Hi all, Ron here. back when i was in college i had a friend who had a small forge and shed where he did all of his smithing and tooling needs, after classes I would go there and he started to teach me the basics of being a smith be it weapon or otherwise. His brother was a farrier and worked on horseshoes. it has been a long time and i am trying to establish myself as a smith and i would like to learn and polish myself as it has been a long time at least 10 years. so i am looking for some local smiths who i may spend a little time around. I am looking for a smith or smiths that i may watch and speak with in or around Long Island NY. as I dont yet have all of the finances to build my forge.

as i know nothing is free we may discuss payment and other such things either in person or over the phone.

I do have some experience but it is very rusty and has been over 10 yrs since i touched a forge.

Ron Crowe

Hey Ron, I lived a good chunk of my life on Long Island. I'm back living in the city again now. I forged my first piece of steel just a month or so ago so if you've done this before then you probably have more experience than I do, rusty or not, so you wouldn't likely learn anything from me but I'd be glad to share experiences.

Like for example, what happens immediately after you say to yourself "well that doesn't look hot anymore" lol

or, "where did the other half of my beard go?"

You might look into Peter's Valley in the Delaware Water Gap. That shouldn't be too far away. They run a number of classes in the summer.

http://www.petersvalleyworkshops.bigcartel.com/category/adult-workshops-blacksmithing

 

There are a number of other places in the north east that also offer classes, but the drive might be longer.

Hi Ron, I'm a total beginner here as in I've only forged two things so far. I live on Long Island and was looking for classes as well. I used to attend an Art School in Manhattan called The School of Visuals Arts or SVA. They offer blacksmithing classes and they're held in Brooklyn at the teacher's studio. It's not cheap, but it's the closest I've found. I have not taken the classes so I can't tell you if they're good or not.

I'm in the process of converting a tiny part of a shed I built into the worlds smallest smithy. The goal is to be able to forge inside over the winter and be as quite as possible since my free time is only late at night.

 

- m

I built a one soft firebrick forge powered by a cheap plumber's propane torch and ran it in my 100 year old basement when I lived in Columbus Ohio  did quite a lot of forging with in in the winter...Much more pleasant *inside*...

Hey Ron and Mutant... where on LI are you guys? I live in the city, but still work on LI. Maybe we can share our inexperiences...

I used to live in the city also. Miss it- my commute went from 3 min to 1hr. 45min. .  I work in midtown - just above Times Square. I now live out in Commack. 

I'm just starting out and yea, I could use another friend of the forge and anvil! 

Mutant, I'm a 15 minute train ride from Times Square, and I used to live in Commack. Small world...

Where do you do your forging? I have a decent backyard but the neighbors are still close. 

 

I just can't seem to reply to this particular topic...

Oh wow, it finally worked after 93 attempts

I don't have an ideal set up, but it works. My shop is set up in my basement. I have a basement door that opens outside to a small concrete platform, my forge is a homemade gas forge that I've mounted to the bottom half of an old BBQ grill... so I wheel the forge out there, heat my stock outside and then walk the few steps back inside to my anvil.

As far as noise, it's a 24/7 noisy neighborhood and my neighbors are noisy as a bunch of skeletons dancing on a tin roof, so nobody has found the nerve yet to complain about my periodic hammering...

Need to get the anvil out next to the forge for summer forging---You lose too much working time commuting!

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

Need to get the anvil out next to the forge for summer forging---You lose too much working time commuting!

Ha! Yes, that would make life easier. And I'm sure once I attempt forge welding I'll place a lot more value on those few seconds.

Hey all,

This thread doesn't seem active anymore, but I'm looking for some advice on somewhere local I can go and take a smithing class, or someone looking for an apprentice etc. I'm brand new to this, but I would really like to learn the art of forging weapons as a hobby. 

I'm in the Selden/Coram area of north shore Long Island. If anyone has advice I would appreciate it very much!

thanks,

Garrett

 

What do you consider local?

Have you contacted New England Blacksmiths Assoc.,  New Jersey Blacksmith Association, New York State Designer Blacksmith Artists, Peter's Valley in the Delaware Water Gap, The Center for Metal Arts Florida, New York ?

 

Thanks for the quick response Glenn! But no I haven't reached out to any of these organizations yet, I was looking at Long Island locations but I know that's a stretch. If you know of any that would be excellent, but the ones you listed are in NYC I'm assuming?

I live on the island as well and haven't found any association out by us. The closest place to take a class is in downtown Brooklyn. 

I would enjoy taking classes w my boy. If anyone out there knows where I can begin on long island that would be greatly appreciated 

Welcome to IFI... sorry can't help with Long Island however...

This thread is a good place to begin getting the best out of the forum. READ THIS FIRST

Not on the Oil land but we have a member here with a school in Brooklyn??? (IIRC)

Small world again.  I grew up in East Northport (yes, I know, what idiot came up with that town name...), one town over from Commack.  Even went to Commack North High School, back in the day.  As regards your OP, the only professional blacksmith shop I know of on Long Island is Spirit Ironworks.  I don't know if they teach classes, but heard a rumor that they may be looking for a new employee...

New York State Designer Blacksmiths (NYSDB), an ABANA affiliate, has 5 regional groups that meet monthly, then get together for "All Hands" meetings twice a year  http://www.nysdb.org/.  Great bunch and a fantastic deal for a learning smith with regular demonstrations and knowledgeable folks to lead the newcomers.  Unfortunately all the regions are located in Upstate NY, so a bit far away for you.  Links for many of the local schools are on their website (except Theo Naz's in Brooklyn for some reason).  Perhaps with all the current interest someone will want to add a new region to the mix from Long Island, but it would be quite a hike to get to the multi-group meetings.

Good luck

6 hours ago, Latticino said:

East Northport (yes, I know, what idiot came up with that town name...),

The same one that put Southampton to the north of Westhampton?

At least New South Wales is quite a bit South of Wales, even if it's not contiguous. 

Let's start a forge on the Island. I, too, am new and would like to spin up something.

Feel free to hit me up, if interested. I'm on the north shore, too. Rocky Point area.  Email -> Send him a PM

Edited August 5, 20223 yr by Mod30
Remove email address per TOS

Mr. N a moderator will be along soon and probably delete your email from your post. Unfotunantly even here we ar not safe from spammers trolling for information, despite the hard work of Glenn and the moderators. 
just PM those you want to share it with. 

unfortunately there are no location on LI even though there are plenty of us privately smithing. The closest classes are Theo Nazz but they deff arent cheap.