Greetings from Bremerton, WA

[Kaylee]

Hello smiths!

I'm just recently getting back into the art, and have very little equipment of my own. I took 2 years of metal shop in high school, from 1994 to 1996. We got to learn stick welding, MIG (TIG if you were around the third year), lathe and mill work, oxy/acetylene welding/brazing/soldering, sheet metal work, and a few bits of forging. Looking back on those years and having looked into anvils for the better part of a year, I have to guess that we were working on a late Fisher anvil, as there was no chain around the waist to reduce ring, and it still didn't go crazy with the ring. We had a propane forge, and over the course of those two years, what I got to forge was a pair of tongs (which I still have) and a wrought iron style ranch sign that I gave to my father, which he still has hanging outside. I've loved metal working ever since then, but my work brought me elsewhere - nuclear power. My favorite smell is hitting steel with a grinder.

So here I am now, just recently been given a piece of rail track (who can argue with free?) and asking myself what's stopping me now, as there are tons of plans for making a forge from a brake drum or various other things. I noticed in another post that there's another IFI member that's in Bremerton... I guess it's high time to say hello!

Oh, and as a point of curiosity, I wonder how many other females are around here. I know it's a predominantly male driven trade, but I know a couple female artist blacksmiths.

Kaylee

[turbo7]

Welcome to IFI Kaylee.

[Kozzy]

Welcome aboard.

There are several females who hang around the site and their skills put a lot of us hacks to shame.  I would sure like to see more women give smithing a try but so many were steered away from industrial arts that I fear they hesitate to believe they can do it.

There's a point to this ramble if you bear with me...I worked with Mr. Wizard on several occasions (a TV host that only old people remember these days).  The guy taught me just how easy it was to suck the enthusiasm out of female youth.  He was a gigantic jerk.  Boys would tend to get a "good try!" when they answered some science question wrong.  Girls would tend to get a "No, you're wrong".  You could actually watch the young girls shrink away and lose enthusiasm for science.  It was like seeing a fire in their eyes go out.

I believe the same kind of thing often happens to women/girls who start showing interest in "shop" type things--at least until recent years.  It doesn't take much to suck the enthusiasm from them and it's hard to get that back once it's been squashed.

More power to those who won't let themselves get beat down or give up.  Bravo when their education system didn't put the subtle walls up for males or females wishing to try whatever they wanted to give a shot.

[SLAG]

Kaylee

Look up Charlotte, & Rashell, on this IFI site. They post regularly, know their stuff, and have years of smithing experience.  Also check out Lorilei Sim's book for blacksmith beginners, & more advanced smiths. (title The Backyard Blacksmith).  Also, welcome to the site there are tons of good information, here, and many wonderful ideas, Do check out the stickies, while you learn. Best wishes.

SLAG.

[Kaylee]

Hey, I remember Mr. Wizard... does that make me old by definition? Anyway, yeah I wasn't shunned from shop type things. I do most of the maintenance on my truck, just finished rebuilding the transmission of my mustang, and have a few years experience as a mechanic in the Navy. If anything, the instructors throughout my training (and teachers in school) helped put that love of the sciences, mechanical, etc. into me... and that was a few years ago.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Kaylee glad to have you. Darned if I don't remember Mr. Wizard too but wait I AM old! Nevermind. When I got to jr. high and could start taking shop classes there weren't any . . . GIRLS ?! in them nor were there boys in: home ec, sewing, secretarial type classes, etc. It was my senior year in high school when I got stuck in a typing class to make class credit hours without taking up a "good" slot. I was, probably still am, a classic underachiever and schools at that time preferred to just stick you somewhere out of the way rather than make classes challenging enough to keep us from clowning around.

Were schools run on my watch, no girl would graduate high school without taking at least Auto shop 1, heck anyone who ever hoped to operate a motor vehicle would have to take Auto 1. Not to turn them into mechanics but to learn how to safely change a tire, check the oil, what those red lights mean, etc. Same for the boys not one would graduate without learning how to make a: budget, shopping list, do laundry, cook a meal clean the house. You know the basics a person needs to take care of yourself in your own digs.

Rashelle is in your general neighborhood of the PAC NW. and does a LOT of teaching and mentoring blacksmiths. Let's not forget Spanky Smith though visiting her'd be a commute she's in Alabama. There's Marcie and Nick, the metal artist lady in the mid East , my TBI'd brain won't recall her name. I also have a couple long time lady smith friends Lynda Metcalf is as good as it gets.

What I'd like to see is more involvement online, especially here. Blacksmithing isn't about being big and strong, it's about control, imagination and problem solving.

We LOVE pics, anything you'd show your 7yr old is good with us but tools equipment, projects, pets, scenery, etc.

Frosty The Lucky.

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Kaylee

There a pile of women in the NWBA, centered in your area. Check out the NWBA web-site. They have a monthly get-together in Longview. The Spring Conference will be May 13-15, at Longview Fairgrounds. There will be a pile of people from your general area going down, check out 'blacksmith.org'.

Hope to see you there.

Neil

[Kaylee]

Alright. Well, the sign that I made for the ranch went with my dad when he sold the place and moved. It's visible on google maps if you know where to look on street view, but I don't need to be giving out addresses like that. I'll upload a picture when I get one, my dad said he'll take a picture for me in the morning. Tongs... they're easily accessible, but my work makes me have no camera because of security, so when I switch out phones for the weekend tomorrow after work, I'll grab them and snap a picture. I don't have any kids, but I get what you mean!

@swedefiddle As for the NWBA, I actually found them today, and saw that same information, thank you very much for the confirmation (I wasn't sure I found the local ABANA chapter because the listings are kinda cluttered on the page I found). Longview is just over 2 hours drive for me, so I'm thinking that I will go. Will you be there?

There's another newbie smith in Bremerton that I saw make a post in the tailgating section... maybe we can help each other out! 

[Rashelle]

Hello and welcome Kaylee. There are several women blacksmiths in the NWBA in your general area. The NWBA website isn't very active but we keep events posted there. I need to get up early so got to go. April has Berkley Tack at the mentoring center May is the conference June might be Alair Wells (closer to you then me) doing finishes and powder coatings demo. Got to go though nighty night. Rashelle

[Kaylee]

Thanks for the information, Rashelle! June also has June Faire for the SCA, June 3-5 in town where I live, as well. There might be a smith there, there have been a few years we've seen one.

[ThomasPowers]

Doubt there was ever a time when there were not some women who smithed---for example Medieval Guild Laws state that they could only work in the smithy of their Father, Brother or Husband, (in general you don't make rules unless someone is breaking them somewhere...)

ABANA has been lead by a great smith who happened to be a woman before and I've seen more than a couple demo at Quad-State over the years.

So WELCOME; pull up a stump and stay awhile!

(BTW Most public schools I know of used Vulcan anvils, still a quiet anvil but not as high quality.  I saw a lot of them sell when the Columbus OH public schools sold off their metal shop equipment.)

[Kaylee]

This was in California... and they spared no expense in that metal shop for the tools (or the wood shop / auto shop for that matter). 3 lathes, 2 mills, a plasma cutter (early '90s, they were far more expensive than now), a Pirahna ironworker, 2 mills, several stations for welding, and a large handful of other things. It's possible it was a Vulcan, but based on the pictures I've seen looking around, the waist and tail shape for what I remember make me think it was a Fisher. It was in beautiful condition, either way, and was an absolute joy to work on.

[ThomasPowers]

It was in the 90's that Columbus Ohio was selling off their metal shop Vulcans and their high dollar Johnson fourges and foundries and metal lathes; but you were there and I was not.  End of an era either way.

[Frosty]

Where in California? I grew up in the San Fernando Valley.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Kaylee]

That school is in Grass Valley, a town west of Tahoe... so north a few hours. I grew up in Sacramento / Folsom too.

[Frosty]

Cool, I know right where Grass Valley is. Dad spent quite a bit of time with a few gold miners in and around Camptonville. Later the folks built on Lake Davis on the hill above Porterville. I used to love running up and down 395. Nice country.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Kaylee]

They were talking about and working on reopening the Empire Mine, there in Grass Valley starting probably 4-5 years ago. Not sure what the current situation is down there, though. Yeah, if I was going to live in California, that's about where I'd like to be.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Welcome from the desert outside of Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. I grew up in Fairfield, not that far from Grass Valley. 

My Dad bought a 150# Vulcan from a high school in Vallejo during the late 80's or early 90's. But yeah, a Vulcan is a lot blockier than a Fisher, so should be easy to tell them apart.

[Kaylee]

Ok, finally got some pictures taken (or sent to me) from my original projects from "back in the day"... the tongs are from '94, and the sign was made in '95. The bend in the sign frame is from a tree falling on it and taking out the post it was mounted to and landing on the sign. It's not very visible, but in the fuzzy picture of the tongs, I figured I'd pick something up with them, and the only reasonable thing I found was my railroad track anvil (weighed it earlier today at 65 pounds). I'd never really tested to see if things would slip out of them before, but I guess probably not.