Howdy from Sierra Foothills

[SwissSmith]

Greetings IFI gang,

Bob Walsh, a.k.a “Swiss  Smith”. A “newbie” from Grass Valley, CA in the Sierra foothills. Recently retired from a career as a mountain guide, building contractor and 4th grade teacher.

Finally setting up my lifelong desire to have a nice smithy. Brief history. Went to Europe when I was 18 years old to climb in the Alps. Ended up meeting  a cute Swiss girl ( not as cute as my wife if she reads this! ), who invited me to stay and visit with her family for a couple of weeks in a small village in Switzerland. Her brother and sister in law were fellow climbers. Her father, the village blacksmith. Incredible shop built of stone under the house. Entire shop driven by overhead massive leather belts powered by mountain stream and Pelton Wheel. Would hang out with Herr Bosch every day in the smithy. On walks, this humble man, would point out all the things he had made for the village. He was a one man hardware store!

When I got back home, inspired by my Swiss smith ( my tag is in honor of him, I’m Irish! ) I found Frank Turleys School in Santa Fe and put myself thru his 6 week Ornamental Blacksmithing class in the summer of 1973. Awesome time, small class, me and I think 4 or 5 other guys, and Frank. My favorite memory was when after pounding for a long time on one of Frank’s required projects, I’d bring it to Frank for final inspection. Frank, always sparse with words, would study it and then say: “Ain’t much fer purty, but hell for stout!” A howdy to Frank and any other Turley Forge graduates. 

Excited when I graduated went home and gathered everything I needed to set up a shop. Needed money for gear to go climb Mt. McKinley so sold it all (no regrets!). Got busy. Got married. Got kids(5). Got grandkids (13). So the smithy got back burnered.

Now having accumulated over the years a: 100 lb. Peter Wright (carried out of an old gold mine deep in the mts. on my buddy’s back), 300 lb. Fisher, both in excellent condition, a good Champion 400, a what I think is a real old Canedy Otto Western Chief belt driven that is set up for a wooden handle that needs restoring (help/ideas?), nice forge, leg vise and some hammers and tongs. Hot d*#m! I’m ready to go! My goals: have fun beating some iron, volunteer at local Empire Mine blacksmithing displays for school kids, maybe combine my love of woodworking and forging to make a few bucks.

Anybody that is nearby, give me a shout. Looking forward to being an active member of this community. 

Bob/ Swiss Smith

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Bob, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the gang live within visiting distance. I know you already said you live in Grass Valley but nobody's going to remember once we open another post. 

That's a heck of a kit for a beginner, looks like you're off to the races!

My Father set up some gold extraction equipment near Camptonville, I don't recall the name of the gold rush road house but it was close. We used to visit when we were in the area. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley. The folks built a place above Lake Davis in Portola. On one of my visits Dad had arranged a visit to the state park not far from Quincy and joining the blacksmith shop demos. It was a mine blacksmith shop, not a rail road shop. That's about as good as my memory is, I'm a TBI survivor and some stuff is hopeless buried in a busted filing system.

Good stream fishing too. Good memories of your neck of the woods though.

Frosty The Lucky.