There are three levels of class-Blacksmithing I, Blacksmithing II, Blacksmithing III each being a prerequisite for the next level. We signed up for the beginner’s course held on October 22nd. We all met in Big Bend and car-pooled out to Eagle where Old World Wisconsin is located for our 10am start time. We pulled into the lot, parked, and got directions to the building where the class was being held which was an actual 19th century blacksmith shop moved there from its original location.
Walking in to the blacksmith shop was walking back in time. It is an experience I encourage you to experience for yourself by visiting Old World Wisconsin when you get a chance! We met our instructor for the day, a gentleman named Darold Rinedollar. The three of us were joined by a fellow future blacksmith named (for the sake of distinction) Drew who I teamed up with.
After a preliminary discussion about basic blacksmithing knowledge we went to work. Drew and I were working on the forge nearest to the front of the shop while Spike and Andy worked at the rear of the shop. Outside the front door there was a guide who spoke with the visitors of the day, talking about the buildings history and describing what was happening inside. Learning a craft can sometimes be a challenge. Learning a craft as people stare at you tends to boost that challenge but Drew and I did our best to stay focused. At one point a visitor began scolding us for not being in “period clothing.” I explained we were students not really a part of the community. She explained that Drew’s motorcycle t-shirt didn’t look good in the middle of her photo. We decided she was joking and went back to work.
We worked pretty steady all day. Occasionally, we would visit one and another at our respective forges to see how things were going and compare notes. We moved from skill to skill fairly quickly.
Darold’s style of instruction was to point you in the direction he wanted you to go and watch. If you got off kilter he would stop you, explain the problem, and get you going again very rarely taking the work out of our hands. Occasionally, for times sake, he would jump in and show us how it should be done, but more often then not we did the work ourselves. Often he would stop us to say something wasn’t right and then ask how we were going to fix it. I am used to this form of teaching from my Dad so it worked well for me and the others seemed to respond well to it also. Darold is an extreemly talented man with the ability and patience to teach a skill that would otherwise be lost. All of us at Fox River Forge are truly grateful to have had the opportunity wo learn from him.
By the end of the day we had several pieces completed for us to take with us. We were all very happy with the experience we gained attending this class and will certainly be furthering our knowledge in the future by attending the other levels.
I actually edited the footage for the opening ceremony post after we attended this class and it’s amusing to see the difference one Saturday can make when given good instruction. I’m not sure we did anything right while forging that first hoop aside from having fun with each other. I have always intended for this blog to document our journey into the world of blacksmithing and as we travel we can look back to see how far we’ve come. Looking at the video and comparing it to what we produced at this class gives me a large sense of pride.
I can’t wait to see what we do next!
