still really great to see! More to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Good to hear from you again Les. Isn't it a sweet thing to get a shop up and running? A power hammer is a joy, my arm sings a happy song every time I turn one on.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Happy trails mate! Glad to hear you are back underway! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leslie Tharp Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Still crankin' it out down here in Florida! A friend took this nice photo of us at the shop one morning and I thought I'd share. We've been working long days here and making so many great things. A couple weekends ago we had Shaun Williams and Sylvia Andrassy join us from South Florida for an all day demo at a local farm festival. What a blast it is to work with other blacksmiths! Here's a little footage of us hammering out coil spring so Pete could forge a flint striker for a customer who commissioned it at the festival. https://www.facebook.com/shaun.williams.92754/videos/10153239323489419/?fref=nf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Gee Ivan, I've seen that look of happy anticipation before, she's just more attractive than usual wearer.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Alright, its been a while since I have been able to update this. As things go, my plans have changed AGAIN. I am currently in Baltimore MD and heading north to Vermont for July. Then probably to Portland ME, and briefly back to Boston before heading west. I seem to be going the long way to the west coast but that's part of the adventure. So I will be taking the northern route west after the northeast. As always, feel free to drop me a line if you want some labor or guidance out of me. Its been a long road so far and only seems to be getting longer as plans change and decisions in direction change on a whim. I have made new friends, countless tools, gave birth to Lucinda (my new hammer), seen new things and gotten even more tattoos. Many more of these things to come. I'm looking forward to settling down again but not quite yet. Back to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 feel free to pop by Ft Wayne I have a couch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 I should be able to make that work Steve. I plan on going to Michigan and Ohio anyways and Ft Wayne is pretty much a stones throw from either border. Thanks for the offer! I would estimate August as an approximate time I may find myself in that area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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