Fire It Up!!!

Greetings Friends! It’s been a while since I made any noise here and the forge has been cold for way too long. I have been busy at my “9 to 5” during the week being a proper, contributing member of society. I have also been working at a haunted attraction during the month of October which is what ate up all my weekends. I don’t mind because I LOVE working at The Haunted Woods every year and I’m already looking forward to doing it next year!! While I haven’t been putting hammer to iron, I’ve still been working on some ideas for the forge and I want to take this time to make a formal and exciting announcement. In late November, Fox River Forge will undergo an extensive remodeling and we will emerge as a completely enclosed smithy! I have been talking with a friend and colleague named Steve Baker and he has generously offered to help get us out from under the tarp! He is further aiding in our growth by donating lumber to the project which helped save us well over $1000. Add to this that Steve is a gifted carpenter who has his OWN sawmill who shares a lot of the same values and interests in hand-crafted work as I do. Steve and I both work at the same company and for a while we worked together on 3rd shift in the service department. I credit Steve with my learning to weld in the first place. His generosity is stunning and Fox River Forge will be indebted to him for a very long time. We made the first step in this project today. I grabbed the trailer and met him at his house where we loaded his truck and my trailer up with the lumber we will be using for the floor, roof and some of the walls. He also hooked us up with a wood-burning stove so we can work comfortably this winter!!! Over the next couple of weeks, I will acquire some other supplies so that when building day comes we can move through it without having to stop and run for parts all the time. I’ve very excited to see how this turns out. I will of course be documenting everything and a video with be forthcoming. Until then, I wish my hunter friends good luck and safety with the coming weeks and a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there!!