Newbie from West-Central TX

[NewHammer]

Hello all,

 

I and my 15 yr old son have recently become very interested in blacksmithing and have taken a couple of beginning classes.  The "bug" has bitten us hard and we are now starting to gather things so we can forge at home.  As we have started this journey I have been on the lookout for someone in my immediate area who might help to mentor us and teach us as we continue to learn and hone our skills.  However, I have come up empty.  The closest organizations, clubs, or mentors that I have been able to find thus far are all at least 2-3 hours away from us.  So, as I was perusing your website recently I decided to join and throw out my call for help.  Are there any blacksmiths in the area of San Angelo, TX that would be willing to help teach a 41 yr old man and a 15 yr old boy some of the finer points of general blacksmithing, welding and bladesmithing?  We are going to be up and forging very soon in the backyard using the knowledge we got from our two classes, but having a knowledgeable mentor close by would sure be a plus.  I look forward to hearing back from the community, and let me just say, "thanks for having me.".  

This website is very inspirational and motivational, especially the galleries.  some AMAZING stuff there. 

[JHCC]

Welcome aboard! If you put your location in your profile settings, it will be a lot easier for your neighbors to find you. 

Check out the pages for the regional organizations and meets. You're not in my neck of the woods, but we've got a lot of Texans here who will be glad to help.

[NewHammer]

Done and done, sir. Thanks for the advice. It took me all day to get the site to save the location to my profile though. This site has already helped generate a couple of leads for people who are in my general area. I hope to find more folks around me soon.  

[Charles R. Stevens]

Welcome to IFI, can't help much more in finding a local smith, I can offer encouragement tho! Lol

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard NewHammer, glad to have you two. 

How are you at detective work? In the last couple minutes I discovered more about San Angelo than ever before. Map says you're in central Tex. and I'm no direct help. However what I used to do when traveling and looking for a blacksmith to visit I'd first look in the phone book. If no blacksmith listed, there almost never were, I'd call a farrier and ask if s/he knew of one locally. Failing that I'd call the feed store or farrier supply.

Use the telephone, looking online isn't nearly as successful as you'd think. Talking to a human is so much more profitable. so that's my search list. Blacksmith - Farrier - Farrier supply - Feed store. Maybe the steel yard will know and even more iffy maybe the hardware store.

If none of that works we'll talk you through. We're pulling for you.

Frosty The Lucky.

[jimmy seale]

I'm south of you in eldorado welcome aboard.

 

[NewHammer]

Wow, thanks for all the support guys.   Frosty, I've been working my detective skills pretty hard.  I am planning on getting in touch with a couple of ferriers in the area.  We are just getting our meager forging setup ready to start heating and beating, just working out a couple of clutter issues on our patio, for safety.  

Jimmy, great to know we have someone relatively close to consult with. I'd love to meet you sometime and ask you a lot of questions.  I'm sure that in the coming months I'll be asking the IFI community a lot of questions, probably in the hopes of helping fix mistakes I make as I learn. I loom forward to being able to post some pics to the gallery soon of some things vs we've made and getting feedback from all the experience the IFI has. 

 

Thanks y'all.

[Mark Ling]

Hey NH, I'm in college Station Texas, ain't the closets, but who knows, maybe you'll be in this area some time. If so, let me know, we can light up the forge maybe and I'll show you some stuff.

                                                                                        Littleblacksmith