Category: Shop Updates

Today was the second full day in the winter shop and the first day of forging. It felt great to heat up the forge and start experimenting with some metal.

It had been a while since I made one of my Unbreakable Bottle Openers so I spent a good part of the day getting my chops back. There were a few corrections (undoing bends, redoing bends), but that’s part of what’s great about metal. If it comes out weird, just reheat it and make it better!

By the end of the day, I had a nice collection of decorative wall hooks and bottle openers ready to be drilled out for wall mounting and keyrings. I also recorded some video of each process from start to finish. Look for the videos within the next week or so.

Despite a few days of warmer weather, the leaves here in Brown County have been telling a colder story. In anticipation of winter coming, I’ve been talking with area artists over the past week about warm shop space.

As the fiery leaves of the maples, beeches, and oaks start to dry up and drift off their branches, I’ll be moving my blacksmithing equipment into Burl and Ingot Workshops at 1609 S. Rogers in Bloomington for the winter. Within a few short weeks I’ll be forging hooks, church keys, and custom designs one hammer stroke at a time.

If you’re interested in watching the process send me a note. If you’d like to take it a step further and learn how to do a little blacksmithing yourself, check out the Classes page. All ages and abilities are welcome!