So I live around 30 miles north of Dallas. Keep in mind I'm 15, but I've been looking for some blacksmithing/bladesmithing classes near me I've found one called Shadowhawk Blades, but they're 2 hours away from me which I'm fine with but my parents don't want to be waiting for 8-10 hours doing nothing. So I was wondering if there were any classes closer to me where they can just drop me off and then pick me up later without the long drive. I'd say around 1 hour or less is a manageable drive.

I can't speak to that; but for the classes I teach a parent is required to be on hand for all folks under 18.  Often I teach both the parent and their child at the same time!

Did you ask around at your local ABANA Affiliate?  I counted 7 affiliates in TX; hopefully there is an active one close to you.

Trooves, look up Crossroads Forging Conference on Facebook, it will be a great chance for you to meet smiths in your area and a good learning opportunity for you 

Welcome aboard Trooves, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. Just mentioning it in one post won't stick in anyone's memory once we open another thread. Having it up top of every one of your posts makes a big difference.

Frosty The Lucky.

7 hours ago, Les L said:

Trooves, look up Crossroads Forging Conference on Facebook, 

Thank you for this, I might be able to go to the one on Saturday. I've never been to one though so I'm not exactly sure how comfortable I'd be.

6 hours ago, Frosty said:

Welcome aboard Trooves, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance.

Alright I'll do that next time if I need to ask about this again.

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Trooves, think of walking into a room full of your grandfathers (no matter the age of the smith) and everyone wanting to help you, just make sure you wear proper clothes, footwear, safety glasses if you get close to a forge, listen to advice and be polite. 
At our club meeting last week a 70 yr old smith worked with a 12yr old, that joined our club three months ago, and at the end of the day he said he hasn’t had that much fun in the last 20 years, but the young man met all of the conditions I listed for you 
 

4 hours ago, Les L said:

Crossroads Forging Conference

43 minutes ago, trooves said:

I'm not exactly sure how comfortable I'd be.

Trust me: it'll be great. One of the demonstrators is Mark Ling, who started smithing when he was about your age and has become quite a respected teacher (you can find his contributions here on IFI under the username "littleblacksmith"). Another demonstrator is Lyle Wynn, another highly respected teacher who focusses on basic toolmaking (he's also competed on "Forged In Fire"). I don't know the other demonstrators, but I'm sure they will also be great.

Remember as well that you will probably NOT be the only beginner there, so you don't have to worry about people judging you or acting like you don't belong. You belong. Go. Have fun. Learn. Keep us posted!

3 hours ago, Les L said:

Trooves, think of walking into a room full of your grandfathers (no matter the age of the smith) and everyone wanting to help you, just make sure you wear proper clothes, footwear, safety glasses if you get close to a forge, listen to advice and be polite. 
 

Haha, yea that's great I'll definitely go I'll only be able to go on the Saturday though.

 

2 hours ago, JHCC said:

Trust me: it'll be great. One of the demonstrators is Mark Ling, IFI under the username "littleblacksmith"). Another demonstrator is Lyle Wynn, another highly respected teacher who focusses on basic toolmaking 

Yea that's great, sadly I won't be able to make it on Friday which is when his demonstration is, but I'd be there for Lyle Wynn. I'll also probably go with a friend if they're interested, I mean who wouldn't be interested in blacksmithing.

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Mark, and most  of the presenters will be there there whole time, you will have a lot of opportunities to talk face to face with them. Every time I’ve seen Mark at an event, if he’s not doing a demo, he has a forge set up and is swinging a hammer and explaining what he’s doing. 

Another thing to know is these things are NOT competitions, beginners are there to learn and the old hands tend to be very generous of their time. Of course once in a while a couple old hands will have a contest but the only way you'd be involved is as a spectator.

Hammer ins and large meetings are great places to just be. Getting to play with fire and hit things with hammers is icing o the cake. 

Remember: Safety glasses, NO SYNTHECTIC clothes!! leather shoes or boots, no laces are best but leather doesn't burn easily. Hearing protection, gloves maybe.

Take a camera and note book, sketch pads are good so you can keep some of the ideas you'll see and get yourself.

Remember, this stuff is FUN! Relax and enjoy yourself.

Frosty The Lucky.

There is going to be a teaching tent there also,  but but they haven't provided any details on it or who is going to be teaching yet.

FYI for anyone interested in the conference, it has been moved to the fairgrounds in Denton. They also placed a registration link on their Facebook in order to get an idea on headcount 

23 hours ago, Les L said:

There is going to be a teaching tent there also,  but but they haven't provided any details on it or who is going to be teaching yet.

Alright cool is the teaching tent just people explaining what theyre doing or is it something else

I don't know what this event is going to be like, but in my experience, teaching tents are usually hands-on, with students trying things out and teachers giving guidance. Sometimes a teacher will demonstrate something, and then the students try it.

At Quad-State last fall, the teaching area was run by Candy and Brian Martens of Rochester Arc and Flame, and they had a selection of fun basic projects for people to choose from, some with pre-cut blanks ready for forging. Regardless of who the teacher is and how they go about things, however, it's going to be worth it.