A collection of blacksmithing links on YouTube

[anvil]

My post above has to do with our early colonies. If you think about it, why in the world would basically a corporation outfit a colony and hire riffraff to be the colonists? I'm pretty sure that each colonist was chosen for his skills to better insure success,,,and some still failed.

I know a little about the Spanish land grants. From memory, they had a pretty major fundamental difference between a charter colony. A colonial charter had to do with a group of people financed by a private corporation? chartered by the government.

What we call Spanish land grants was a rather large parcel of land basically given by the Crown to an individual, sort of like a Barony. At the end of the Mexican/American war(1847-1849) some of these, if not all, were recognized and legitimized under our system and prior ownership continues on some of these to the day. I'm a little familiar with three. Two of them are in both Colorado and New Mexico. The first is near La Veta pass west of walsenburg, Co and runs into N.M. I was looking into property that bordered this land grant and both the owner and the real estate dude filled me in on its history, past and present and let me know they did not tolerate trespassers, specifically no fire wood, poaching or horseback riding for gringo neighbors. However, locals of Spanish heratage were permitted without question. Not meant as politics, but these Spanish folks were those who were here before 1849, not, at that time, south of the border immigrants of any legality. Altho I don't know for sure, I suspect this holds to the day. Basically these folks in the surrounding small communities worked the grant back in the day to present and were included in whatever agreement was made when they all became US citizens. Their rights/privaleges included hunting and firewood.

The second is near where I live now. It runs from well into the San Juan mountains(Colorado) to just north of Farmington, NM. It is still owned by the original family altho it has been divided into two parts owned by the same family. They still run sheep from New Mexico winter grazing up to the San Juan's in the spring. 

[ThomasPowers]

Maryland was sort of a English "Spanish Land Grant" at one time IIRC.    I've lived near Jamestown and I've lived here in New Mexico and it's interesting to see how the colonial differences played out over time.

[M.J.Lampert]

back to the original topic please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see Roy Adams of Christ Centered Ironwork he has some amazing videos on how to start a smithy as a full job

M.J.Lampert

[ArmySoldier72]

I have been looking through the sites listed for a couple of days. 

And Google was not helpful.

Does anyone know of an organization near Boise Idaho, USA? This is the SW corner of Idaho.

I saw a smith in northern Idaho but that is 6 or 8 hours away. 

 

Thanks in advance

Army

SE Oregon

[Anachronist58]

I googooed boise blacksmith, and got forge 56.  Is that a bad hit?

[George N. M.]

Army, you may be in kind of a blacksmithing desert as far as organizations in the area.  For events and hammer ins you may have to travel to WA or OR or down to UT in the other direction.  For a multi-day conference I suggest that it is worth the time and effort.

Lots of us, myself included have been lone eagles and largely self taught.  It is not ideal but can be done.  When I started all I had were books and lots of my own mistakes.  I prob ably still do some thing bass ackwards because I did not have a teacher or mentor.  Today, with the addition of good You Tube instructional videos it is probably easier to develop expertise by yourself.  Also, you have IFI to query which is a huge resource both immediate and the archives.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ArmySoldier72]

Thanks George, that is the path i think i will be on to begin with.  I thought of taking video of me once i start up... nail making.. or something.. and putting it up for critique.

Thanks Anachronist, i will clarify my post a little better, I found that same smith, but it is 1.5 hours away. 

I was thinking I would like to start out with an organization, attend some events, and get a feel for folks

I found 3 classes offered near by (within 2 hours) but I am not sure what the going rate is.

Thoughts anyone?

And A guy on craigslist, which i am weary of.....$30 or $40 an hour

You can mention the name (s) but putting in the link and  other information is considered advertising. If anyone is interested they can Google the names.

Remove advertising links per tos

ARMY

SE Oregon

Edited May 20, 2022 by Mod30
Remove commercial link per TOS

[George N. M.]

Army,

One suggestion that I have is that when you watch a demonstration live or on video you then go and do it yourself as soon as possible.  That develops muscle/kinethetic memory which lasts much longer and is more accurate than just plain mental memory.  Also, it helps to know what kind of learning works best for you.  Some people are visual learners, some are aural (hearing) learners, and some are kinesthetic learners.  Most folk are a combination but some have to have it presented a certain way or they have a hard time getting it.

I'd been blacksmithing for 12-15 years before I ever met another blacksmith.  Part of that was living in Wyoming where every kind of person is thin on the ground.

You might also try contacting local farriers since there is a significant overlap in the crafts.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ArmySoldier72]

George that is a great idea, we deal with farriers all the time for our horse and if cattle or goats (when we had them) needed hoof trimming. 

The forge is getting it 2nd coat of satonite today, and should be ready by sunday.

But I found the hose for my fire brick forge, so maybe i will get some fire going today.

 

Mod30 sorry about that. 

If I decide to take a class, $100 for a half day is a decent price right?

 

Army

SE Oregon

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Yes, it is a good price. In my area a full day class runs in the neighborhood of $400 and a half day $200.

[ThomasPowers]

Depends on how good the class is... When I lived in Columbus Ohio we would carpool to attend the SOFA meetings 2 hours away. Well worth the trip and a lot of fun with a group of smiths---we always used to stop at a fleamarket that had smithing stuff and great pie at the FFA booth.

Note that going to an ABANA affiliate meeting is a great way to learn where smiths closer to you are at!   *ASK*!

I plan to travel 1500 miles each way to get to the Quad-State Blacksmiths Round-Up  this fall.

[Frosty]

I just map quested your location, you're just across the border from Boise Idaho and not really that far from Eugene. I used to LOVE the drive from my Folk's place in N. Cal up 395 to 20. Caught the July 4th. knap in at Glass buttes one year. I love 20 between Bend and Burns. 

Connect up with the NWBA, if there isn't an affiliate close they'll be able to connect you to smiths that are. 

Are you familiar with the geological history of your area and heck the surrounding couple thousand miles? Obsidian only forms when lava or pyroclastic flows cool quickly and the obsidian formations are thousands of feet thick in places.  If you like biblical events check out the Bretz Floods, a good read is "Cataclysms on the Columbia." Which describes how the majority of the Columbia gorge was cut in a couple weeks by a flood. Picture Spokane Wa. under 300' of water flowing in excess of 70ph. type biblical flood. 

Once you  know a LITTLE bit about what formed and shaped the landscape it's hard to drive around without gawking at the country. 

Yeah, I'm pretty geeky, I play D&D and am learning Call of Cthulhu now. Life is too short to be a mundane. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Frosty & Army, not to mention the Snake River Lava Plain and other interesting geologic bits in the area.

"By hammer and hand (and geology) all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

I forget George, is it part of the Columbia basalts? Smaller than the Siberian Traps but still crazy huge. I think of these centuries and millennia long eruptions that flooded enormous areas and think of Yellow stone is just a burp away from active. It's enough to make a person . . . nervous. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Frosty, the Columbia Basalts and the Snake River Lava Plain are both the result of the North American Plate moving across a "hot spot" or plume from the mantle which is now under Yellowstone.  So, they are related but not exactly the same.  As you say, not as big or old as the Siberian Traps or the Deccan Traps in India but still very impressive in volume and area.

Most of the mega flood features from the catastrophic drainings of Glacial Lake Missoula are in the Columia Bassalts such as Grand Coulee, etc..  That is not an area you would have wanted to live during the Pleistocene.

Yes, Yellowstone could heat up but it is unlikely.  We just do not have the technology or enough eruptive history to make any kind of accurate prediction.  It could happen next year but could easily not happen for 10k years.

GNM

[ThomasPowers]

As we are  living above the "Socorro Magma Bubble"; we went with a metal roof to the house and shop and a lot of calming down of my spouse; after all the most likely place for the next one is a dozen miles up the road... If Yellowstone goes; we expect to get ash down here as it's only about 1000 miles away.

[Frosty]

IIRC the best estimate for eruptive cycles of the Yellowstone hot spot are around 650,000 years making us due or a bit over. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't get blind sided by a caldera collapse that size. Same for a flood basalt eruption.

Something I've been frustrated by living in Alaska is just how inaccessible the land is. There are very few roads so the only way to travel any distance is by air, boat of foot. Then when you get someplace it's covered in forest. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to clear cut the countryside nor wish it were a desert but I live in one of the most geologically active and interesting places on Earth, it'd sure be nice to get a look and be able to go there without extreme measures.

If I stand on the roof of the house to get above the trees I can see two active volcanoes in dome building phase and two more are easily visible from Anchorage. A day trip gets you to the Wrangle Mt. St Elias complex that is always steaming, smoking and blowing ash. If I look North the Talkeetna range is clearly visible which is primarily coal bed formations dating from around 75million bp, the little carboniferous. Fossil hunting is extraordinary there, IF you can get to a site. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

Here was an interesting one on forging hammers. Where it is there are serious lacks of PPE, but it was interesting to watch.

 

[Frosty]

They sure turn them out don't they.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

Looks like they have made a few before. 

 

[ThomasPowers]

I'm betting it's piece work.

[Thom Noblitt y Gonzalez]

Finally got this video out. It could probably use more polish but I am going to put more effort into the second video of the day, where he demonstrated forge welding at his shop.

This video is from a New Mexico Artist Blacksmith Association (NMABA) Demo at the Farm and Ranch Museum in Las Cruses NM on 4/1/2023.

Pep Gomez demonstrated how to forge a Miner's Candle Stick holder (based off of Mark Asprey's work) out of one piece of steel, using minimum hand tools and a small propane forge.

 

[Thom Noblitt y Gonzalez]

Part 2 of the New Mexico Artists Blacksmith Association (NMABA) meeting on 4/1/2023. Gathering at Pep Gomez's shop in Las Cruses NM.

We were treated to a demonstration on pattern welding. He covered everything from material selection and preparation, to welding and pattern development while answering questions which led to some unique rabbit trails. This video is a collection of multiple short videos I took during the demonstration on one of the cameras I had going. I hope to eventually make a better or multiple videos but for now here is a good portion of what I collected.