fat pete Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Presently I am attending a 3 week school of blacksmithing. It has been the best experience I have had in a lot of years. I have been working on the craft for about 2 yrs...the first week we did the basics on steroids...We made fire tools with a couple neat little tricks. We welded the first day,worked on hammer control exercises all week,great exercises. the second week i just finished we covered heat treating and making small tools. Cant wait till next week sadly the last week. I have to say it is intense. There are 5 of us. and working in a forge with 5 other guys is a different experience in it self. The exercises are all traditional blacksmithing with a small use of oxy/ac and use of a neat little 25# little giant power hammer. we even had a field trip to Old Town Santa Fe thru some museums, antique shops looking for iron. We went to a Japanese antique shop and found some amazing forged locks. All had some little snap or clip or slide that allowed you to get to another button to open the dresser or desk. Very interesting stop. Believe me our ages range from 21, 50's and 60's and at the end of each day most just go home and sleep its a hard 8-9 hrs with a lunch break. Makes you appreciate Grandpop, most definately! We made center punches, scribes, and cold chisels,3 kind of hinges, ball ends, tongs, a million scrolls and learned a little Blacksmith metalurgy. Needless to say I am a little behind in completing projects but I only burned one leaf scroll in the fire. I will tell ya you make em till there right! With out ever attending anything other than small demos at a couple of different hammer ins, I would recommend this school to anyone, The instructor is interesting and his curriculum laid out well. It is aggressive but you get plenty of time to work on your projects. The camaraderie, the education and the weather has also been great! The location aint bad either. www.turleyforge.com I was not prompted to post this by anyone for anyone only for you to know Fat Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Cool, wish we had something similar in Holland. Might be an excuse to book myself a "holiday" to the US.... I would really enjoy sth like that! Grtz, Bart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted T Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Fat Pete, I could have told you all of what you said. I have had many friends who have attended Frank Turley's Blacksmithing School (Turley Forge Blacksmithing School). They all had nothing but good things to say about the training. In fact several blacksmiths out here kind of refer to attending his school as their credentials. Glad you are enjoying it, and give a big hello and a thumbs up to all the smiths in your school for me! Make sure they don't hit cold steel, and that they charge enough! Thanks for the up-date! Ted Throckmorton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Falzone Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Cool, wish we had something similar in Holland. Might be an excuse to book myself a "holiday" to the US.... I would really enjoy sth like that! Grtz, Bart. I know what you mean Bart. I wish they had something like that in Ontario. time to check the web again. sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibjib10987 Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 That school sounds so awsome. Does any one know anything like that in NC. I would be very interested in something like that. Have a great time with your last week of the school. LUCKY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragons lair Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 hibjib, We have many schools here in WNC. John Cambell,Penland,Dillsboro, and several collage/tech schools. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymraeg1970 Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Wish I would've known about the place when I lived in Santa Fe a few years back. Glad to hear you're enjoying it! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creek Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Looks like a great school . I'm getting more info on it, would like to try to attend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Lumpkins Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Thanks for the info Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyGeorge Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Sounds like a great school to go to. Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor money to go away from work, that long. Have fun your last week. Post some pix of your work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Notice that his login is from PA; some things are worth travelling for! Frank's been teaching up at Santa Fe for over 30 years now IIRC and co-authored the book on Southwest Colonial Iron Work. His course is intense and students commonly go on from it to be professional smiths. New Mexico has several smithing schools and an active ABANA Affiliate---South West Artist Blacksmiths Association, AKA SWABA Thomas Vise President SWABA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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