BlacksmitHER Radio

This week I’ve got Pete Mattila from Tasmania, which is off the southern coast of Australia. We talk about his shop by the water’s edge, his US apprentice journey, and his design process.  Before we get to the interview I wanted to mention today’s sponsors, First we have the Adirondack Folk School.  It’s a non-profit school located in Lake Luzerne, in upstate New York.  The blacksmithing program at the Folk School includes 24 classes with an incredible line of blacksmithing instructors this year. To see the complete list of classes or to register, visit their website: www.adirondackfolkschool.org. I’d also like to thank the New England Blacksmiths, the ABANA affiliate serving Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island. Who by the way will be driving the ABANA 2020 Conference in Saratoga, NY Check us out at  http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org/ Also They will be offering the Age of Iron weekend event at the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, It’s happening the 1st weekend in August, 3rd and 4th. Those interested in further details can contact Cindy Dickinson at cdickinson@hancockshakervillage.org  or DM @HayBudden on Twitter or Instagram. If you mention I’m here for the blacksmithing you’ll get an extra $5 off at the door! Thanks NEB! OK, let’s dive right into this interview with Pete. What We Talked About Pete first went to a technical college for welding, then he got a job as an apprentice was with an industrial blacksmith at the Ipswitch railyards in Queensland, Australia. There he forged a lot of industrial tools for mines, alloy steel forging. Pete decided to go to art school and received his Bachelor of Fine art. He then received a scholarship for his master’s in fine art. Pete talks about his apprentice journey through the United States, which included working with Albert Paley, Mountain Forge and included a research residency at the Metal Museum. We talk about his design process which he includes 3 basic things: additive process, subtractive process and material displacement. When Pete works with clients for commissioned pieces, one of the things he asks for is 3 words from the client that encapsulates what they envision. About 80% of the time Pete sandblasts his sculptures first and then adds a chemical called Black Fast. Also follows up with beeswax. One of Pete’s goals this year is to convert his gas forge into a veggie oil burning forge. Guest Links Website - https://www.petemattila.com/ Instagram is @pete_mattila_

Hello welcome to episode 127 I am continuing my series of 12 podcast interviews (one a month) focusing on Design Process, Forging Process and Tool Making. Today I have Maegan Crowley from Colorado, she started her metal business in 2006 after attaining her Master of Fine Art from Cranbrook Academy. I’d also like to thank today’s sponsor, Even Heat, they manufacture the finest heat treat ovens available, Even Heat Kiln was founded in 1948 and has steadily grown to become a major kiln manufacturer.  Find your next heat treat oven at evenheat-kiln.com.   Maegan's website - www.ironmaeganmetalworks.com 

Hello welcome to episode 126, as I mentioned before in the last episode, I’ve decided to do a series of 12 podcast interviews (one a month) focusing on the guest's Design Process, Forging Process and Tool Making. We begin with Jeffery Funk who has been working iron, bronze, stainless steel, and other metals for over forty years in a small shop outside of Bigfork, Montana.  In our correspondence leading up to the interview, Jeffery said  “Blacksmithing can be a portal to so many fascinating realms, far beyond the iron itself.”  And that is the essence of how our interview went, I’m grateful to have Jeffery on the show to share his wisdom in so many realms and the same gratitude goes, of course, to those of you who continue to listen, thank you. I’d also like to thank today’s sponsor, Even Heat, they manufacture the finest heat treat ovens available, Even Heat Kiln was founded in 1948 and has steadily grown to become a major kiln manufacturer.  Find your next heat treat oven at evenheat-kiln.com. Jeffery Funk's Website - http://jeffreyfunkmetalworker.com/  The New Agrarian School - http://www.newagrarianschool.org/ 

Hello Happy New Year, welcome to 2019 and episode 125!  I've decided on a different format for this year's podcast. I sat down recently and came up with 3 main topics and questions within each topic. I will ask the next 10 or so guests the same questions and hopefully dive deep into their Design Process, Forging Process and Tool Making.  Those are the 3 topics I’ll be asking my guests for the bulk of this year’s podcasts. This podcast is sponsored by Evenheat, they manufacture the finest heat treat ovens available, Even Heat Kiln was founded in 1948 and has steadily grown to become a major kiln manufacturer.  Find your next heat treat oven at evenheat-kiln.com.  

This week I’ve got Ambrose Burne, a very talented artist blacksmith living in Hereford, England.  He attended the Artist Blacksmith program at the Hereford College of the Arts and then opened his own forge and is a lecturer on the BA (Hons) Artist Blacksmithing program for Hereford.  Today we talk about his background a bit and about the 150mm Challenge he has started.  BTW Hereford College of the Arts is asking for submissions from anyone willing to take on the challenge.  The exhibition submissions need to be sent to Hereford for 1st March: Measured Making Exhibition c/o Delyth Done Hereford College of Arts College Road Hereford HR1 1EB, United Kingdom Please include your full address. Hereford College of the Arts will be posting more details on their Instagram page @herefordanvils. I wanted to let you know this podcast is sponsored by Evenheat, they manufacture the finest heat treat ovens available, Even Heat Kiln was founded in 1948 and has steadily grown to become a major kiln manufacturer.  I know Patrick Quinn at the Center for Metal arts has one and is happy with it, so find your next heat treat oven at evenheat-kiln.com. Guest Links Website - http://www.ambroseburne.co.uk/ Hereford College of the Arts website Instagram for Hereford: @herefordanvils, @herefordarts Instagram is @ambroseburne

This week I’ve got Michael Budd back on the show, he’s a very talented artist blacksmith from Sligo Ireland. We talk about his trip to Tomsk Russia this past summer, where he was invited to demonstrate at a festival called “The Festival of the Ax”.  What We Talked About He attended a festival, the Festival of the Ax, as a demonstrator in Tomsk Russia, so he tells us about the festival and how he got invited. There were artists from over 100 different countries and 15 blacksmiths We really go deep into introducing the craft of blacksmithing to college students and how the use of past publications could be more available in college libraries. We touch on the “crowdfunding” idea for blacksmith conferences  We talk about how hard it is to be an artist and to make a living at the same time.   Guest Links Website - https://www.annarkoplik.com/ Instagram @michaeljbudd

This is the monthly Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in November 2018.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.    

This week I’ve got Anna Koplik, a young blacksmith who is currently completing an artist residency at the Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, Pennsylvania.  She talks about her BFA in Jewelry and how she became interested in weaponry during college, which ended up being her intro to blacksmithing. Before we get to the interview I wanted to mention today’s sponsor is again provided on behalf of the New England Blacksmiths, an ABANA affiliate serving Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island. And also will be driving the ABANA 2020 Conference in Saratoga, NY They’ve got a great website, check it out at  http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org/ What We Talked About Anna is currently finishing an artist residency at the Touchstone center for crafts, during this 4-week residency she has been working on making tools for herself. In exchange for Anna being able to use the school’s resources to make her tools during her residency, she helps out around the school, cleaning and assisting in other classes. The school’s blacksmith shop has 12 student coal forging stations, an instructor coal forge, each with an anvil and post vise, a room full of tongs and hammers, 2 power hammers and gas forges. In years past Anna has worked at the school as a studio technician and was able to assist some top-rated instructors that have taught there such as Tom Latane and Mark Aspery. She has a BFA from Pratt Institute, she focused on jewelry and also became interested in weaponry. This interest led her to take a bladesmithing class at the Peter’s Valley School of Craft, this opened up the world of blacksmithing to her. Anna ended up taking an assistant position in the blacksmith shop at Peters Valley for a summer and this helped her grow her skills at the forge. Another stepping stone for Anna was her winter apprenticeship with Atlas Forge where they focused on production blacksmithing.   Guest Links Website - https://www.annarkoplik.com/ Instagram is @arkoplik

This is the monthly Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in October 2018.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release. OK, I’ll go in Alphabetic order here:

This is the monthly Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in September 2018.    If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.  

This is the monthly Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, though this month I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in August 2018.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release. OK, I’ll go in Alphabetic order here:

This week I’ve got Bob Bergman from Blanchardville Wisconsin.  He bought an old blacksmith shop 50 years ago in Postville, Wisconsin.  He talks about his beginnings and traveling through Europe working and learning at 15 different shops over 2 months.  He tells us the history behind the Postville Blacksmith shop which started in 1856.  What We Talked About  Bob started working in an advertising agency after college and immediately knew that business suit and desk were not for him! He then accepted a production assistant job for a feature film, it was 1968, the spring Martin Luther King was murdered. NYC was becoming electrified, amped up, so Bob decided to move out of state and look for land in Wisconsin. After purchasing 4 acres and a house, his realtor took him by an old but still operating blacksmith shop that was for sale. He met the 80-year-old blacksmith, who was the second owner of the business, and decided to purchase the business from him for $500 (the building, the tools, the land)! The first owner opened the shop in 1856. Bob learned his basic blacksmith skills from a local country blacksmith, Thomas Kammerude, who lived up the road from Bob’s newly purchased shop. In 1976, Bob attended one of the first ABANA blacksmith conferences in Carbondale, Illinois. He met Francis Whitaker at this conference and he wanted to learn more from him, so Francis told him he had to take a class first at the John C Campbell folk school.  Bob signed up long with Clay Spencer, Ray Nager, Glenn Gilmore, Jim Batson and more.  They would all continue to take master classes from Francis for the next few years. Bob continued to travel through the US and apprentice with working blacksmiths during his slow winters. In 1985 he also traveled through Europe, doing a journeyman type program over 2 months, working in 12 to 15 different shops in different countries. In the late 1990’s he expanded the shop by adding 4000 sq ft building and a 3000 sq ft machine shop to complete bigger jobs. After 50 years in business, Bob is ready for retirement and looking for a buyer for the business, shop, tools and land. If you are interested in more details, you can contact Bob here, (608) 527-2494 or email postvilleblacksmith@gmail.com. One “Golden Client” hired Bob to do a large amount of architectural work at his private home in Ridgeway CO, most of that work has been documented in the book called “Heritage in Iron”. Guest Links Postville Blacksmith Shop: https://www.postvilleblacksmith.com/ Old World Anvils: oldworldanvils.com The KA75 Striking Hammer: ka75.com Heritage in Iron book: https://bluemoonpress.org/index.php/heritage-in-iron.html   If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

This is the monthly Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, though this month I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in July 2018.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release. OK, I’ll go in Alphabetic order here:  

This is the monthly Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, though this month I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in June 2018. 

This is the monthly Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, though this month I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in May 2018.    If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.

I talk to a couple of demonstrators while they were demonstrating at events this past weekend. First I talk with Payne Anne Chassen and Sylvia Andrassy, they are in Pampano Beach, Florida for the FABA SE Regional meet.  The meet was held at the Guild, a non-profit folk art school started by Shaun Williams and Sylvia Andrassy.  Payne was demonstrating a corner shelf with antique glass bulbs incorporated into the design. Then I talk to Dennis Dusek who was demonstrating garden tools at the Weaverville Hammer-in, this is held at the Jake Jackson Museum Weaverville, California.  He walked around and spoke with the other demonstrators that were there, Monica Coyne, Brett Moten, Dan Perkins, Victoria Ritter and Mark Aspery.  Links: Facebook page for FABA SE Jake Jackson Website  

This week I’ve got the CBA Spring Conference organizers, the crew that has dedicated countless volunteer hours of their time planning and scheduling the CBA 40th Anniversary Spring Conference coming up April 12 – 14 in Placerville, CA.  The crew consists of Dennis Dusek, the conference chair, aka the big cheese, Dan Perkins, who is the CBA Education director, Victoria Ritter who is in charge of the volunteers and vendors, and Paul Boulay, the Vice President of the CBA.  We talk about what it takes to host an event of this size and what to expect during the conference. And they happen to be the sponsor for today’s episode. There is still time to get the early bird discount of $165 for all 3 days if you register before March 22nd.  The demonstrator line-up is: Zeevik Gottlieb, Lynda Metcalfe, Ellen Durkan, Haley Woodword, Colby Brinkman, David Lisch, Mark Aspery, Darryl Nelson and Paul Boulay. To register, head over to www.calsmith.org and click on the events tab for the online registration button. What We Talked About Dennis tells us about his past conferences that he has organized, the last one was in 2013 with an attendance of around 400 people. The core group of 4, Dennis, Paul, Dan and Victoria, meet weekly to go through a list of things that need attention. This happens for eight months ahead of the conference. Each person has a role; Paul Boulay works with the budget and the big picture ideas with Dennis, Victoria Ritter works with organizing the groups of vendors, volunteers and registration people, and Dan Perkins is the education site manager, helping with the layout of the venue and gathering/installing all of the equipment for the demonstrators and teaching tents. CBA will be purchasing 10 anvils, so they can have 10 forging stations at the conference for the attendees to use. We talk about the forging contests that will be held each night of the conference; forging a cube, forge anything from a railroad spike and a wearable art forged piece. Guest Links Register for the conference - calsmith.org

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, though this month I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in April 2018.  I’ve got a lot of schools and events lined up for the rest of the year coming at you every month.   If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.  

Today I’m going to share a few tips and tricks I’ve found in various blacksmith association newsletters.  I’m not sure how many of you are ABANA members and receive the Hammers Blow quarterly Journal, I do and The current editor is, Dan Nauman, wrote a small article titled Picture That about photography, mainly photographing your work.  In my local blacksmith association newsletter, Forge Facts from the Rocky Mountain Smiths, I saw a great tip on riveting I want to share which came from Dorothy Stiegler, a blacksmith out of California. And then from the Appalachian Blacksmiths Association newsletter of December 2012, there was a quick snippet about penetrating oils and testing done on frozen, rusted nuts on bolts.  What We Talked About Hammer’s Blow, Volume 26 #1 article written by Dan Nauman titled “Picture That”. This addresses the importance of having good portfolio pictures early on in your career, even if you are a hobbyist. Riveting tips from Dorothy Steigler Penetrating Oils test from the Appalachian Blacksmiths Association newsletter of December 2012 A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor - Eureka Springs School of the Arts, http://essa-art.org/ or give them a call (479) 253-5384. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

Guest Intro paragraph This week I’ve got Michael Whipps from Melbourne Australia, btw he goes by Whipps.  He’s a metal worker who makes custom spherical firepits with his wife in Australia and he started blacksmithing about 6 months ago.  The reason I have him on today is to talk about his new podcast “Metal Sculpture Show”.  I think I’ve mentioned this before to you guys, I started a podcast network called The Burn Network, basically, it’s a collection of metalworking podcasts. The reason I started it was to encourage other blacksmith’s or metal workers to start their own podcasts and I would help them get started, show them the ropes of the podcast tech world, provide the hosting and continued support. To have a searchable network that offers relevant and different podcasts to our community of metal workers. So, Whipps contacted me 7 months ago about wanting to start a podcast on the network and have it be about metal art sculpture. We worked through the details of how this is a huge time consumer while being a labor of love for fellow artists, the equipment to work with, recording software, techniques of being a host of a show, etc and now, here we are talking about his podcast and his first 4 episodes that were just released a few days ago! If anyone is interested in listening to the “master feed” of the Burn Network, just search for The Burn Network in your podcast apps, iTunes, Spotify and online at www.theburnnetwork.com.  If anyone is interested in starting a podcast and wants to know more info on what it takes, drop me a line at info@blacksmithre.com.   What We Talked About   Whips tells us why he wanted to start the podcast. The topic of making a living as an artist comes up and life/work balance vs money making Whipps describes his background that lead him to his metal working business called Whipps Designs, it involves mountain biking! He tells the story of buying his first anvil from a farmer who didn’t want to sell it. Guest Links Whipps Designs website - whippsdesigns.com.au Podcast website – metalsculptureshow.com Instagram - @metalsculptureshow And on Facebook   If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!  

This week I’ve got Haley Woodward and Colby Brinkman out of Austin Texas.  To get a good idea of each of their forging skills have a look at each of their websites, www.Haleywoodward.com and www.metalmantis.com .  We had a great conversation about the each of their blacksmithing backgrounds, the Austin Forging Competition they started, which by the way is coming up on April 21st and let me announce the competitors that will be there this year; Monica Coyne, John Rais and Steven Yusko, The Vasquez Brothers, Mike Rossi and Daniel Beck, JR Lodico, Jim Masterson and Logan Hirsh (2017 winners), Meagan Crowley and Elizabeth Brim, James Viste and Brad Nichols.  Anyway, Haley and Colby talk about the infamous bus ride to Mexico and about their duo demo at the CBA Spring Conference. And that brings us to our sponsor for today’s episode and that’s the 2018 CBA Spring Conference organizers. To register, head over to www.calsmith.org and click on the events tab for the online registration button. What We Talked About   While Haley was in college when he took a sculpture class with a metal working component, after making several welded sculptures he searched for a blacksmithing college program to further his metal working skills.  He found that Austin Community College offered a few blacksmith classes and moved to Austin for enrollment.  Haley and Colby met on a college field trip to Mexico, actually a 37-hour bus ride to Santa Clara Del Cobre, Mexico for a 3-week copper smithing course. Colby’s background also started with taking classes at the Austin Community College in 1995. Colby spent 2 years in Europe as a blacksmith apprentice, specifically with Joseph Muck in the Czech Republic, Sebastian Fisher in Spain and Claudio Bottero in Italy. Haley and Colby talk about how the Austin Metal Authority started, basically because they needed a name for a studio tour they participated in. The Austin Forging Competition is an annual event that Haley and Colby started in their Austin Metal Authority shop, they talk about how it has now moved to the Mobile Loaves Community site and has about 1000 attendees.   Guest Links Ernst Heinrich Haeckel “Art Forms in Nature” book on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Forms-Nature-Dover-Pictorial-Archive/dp/0486229874/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0486229874&pd_rd_r=01ZJJZGQ0DTFXCPY9ADB&pd_rd_w=IOZy7&pd_rd_wg=TCpO3&psc=1&refRID=01ZJJZGQ0DTFXCPY9ADB Colby Brinkman Website – metalmantis.com Haley Woodward Website – haleywoodward.com The Devil’s Blacksmith Documentary -- https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-devil-s-blacksmith-documentary-arts--2#/

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, I’m talking about March 2018 for this bulletin.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.

This is week I have a returning guest, Ellen Durkan, from Delaware.  She’s an incredibly talented artist blacksmith that has a line of metal dresses called Forged Fashion.  She is also an adjunct professor at the Delaware College of Art and Design.  She will be a demonstrator at the upcoming CBA Spring Conference and that also happens to be the sponsor for today’s episode.  This year is their 40th anniversary, so it’s a big event and Dennis Dusek and his conference crew have been diligently planning for the past 6 months.  They have a talented line up of demonstrators, Zeevik Gottlieb, Lynda Metcalfe, Ellen Durkan, Haley Woodword, Colby Brinkman, David Lisch. The dates are April 12th through the 14th and if you register before March 22nd the price is $165 for all 3 days. The venue will be the Eldorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville, California. To register, head over to www.calsmith.org and click on the events tab for the online conference registration button. What We Talked About Ellen is teaching drawing, 3D design and sculpture as an adjunct professor at the Delaware College of Art and Design. Besides teaching at the college, she is preparing for a performance style runway show of her iron fashion dresses in November. She is planning on having 15 to 20 models as well as a few aerial performers. Ellen tells us about her photo shoots with a professional photographer who is her friend, Joe, and how they come up with ideas for photographing Ellen’s iron fashion pieces. Ellen is teaching and demonstrating more for 2018, she’ll be in California, New Jersey, Virginia, New York and Buenos Aires Argentina. Ellen has an exhibition of her large-scale drawings that will be held at the Delaware Art Museum Also, she was recently awarded a $6000 art grant to help her put on her forged fashion runway show in November. The grant came from the Delaware Division of the Arts. Guest Links Ellen’s website - http://www.ellendurkan.com/ Peter’s Valley workshop - http://www.petersvalleyworkshops.bigcartel.com/product/fitting-forming-wearable-bustiers-and-chest-pieces Banton-Smith Center for Blacksmith and Metal Arts facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/BantonSmithCenter/ Rochester Arc and Flame Center - https://www.rocafc.com/collections/blacksmithing-technique-blacksmithing/products/blacksmithing-workshop-5-days-with-ellen-durkan

For this episode I wanted to share an article from the latest Jan/Feb issue of the California Blacksmith Association magazine.  It’s about a CBA member, Serene Silva of Santa Cruz, travelling to Cuba in search of blacksmiths.  She was awarded a grant from CBA for the trip and this article is part of her commitment to CBA in exchange for the grant.  I love learning about blacksmith scenes in countries around the world and Cuba especially since it’s such a mystery to most Americans because of the travel restrictions for us that have been in place for years. Now I’d like to take the time to thank our sponsors for today’s episode and that’s the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, aka ESSA.  It’s a non-profit school located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  This year, they are celebrating 20 years of teaching the arts!  To see the complete list of classes for 2018, visit the website, http://essa-art.org/ or give them a call (479) 253-5384.  OK, here is the article titled “An American Blacksmith in Cuba” by Serene Silva.

This week I’ve got David Lisch, he’s a blacksmith turned award-winning Master Smith knife maker, from Yelm, Washington.  A respected innovator of unique guard designs and Damascus steel that can be seen in his beautiful knives. David has run a successful blacksmith business for 25 years in Seattle and now teaches at his school, Oak Grove Forging Facility in Yelm WA. He achieved a Master Smith rating from the American Bladesmith Society (ABS)in 2015 and is the 6th Master Smith in the state of Washington. Now you’ll have to listen all the way to the end of the interview, because after I wrapped it up with Dave and we said our good bye’s I always turn off the recorder and follow up with the guest to see how they thought it went.  In this instance, I ended up asking Dave about the Forged in Fire comment he mentioned, so I turned the recorder back on and you could hear his Forged in Fire experience. What We Talked About David now fills most of his time making high-end award-winning knives and teaching classes which fill up in 1 to 2 days after posting. He used to have a shop and school in Seattle for 15 years where he textured metal for Nordstrom’s and other companies. When marijuana became legal in Washington state, the warehouse spaces quickly became grow houses and in turn, the rents were raised and warehouses for rent were hard to find. The increase in David’s rent from $2500 to $3200 eventually made him move out and buy a property that had both a house and shop space. These days David is incorporating his sculptural side of blacksmithing to his blades. He recently sold a frog (for $10k) with a dagger coming out of his throat and a Damascus dragonfly on his tongue. David was introduced to Damascus at one of his friend’s shops, where a few blacksmiths got together and made some damascus. Then at one of the NWBA (North West Blacksmith Association) annual conferences, he traded a hammer he made for some Damascus making stock.  He started making Damascus before he ever made a blade! His first knife making class was from Bob Kramer in 2006. After joining the American Bladesmith Society he became an apprentice bladesmith, then passed his journeyman smith certification, then 5 years later passed his master smith certification. In his shop, he has 330lb Wolf Air hammer, 165 lb Wolf air hammer, 3 hydraulic presses, 10 grinders and 10 anvils. He has been a member of the NWBA for over 20 years and he and his wife have served on the board for 4 years. David will be demonstrating at the upcoming CBA Spring Conference and he will demo knife making for beginners (staghorn small knife with a 4 in blade) and have separate demonstrations for intermediate and expert knife makers. Including pinning on a wood handle for a kitchen knife, shaping guards and finishing techniques. He makes all of his own gas forges, they are 1 burner venture forges made from cut up oxygen tanks, 11 inches long. He says it’s very important to coat the Kaowool inside your forge with a refractory castable cement. He uses Mizzou castable in his forges, you can find it online. Guest Links Website - http://www.davidlisch.com/index.html Instagram - @davidlisch American Bladesmith Society Website - http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – CBA Spring Conference, www.calsmith.org If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, though this month I’ll be telling you about classes and events happening in January and Feb 2018.  I’ve got a lot of schools and events lined up for the rest of the year coming at you every month. If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release. This year is the bi-annual ABANA conference which will be held in Richmond Virginia June 27th – 30th, registration is open on the abana.org website.    Also, this year’s CBA Spring conference is held in Placerville, CA, just outside of Sacramento, the dates are April 12th – 14th and registration just opened on their website, www.calsmith.org, this year it’s $180 for the 3-day event. As of Jan 1 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, application process opens for the two blacksmith summer sessions they will be holding.  The two classes are: on June 10th Patrick Quinn is teaching "Thinking Big, Working Small", it’s a 2 week session. Workshop students will explore sculptural forms through forged, riveted, and mechanically fastened parts. Working with thin gauge plate and other small-scale industrial materials, focus and emphasis will be placed on creating small-scale sculptural pieces using joinery techniques, paired with inspiration from large-scale public works. June 24-July 6, 2018 , Marc Maiorana, Heirloom Iron This workshop will teach students to create ironwares for the home that will stand the test of time.  DEADLINES:   March 1 for applicants seeking scholarship support for a workshop April 1 for general workshop applications Adam's Forge is a non-profit org founded in 2002. This organization offers a regular schedule of blacksmith and metalworking classes.  They are starting a fundraising campaign to build a new forge home at the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles. This is a call for art from all the blacksmiths out there to help raise funds for the relocation and the new smithy building. They are hosting a one day annual festival for the public on Sunday, February 18th. You can donate hand-forged items that they can sell at the festival, be sure to add your touch mark and send it in before the end of January. Mail your metal donations to Adam's Forge at 2640 North San Fernando Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90065.  This info will be in the show notes of this episode as well.   They are also accepting cash donations and another donor has stepped up to match dollar for dollar donations, up to $5000! All of the details are on the Adam's Forge website which is www.adamsforge.org .

Guest Intro paragraph This week I’ve got Evan Wilson from Austin, Texas who is the program director for the blacksmith shop at this nonprofit community organization called Mobile Loaves and Fishes. The Community Forge & Woodshop empowers their community of homeless members to engage in the creation of timeless crafts while also earning a dignified income. Through blacksmithing, woodworking and a range of other projects, the men and women in this Community Works program become part of a restorative journey toward social contribution, financial stability and a mastery of handcrafting skills. Their craftsmen and artists receive 100% of the profit from the sale of their products, enabling them to become more settled and experience greater stability in Community First! Village. They also encounter a greater sense of purpose, healing, and friendships — foundational components of life that every person needs and deserves. What We Talked About   Evan talks about his experience being a striker for Claudio Bottero at the Florida Artist Blacksmith Association in October 2017, “like drinking from a fire hose”. Mobile Loaves and Fishes is a nonprofit organization in Austin that started 19 years ago, they help feed and cloth the homeless population. The organization decided to build their own RV park to house the homeless and start a community centered program on 27 acres with 250 housing units. Within the community they have programs for the members to attend and learn form such as: animal husbandry, ceramics, glass blowing, leatherwork, painting, woodworking and blacksmithing. These programs provide a way to learn how to earn a dignified income, alternative economy. The community has a market and gift shop where they sell the wares of the members. Evan talks about his nonprofit background and how he worked for one in Afghanistan teaching English and helping with a Maternal and Infant Mortality program. He mentions his “Metal Mother” Dawn Raines (the Welding and Blacksmith director at Austin Community College) who taught him a lot in the beginning of his blacksmithing venture. Haley Woodward is another mentor he mentions who took him under his wing and helped a tremendous amount in building the community blacksmith program at Mobile Loaves and Fishes. Evan has now taken the reins of organizing the Austin Forging Competition that started in 2010. It used to be held at the Austin Forging Authority (Haley Woodward and Colby Brinkman’s Shop) and in 2015 Evan mentioned they should hold it at the community Works workshop.   Guest Links Mobile Loaves and Fishes community Works Program link - - https://mlf.org/community-works/ Instagram: @mobileloaves_communityforge   If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

This week’s guests are Shaun Williams and Sylvia Andrassy from Pampano Beach. FL.  Shaun has been blacksmithing for 10 years and is the SE Regional coordinator of the Florida Artist Blacksmith Association.  Sylvia was this year’s FABA conference event coordinator.  Together they have started a non-profit folk art school called the Guild Urban Craft and Folk Art School. What We Talked About This FABA Conference that was held in the last weekend in October of 2017, had the highest attendance ever in FABA’s entire history with 450 attendees. The conference had 6 specialty workshops and two demonstrator workshops by Lisa Johnson and Claudio Bottero. Shaun talks about his visit to Claudio’s blacksmith shop in Italy. Sylvia tells us about her beginnings in blacksmithing 3 years ago and when Shaun asked her to go to a blacksmith conference as a date! Dark Angel Armory and Forge is Shaun’s forging business, he also started teaching beginner blacksmithing and knife making classes from this location. The classes grew so fast that Shaun and Sylvia decided to start a Guild Folk Art School offering different types of “medieval” art classes; leatherworking, ceramics, jewelry making. The classes are booked 3 to 4 months in advance. The Guild also offers a monthly “membership” to the students who have taken previous classes. They recommend an inspiring artistic Italian blacksmith book, “La Magia de Febrero del Tutto Italiano Centro Fabra Milidia” or “The Magic of Italian Forged Artist, 100 Artist 1000 Ideas” Links Florida Artist Blacksmith Association – blacksmithing.org The Guild Urban Craft and Folk-art school - https://www.guildfl.com/ Dark Angel Armory and Forge – https://www.darkangelarmory.com/  If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

This week’s episode is a quick one!  I’m a member of the California Blacksmith Association and receive the bi-monthly magazine which is expertly put together by Mike Mumford, he does a great job every time.  The latest Nov/Dec issue he wrote an article about something he saw in the education tent at the last CBA 2017 Spring Conference.  Kevin Lauritsen was demonstrating in the tent and was talking about the difference between right handed and left handed tongs and the reason for the design. I’ve never thought about it and Mike Mumford says he’s never thought about it either, so he went out to his shop and found that most of his tongs are right-handed, but found two bolt tongs that are left-handed.  So, I too, went to my shop to see what I owned.  I have 6 pairs of right-handed tongs made by Dennis Dusek, a few random tailgate pairs that are right handed and only two that are left-handed.  Those two were made and given to me by Uri Hofi and Zeevik Gottlieb. Here is what the article by Mike said: First, some really confusing terminology: The handedness of the tongs refers to the comfortable fit when held in your non-dominant hand. A right-handed person would hold right-handed tongs in their left, non-dominant hand. Right-handed tongs are designed to work best for a right-handed person. Start with the idea that the upper rein is held against the thumb and palm, while the fingers hold the lower rein. The more comfortable way to hold and release is that the lower rein is closer to the body, away from the palm. The lower rein naturally drops away as the fingers are released. The picture below shows right-handed tongs to be held in the left hand on top. Below them are left-handed tongs to be held in the right hand.

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you get the low-down about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, I’m talking about December 2017 for this bulletin.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.   I have to apologize for not releasing this on Nov 1st, 5 days ago.  I was visiting my family in Virginia Beach and before that, I attended the FABA conference in Ocala Florida watching the incredibly talented master blacksmith and sculptor Claudio Bottero who is from Italy. The conference began on Oct 27th and ended on the 29th and the demonstrators were Claudio Bottero, Lisa Johnson, a jewelry/metalsmithing director at an art center in Florida and Sam Salvati, a bladesmith from Maryland. It was so magical to watch Claudio and his son Massimiliano, aka Massy, forge an incredible human figure sitting on a throne. The whole sculpture ended up being about 5 ft tall.  Claudio worked with strikers the whole time, using many different sized top and bottom fullers to shape the legs, head, face, arms and hands. In fact a lot of the fullers he was using (maybe a set of 10 sizes) were made by Dennis Dusek, who was there striking for him, along with others. Dennis has a great system for these fullers, he forges custom tongs that hold all 10 different sized inset fullers.  You can private message him on Facebook or Instagram, Dennis Dusek.  Sunday, Claudio taught a 6-hour masters class to 6 lucky students who were handpicked for the class. He taught them how to forge a hand and a finger.  Anyone at the conference could watch the class, and see the progress of each of the students.  One thing I picked up on was how Claudio always dunked his long-handled wire brush in water before he brushed the hot piece. He explained that the steam produced popped off the scale faster while brushing.  I will be trying this because the end result was really clean metal. If you want to hear more about the conference, I’ll be having Shaun Williams, the conference coordinator, on the show soon, a little something to look forward to. But if you want some instant gratification head over to the FABA facebook page for pics and videos of the conference.   Now onto the first announcement which is a special announcement about a possible upcoming Tire Hammer Building class, this announcement is to see much interest there would be for this class. Let me tell you the scoop and then you can decide if you would like to attend it: Tire Hammer Build class instructed by Clay Spencer  The dates would be April 19th-22nd, with a pre-work session on the weekend preceding the workshop, they are shooting for about 12-15 participants with everyone leaving with a finished hammer Held in Troy Ohio at the SOFA facility Approximate cost $1500 If interested contact Mike Brennan at m.mbre574@gmail.com by November 30th Details will be available soon on the SOFA website at https://sofablacksmiths.org/ Payment should NOT be sent at this time. Just an email to express interest.

This week I’ve got Larry Wood on the line from Ohio. Last month, in September one of the most coveted blacksmith conferences was held in Troy, Ohio, it’s called the Quad State Round-up.  It’s known for its well-appointed venue that offers a large soft grass camping area, exceptional demonstration buildings, the largest number of tailgate tools sales in North America (I’m talking hundreds of pickups, row after row, selling new and old blacksmith tools that start 3 days before the conference even starts!), a spirited forging competition for all levels and an affordable ticket for the 3 day event, this year and past 5 or so years it has been $55.  I went to my first Quad state 2 years ago, they had an international theme and flew in top demonstrators from Ireland, South Africa, and Germany. This year I was unable to attend because I was teaching a week-long sculpture class at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts in Arkansas. But I was sad to miss it because it was the 40th anniversary of the Quad State Round ups!  The very first one was in 1977.  So, let me give you a little background of how I know that and why I interviewed Larry Wood and 4 other gentlemen, who will be on the next episode.  Brian Thompson, the president of the Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil blacksmith Club, AKA SOFA, contacted me to make a short documentary film for this year’s 40th anniversary.  I said sure, love to, and he gave me a few names of long-standing members of the association that was around for the first Quad State Round up and beyond!  Larry Wood was one of the names suggested to contact and has been an integral part in starting SOFA and the Quad State Roundups.  He is a blacksmith in Ohio and used to work at a company called PECO, Process Equipment Company, which was owned by Emmert Studebaker, yes, that Studebaker family!  Emmert was fundamental in starting the SOFA blacksmith club, Quad State Round Up’s back in the late ‘70’s. In fact, he was one of the founders of ABANA in Lumpkin Georgia as well! Since Larry worked for Emmert and became close friends, he was right there alongside him helping build this incredible community of blacksmiths from all 4 states, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Indiana. By the way, you can see two of the short films I created for the conference in my YouTube channel for BlacksmitHer Radio, it’s under my name, Victoria Patti. What We Talked About   Larry talks about the days when he worked at PECO and would go down to the blacksmith shop on the property with Emmert while they both practiced blacksmithing. Larry was very good friends with Emmert and he was asked to write and read a eulogy at Emmert’s funeral. Larry reads it for us. How the name Quad State Round-up came to be. SOFA’s workshops have been very productive, they’ve made several projects for the City of Troy such a bell hanger for the cast iron City bell tower and a floodgate. I asked Larry what were some of the challenges they had starting a club and conferences back then in the late 70’s. In 1981, when SOFA was started, the membership dues were $6 per year! The first formal Quad State Round was in 1977 with Francis Whitaker, Dimitri Gerakaris, Eric Mobeous. There were 100 attendees with a $10 ticket. Emmert and Larry would decide who the demonstrators would be for the first few years and they also made all the food for the attendees. The first year they made 80 gallons of stew. Steve Roth has been another instrumental member that has put a lot of effort and time into organizing the Round-ups for the past 15 years. We talk about the best things that keep members coming back for more within the SOFA club and the conferences.   Guest Links SOFA website - https://sofablacksmiths.org/ Victoria Patti’s YouTube channel for Blacksmither Radio - https://www.youtube.com/user/MissSweetVP/feed   If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you will get the low-down, monthly, about upcoming classes and events that are happening in the following month, which will be November 2017 for this bulletin.  If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.

 Pete Braspenninx is an artist blacksmith living in Cazenovia, Michigan and is the owner of Phyre Forge.  He graduated from the University of Michigan School of Art and Design in 2004 with a focus in ceramics and jewelry.  Since being exposed to the blacksmith craft 14 years ago he has focused on transforming line into a continuous form with meticulous traditional joinery.  He has started a body of work called “Calculating Infinity” and there are 25 pieces in this body of work.  We talk about the what, why and how he calculates infinity.  We also talk about his upcoming demonstration at the 40th Quad State Round up in Troy, Ohio. That leads me to today’s sponsor, a big thank you goes out to SOFA and the Quad State Round Up Conference which started in 1977, 40 years ago.  The dates of the conference are September 22 to the 24th at the Miami County Fairgrounds in Troy, Ohio.  The demonstrators are Peter Braspenninx, Michael Bendele, Joe Bonifas (those two cats attended the very first Quadstate in 1977 and have only missed one to this day), Kevin Cashen, Nathan Allen, Richard Sullivan and Benjamin Lockhart with Danielle Russel. I’ve been asked to create a short film about the Quad State history for the Opening Ceremony this year.  Don’t miss this year’s event, it’s a very special one with its 40th anniversary and I have a feeling the tailgate sales are going to be unbelievable this year. Please visit the website, www.sofablacksmiths.org to access the online registration form and other details.   What We Talked About Pete has been attending the SOFA Quad Round ups for the last 12 years and this year he will be a demonstrator on Friday night. He will forge one of his calculating infinity pieces. His body of work called “Calculating Infinity” is a technical assignment for himself. To be able to take one piece of stock and to create it into form. Through completing 25 pieces in the series, Pete says he has gained layout and precise measurement skills. While Pete was finishing his art degree at the University of Michigan he visited a local blacksmith’s shop, Scott Lankton, and watched him demonstrate forging on a big Nazel power hammer. Pete was excited to learn more about the craft, so he got a job with another local smith working in the paint booth, and watching the forging that happened in the shop. Pete recalls his first Quad State Conference when Peter Ross gave a lock lecture and when he met Tom Clark. After college Pete worked in an ornamental fab shop for 12 years. They made railings and other architectural work.  His 30’ x 40’ pole barn shop consists around a coal forge, anvil and one Little Giant 50 lb power hammer. Pete will be teaching a couple of classes this year, a hammer rack class at Wasatch Forge in Salt Lake City, Utah and possibly a class at the Center for Metal Arts in NY.   Guest Links Pete’s Website - http://www.phyreforge.com/ Instagram - @phyreforge   A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – SOFA Quad State Round Up, www.sofablacksmiths.org

Allen Rozon is a blacksmith who works out of Montreal Canada.  Since initial exposure to blacksmithing through time spent learning the basics from Uri Hofi in New York state, Allen Rozon, was on a quest to spend time with highly respected teachers within the metal arts community.  An early friendship formed that would guide many of Allen’s steps taken over the years.  Taro Asano, aka Fusataro, visited Canada early in his career as a licensed master sword smith from Japan.  On that first visit, the two met at THAK Ironworks during his demonstration.  An immediate kinship developed between Taro and Allen, which deepened over the years and eventually spawned Tamahagane Arts, swordsmithing classes that draw from Fusataro’s formal apprenticeship and his 24 previous generations of swordsmiths. What We Talked About Allen explains his business, Iron Den and how it is part of a nonprofit organization and physical shop called Les Forges de Montreal. This organization started 16 years ago offering finically accessible blacksmithing classes.  Students can eventually become members of the organization and then have access to the forge at any time. Allen had artistic pursuits prior to blacksmithing, such as sculpting and painting. Then he learned about blacksmithing and took a two-week class with Uri Hofi and ended up staying and learning with him for a month. He saw a demonstration of a swordsmith from Japan, Taro Asana, in Canada and they quickly became friends. This led Allen to visit Japan many times, visiting Taro and learning about the Japanese apprenticeships for swordsmiths.  Taro comes from the Kenifusa swordsmithing family (24 generations of swordsmiths) and his swordsmith name is “Fusataro”. Allen and Fusataro started to talk about teaching swordsmithing classes in Canada, these talks continued for 2 to 3 years before Fusataro agreed to try the concept. The reason Fusataro was reluctant had to do with the Japanese tradition of apprenticeships for swordsmithing, teaching the craft outside of Japan and the apprenticeship structure is not really “allowed” or tolerated. Allen and Fusataro just recently offered a 10-day intensive Tamahagane Tanto class. Students could pick what kind of sword they wanted to make, choosing from 2 kilograms to 8 kilograms of tamahagane steel. We talk about the features of Tamahagane steel and how it is made in Japan. Guest Links Iron Den website - https://ironden.ca/ Iron Den’s Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/IronDenForge/?hc_ref=ARRnymP7N7Zh9zgp7cTEMGHfzFsQxVdyLaep0CUm9pQx-kC0O8mwXtxIQSz4mdO-PTI&fref=nf Les Forges de Montreal website - https://www.lesforgesdemontreal.org/ Facebook page for Les Forges de Montreal - https://www.facebook.com/lesforgesdemontreal/ If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you will get the low-down about upcoming current blacksmithing events happening around the world.  The bulletins are released once a month and will announce events happening in the following month.   If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.   OK, this is the September Buzz Bulletin, announcing events and classes happening in September 2017:  

Today I have Bob Menard, owner of the Ball and Chain Forge, which is mainly a custom architectural blacksmith shop in Portland Maine.  He has been in business since 1990. He is also the editor of the NEB’s quarterly newsletter.  Today we talk about his beginnings, production work, 180 lb plant hooks, what the ….and collaborative artwork projects.  Bob also gives us some golden nuggets about business insurance for blacksmiths. Today’s episode sponsorship provided on behalf of New England Blacksmiths, the ABANA affiliate serving Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island. Check us out at  http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org/ In fact they have an event comping up called the Age of Iron at Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA it’s happening the 1st weekend in August,  5th and 6th for the whole weekend. And here’s an insider’s tip for my listeners,  any visitor that says they are there for the "Blacksmithing demonstrations", or for the "Age of Iron" will get the discounted group rate for admission to the village,  this includes all exhibits, not just the Blacksmithing demo. For more details of this event go to their website www.hancockshakervillage.org   For further details contact Cindy Dickinson at the village, she’s the education director cdickinson@hancockshakervillage.org or DM @HayBudden on Twitter or Instagram, Stephen Conner. What We Talked About Bob grew up with horses as a child and was always fascinated with the farrier that came over to shoe the horses, mainly the fact that he could produce a fire on the back of his truck. Then in high school, as a sophomore, there was an Early American History class where Bob and 30 other students built a log cabin settlement on the school grounds.  During the construction of this cabin, Bob volunteered to learn how to make some of the hardware needed by using the industrial arts department’s anvil, a gas fired blast furnace and 2 books by Alex Bealer and Alex Weygers, The Complete Blacksmith. Bob started to sell his forged wares very soon after learning the trade, in fact, he sold the second piece he ever made to his high school’s cafeteria manager. Bob continued to grow his business for 15 years and then discovered the New England Blacksmith’s group and ABANA. Bob started selling trinkets at a local shop called “The Candle and Mug”, he developed a line of pieces that were candle centric. Bob still has his notes from these early designs. In Bob’s shop today, they are making custom architectural ironwork, such as gates, fencing, railings etc. Art fabrication is another lucrative income for his shop, this is when an artist comes to him with their sculpture design and hires them to fabricate it. Bob talks about business insurance for blacksmiths due to two recent blacksmith shop fires. He advises having your equipment properly insured for the value of it in today’s dollars. Bob teaches a few classes through the NEB teaching facility and at other well-known craft schools, such as the Adirondack Folk School. Mokume Gane is another focused technique that Bob has been studying and is now teaching students.   Guest Links Bob Menard’s business website - http://www.ballandchainforge.com Bob’s YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/MySmithx New England Blacksmiths website - newenglandblacksmiths.com   A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – New England Blacksmiths If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

Joseph Campbell is an architectural metal fabricator who owns Metal Inc and the Metal Collaborative Studio in Philadelphia, PA.  You’ll hear Joe talk about the Metal Collaborative membership, it’s like a gym membership but to a metal studio outfitted with welding and blacksmithing equipment.  It’s an interesting business model that I wish would grow, giving competent blacksmiths or metal workers a place to be creative and collaborate with each other.  He mentions what membership access gives you and how much it costs.  Joe also talks about his own private and public commissions he has been getting through his metal working business. But first I want to thank our sponsor today and that’s Bob Menard of the Ball and Chain Forge in Portland, Maine.  He’s been making a tool that allows a blacksmith to increase the weight of their anvil by 30lbs and to make tools without the need for a large swage block with pass through holes, it’s the BCF Anvil Block and he’s been making them for 5 years in his forge in Maine. It is a 30lb block of cast iron that has 2 square holes passing through, 1" and 1 3/8".  The size is 3 1/2" wide x 6 1/2" long x 4" high, so it fits on top of the anvil face and firmly secures to any anvil size with a top bracket and chains. The current price is $200 including shipping in the continental US.  For more information contact Bob through email, ballandchainforge@yahoo.com. Thanks Bob Menard and Ball and Chain Forge!   What We Talked About Joe talks about how his architectural metal business helps pays the bills for the Metal Collaborative studio membership. Also, how the collaborative nature of the studio lends its creativity to the architectural side of the business too. Joe, Ann Klicka, Nick Eyre’s started a collaborative blacksmith community from a local prolific Artist blacksmith, Bob Phillips, after Phillip’s passing away about 4 years ago. Most of the group disbanded and Joe wanted to continue his metal working business and the collaborative metal studio concept. Currently, there are about 6 members of the Collaborative studio. As of this recording, their rates for membership are varied: $400/month for full-time access and storage, part-time access and smaller storage space is $200/mo, and a day rate of $75. Residing in Philadelphia has its perks as a metal worker, such as seeing original works forged by Samuel Yellin. Joe has been inspired by some of Yellin’s work and techniques, he submitted a design for a public city bike rack and incorporated one of Yellin’s “lattice” slit and drift design aspects. The bike rack design was accepted by the City and he has yet to make it. Joe talks about insurance coverages and suggests that artists look through ABANA and NOMMA Guest Links Metal Inc website - http://www.metalincorporated.com/about-the-metal-collaborative/ A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – Bob Menard of the Ball and Chain Forge, http://www.ballandchainforge.com/tooling_1?_rdr

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you will get the low-down about upcoming current blacksmithing events happening around the world.  The bulletins are released once a month and will announce events happening in the following month.   If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.   OK, This is the June Buzz Bulletin, announcing events and classes happening in July 2017:

Vince Nakovics is currently living in Shkoder, Albania, he and his wife moved there in 2012.  You will hear what the blacksmith scene is like there in the interview.  Prior to moving to Albania, he lived in Virginia Beach VA, which is where he began to blacksmith and eventually became the Tidewater Blacksmith’s Guild’s newsletter editor for 6 years.  With his renewed interest in writing he ended up publishing 65 monthly newsletters (during his time as editor), conducted over 100 interviews of blacksmiths and has written and published 5 books about blacksmiths, 2 of them are suspenseful fiction books.  In the interview you’ll hear that I was awaiting the arrival of one of his books, the Blacksmith Murders, I have since read the book and it’s a suspenseful, fast easy read, I recommend reading it, there’s not a lot of books out there that are about fictional characters that are blacksmiths! It’s a fun book. Before I get to the interview I wanted to tell you who the guest will be for the next Blacksmith’s Pub podcast, that’s Eve McClanahan, I’m excited to hear this one, I know she studied dance at New York University and is a blacksmith as well, tune in this Friday, May 26th for Jesse Savage and Rick Barter’s  9th episode with Eve. What We Talked About Vince was in the Navy for 24 years before retiring in Virginia Beach. The retirement didn’t last long, in 1999 he was hired on with the National Park Service and he stayed there for 15 years. The National Park Service hired him to do research and restoration projects on 1781 canon carriages. This is where he was introduced to blacksmithing, he was looking for a blacksmith to make the straight nails that are part of the wheels of the carriages.  The prices Vince was getting from local blacksmiths for the work turned out to be too high for the restoration budget, so the Park Service decided it was less expensive to set Vince up with a blacksmith shop so he could make them on location. He ended up getting a lot of help from Peter Ross who happened to be the master blacksmith at the historical site Colonial Williamsburg. Vince became very involved with his local blacksmith guild, the Tidewater Blacksmith’s Guild and eventually became the newsletter editor. Due to the local guild moving its main gathering site farther away from Vince and a few other blacksmiths, Vince and a friend decided to start up another blacksmith guild called the Artist Blacksmiths Guild of Tidewater. Another major reason for doing this was to teach blacksmiths how to work with other blacksmiths on art projects. Vince and his wife moved to Albania in 2012 and the blacksmith scene is “dismal at best”. He ended up bringing his propane gas forge and had to find an anvil there. When Vince became the editor for the Tidewater Blacksmith’s Guild he started to include interviews with blacksmiths around the world as articles. This led him to publish two books of all the interviews called “American Blacksmiths” and “Horses Need Not Apply”. His latest book, “Rozafa’s Secrets” is in its final editing phase. Here is the blurb about the story “American blacksmith John Reid is invited to be a guest demonstrator and speaker at the First Annual Rozafa Castle Ancient Skills Fair in Shkoder, Albania. While in route an Inspector Buchari of Interpol Albania requests his assistance in combating his country’s international criminals.  John’s strong sense of justice will not allow him to turn his back. He agrees and confirms criminal involvement with the event. Unknown to John, Rozafa Castle has secrets of its own. Secrets capable of toppling corrupt members of the Albanian Parliament from their pedestals of power. When he is discovered by his host Victor Glasser and unable to escape his only hope lies with his Albanian friend and Victor’s kept woman.”   Guest Links Vince Nakovic’s Website for his books - https://vincenakovics.com/ Vince’s blog - https://happyhavenforge.wordpress.com/ Amazon link to all of his books - https://www.amazon.com/Vince-Nakovics/e/B00J94J220 Rozafa’s Secrets book - coming soon, still in the final editing process If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

Stuart Shirley is a college student at the Colorado School of Mines, he is obtaining a 4 year degree from the Colorado School of Mines in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.  Currently, as part of pursuing his degree, he is completing an internship at the Center for Metal Arts in Florida New York.  What We Talked About Stuart’s interest in blacksmithing started in high school. His welding instructor offered to help Stuart build a forge of his own if Stuart agreed to build two forges, one for the school and one for him to keep. Stuart’s forge is called Great Owl Forge and he has both coal and gas forges there. He also has a treadle hammer (he built in high school), an anvil, horizontal bandsaw, oxy/acetylene set up and a utility pneumatic power hammer. While he has been working at the Center for Metal Arts as an intern, Stuart has become familiar with the 4 power hammers CMA has in the shop. They have a Ritter, Falcon, Anyang and a Nazel. Steel production and failure analysis is what interests Stuart the most and will continue to study that in his next internship with New Corp in their hot mill. As an intern at CMA, Stuart started off cleaning and organizing the shop by building racks. Patrick Quinn (program developer and instructor at CMA) and Kyle Martin are teaching him how to use a mill, a lathe for machining and how to build jigs for production work. In his second and third months, Stuart has made a total of 58 sets of tongs for the classes CMA holds every weekend. When Stuart makes 10 sets of tongs, Patrick had made a deal that Stuart keeps one pair, Patrick keeps a pair and 8 sets stay in the shop for class use. Patrick and Stuart set aside Monday and Tuesday nights to have weekly meetings and focused forging sessions. Other than that, Stuart works from 9 am to 5 pm every day in the shop. Stuart has been able to attend the weekend classes that CMA offers on the weekends. One of them being the Seth Gould Forge a Hacksaw class. Stuart will be attending his next internship right after his CMA internship, it is with New Corp and he will be working in the hot mill steel production department. Guest Links: Center for Metal Arts website – www.centerformetalarts.com Patrick’s email for internship questions -  info@centerformetalarts.com  Seth Gould Instagram - @sethgould Thanks so much for your support!    

This is the Blacksmith Buzz Bulletin.  Where you will get the low-down about upcoming current blacksmithing events happening around the world.  The bulletins are released once a month and will announce events happening in the following month.   If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release.  

Welcome to episode #102 and I have David Robertson with us today, he’s a professional artist blacksmith from Ontario Canada, in fact, he’s been in business for 30 years as of this year… congratulations David!  We talk about how he kept busy when starting out as a full time blacksmith and his latest Art History in Iron course he taught at the Halliburton School of Art and Design. But first I’d like to thank our sponsor today and that’s the Southern Blacksmith Association, they are hosting their 18th bi-annual Conference.  The Philip Simmons Artist Blacksmith Guild is hosting this four-day conference at the Lion’s Club Fair Grounds in Madison, Georgia, it’s right around the corner on your calendars….Thursday through Sunday, May 18 - 21st, 2017. Their demonstrator lineup is outstanding! You can see Zeevik Gottlieb, Shelton Browder, Gordon Williams, and Michael Saari! Other conference events include Green Coal and Cold Coal classes, family programs, the Local Talent Forge, Iron in the Hat, forge and tool box raffles, a variety of vendors, a Friday night Banquet, Auction, and Forging Competition. Head on over to their conference website, www.sbaconference.com for more details and the registration form, it’s $55 in advance, $65 at the gate. Thanks, SBA! I also wanted to tell you about a new blacksmith podcast called The Blacksmith’s Pub, I know I’ve mentioned this to you guys already, but their latest episode released last week is all about Damascus with Dave Kurdyla.  You can listen to the episode in iTunes, and Stitcher or from their website, www.theblacksmithspub.com. What We Talked About He opened his blacksmith business in 1987, so this year, 2017, will be its 30th He went full time with the business in 1993. While David was going to university in Canada for geological engineering he had a part-time job at a blacksmith shop. When David graduated, there were not any jobs in geological engineering so he decided to open his blacksmith business full time. When he started his full-time business, he chose to make a line of wholesale products; hooks, candle holders, fireplace sets, etc. and sell them at wholesale shows to retailers. He said that was nice because the retailers are more educated about handmade items and they paid on time. David explains how he comes up with his wholesale pricing. He also says that making products for wholesaling makes you very efficient with your time and your forge work. David eventually moved from wholesaling his product line to 2D and 3D sculptures. Mostly organic themes. There is a free membership offered on David’s website that has numerous blog articles about blacksmith techniques. He has just over 5000 members in his online community. David was recently an instructor at the Haliburton School of Art and Design in Canada, he taught an art history class on ironwork from 3500 BC to current day. While researching the different art periods in metal, David learned a lot. He started with the Celtic period, then Viking, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, then jumped into Art Nouveau and Art Deco. David teaches 3-day weekend classes out of his shop every other weekend and the classes are booked for the next 7 months. To see his class schedule, go to his website.  Guest Links David Robertson’s Website – http://www.artistblacksmith.com/ Blue Moon Press for books on metalworking - http://bluemoonpress.org   A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – SBA Conference If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

This is the BlacksmitHER Buzz Bulletin.  Where you will get the low-down about upcoming current blacksmithing events happening around the world.  The bulletins are released once a month and will announce events happening in the following month.   If you have an event or class you would like to submit, send an email to info@blacksmither.com and I will send you the details I need for the press release. Before we get to the bulletin I would like to mention in case you didn’t know, there is another blacksmith podcast out there that you can listen to, it’s called the Blacksmith’s Pub with Jesse Savage and Rick Barter having conversations about specific blacksmith topics and techniques and sometimes they have guests on the show too, you can listen to the show in iTunes, Stitcher and from their website www.theblacksmithspub.com.    

Yup, this is my 100th episode.  Bob Menard from the New England Blacksmiths just asked me the other day did you envision the 100th when you started?  The answer is NO Way! The reason I started this podcast 3 years ago was to help create a tighter knit blacksmith community around the world, to aid and encourage forging new connections by having casual conversations every week so we can learn a little something about our peers.  I thought I would talk about a few of the connections I’ve made over the past 3 years and about some of the connections that a few listeners have made by listening to the podcast.  Then I’ll jump right into another JayBurn Journal (an article written by Jay Burnham Kidwell) about different kinds of forging connections such as riveting, hot metal wrapping, mortise and tenon and such.   Summary: Hot Connections Forge Welding Arc Welding MIG Welding Tig Welding Oxy/acetelyne, oxy/propane gas welding Oxy/acetelyne, oxy/propane gas brazing and soldering Forge brazing Forge soldering Mortise and Tenon Hot Rivets   Cold Connections are: Copper rivets Collars and wraps Claydon Connections Tension connections Nuts and bolts Articulated connections Socket bearing connections   Collaring – to determine the length of the collar material: measure around the pieces to be collared plus 2 ½ times the thickness of the collar material.  This will be the cut length before beveling the ends.   Square Tenons – Upset the end of the bar a ½”, then do another upset just under the first upset, use a side set or spring fuller to establish the tenon and the shoulder. Then draw out the tenon, even up the shoulder edges with a monkey tool and check fir size and fit with the mortise.  The tenon should extend about 1 ½ times the diameter of the tenon through the mortise hole. Pass- through connections – using a slitting chisel and a swage block that is a little bigger than the pass through stock.   Stuart Hill’s connection using a square tube that is twice the thickness of the pieces to be joined.   Arno Muller’s corner connection – forge a square corner with an upset at the 90 degree bend and then forge out a tongue from the outside corner.  Repeat this with another piece of square stock and join the two tongues in an opposite fashion.   Oval Rivets by Mark Aspery – from his Volume III book titled, “Mastering the Fundamentals of Traditional Joinery” available at www.MarkAspery.com.    

Julida Alter is the youngest of 6 in a strong Polish Catholic family where her father and two brothers are blacksmiths.  Julida and her sister are part of a 4-person band called “The Blacksmith’s Daughters”, they are located outside of Minneapolis Minnesota.  Recently formed in 2015, The Blacksmith's Daughters (a family folk/pop band) believe that music should inspire the best in each other. That is why they create music that makes people happy. Many times this happiness comes out through authentic love songs with soaring melodies, intense harmonies and intertwined guitar and ukulele.  What We Talked About Julida comes from a family of blacksmiths, 4 generations in fact! Her father, Boleslaw Kochanowski, is a well-known blacksmith in the Wisconsin and Chicago area. Her father has visited his native country, Poland, to research his genealogy and how it ties to the blacksmith craft. He has found business records from the early 1900’s of family members running a blacksmith business. Her grandfather was fighting in World War II and was captured by the Nazis, when he declared (he knew how to speak German) that he was a blacksmith the Nazis spared his life and put him to work on a farm in Germany. The four pillars of the band are the two sisters, Annella Platta and Julida Alter, and their iron clad musicians (and also husbands), Brent Platta and Sean Alter.  Two other regulars in the band are Jeremy Swider on violin and Krista Swider on viola (who also happen to be married). Jeremy and Krista teach private violin and viola lessons and also perform in the ensemble Sonorous Strings.  Each of the band members have a background tied to music, A band teacher, a choir director, a piano teacher and professional viola and violin players. Every member of the band writes their own lyrics and music and they like to use hand percussion instruments such as: hand shakers, Castanets, Cajon box drum and bass drums. They are planning to release two albums in 2017, one in June and hopefully a Christmas album.   Guest Links The Blacksmith’s Daughters website - http://www.theblacksmithsdaughters.com/ Band’s YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPfufg98AbRBicWU8wojXdw Boleslaw Kochowski - http://www.boleslawkochanowski.com/   A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – Southern Blacksmith Association, Their bi-annual conference May 18th - 21st.   If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

Welcome to episode number 98 with James Garvey.  He is an artist blacksmith just outside of New York City in Piermont NY.  His training includes 6 years at the Art Department of Colorado State University and 10 years as head of Blacksmithing at the Rochester Folk Art Guild.  He has designed and built public commissions in Manhattan including works at two subway stations, The School of Spirits Doors at the Dwight School in Manhattan, The Lariat Rustic Rail in Central Park, and a restoration project on the Statue of Liberty. But before we get into the interview I wanted to tell you guys about the Hammer making online class with Patrick Quinn.  It’s going to be an online course where Patrick is walking you through the steps of forging a 2.25lb straight peen hammer with a striker.  You will learn how to measure, punch and drift the hole, forge the cheeks, forge the peen and fuller around the face and peen. The majority of the work will be done with sledge- hammers and a striker; focus will be placed on proper striking technique. All heat-treating steps will be covered, including hardening, tempering, and finishing (polishing the faces). Handle making will also be covered so you will have the knowledge to make a handled straight peen hammer ready to use! I know a bunch of you have been waiting a long time for this class to release and it will be available for purchase on March 9th.  I have to tell you this was an epic project for me, because it included a 10 hour day of filming Patrick and Kyle with 3 cameras for different angles and close-ups a little over 100 hours of editing/producing and developing the education content I learned a lot about filming techniques, course development, instructional design, instructor voice over recording and of course lots and lots of video editing.  And the course came out really nice, rich with information, has a good flow from module to module and clear close-up video shots of the techniques I’m really proud of the course content, how Patrick seamlessly teaches each step of the process of forging a 2.25 lb straight peen hammer.  I think you guys are really going to like it and we have a fun blooper reel from filming day and voice over recording day.  So keep March 9th in your mind for you to visit www.blacksmitheracademy.com to find out more details on the course and to purchase it. The price is $35 for the online course and once you sign up for it you will have access to the course forever. What We Talked About James talks about how he has moved his blacksmith shop 5 times and the benefits that come from moving. Currently James is teaching his artistic blacksmith class every Saturday and forging sculptures that he wants to make. James uses his hydraulic 75 ton press for a lot of his forging. Though on the Statue of Liberty project he used their 120 ton press. He tells us about how intense the project was to restore the armature on the inside of the Statue of Liberty. He and a crew of 40 guys forged and replaced 1600 bars for the job. While he was the head blacksmith for the Rochester Folk Art Guild they went to 12 festivals a year and sold their craft work, it made for a very busy schedule. He explains how his BFA has helped him with his artist blacksmith career, mainly for writing his syllabus for his forging class he teaches at the Arts Students League of New York. Within his syllabus, James has come up with his own glossary of terms; Form idea, Visual forensics and Visceral cognition. When asked what blacksmith James would like to learn from he mentioned Alessandro Mazzucotelli, the Italian blacksmith in the early 1900’s. Guest Links James’ website: http://www.jamesgarvey.net/ The Arts Student League of New York - https://www.theartstudentsleague.org/classes/  

It’s episode #97 and I’ve got another JayBurn Journal for you.  A technical article written by Jay Burnham-Kidwell. He’s a longtime blacksmith residing in Arizona, Since 1974, he has worked in various mediums and exhibited his work throughout the world.  He works as a studio artist, lecturer, and demonstrator in all kinds of metalsmithing including jewelry, copper hollow forms, and blacksmithing.  He’s written more than 40 technical articles for various magazines such as the Anvils Ring and Anvil Magazine.  So a JayBurn Journal titled “Punches, Drifts, Hammers and Top tools”.  Show Notes: To produce a tool of quality the smith should use tool or alloy steels. Tool steels can be bought new or as a drop or discontinued stock or as “road kill” recycled steel scraps. The average blacksmith shop has adequate resources to forge, normalize, anneal and heat treat many tool steels safely and most available tools steels can be forged and heat treated by using modified methods of the manufacturers recommended procedures. Steel is a body-centered cubic crystal at room temperature. When heated to critical temperature, iron and steel undergo a phase change and become a face-centered cubic crystal structure.  The hardening process changes the internal structure of the steel to form austenite.  When quenched, the austenite is transformed into martensite, the hardest constituent in steel. Most tool steels generally trade one quality for another: wear resistance vs. toughness and accuracy vs. red hardness. Wear resistance is preferable when the tool must hold an edge or stand up to continued service.  Toughness is needed for tools that are used under stress that may cause breakage.  Accuracy addresses machining after forging and the ability to retain shape after heat treating.  Red Hardness is the ability to retain shape and hardness when used at high temperatures (punching, chiseling, drifting). Normalizing – most, but not all, tool and alloy steels are normalized after forging by air cooling to remove most of the stress introduced by the forging process. Annealing – heating to critical temperature (nonmagnetic) and slowly cooling will restore varying degrees of softness in tools steels. This requires burying the steel in wood ash, lime, dry dirt or sand.  You can use vermiculite, but know that you should wear a respirator because it contains asbestos. Machining – Most, if not all, tools require some grinding, filing or sanding after forging and before heat treating, as annealed steel is in a softer state and is obviously easier to grind or sand. Hardening – tool steels are heated to a specified critical temperature and quenched in the correct medium for optimum hardening. Tools steels are usually classified as air, water or oil hardening.  Air hardening is accomplished by heating to critical temperature and cooling in still air.  Water hardening is usually done in a 5 – 10% brine solution.  Oil hardening is accomplished in commercial heat treating oils or vegetable oils. Tempering – hardening will produce maximum hardness and must be softened or tempered because the steel is too brittle at this point. The tool should be tempered as soon as possible after hardening.  Tempering temperatures usually run between 300 – 600 f. W-1 tool steel – a straight carbon, water hardening tool steel that tends to chip or break. Old files were made from W-1 O -1 tool steel – a straight carbon, oil hardening steel classified for coldwork, chasing and repousse. S series tool steel – very tough and exhibit very good red hardness. Due to varying amounts of tungsten and chromium, it can be a bit tough to forge. 4140 – a chromium molybdenum alloy steel that has great toughness, resists torque and can be used as punches, hammers and top tools. 4340 tool steel – a close relative to 4140 but with some added nickel. NEVER quench or cool in water, use only oil. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

It’s episode number 96 and I have Caitlin Morris from Frederick, Maryland.  Let me introduce her by reading her “about” web page from her http://www.mscaitlinsschool.com/ . “Ms. Caitlin hangs out with the misfits and scallywags.  She sings loudly and out of tune.  She is partial to walks in the rain.  But the most important thing is this: Caitlin loves blacksmithing.  The Vermont native runs Ms. Caitlin’s School of Blacksmithing in Maryland, which is dedicated to sharing the craft with as many unsuspecting people as possible.  She also teaches at other schools up and down the east coast.“ We had a great interview discussing her background and some great info on scholarships, how she has secured a few and some tips on how you can.  What We Talked About Caitlin teaches blacksmithing at her own business “Miss Caitlin's School of Blacksmithing” and at other educational institutions along the East coast of the US. Caitlin opened her school of blacksmithing in Frederick Maryland in 2015. Her blacksmith background began at the John C Campbell Folk School in 2009, her first class was taught by Matt Jenkins. She took a week’s vacation off from her day job to travel to the school for the week-long class. Soon after learning how to blacksmith Caitlin immediately started sharing her experience and teaching the craft to her friends. And so the journey of becoming a better teacher began then. Caitlin talks about the scholarships she has been granted to help with the financial aspects of taking a week-long blacksmith class. Her scholarship advice is to apply to as many as you can because this gives you the practice of writing about yourself and why you deserve a scholarship. Your verbiage will become refined through the process. One of her suggestions for metal sculpture inspiration is to look at the yearly “Metal Design International” books, they feature around 8 blacksmiths around the world.   Guest Links Her business website: http://www.mscaitlinsschool.com/ Her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caitlinsmorris   If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!  

Hola Muchacho’s, It’s episode #95 and I have Rachel David on the show to talk about an upcoming all forged metal show she and Zach Lihatsh are hosting in New Orleans.   Rachel is a blacksmith and artist living and working in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Her business is called Red Metal Designs.  And Zach is an artist blacksmith living in Arizona, he’s a graduate and instructor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  They will be hosting a very special art show containing juried forged art pieces that have been submitted by all of you, the blacksmith community.  The art show is called “Nu Iron Age” and will be held in conjunction with the SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) convention, May 24th – 27th.  The details of the call for entry will be in the show notes for this episode on Blacksmither.com as well as the link to the website, called CAFÉ, in case you want to submit a piece.  If you are unfamiliar with the CAFÉ system, you must register an account (a free account) to submit applications for the calls for art they have listed.  I have uploaded a quick video of how easy it is to register in Café on my YouTube channel, Victoria Patti.  Rachel and I talk all about how to submit a piece, who the juror is, and why they are doing the show.    What We Talked About Nu Iron Age show dates – May 24, 2017 – May 27, 2017 Where – New Orleans Entry Deadline: 4/21/17 Deadline to receive artwork May 20th Media REQUIREMENTS: Images - Minimum: 1, Maximum: 6  Entry Fee (Nu Iron Age): $35.00 Blacksmiths; those that shape steel through fire and force, have often taken a backseat in the realm of modern art and design, deferring instead to function and tradition.  The last 2 decades have seen a new generation of blacksmith evolve.  They express an openness, and desire to engage with the art and design world. By organizing a show of contemporary forged iron work the hope is to connect blacksmithing with the wider conversation of metal work, contemporary craft, and the contemporary art world. This show will create a platform for relevant work within a fresh context.  This show will happen in conjunction with this year’s SNAG conference. The SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) 2017 Convention’s theme is “nexus; a connection or hub”. “Nexus: A Connection of Ideas” will focus on motivating thinkers, collectors, and makers, to bring new and old, materials, techniques, and ideas together in New Orleans. As the conversation grows between the forging process and design; and as people connect their personal work to the greater field. The hope is that this show will help provide a contemporary space, one of sharing, connecting, and collaborating, a time-honored art form, a new Iron age. HOW TO ENTER Please submit digital images only into the Café system (you need an account, it’s free).  Each artist is welcome to submit up to three (3) entries.  Images should be a minimum of 300 ppi, cannot exceed 5 MB each, and must be in JPG format. Limit of two images per entry (one full view and one detail image). ELIGIBLE MEDIA Work must be produced from forged steel, contain some forged steel or reference the process of forging in some way. Other materials may be incorporated or used in the work submitted. Entries must be the complete work of the submitting artist. Kits or commercially designed works will not be accepted. All work must have been completed within the past two years (2014-2016). NUMBER OF ENTRIES + ENTRY FEE Each artist is limited to three (3) entries. There is a $35 (USD) non-refundable fee, for up to three (3) entries. Payments must be submitted online at the time of application. SIZE LIMITATIONS All work must be ready for installation. We reserve the right to exclude any entry that presents complex installation or assembly problems.  If work is to be delivered and installed by the artist, complicated installation prohibitions may be waived. SALES A 30% commission will be retained from all work sold during the exhibition. Works which are not for sale must be clearly marked as such (NFS). PUBLICITY The exhibition will be publicized regionally, nationally and internationally. GDAC reserves the right to use photographs or digital images of any accepted work for the purpose of publicity.  SNAG publications, Metalsmith magazine and local papers will advertise the show. DELIVERY + RETURN OF WORK Artists are responsible for pre-paying all shipping charges to and from the exhibition site. Accepted works must be hand-delivered or shipped according to the instructions provided in the Artist Contract upon selection No work may be withdrawn before the close of the exhibition. Sending an entry to this exhibition shall imply an agreement on the part of the sender to all conditions above. Juror: Our juror for the show will be David Houston of the Bo Bartlett Center. Links Rachel’s Red Metal Business Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/redmetal1245?pnref=lhc Rachel’s Red Metal Website - http://redmetal.net/   Call for Entry website: https://www.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=4075   If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes, https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blacksmither-radio/id925021233 .  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher. http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!