Why a Blacksmith.....

[primtechsmith]

So I am a sucker for stories.......was wondering how you fellas, and ladies, found yourselves standing in front of an anvil....


as for me....my now wife's dad has been doing it forever. i saw some things he did and was blown away. about 10,000 questions on "how'd you do that" later, I'm there in the forge with him....

:D

[Ed Thomas]

Hi, I'm Ed, and I am an ironaholic. My last snort of coal smoke was at 3:48 PM today.

My grandfather was not a blacksmith. Neither was my grandmother... nor was anyone else I ever know of that I was ever related to or ever knew in past lives. I am a blacksheepsmith.

I read an article about someone forging in a magazine and expressed an interest loudly enough for my son to hear. He was in a VoTech welding class for 1/2 the day and asked his instructor about making blacksmithing equipment for me as a surprise Christmas gift. Turns out it was the major hobby of the instructor, who helped him build me a forge, RR track anvil, etc., etc. It was the most thoughtful gift I've ever gotten from anyone. It also has had the most impact on my life of any present that I know of.

I checked with the instructor and it turns out that he started a local guild and invited me to the monthly meeting the next night. I can't emphasize enough that it was the warmth and generosity of the SVBG group that got me started, and the kickstart of a BGOP Spring Fling two months later, that pushed me into whatever I am today.

I have no intention whatsoever of kicking the habit.

[HWooldridge]

It might be genetic with me (although I don't think it counts since I didn't know him), but the Wooldridge I'm directly descended from was indentured as a blacksmith and came to America in 1697 to settle in Virginia - we have also had a few more in the family since then. He made a good living at it - too bad I'm not...

However, I got hooked as a kid watching my uncle on the farm. I stayed interested and met a guy in college who was a farrier. He took me to a blacksmith's gathering and I got hooked on the smell of coal smoke - it's been downhill ever since for the last 23 years.

[Strine]

G'day Prime,
I stood on the wrong side of the "rope" for a full six hours one time at an historical village. In the end it was as if there was nobody else there; just me and the smith although the smithy was always full of visitors. It got a bit embarassing at times as I felt I was hogging the man's attention. (I now know from my own demonstrating experience that he was just glad of the relief from the all too common inane remark). The smith's every comment was directed at me. So was every answer even though I hadn't asked the question. He had an unfortunately severe stutter and an even more severe Scottish brogue but the understanding between us just grew and grew; He realised I was very interested and I realised that he was not going to waste his time on a 'tyre kicker'. He wanted committment!! Anyway just before knockoff he invited me over the rope for my very first hands on lesson. A mini horseshoe which was my first and last in the twenty years since. And I still have the bird cage handled poker he gave me. Thank you Alex. Btw the horseshoe is probably still in the bottom of the slack tub!

I'm reminded of this little tale even to this day during heated moments about the house, especially if the topic turns to selfishness. You see, my wife had to endure the six hours mentioned, in a place she found only mildly interesting.

[anvillain]

My interest in blacksmithing lay dormant for 30 yrs while I was taken up with making a living in modern metal working. Back in l973 I bought "Practical Blacksmithing" by Ted Tucker from Rodale Press. I always had a feeling for the old ways and my Grandpa was about a 100 yrs behind times(I loved it and respected it, but couldn't live that way)so I was exposed to a lot of primitive life, but not blacksmithing. I too, like many others thought blacksmithing was for shoeing horses only. Anyway I read the book and it didn't appeal to me at the time because I was learning how to arc weld, torch cut, etc. I ended up making a career in pipe welding which I loved to do. And it payed well and allowed me to retire early. About ten yrs ago another pipe welder I was working with mentioned his interest in blacksmithing, I reread the book and it started to dawn on me about the artistic aspect of forging. A short time later I read an article in "This Old House" mag about a well known blacksmith in New Jersey and saw the work he had done. Another friend of mine took me to visit a blacksmith he knew and from then on I was hooked. At first I had trouble locating an anvil, then suddenly I realized I had more anvils and tools than I would ever need. I joined the Illinois Valley Blacksmith Association and saw some very expert demos and now I'm at the point of trying to imitate some of the experts. Once in a while I come up with an idea that I think maybe no one has ever done it exactly like this. I don't make a living at blacksmithing but I'm thoroughly eaten up with the creative aspect of it, as well as just the joy of making something useful or beautiful with heat, hammer and a hunk of iron.

[irnsrgn]

Well, my grandfather, my father and two uncles were blacksmiths, real blacksmiths that is. It was just natural for me a rather large only child to start in the blacksmith at an early age. My Fathers and Uncles shop was across the street from a lumber yard, and my dad would bring home lumber scraps and a pound of nails I think they cost a nickel and I made most of my own toys when I was young. Broom handles were especially prized for gun barrels. LOL

Like I said I have always been a good sized lad and I loved going to the blacksmith shop and tinkering. So they just naturally put me to work when I was 7 in 1951. My first jobs as I recall were replacing spokes and fellows in high wheeled wagon wheels. I got to play in the coal forge some too. Then the coal forge was removed in favor of a gas forge which would heat the plow lay better and not burn it and you can do a plow lay in just two heats. I worked full time in the summers and after school along with having a paper route.

As I was good sized, I was put to work grinding and polishing plow lays. My father and uncle would switch off sharpening plow lays with the 50# Little Giant and my uncle always ground and my dad always polished, so I took which ever ones job that was drawing lays at the time. It was not uncommon for them to do a hundred lays a day. Manipulating a plow lay on a grinder is mostly done with the wrists and my wrists became rather large and I had a lot of upper body strength in those days. I also rode a bicycle everywhere so I had strength in my legs too.

I learned to weld by watching my uncle and my dad collected the little short rod stubs and I built up the toe and heel caulks on horseshoes, dad was a good horseshoer and I used to help him all the time on weekends.

I still remember my first commercial welding job, it was welding new points on 2 plow lays when I was 9, I really didn't want to do it, but my uncle insisted. The next day the farmer came in with one of those lays and all I could see was that it didn't have a point. He handed it to my uncle who was sharpening plows and then I could see that the point was bent back on itself from hitting a stump or something. Boy was that an ego trip for a 9 year old kid.

As Smithing the old way was almost non existant except for plow lays that launched me on my welding career and into the repair and fabrication field.

Up until I ruptured a disc and required surgery I could still wear my 8th grade graduation coat, it was a little short in the sleeves tho. After the time off to recuperate from back surgery it was quite a bit shy in the stomach area tho. LOL

I quit high shool and joined the Navy at age 17 in 1962 and after boot camp went to Steelworker "A" school at the SeaBee base in Port Hueneme, Calif. I had a little trouble in boot camp with the fitting of a uniform, I had 14 inch wrists, weighed 225 lbs and wore size 28 pants. LOL

I was a SWF,(Steel Worker Fabricator) and was attached to the shop company of MCB 3 on Okinawa and then switched billets with another fella and went to Nakom Phanom, Thailand with Detachment Whiskey where we did Phase One of building an airstrip close to the Thai, Laosian Border.

I was one of the "A" Company steel workers and did nothing but repair and modify Heavy Equipment. They found out I could forge and so I built my own forge using an air compressor for the air supply and natural charcoal for fuel, "B" Company had an anvil, but would not part with it, so I built my own out of scraps and I did nothing but forging for several months until they put me on night crew. On night crew another fella and I just did enough to get the machine in shape for the day crew to weld up. It seems there are lots of people who can weld well, but few who can do the straightening and preparation prior to the finish welding. I am pretty good at that so they put me to work doing it. I really didn't do that much different of a job than I did in my fathers blacksmith shop.

I volunteered to go to Vietnam and drill water wells, but a shotgun breach blew up in my face and I spent the next 11 months in two navy hospitals untill I was seperated. Oh yes I lost the sight in my right eye from that expierience and it took me several years to be able to tell steel dimensions from a distance as I have no depth perception.

After getting out of the Navy, I worked rebuilding Missouri River Barges for a while and at a tool factory operating a drop hammer for a short time. The Union boys didn't like my work ethic, I put out more product than the union boys and they were going to have a talk with me one night, they had pipes wrenches and clubs. I showed them the business end of 30-30 saddle carbine and they got fleet feet in their exit from the scene. I never went back. LOL

I built a portable rig right after I got out of the navy, but had to sell it to pay bills when our first child came along. I built the one I have now in the early 70's and it supported me and my family (wife and 4 children), I also still worked out of my Fathers shop as a base of operations and place to put my mill , lathe and press etc.

My Father passed on in 1979 and I bought my uncles half of he shop in 1980 and my mothers 1/4 a couple of years later.

It has been a good life all in all, I don't mind getting dirty and it has been a demanding physical job, I have limited my self to the smaller jobs anymore and don't take on the large jobs I used too.

I have always played at actual smithing, but got serious about it in 1990 and started collecting and making smithing tools. Most of my grandfathers tools have long gone, but I have a few that were his and I also enjoy doing woodworking using all hand tools, and do demonstrations on woodworking at steam shows and such during the year.
I also occasionally do blacksmithing demos. I belong to 5 different blacksmithing organizations and try to be active in all of them to a certain extent.

I lost my wife unexpectedly and rather quickly last year and I had no desire to do demoing last year except at the very end when my fiancee, now my wife went with me. I am now married to this fine lady and have a renewed interest in life.

Well the rambling is over.
Irnsrgn
Jr. Strasil

[Quenchcrack]

As a kid, I used to play with my dad's gasoline blow torch to heat nails and pound them into small blades and other tortured shapes. I was always doing somthing with metal and fire. I melted a lot of his solder to cast small shapes in clay molds I made. I started college as a geology major but soon became totally facinated with real metallurgy. I received my degree in Metallurgical Engineering. This means I had 3 years of basic engineering and two more years of specialized courses in metallurgy. I lived the next 30 years only dimly aware of my real interests in "manual metallurgy". About 4 years ago, I was reading a Woodcarving magazine (I am also a woodcarver) and found an article on making your own carving tools. It utilized the one-brick forge and a piece of RR track for an anvil. I made a set of small carving gouges from W1 tool steel and I have been totally hooked on blacksmithing ever since. :D

[Leah]

I was the oldest of five kids and when my daddy needed someone to help him with his hobby (welding), he got me. Daddy would tell me about turning the handle on the blower for my grandaddy as he would sharpen plow points and fix things around the farm. I guess that is what got me started on this road. As a young girl, I would rather play in his shop than play with dolls. I was lucky that my parents did not try to force me into "proper" hobbies for girls. Back in 1971, as a senior in high school, I signed up to take shop class. When I was told that only boys were allowed to take that class, my mother went to the school board and tried to get that changed. I was not given the chance, but she started the ball rolling and the next year, the class was open to girls. I got married and worked as a bank teller for 20 years without doing any metalwork. When I turned 40, I lost my mind and got a job at the mill. I worked shiftwork for two years while driving 90 miles a day to trade school. It took me 20 years, but I finally got into that shop class . As soon as I got into the maintenance department, I started saving my money to build a shop. My first forge was a borrowed rivet forge. It ticked my daddy when I called him to ask how to start my first fire. He taught me just like his daddy taught him. I have a really nice shop....now if I could just learn to use all this stuff.

[Ray Plank]

Hi, I'm Ray, and I'm not addicted to coal smoke. I can quit any time. In fact, I've quit 10 times already this year ! (grin )
My father was a carpenter, but loved to tinker in his shop with projects. He actually built three or four garden tractors out of old car parts, and we used them for years in the garden and pulling down logs for firewood. We had an anvil in the shop and since I was very interested in cutting tools, I spent quite a few hours shaping iron ( cold ) into a general blade shape and then grinding it into submission. Most of what I learned was how NOT to hold the iron when you hit it, ( it will sting like crazy ! ) and the knives weren't anything special, but I played with them for years. A couple years ago I took an evening welding class to learn how to use my fathers old AC welder and one evening the welding instructor pulled out his forge and showed us how to make a hook. I was flat out amazed with how easily iron moved when it was hot, and knew I had to try that ! I read an article about how to make a forge out of an old grill with a shop vac for air, got a piece of RR track from the scrap yard and went hook crazy. ( we have hooks all over the house, from the ones holding the shotgun over the back door, to the latest made to order coat hooks for my wife ) Of course I also tried making knives , using RR spikes, and came out with usable throwing blades. One day at the scrap yard, a guy told me about this group of blacksmiths that met at the local Vo Tech, so I got in touch with the welding instructor and got info about where and when. Of course, the night I show up for the meeting, they had to move it to another location, and the directions left much to be desired, but I found them anyway ! This was about three and 1/2 years ago, and it's been great. I live about 10 miles from Ed Thomas, ( is that name familiar ? grin ) and he invited me into his shop for quite a few sessions of smashing iron. I now have a small shop of my own, and find myself sneaking down to fire up the forge whenever I have an hour or two to play.

[Ed Thomas]

Strine: That reaction to the first time watching blacksmithing is exactly what I had! I was lucky... the first real demo I saw was Peter Ross. You don't recover from something like that. Hopefully.

Jr: Thanks for the extraordinary life story! That was some fun reading.

Leah: I'm glad you stuck it out. Your post reminded me of several things.
One: A few years ago, I talked the daughter of a friend of mine into taking welding at the local VoTech. I was friends with the welding instructor and knew she would be in good hands. Amazingly, in the 30+ years he'd taught there, he'd never had a female student. This was his final year of teaching and he was actually concerned about it. Of course it all went well and she fit right in.
Two: I have seen schools discourage anyone who shows any brains at all from attending the vocational training because it doesn't obviously contribute to the academic track to college. My son had to fight hard to be allowed to go to votech classes for instance, and was almost denied because he was "too smart". But he went from a lackluster student who was beginning to hate school, to a high achiever and went on to do well at college. I attribute his success very much to the votech opportunity. We are doing ALL our kids, both boys and girls, a major disservice by sitting them behind a desk for 12 years and never letting them use their hands. No wonder so many of them are medicated... or self-medicated.

Ray: I still have one of your first hooks. And it still looks pretty good.

[sandpile]

My first taste of a smithy. My Grandad was welding something together and had me pound some pop-bottles into fine grains. He mixed this with something and used it for flux. I turned the crank and got chastized for either too fast or too slow.grin He did not do any thing else for a long time. The next time I was about 10 or so and we heated and sharpened some sled knives. I was the striker(had to stand on a milk crate) and had about a six lb. sledge. After we got through. He said bring me the hitch off the Ford tractor. I lugged it in the shop and we heated an straightened the hitch.
I was about 12 when we did the next job. After we were done I asked if I could make a knife from an old worn-out file. I took the temper out of it and jobbed it down into a bucket of ashes. The next day I started making knives.BOG. Never have got over the desire to make a better knife.Grin.
I never did want to work for wages. I wanted to own the place. Therefore there were a lot of slim-pickins.Grin. When something broke I had to fix it. My first forge was a branding iron heater. I run out of blades for a cycle bar on a mowing machine. I Forged some new ones from an old sawblade and became hooked on making stuff in the shop. I finally built another forge and made a lot of stuff I really did not need.BOG.
I left the ranch and started the Oil Distributer business. Truckstops and service stations. Bought another ranch put a shop on it. I have been piddilling ever since. I have finally started to make some stuff that is not embarrassing.Bog.
I have all of my grandsons and one granddaughter forging.

Sandpile

[Jason]

My story begins in 1988. I was watching my uncle repair a plow, and he said. "Come here and give me a hand." After that he gave me a project. A bowie style knife made out of some old bed railing. After that I was hooked. I built a forge out of a metal 5 gallon bucket. It's been with me the last 17 years.

Jason Duncan

[bruce wilcock]

on leaving school i started in the smithy, at home the work was tool dressing and forging new stone masons tools ,and engineers forgings ,i then went to a aprententice as a farrier, and then started on my own acount ,and continued with the family work of tool smithing ,i am the last of the family to do this class of work ,on when i retire the scrap man will have a good day, so no i didnt suddenly want to be a blacksmith,

[Ten Hammers]

I grew up on a farm (first 9 years anyway). Dad was an excellent farmer. Fixed a few things but nothin big. Always took stuff to Shike (Forrest) Robinson in town for repair or new engineering. Forrest was a blacksmith/welder/shop man. No machine work. This was in the 50's. I have always been associated with things mechanical to some degree. I was in the Navy 4 years ( aircraft hydraulics/flight line etc ). Fast foreward a few years. I wanted a big knife ( ok, just wanted one). Had made them in the past but no tools now (married, kids, working in a suit). Good friend had a small shop and I got hooked up. Made a bowie from a piece of leaf spring (acetelyne). Pitiful far as looks goes but whacked small trees nicely (for deer blinds). This was 1979-1980. first forge bought 1986. The teachings of the old guys came back to a degree but I had forgotten a lot (and was still pretty ignorant about lotta stuff). Not a whole lot smarter today! I have however learned a bit here and there.

[Rick Barter]

My great grandfather and grandfather were blacksmith's and weldors. The came from Maine to Rhode Island and I think had their own shop.

Well, my granfather died when I was young and I never really got a chance to learn what he did for a living. I didn't know what a weldor was back then. So, I always had this curiousity about welding.

Well, some time ago I saw a smith demonstrating at a craft fair. He was making fire tools. I was fascinated and my wife had to drag me away. I never forgot that. Well, I've been interested in welding and blacksmithing ever since and I guess I'm on a journey of discovery.

My father doesn't seem to want to share any information with me about what my grandfather and great grandfather did for a living and what their shop was like, etc. So, I'm just trying as best I can to discover things for myself.

I am an out of work IT guy and wish I could get into welding and metalworking full-time. I've had a tough time finding any welding classes, though.

Anyway, the journey continues.

rvb

[elkdoc]

Allright, I'll bite...

My interest in smithing came from watching the resident blacksmiths at a couple of late 1800's period theme parks that we frequented when I was a kid. I was completely enthralled with the whole thing, from the fire to the smoke to the sounds and smells. I remember the smell the most.

Fast forward to last year, when I had some money saved up for a rainy day. I ran across an announcement for a local guild and called them up. Been at every meeting since, and I've almost got my own shop ready for weekends. :D

[Tom Stovall]

Because my dad was navigating bombers during WWII, I was raised by my maternal grandfather. He and an uncle had a shop in Sabinal, Texas that did whatever needed doing in metal in eastern Uvalde County. Some of my earliest memories are turning the crank on a blower while standing on stacked up wooden ammunition boxes - and occasionally falling off. Like all rural blacksmiths of that era, they shod horses, an aspect of the business that interested me lots more than pounding iron because it didn't take too long, it had built-in repetition, and it paid cash when the last foot hit the floor. What's not to like?

Despite my raising, or maybe because of it, I never had any ambition to become a blacksmith, but I've always liked shoeing horses. I could turn, punch, and clip a shoe three heats before I was 12 - but I'm basically lazy, so I took the easy way out, went to college on a rodeo scholarship and rodeoed professionally for 16 years - all the while shoeing a few horses. I quit running the roads and started shoeing full time when my kids got in school. My custom has always consisted primarily of speed, performance, and veterinary horses. I passed the AFA Journeyman Farriers Test in 1983, the first time it was offered in Texas.

About 10 years ago, I started piddling with a plasma cutter and discovered that building gates, firescreens, and signs was lots easier on the body than is shoeing horses. The segue from farriery to fabrication has been a boon to my aging body: Thus far, I haven't had a single gate strain, kick, bite or strike; in fact, all of them have been extremely well behaved and appear content to lay in the jig while I fit their components, clamp them up, and weld them out. In terms of philosophy, I run a commerical shop and I'm into efficiency, not tradition. When you see a collar on one of my projects, you can bet the farm it's hiding a TIG weld.

[Archie Zietman]

I got interested in medieval armour reproductions one night in december 2003, when I just thought to myself, "wouldn't it be cool to make armour? I'll start researching right now." and then during this year the interest branched off into an equally strong passion for blacksmithing, when I said to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool to be a blacksmith as well as an armoursmith? I'll start researching right now." So now I practice both arts. :D

[Daryl]

My great-grandfather was a blacksmith, don't know about the ones before him, but my dad and grandfather were 'fixers of everything.' When I was in high school, my shop teacher noted my interest and remarked that, as much as the Craft was for highly skilled and talented people and I would most likely do well (a nice pat on my back) , there would be no money it, as it was almost dead. 8) He was right, it was the early 80's (now I'm dating myself) and no one wanted anything of any quality, let alone ironwork. So I concentrated on being as close to the trade as possible - studied mechanics, took drafting and design and dabbled in everything but actually lighting a fire. One day, while walking through a mall parking lot, I noticed a pickup with a blacksmith shop name and phone number on it. I phone him up that night. The next day, I went and visited with him... I was hooked. quit my job and went smithing... haven't looked back.
-
I must admit, smithing is an incredible ego trip: make stuff that less than 1/2% of the population can do and less than 5% can comprehend; it lasts forever; anciently, it is a trade that was associated with favor from the Heavens; best of all - 4 things:
1. you make noise
2. you play with fire
3. you hit stuff
4. you get dirty
everything your mom didn't want you to do 8)

[oakwoodforge]

It all started when I was about 3 , my parents still tease me about my favorite toy from back then a green plastic hammer ... fast-forward to age 7, I had started collecting knives, this was the "rambo " era. My first non folding knife was one of those hollow handle " survival " knives made in taiwan which I promptly broke Wouldn't want to have to depend on one of those !!!
At age 9 I got in trouble for mouthing off so my wicked step mother took away my whole knife collection. So I promplty went to the library , checked out a few books on knifemaking and blacksmithing and read every word atleast 3 times I think I had late fines ( aus- forging is a hard concept for a 9 year old, xxxx the word austenite is a big word for a 9 year old ). One thing led to another and one Saturday afternoon I was in the backyard ( unsupervised but wearing saftey glasses ) with a hairdryer, a campfire ring, some home-made charcoal, a big vise with an ASO "anvil " on it , a pair of vise grips and a hammer. I made a respectable knife that day, File steel is good stuff, it still holds a good edge to this day, I guess it was luck that I hardened and tempered it right. I am still really proud of that knife, wasn't bad for a 9 year old . ( I think that I have Thanked my step mother at-least a hunderd times for getting me started) By the end of that afternoon I was Hooked .. you mean I can make ANYTHING I WANT with just a hammer and fire ? Holy cow ! I went to my first hammer-in when I was 13, I begged and begged and pleaded with my dad for a couple of months , he finaly relented and took me. I still have an "S" hook I made there. My wife uses it to hang pot holders on the kitchen stove. So now I own my Home and 5 acres in the country , between the blacksmith shop, the wood shop and the garage I think I have more square footage in tool storage and workshops than we have living space on the ground floor of the House luckily I have a verry understanding and supportive wife !

next time you go to a hammer-in ... take a kid

[rokshasa]

born into artistry all around, from musicians to sculpters, i picked up the pencil. after many years of creating sketch art ,the "insperation" had left me ,after going into many years of depretion i woke up one day and desided i had to do something more real, something otheres could touch and hold. i turned to the fire of the forge and swing of the hammer on hot iron!! then when i started , famely members i hadn't spoken to in many years came to see me and spoke of my great grand fathers being smiths by trade, not being so close to my famely ...well... ever i never knew that and found it interesting and so i will continue till i can no longer.

[shortdog]

I was stolen from my parents by gypsies as a small child and sold to a blacksmith. After many years at the anvil I became strong enough to lift it over my head. The smith told me it was time to make my way in the world, and turned me out...

I loved to weld as a kid. Making something out of nothing appealed to me. A couple of years ago, I met a very patient smith who has taught me everything I know and is helping me to get set up. I still have tons to learn, but I'm enjoying every step of the process.