Hobbies

[natkova]

Or Is it to me that it look like that or its true everywhere in world that having hobby in trade for example blacksmithing woodworking is destined for person to be loner in that hobby.

 

If you take cycling for example and you can see lots of social gathering and people more socialise in that hobby if they are at centrain age .

 

Or if iam talking about going to gym you can make more friends or gaming for example .

Iam not saying I will leave stuff that I like like smithing, woodworking etc.

But is there need for person to upgrade hobbies if he feel that he is alone in it 

 

Sometimes I feel like I felt from Mars with hobby that died one century ,or more a go 

Youngest person I found that like smithing is folk  that sold me vise and he is 44 year old 

I feel like smithing this 10 years that Iam involved in as hobby gave me some things and isolated me in some things when I was teen.

Often times I hide that I do blacksmithing because it's looked poor upon it, until people show up and see bellows forge and anvil.

Well when I was younger I tend to be introvert so I think having hobbies like smithing and woodworking is not what make me introvert, but maybe may personality.

Do you recommend having some more hobbies beside those two for people who are lets say less social.

Well I must admit I feel comfortable with it, but everything have good and bad side 

Iam not saying that I will leave this interesting craft, but maybe not be opsessed with only that 

I don't know I want to know do anybody had that expireneve, or felt like that.

 

[Goods]

Natkova, I’m a bit of an introvert myself, but here there is a pretty strong community (Indiana Blacksmith Association). We meet every month officially, but many of the members talk or hang out much more regularly. I’m not sure what the blacksmithing culture around you is like, but don’t be wary of letting other know what you are up to. It may generate more interest and get something started for your area. (What’s more fun than playing with fire and beating on things? ) 
 

Keep it fun,

David

[ThomasPowers]

I know of associations of blacksmithing groups in several other countries as well as the USA; so I'd have to say that your case is not universal.  I'll be going to the local ABANA affiliate meeting the second Saturday of the month.  I also plan to go to Quad-State this fall; last time, pre covid, I attended they had about 1000 people there.

You may want to look into any historical reenactment groups as they tend to spawn crafts associated with their time periods.

[Frosty]

Our club is growing constantly, it's getting so crowded at meetings you can hardly move. We certainly can't have more than 2 stations inside. Meetings are like happy cocktail parties, lots of happy chatter old timers answering questions and mentoring folk. Even little hammer ins tend to have pretty good sized turn outs. 

I don't know what your situation or culture is like Nat but here just mentioning you're a blacksmith will make you "friends." For a few minutes anyway. I get plenty of guys who try it once and disappear but lots come back, join the club and make stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[natkova]

Well here its discouraged , so maybe this will sound offensive but realy are there people from 20 to more year old, i imagine blacksmith gathering like senior people and people who get to retierment to do froging and meet eacaother.

Well its not only about blacksmithing, if i take beeskeeping as craft or hobby you will by chance find more old folks in it, but beekeeping have more lucky there is  club or how you call it group for that.

Blacksmtihing i think as trade dont exist.
Well it exist  group as named " entrepreneurs" but that is wide range of jobs , it can include IT (informative technologies aka coumputers, farming everything) iam talking about specific trade group here dont exist.

Maybe but Maybe there is thinmit or coppersmith group but that is closely related to toursim in Sarajevo where it related to dishes made out of copper.

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Here there are smiths from 11 years to their 80's; when I teach at the university all the students are generally in their 20's.  Generally when I teach "outside" I'm the oldest at the forge.

[George N. M.]

Nat, I think the amount of sociability or isolation a person experiences through his hobbies or other interests is dependent on a couple of things.  1) How many people are there fairly nearby who share your intersts in X?  I started blacksmithing in Wyoming, the smallest population of any state in the USA and it wasn't until 12 or 15 years later that I met another smith.  This was before the days of the internet.  2) How social are you to begin with?  Someone who is very extroverted will make anything into a social occasion.  Someone who is more introverted my prefer only their own company no matter what they are doing.  If you want to share your interest in X you will probably seek out folk with a common or similar interest(s).  It largely depends if you are a "lone eagle" by nature or not.

Also, there may be a difference in social attitudes toward X.  Here in the USA if someone finds out I am a smith the response is usually very positive because it is seen as an unusual and uncommon activity and the media, particularly the knife making TV show Forged in Fire, has portrayed smiths in a very positive light.  There are plenty of misconceptions but the attitude is that it is a cool and positive thing to do.  However, there are places, and maybe Bosina is one of them, where any kind of craft or working with your hands carries a negative connotation of being lower class.  It's sort of ike attitudes towards sun tans.  In some countries a good tan implies being fit and active and well enough off to have the leisure time to lie around in the sun.  But in other countries a tan is associated with being a peasant who is out in the fields and sun all day.  That is why the traditional women's dress is some countries covers much of the skin and an umbrella or parasol is often in use.

The internet has increased the communication between folk with uncommon interests by orders of magnitude.  IFI is a prime example of this.

Myself, I like to keep a balance between things I like to do by myself and social activities but covid has pushed me very hard towards the former.

GNM

[natkova]

Well I will give some examples , when I took courses in learning German Language, or even in programming  I had more companies with that as let's say activity then smithing, realy smithing here is just consider as trade and trade that is dirty, even from my parents I was discouraged  to do it, and even my village balckmith said it is not worth it it's dying, so I went to his brother in city and asked for some tips about some smithy suff .

 maybe you have right about that it's looked down on that trade, well let'say when I go to junk to find some stuff for smithing I feel like and people se me like I want to buy old junk steel iron and sold it for money and live by it 

it's just how it's it, even Smith on tv interview say this trade is not appreciated.

 

And as kid I gathered tools didn't played soccer with kids that much but played with wood more and experimented maybe iam some kind artist or something, but this kind of life have toll on person well being.

I am considering to change my habits Iam not saying I will ever be able to leave  hammer away (maybe if I leave country and workshop ) than by that circumstances I will. 

BUt in late time iam meditating about my life choices and where they being me, well if I don't like let's say gym or I feel socially akward , I think I can allways return to blacksmithing, I feel like I'm wasting my time doing stuff that can be done later in life. 

 

one thing also if this hobby of mine is let's sy bring me some money , if I don't do stuff for myself, for various reasons, maybe it will get more attractive and bring more attention.

just here if something don't bring money on table or food it's considered luxury or for wasting time 

 

one same stuff that I can mention is hunting, its too have "bad reputation".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Frosty]

I understand Nat. I think it's because your nation is moving past older industries into more modern ones. Blacksmithing is how iron was worked in the old days but now it's worked in machine and welding shops. Blacksmithing is no longer a paying trade, a waste of time. I understand, I do.

When I was getting interested in blacksmithing I was maybe 9-10 years old and every time I mentioned it around my parents, especially Dad they discouraged me, Dad did so strongly. He said, "Learn a paying trade." It didn't matter how many times I tried to explain I just wanted to blacksmith as a hobby his answer was always, "Learn a paying trade."

Dad was born in 1919 and went through some tough times, every penny counted, the whole family worked to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. I learned much later from an Uncle that Dad's first job was chipping bark from log rafts on Lake Washington and drying it to sell as stove wood. When Dad got large enough the only work he could find was sharpening plow shears on a power hammer for $0.15 a day. Then he went to work logging until he was old enough to enlist in the Army. After WWII he had a good trade as a machinist and metal spinner, he'd learned both before the war but during the war he polished the skills. 

He never wanted to touch a blacksmithing tool ever again. To Dad blacksmithing was a near slave labor job you only did to keep from starving. It was the same with many of his contemporaries including my metal shop teachers in school. Each metal shop class had an anvil, forge, tools and a dedicated area but I almost never saw the forge lit and nobody did any forging. Bending and twisting we did with a torch and bender.

I think the attitudes I ran into when young was an effect of modernization, nobody wanted to go back to the old days where you had to work harder and produced less meaning you earned less. Think of it like plowing your fields with horses when everybody else is using tractors. It may feel good and be much more satisfying but it isn't going to make a living so nobody is going to encourage it. 

I didn't know any blacksmiths other than the farriers who shod our horses and they weren't going to waste time showing me anything at the anvil. What I wanted to do was entirely different than what they did. So, I tried to teach myself without any help, I had to keep it secret from Dad or I'd never hear the end of it. He wouldn't have punished me but he's sure let me know I was wasting my time. It wasn't till the 1980s I started discovering books, then the internet went public and I discovered blacksmiths talking like here on Iforge. 

Finally my hobby wasn't some odd bit of crazy, there were more of us out there, I wasn't alone. And here we are today. 

So I think I understand your situation. I don't know what to say to help you through it there. I just kept quiet and learned what I could, mostly had to figure it out myself. A new generation started taking the reigns of society and blacksmithing as a hobby and trade were no longer a dead end waste of time and now it's a popular craft and potential trade. 

Here Blacksmithing died as an industrial trade during WWII and took almost two generations to enjoy a revival. I think you in Bosnia are maybe a generation behind us in the cycle. 

The other huge difference you enjoy that I didn't have is the internet and Iforge. We'll help you learn the craft we may not be able to stand next to you at the anvil but we're behind you to help however we can.

It makes you and I closer Brothers. I'm 70 years old, I went through what you are now, two generations ago. Yes?

Frosty The Lucky.

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Nat,

In our Vancouver Island Blacksmith Association we have members from 12 years old to 90, Male and Female. I have been teaching Blacksmithing for over 20 years, one of my first lady students, asked me "How can I make what you want us to make and make it PRETTY?". That was a lesson for me, being Humbled!! Making something Pretty is just one more step, 'You are never finished, unless it is FINISHED'!! I also teach the 'Braille Test', close your eyes and runs your hands over your work, if you can feel any snags, it is not FINISHED!!!

Neil

[natkova]

I don't know what it is but I feel like this relax me, after having some time thinking about it, how much it isolate ne i like it I may pay price but it's better than playing Minecraft or some  v games that I don't like that much.

I think it's more about commitment, I don't like being committed to one person  or more person at same time, i guess if it was not Smithing something else would be in solitude.

It goes in circle , because Iam a little bit social anxious , I tend to work alone have hobbies where I work alone, and because I work alone I don't socialise that much. 

 

I

[Frosty]

Is there a better reason for a hobby than to relax you? Just because nobody else wants to do it doesn't mean it isolates you, it makes you unique. The last videeo games I played were simulator games where I got to fly WWII planes in combat and another combat helicopter game. I even went so far as to have rudder pedals an twin joy sticks. I never played against other people and didn't live where I could set up my smithing gear very often. 

It did isolate me some but I needed a change of friends anyway. Not that they were bad people but we were smoking too  much marijuana and drinking too much. I needed to stay sharper to do well in my job and it was already dangerous enough without brain fog. Then the internet went public and I discovered there WERE other blacksmiths out there talking to each other! 

I really started learning things about the craft. Hanging out here on Iforgeiron I get to pass along things I've learned and figured out and learn new things all the time. You aren't isolated Nat, you have the Iforge gang to hang out with and talk to. Hmmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

[BsnNFrnt]

My suggestion. Build a home gym, you can forge and weld and forge weld equipment to work out with. Picture of me practicing what I preach on my 42nd birthday a week ago. 

 

[Scott NC]

  Natkova, my suggestion is do what pleases you.  If you have the means.  Life is to short to worry about what other people think (easy to say, I know).  I struggle with some of the things that you have mentioned and it's not easy.  You are in good company here.  Lot's of friends to be made.  Tell them naysayers to turn that frown upside down!  I hope you get my meaning.  I work alone too.  BUT I am going to try harder to join up with others.

[Frosty]

Thank you for not posting a close up!

Frosty The Lucky.

[natkova]

About gym i was talking something that connect you to people and one thing i forgot to mention. i have freedom with blacksmithing, there is no schedule like in cycling or going to gym with company i will for example go at 14:00 hour at gym, in blacksmithing i will go  smith when i want, i dont have to wait or someone to wait for me to appear there.

That might be good reason, commitment to people hobies.

This maybe helping someone else who is in same situation like iam.