PREP Blacksmithing Classes

dstraito

dstraito

TB Fanatic
I put this in the prep category. I have been learning to weld and work with metal but I have been using electric power tools.

I have been taking classes from a local blacksmith utilizing techniques that do not require electricity or modern tools. Think late 1800's and there are always things that are going to be needed like farm and garden tools and others. This could be a good skill to know to make/fix metal things in an era that has no electricity.

I have spent about 16 hours in lessons so far and while I have learned a lot, I feel like I'm just scratching the surface.

I think it could be good though to be able to barter a skill when maybe you don't have any goods to trade.

just thought I would share.

A six hour lesson today and I am wiped out. I'm not used to standing all day and being that physical for a continuous amount of time but it was a blast.
 
Bud in Fla

Bud in Fla

Veteran Member
That's one of the things I'm planning on learning! Got some tools, a blower and was a welder. Took some metallurgy classes as part of a Tool & Die course....British instructor always said I was more of a blacksmith than die maker.... I just gotta find time to do it!
(I'll be 62 this year...not exactly prime age for learning blacksmithing but it's going to be something needed. I learned carpentry with hand tools as a kid. Still have the tools and the knowledge)
 
dstraito

dstraito

TB Fanatic
Bud in WV said:
That's one of the things I'm planning on learning! Got some tools, a blower and was a welder. Took some metallurgy classes as part of a Tool & Die course....British instructor always said I was more of a blacksmith than die maker.... I just gotta find time to do it!
(I'll be 62 this year...not exactly prime age for learning blacksmithing but it's going to be something needed. I learned carpentry with hand tools as a kid. Still have the tools and the knowledge)
Click to expand...

It's never too late to learn. I've been having fun with it.
 
West

West

Senior
I have been studying and working with tinsmithng and sheetmetal work for years now and still just getting the hang of it. Anvils and forming tools are a must have, I have accumulated a nice shop full after many years, but never have enough. Need a working forge and blacksmithing tools but time and money seem to make it a unattainable dream.

Coke coal in my AO seems to be non-existent. If one has the availability to stock a ton or more of coal I think it would be a real asset in most SHTF scenarios.
 
Hognutz

Hognutz

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I wish I could remember the name of the book I read a couple years ago. Anyway it was written in then 60s and it was about a guy who was a blacksmith who lived in the middle of nowhere and he made his own tools and just about everything he used. Anyway a good bit of it was how he scrounged old steel/iron from old abandoned homesteads to work into new things. It was very interesting to say the least. I wish I knew what happened to that book...........
 
M

Maverick

Membership Revoked
I'm about to build a "Flower Pot Forge" and looking forward to creating castings, so learning Blacksmith techniques will come in handy also... do you have any of the best videos to recommend? I know there are a lot floating out there...
 
Hognutz

Hognutz

Has No Life - Lives on TB
If y'all are ever in Tennessee near Pigeon Forge and go to Smokey Mountain Knife works, make sure you go to the knife making place set up in the corner of their parking lot.

They have a small gas forge and they help you make a knife. They are mainly for children. They took a cement casing nail and heated it up and let/helped my children make
their very own little knife. My youngins thought that was the greatest thing in the world to pound heated iron on an anvil and form it into something. They both were kinda crude, but to a youngin it was "gold". They both still talk about doing it, so it must have made quite an impression on them.
 
dstraito

dstraito

TB Fanatic
Hognutz said:
If y'all are ever in Tennessee near Pigeon Forge and go to Smokey Mountain Knife works, make sure you go to the knife making place set up in the corner of their parking lot.

They have a small gas forge and they help you make a knife. They are mainly for children. They took a cement casing nail and heated it up and let/helped my children make
their very own little knife. My youngins thought that was the greatest thing in the world to pound heated iron on an anvil and form it into something. They both were kinda crude, but to a youngin it was "gold". They both still talk about doing it, so it must have made quite an impression on them.
Click to expand...

I made a knife out of a railroad spike yesterday.
 

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kytom

kytom

escapee from reality
i learned alot working for germans in a damascus steel forge. dont spend your money on buying steel . recycle. old files are great for knives. i bought a hoe from a forger that made them from old discs used in farming. educate yourself on whats in the scrap pile.
 
dstraito

dstraito

TB Fanatic
erichtmobile said:
dstraito... I am in dfw as well. Where are you taking these lessons? Sounds interesting
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Downtown Grapevine has a Blacksmith shop by the railroad. The Blacksmith Will Frary is a very good teacher and very patient. I would highly recommend taking classes from Will.
 
S

sherbar92

Generally warm and fuzzy
My hubby took a weeklong blacksmithing class this past summer. For anyone near Southwestern Pennsylvania, here is the link to where DH took the class. They have a LOT of different course selections in blacksmithing and other areas of interest, too.

http://touchstonecrafts.org/
 
D

Dozdoats

On TB every waking moment
http://www.americanbladesmith.com/i...s&subsection=show_events_details&events_id=40


2013 ABS Hammer-Ins


Offered by the American Bladesmith Society, Inc.

The American Bladesmith Society is a non profit educational organization and sponsors Hammer-Ins in many regions of the country each year. During 2013 the American Bladesmith Society is sponsoring Hammer-Ins in Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and California.
The 2013 ABS schedule is listed below with the ABS Coordinators for each event. The details for each event will be posted as they become available. We look forward to seeing you at one of our ABS Hammer-Ins in 2013!


ABS Hammer In Schedule for 2013

March 15-17, 2013
Great Smoky Mountain Bladesmithing Symposium & Knife Show
Haywood Community College, Clyde, North Carolina
ABS Contact - Bill Wiggins (828) 226-2551 or Email wncbill@bellsouth.net

April 20 and 21, 2013
Spring Piney Woods Hammer In
Texarkana College - Moran School of Bladesmithing, Washington, Arkansas
ABS Contact - BR Hughes (903) 838-0134 or Email billrhughes@cableone.net

June 28 - 30, 2013
ABS Youth Hammer-In
Smoky Mountain Knife Works, Sevierville, Tennessee
ABS Contact - Houston Price (865) 397-0053 or Email choustonprice@att.net

July 12, 13, and 14, 2013
New England Hammer-In
New England School of Metalwork, Auburn, Maine
ABS Contact – Mace Vitale (203) 457-5591 or Email macevitale@yahoo.com

August 23, 24, and 25, 2013
Mid America Hammer-In
Miami County Fairgrounds, Troy, Ohio
ABS Contact – Butch Sheely (419) 832-5801 or Email sheelyblades@gmail.com

September 14 and 15, 2013
Fall Piney Woods Hammer-In
Texarkana College - Moran School of Bladesmithing, Washington, Arkansas
ABS Contact - BR Hughes (903) 838-0134 or Email billrhughes@cableone.net

October 5 and 6, 2013
Heartland Hammer-In
Washburn Institute of Technology, Topeka, Kansas
ABS Contact - Steve Culver (785) 484-0146 or Email sculver@americanbladesmith.com

October 18, 19, and 20, 2013
California Hammer-In
College of the Sequoias, Visalia, California
ABS Contact - Mike Vagnino (559) 636-0501 or Email mvknives@lightspeed.net

October 19 and 20, 2013
Smoky Mountain Fall Hammer-In
Haywood Community College, Clyde, North Carolina
ABS Contact - Bill Wiggins (828) 226-2551 or Email wncbill@bellsouth.net
 
Brutus

Brutus

Membership Revoked
Here's a pretty neat blacksmithing video from a guy named Bill Pevey who is a member of the Craftsman's Guild of Mississippi.


 
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