What is it to be a Blacksmith?

A blacksmith is a metalworker that creates objects by forging metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce objects such as grilles, sculpture, tools, weapons, agricultural implements, railings, decorative and religious items, light fixtures, cooking utensils and furniture. To many people blacksmith can mean and be many different things. It can be a hobby, a way of life, a muse, a happy place, a past time, or even something you just enjoy watching. Blacksmithing is something that has been around for a very long time and the craft has evolved with time, science, and technology, both for the best and some not so much. But no matter what it means to you, if you are a metal worker of any kind, “Hello fellow Blacksmith!”    

Many think that Blacksmithing is a dying art and craft and then there are many others who only know blacksmithing from a tv show. And to some degree they may both have some truth, but it is so much more than that! Watching the metal change colors as it heats up and moving the material with your own hands…….. There is nothing like it. One of us started the blacksmith journey about a year and a half ago and the other one started just recently. Letting your creative juices flow and turning a hunk of metal into something else is both amazing and quite hard at times. There is so much to learn that sometimes you can lose momentum to actually be in your shop or smithy and studying instead. The best way to learn is to try. ALWAYS BE SAFE!! But most of all enjoy yourself and have fun. 

Since there is so much about Blacksmithing to learn, we thought it might be cool to put together a section on our website focused on us learning the craft. In it we will share success stories and failures alike. You can never be afraid to fail, as long as you learn something from it you can NEVER fail! We will also be sharing the knowledge we will be gaining from the Smithy we joined today! We are lucky enough to have a local community group of Blacksmiths. There are lots of different groups across the country and I’m sure the world. Today we became part of AACB. The Appalachian Area Chapter of Blacksmiths. And we are so excited to have so many people around us that are as excited about the craft as we are. There is so much knowledge in the community, it is unreal.

Plus there are many conferences held across America. This year we are going to try and attend the 19th bi-annual 2019 Southeastern Blacksmith Association and if we do, we will return home with a plethora of knowledge to share. 

So just to sum up. We are adding a special section for all of you folks out there that get excited about Blacksmithing and we will be sharing our knowledge, giving stuff away, making videos, writing blogs/how-tos, and hopefully learning from our readers (that’s YOU)!! So get your hammer and anvils ready and come along with us on this Blacksmith Journey!

Thanks so much for reading and be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook and as always keep stopping by to see what adventure we will go on next! 🙂