Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Seeking Apprenticeship


Recommended Posts

Hello, I'm looking for a blacksmithing apprenticeship.

My name's Rick, I'm 20 years old, currently studying for a mechanical engineering degree, with emphasis on CNC machines. 

For the past 3 years I've studied and worked at my college shop, beginning with metal shop stuff, moving to manual machining, then operating and programming CNCs.

I've taken two semesters of metallurgy, and the basic welding courses. I can weld with MIG, stick, and oxy-acetylene. Maybe just a bit of TIG.

Starting from when I was about 15, I took courses at the OC blacksmith's guild, every Saturday for 3 years, then on and off as I started college. 

There, I completed coursework such as the CBA Basic 1 course, as well as the ABANA Controlled Hand Forging manual. I was a member of the CBA and ABANA for the duration of my studies at the forge.

I'm looking for a blacksmith who wants to pass on the knowledge and expertise of his craft; however I'm not really looking for "lessons". I believe with the current state of this industry, working in a real forge is privilege enough, so that's all I ask.

I'm don't mind if the position is unofficial either, I'm not looking for more certificates or union papers.

I live in Burbank, CA, and I'm willing to relocate anywhere in North America or Europe (in fact, I'm hoping for it!). I make no upfront demands as to salary or quarters.

Full resume upon request, as well as any questions answered through email or PM. (Please contact me at scpcqs@gmail.com for a fast response).

Thank you for your time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome aboard Rick, glad to have you. I doubt you can find a real blacksmithing apprenticeship in this country, Europe is a different story though. Like George says it sounds like you already have more schooling than most guys practicing, experience counts of course but having the knowledge under your belt will get you in many doors. 

Having the education is a took kit once someone hires you THEY teach you the job. They're two different things, the skills or knowing the job. You see positions offered here every now and then and most are for production blacksmith shops and I'm sure they'd grab you on application.

Keep your eyes open and be patient and you'll find something good. I'd be thinking about Europe were I young buck, different aesthetics, forging styles, tools and techniques. Different is good.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Frosty, thank you.

Seems like Europe is the place to be. I used to live there, wouldn't mind going back.

I'll be taking more advanced welding courses beginning in summer, and I'm always studying machining.

I guess the longer this takes the longer I have to learn more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Rick.H said:

I guess the longer this takes the longer I have to learn more.

Well said. That's a good attitude you have. Is it possible in your situation to set yourself up with a forge and hone your skills as you seek what you desire? Given that it may take time to find what you're looking for, that would be my recommendation. The more hands on, hammering on steel experience you have, the better prepared you will be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Will, thanks.

Even though getting a forge and anvil and tools are quite expensive, I would be able to get set up without much problem.

However, I live in an apartment so before even considering something like an anvil or a forge, I have to go real estate shopping.

At the very least I have to rent some sort of shop or workplace. There's no way I can afford anything like that, and it wouldn't be wise to saddle myself with such a burden in case I actually do get an apprenticeship.

I've considered portable forges, but I'd have to drive several hours to get somewhere that isn't in a constant fire hazard. I don't even have a vehicle that can carry a forge or anvil anyway.

I'm afraid there's really not much I can do to set myself up with my own forge.

Best I can do is to keep going to the guild every week I can, and practice there. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up in Sylmar and my last job before moving to Alaska was in Burbank half a block off the corner, (gone lo these many years,) of Burbank, Victory, and Hollywood Way. Right next door to the old "Santoro's Submarines" when it was in a roofed over alley.

Sorry, I'll reminisce another time. You don't need a blacksmith shop to learn blacksmithing or do high quality work. Search out "bean can forge" and stake anvils. All you need then is a couple light hammers say 10 - 32 oz. chisels, punches a hack saw, bolt cutters and pliers. You can learn all the techniques and processes on small scale stock with small scale tools.

For instance making nails is good practice and doesn't take much at all a light ball pein, a sledge hammer head "anvil" A chisel or side cutters work a treat. and a header. 

stand a wooden block on end on 2 layers of cheap throw out carpet. The sledge hammer head can be stood on one face or laid flat, the handle eye can be darned handy but standing on end is handy too. Oh heck just make a wooden frame you can wedge it into so it can lay in any orientation.

A cake pan with an inch of dirt will shield even a wooden table to from a Bean can forge that's sitting an inch over the dirt. The pan is also REALLY handy for normalizing steel and being a toss bin for things you've finished.

There's a pic I've seen posted here from Colonial Williamsburg of a "nail making station". The station is actually a small shop with an anvil, header, hardy and shears about shoe box size maybe.

There are a lot of various clamps and small vises that'll let you scrape, file, sand, and polish to your hearts content. (or shoulder's limits.)

You don't need big, fancy or away from the Chaparral to be fire safe. Lots of us do it and we'll tell you how we pull it off.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow Frosty, thanks for the ideas, those actually sound really cool!

I don't why, maybe I just always thought of smithing on a 250 lb. anvil with a giant forge, making big stuff. 

First thing I'll try is that "bean can forge".

By the way, am I right in assuming that this can be used indoors? Would an open window be enough ventilation?

Thanks very much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In an apartment, with limited funds, seems like you're tailor-made for a copy of this book!

58fb48f8da33c_bentironwork.JPG.a3175ff35c457fa2bd759db78ab6310c.JPG

There's more to blacksmithing than hot fires and big anvils.  Those things are nice, but you can do a ton of work with old soup cans and strips of thin steel!  Best of all, the lessons can be scaled up so when you do get a gig in a big shop, you'll have some idea of how the components go together.

Hope you can land a job overseas.  I'd love to travel over to Europe for a year or two just to study in an area filled with old ironwork and people who still appreciate it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You CAN use a bean can forge indoors but it's even better on your porch, balcony, etc. You get you want open windowS more than one and a cross draft. Running even a Bernzomatic torch in a bean can forge is a Carbon Monoxide CO generator so you must take precautions. 

Do NOT wear synthetics! Anything about 300f and hotter will stick to, melt and start them boiling against your skin. Just like a deep fat fryer. Natural fibers burst into flame on contact with black hot materials, scale and pinch offs from cutting stock. The puff of smoke and flame blow the hot thing off you and the smell of burning fabric is a giant red flag in your brain. Oh baby, you'll learn to tell the difference between welding rod, quench oil, paper, whatever and the smell of you cotton Levis or shirt burning. Wool is like magic for letting you know you're on fire. ;)

A coupe decades ago an internet acquaintance of mine lived on the 8th. floor of a retirement condo in Florida. He made blades on his balcony and kept his entire knife shop in a couple shoe boxes in a closet. He'd made a decorative iron and glass table top for his tree round anvil stand. It just lifted off and camouflaged his anvil stand as a side table.

You can imagine how stealthy he had to be. We old farts do NOT like noisy neighbors and know how to use the telephone!

He specialized in pattern welded blades and even came up with a knock down belt grinder but hand scraped, filed and sanded for years. I haven't heard from him since before you could upload pictures to the email lists we frequented. Theforge.list and Artmetal.list. Theforge is still up and going supported by Abana. Artmetal changed to the Sandbox.list and most folk have gone to Face Book so I don't see much traffic anymore. 

There are a lot of ways to blacksmith and be stealthy but I discovered while living in a trailer court that sharpening peoples knives gratis went a long LONG way towards putting up with the clang clang clang of a blacksmith 30' from their living room wall. Seriously it was such a small toll to pay. Even my old Rockwell 2" x 48" belt grinder that doesn't have clearance to clear the motor grinding a piece more than about 6" long would put a razor edge on a blunt blade in about half a minute then a few seconds dressing on the Arkansas stone and my neighbors used to brag about me for a neighbor. 

A little good PR goes a long way.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Curious, you've been a member of CBA and active with the group, why not try getting a job with one of the many professionals that are also active with CBA?   Between CBA and NWBA, there must be 100's of shops taking on employees.   And most of them (99%) are not members of this forum, so if they're looking, they won't fine you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gerald, I was actually going to post exactly about that next.

I haven't been active at the forge I used to go for almost two years, yesterday was the first time I went there since.

I had to wake up at 6 AM and showed up around 8, which was before they officially opened. I helped them start up everything like I used to do, a couple people even remembered me.

The drive was totally worth it. Even though I was a little rusty, I got started immediately. I started with the S-hook project, simple but when I first tried it at 14 it took me nearly 2 months to make a barely decent one. This time I made a very nice S-hook in a matter of minutes.

I was working on a nearly 300 year old forged steel 400 pound anvil, with the biggest hammer I could find, so I was quite happy.

I moved on to the next project, a chisel used to make the project after that, a decorative leaf. I made it from a 1/2 inch piece of carbon steel, very simple but I had to spend forever hand filing it to a finish (power tools aren't allowed in the basic program). I heat treated it with oil in the two stage magnet and steel bar process, I have no idea what it's called.

I ended up staying until they closed around 7:30, nearly 12 hours!

 

Anyway, I did ask two of the most experienced smiths for advice; I gave him my contact in case but he let me know it wasn't likely to amount to much.

Neither of them were aware of any "shops", certainly not any that were hiring employees. What I got from our conversations was that few people they knew had their own shop, none were explicitly looking for an apprentice.

These people had been active in the southern CA blacksmith community for many decades, so I suppose they come from all over to work at this forge once a week for a reason. However, the person I talked to wasn't a full time smith, just a hobbyist, although one with 30 years of experience. I'm not sure about any of the other instructors, but I believe they aren't either. They are all volunteers at that shop, so it's likely they don't concern themselves much with the commercial side of this industry. I didn't want to bother them too much either, I suppose if I did I could find out more. I'll try asking a little more when I see them next.

As far as others from the CBA go, they are state-wide but centrally located way down south and I've never had any contact with them.

If there really are hundreds of actual blacksmith shops looking for employees for entry level positions in my area, they must not be advertising. That just doesn't seem to be in accordance with what everyone involved in blacksmithing always tells me anyway. 

Of course I'll keep trying to network in person as well as online. My search could take years so I have a lot of time to build up my network as well as my skills.

Thanks everyone for the help and advice.

Sorry for the long post, just had a lot to say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They don't advertise, because they don't need to.  Back when I worked for others, every time we would turn around, somebody was walking into the shop looking for work.  If you want to get a job, that's what you need to do.  Now that I think of it, every job I ever had, was because I walked into a man's shop and asked for a job. 

As for the number of shops with employees, in my area, Charlottesville, VA, there are no less then three shops with employees, and that's just the shops using the word "blacksmith"

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rick: I hope you aren't asking to apprentice, there are connotations to apprenticeships nobody in this country wants to take on. Just ask for a job, they'll teach you what they need, it's up to you to pick up the rest. 

You may be rusty but you have the basic skills. Yes? Just be up front, tell them, you're rusty and not an advanced blacksmith. If they need help they'll show you what and how they want jobs done.

My Father was a metal spinner and machinist and hired new spinners regularly. Some had decades of experience, some more experienced than Dad but he had to train every one how we did it in HIS shop. Period. There was always plenty of work, from sweeping, wiping down and oiling machinery, moving blanks and finished parts from station to station, etc. Dad hired people who walked in the door and asked frequently most weren't experienced at all. Entry level is probationary training.

Even the most advanced and experienced craftsman will ask how the shop wants work done when they're new on the job. It doesn't matter what the trade is, every shop has it's own ways and folk who want to work there do it that way. Not that new folk don't bring new and often better ways to do things, they just don't change the business right away.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

all good points. Frosty.   it's also part of the learning processes..  Once you have developed a skill set , moving around to other shops even if it's just for room and board will open many a door as well as learning that there is exactly 1million 2hundred and 95 thousand ways to make or do the same thing..   As you progress you can decide for yourself which methods you like the best or are the most productive.. at that point you will own your own shop and people will be walking into your shop asking for a job.. 

I hate to sound like this but unless you get lucky enough to be at a larger event and ask every person if they are looking for help or place an advert in ABANA's rag  working full time and also working when you have free time at the get togethers and forge in's will expedite the process..  

Having a reliable car , money for gas, goes a long way to finding steady employment and like said..  Unless you get lucky or work really hard at finding the ideal shop it can be hit or miss and it can be job dependent..  They may need help for only a week or 2 or a month..  Usually with very little pay if any..  But you are young and now is the time because as you get older sleeping on the floor gets tougher.. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Frosty, I made sure to not ask them for an apprenticeship because I know it's a very involved business. I just asked if they knew anyone who wanted some help at their shop, for free. No deal about lessons or anything, I just wanted to get myself in the door, so to speak.

As far as blacksmith shops, there's a couple near me, but they're very high profile Hollywood propmakers who have a strict no apprentices/trainees rule. 

There's some wrought iron shops and the like around too, I'll try just walking in and asking if they need help. You guys seem to think that might work, but I only tend to ever apply online, to open positions. Maybe it'll work out, I've actually never tried it before to be honest.

JLP, thanks for bringing that up. There's 2 events a year I believe, one's next week in Vista which I might attend. I was a member of ABANA for a few years and got their magazine, I didn't know they had classifieds but that sounds like a decent idea.

Like I said, I'll try to be more active in the community and see what I can find.

Thanks everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...
On 4/18/2017 at 3:52 AM, Rick.H said:

Hello, I'm looking for a blacksmithing apprenticeship.

 

Hey there, 

I realize this post was in 2017, but was wanting to know how you went and am looking for advice for myself to get into the work revolving around blacksmithing.

I am 21 / living in New Zealand, there is not really anything available for blacksmithing aside from a few day courses. Currently it seems like I may have to do a study internationally to create a gateway for myself, but would love to begin an apprenticeship internationally if that was available to me.

Papara C

Edited by Mod30
Trim quote.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am aware that the post was from a while ago, would be cool to find out how he went in the end. Currently I am looking at applying at a Uni in the UK, I would have also loved to practice the art through work.

I guess that will come in the later future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think working apprenticeships are pretty rare these days. There's some smiths from the UK that are members here that might be able to shed some light on the actual situation on the ground in the UK. I'm sure it would be easier to find work in a shop with a certificate though. There may be internship work programs you could look into as well. I'll do some searching and see if I can find anything you don't already know. 

Pnut

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...