2015 update and goals

Happy 2015 Friends!

I thought I’d update everyone on how things are going at Fox River Forge. We are moved into our final location! We have returned to Big Bend and now reside in a garage a short distance from where we first started. In truth, I had wanted to set up in this location all along but I needed to work out the details a little more than I had at the time. Since then I have been out there working on things, building skills and working out the layout of the shop. It still needs some work but it is functional and I feel a real connection with the building we’re in. I will put together a post dedicated to the new shop location. I expect there will be an accompanying video as well.

In this post I want to lay out some goals for 2015. I’m in a place where I believe I can personally dedicate more focus on the forge. I would like to establish some items I want to accomplish this year and then at the end of the year we can review and see how we did. So here are5 things I want to accomplish by December 2015.

1. Do an off-site blacksmithing demo for a public group. This will involve loading my gear, going somewhere, setting up a portable smithy and working with people who have had little if any experience with this craft.

2. Continue to create items at the home location that will eventually be available for purchase. I’d like to have a surplus of wall hooks, bottle openers, corkscrews and other items available to anyone interested in purchasing something like this.

3. Become confident in the task of forge-welding. I see this as an essential skill I will need in order to really grasp the fundamentals of this craft. I have made 3 successful welds so far. I would like to refine the quality and appearance of my welds.

4. I would like to start offering individual blacksmithing classes. These would be a 4 to 6 hour session with an overview of the blacksmithing trade and hands-on experience leading to the student crafting their own piece to take with them.

5. Possibly open an Etsy store. This will depend almost 100% on how goal #2 works out. I briefly looked into it recently and it was enough to confirm my guess that I am not at all ready for one right now.

So there it is, my 2015 goal for Fox River Forge. Here are some photos of items I have made in the past few months.

What's up with the forge??

It has been way too long since I posted here. Life has a way of getting in the way. Anyway, I thought I would bring everyone up to speed on events here at the forge. I stated in the last post that we were remodeling the smithy in order to have an indoor workshop. Those plans are still in effect but various details including site location have changed dramatically. We were originally going to build a small enclosed smithy on the site where the forge was located. Before doing this I wanted to get permission from the land owner so as to not step on anyone’s toes. It soon transpired that there was some dispute as to who actually owned that piece of land. One owner was the person who lives right next to the spot. He would regularly visit me while I was working. The other potential owner was a Farmer who lives up the road from the location and owns the surrounding fields. I diplomatically got permission from both parties and began acquiring materials. I was working with a good friend and co-worker named Steve. I know what I wanted but it was Steve that came up with the design and even donated some material in addition to his time and knowledge. We began building the day after Thanksgiving 2012 and after several weekends in the cold and rain and snow we were ¾ of the way done when one of the owners contacted me and told me I had to take it down for tax and insurance reasons. We were crushed. All that effort and money was going to be wasted. The other land owner in question found out and immediately began researching where his property line ended and eventually discovered that it ended about 10 feet from one of the walls of our shop. There was no other recourse. It took weeks before I could even go down to the site and look at it. I told Steve we had to take it down and a few days later he came to me and said after discussing it with his wife, he would like to offer space on his property to set up the smithy. It wouldn’t be as big but it would eventually be enclosed. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and accepted. While we were building the smithy, I was also helping him remodel the other half of the duplex he owns as a “work in trade” sort of deal. His Mother had been living there but has suffered a bad fall and required an assisted living environment. He offered the opportunity for me to rent it and I jumped at the chance. Not only was this a massive upgrade in living quarters, it would allow me access to the smithy at any time. I moved the hearth and other vital supplies over to the location Steve set aside for me and set it up. He also had someone at work draw up and burn a sign for the forge out of some steel so we put that up as well.

Yesterday, we finally went out to the old site and tore down the building. I will clean up the site and salvage what I can. It’s been a long frustrating year but I have been able to do some things. I built a prototype paper towel rack.

I did an artistic modification to a machete for a costume.

And I made a snake out of a small spike.

I look forward to increasing the production from FRF. I will be sure to keep you all in the loop.