Terran Marks opened Brown County Forge for business in November of 2015. Here’s a little bit about the blacksmith shop and how it got started.
After learning to blacksmith at the John C. Campbell Folk School in 2011, Terran practiced the trade during his off-seasons from fighting wildfires for the U.S. Forest Service.
In 2014, Terran decided that 2015 would be his final fire season and he would devote his time and effort to blacksmithing.
He saved up his 2015 fire pay, moved back home to Indiana from the Pacific Northwest, and purchased the equipment he needed.
Giving himself 9 months to figure the business out (whether it could support itself or not), he dove right in.
Forged in Fire and Teaching Blacksmithing
In January 2016, we offered our first class. Forged in Fire (TV show) was still in its infancy.
As the show gained in popularity, so did class interest and bookings. What we thought would be a small segment of the business turned out to be the main offering.
Marks taught hundreds of classes with people from all walks of life coming from around the country and the world.
9 years later…
Over 1500 students have successfully completed their first blacksmithing projects at Brown County Forge.
After countless swings of the hammer and hundreds of hours of instruction, we’re wrapping up classes at the end of 2024 to focus on custom work.
Want to Contact the Forge?
You can email Terran directly here: