Chris C Posted August 15, 2019 Share Posted August 15, 2019 Drove to my Thursday night open forge and when I drove onto the property, mine was the only vehicle there! The owner/head blacksmith was sitting on his back porch playing with his grandchildren. I asked him what was going on and he said he had to shut it down....................to much *BLEEP* getting torn up...............State Fair coming up and a lot of preparation going on for that..............too many people off on vacations becaue of Summer. Said he might fire the group back up in the Fall after the Fair. I don't have any idea what was being torn up, and I noticed no dissention in the group. Not really sure what happened, but I'm truly disappointed. It was nice being exposed to experienced blacksmiths, journeyman level and newbies on a weekly basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Oh man. Maybe he'll open it back up soon. Maybe you could get together with an individual or two in the group and y'all do your own thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazyassforge Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Please don’t be too hard on mr D. He’s kept it going a lot longer than most people would have. I don’t doubt he will start it up again but he needs to get his self gathered back together first. Bill D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 He seemed pretty bummed about it CGL..............but didn't get really specific about what happened. I just hope he will, indeed, start it back up in the Fall. It was literally the highlight of my week. I'll miss it greatly. Lazyassforge, I'm not the least bit down on him. I'm aware he's been doing it for a lot of years. I'm sorry that "whatever" happened happened!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 One of our members had our monthly meeting at his place a couple of months ago. A tong or two was missing, some other stuff "misplaced", some special steel pins for old engines were used for scrap metal, and to top it all off, his anvil had the edges along one side all beat up and chipped! I doubt we'll ever see his shop again...don't blame him one bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Ugh. Sorry things went south. Do you have contacts for the rest of the group? See if any will host you to come forge and learn. I know I would help someone out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 I'm not upset with Korney at all. My family used to own a 36,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility. I KNOW what it would take to open his shop to so many people every week. He's got a heart of gold..........probably platinum. He's been an extremely (if not overly) gracious host to allow so many people, for so many years, to simply walk into his shop and treat it like their own. I have no information people ever stole anything, but I imagine it's happened. When I first started attending, I quickly noted everyone in the room was using propane, sanding belts, gas for the welders, electricity for the induction forges, power hammers, presses, lighting, air-conditioning, etc., etc., etc. He never asked for anything in return. I started sticking a twenty dollar bill in his pocket as I left. He tried to refuse it, but I insisted. On the third night I was there, he threw it back at me and told me he didn't want it or need it and to start putting it away for my anvil. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, but it was obvious to me that a lot of people were taking advantage of him and never thanking him in return . I've always stopped by to shake his hand and thank him for the use of everything on my way out the door each evening. I've been told he's been on overload for some time now and has really been wanting to shut it down but just hated to disappoint everyone. (I don't doubt any of that.) I had no idea it was bothering him to have everyone over on Thursdays. He mentioned last night he has a lot of things coming up that are going to consume his time and thought but that he "might" fire it back up in the Fall. I, for one, can only hope he does. I only have phone contacts for a couple of the folks who attended. Only one of those has a forge. But I really hate to bother someone one-on-one who is trying to work on their own projects for the purpose of sales. I'm going to concentrate on getting my forge up and running and just work at home. If he starts the Thursday night group up again in the Fall, I'll happily attend. I hope and pray he gets whatever load it is that's over- filled his plate taken care of so he can truly enjoy Thursday nights instead of dreading them. He mentioned to me one night it had been a long time since he'd just fired up a forge at home and hammered steel for the fun of it. That's sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Maybe offer to come over Wednesday nights in the fall to organize the shop for Thursdays. Offer to come in and help with some sweeping, painting or any other help over the summer to help him out no strings attached. I understand being burned out and having a person take a bit of the load off can really help. On the other hand he might just want evenings and weekends for family and himself for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 At this point, "only the shadow knows" exactly what brought this on..............so who only knows what will rectify it. We'll just have to wait and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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