Split crosses for a church auction

The church I belong to had an auction recently to raise funds for its outreach program. This year I donated three plaque mounted split crosses. Split crosses are made by making two intersecting cuts in a length of metal and opening those cuts up in a specific way creating a cross with a diamond shape in the middle. They look really nice when done well and I’ve made a few of them in the past so I know how they’ll turn out.

I made these particular crosses out of some discarded railroad spikes. I chose the spikes because I had them in my stock inventory and the dimensions were decent. I also like the symbolism of turning spikes into crosses to help raise money for my church. I bought the bare plaques from Michaels Craft’s because I wanted the rough, hand-forged look of the crosses to work with the proper, cleanly milled edges of the commercial plaques to show a union of thrift and wealth.

I also took the time to record the process of making these plaques. I recorded footage of the entire process for one specific plaque, edited it and put it on a flash drive to be auctioned off with that specific cross. I also uploaded a copy to my YouTube channel. You can watch it below.



I’m pretty happy with how they came out and I hope they do well at the auction.

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.

A Spike knife for Larry

Friends are a great thing to have. A good friend of mine named Margot shared my post about Rob’s spike knife with one of her friends in San Francisco and he ended up ordering one! He also liked the box with the hand print on it well enough to request his came with one as well as a video. Here is the video. It is extremely gratifying when someone you have never met shows a great deal of enthusiasm for something you’ve done. I am looking forward to see what else emerges from the fires at Fox River Forge.

A spike knife for Eric

A while back I made a knife for my friend Rob out of a railroad spike and he showed it off to one of his friends who decided he wanted one as well. Rob contacted me and we planned one out. I also decided to make a video of this process so here it is. So there. I got it packaged up and shipped out to Washington State.

A Rail Road Spike Knife for Rob

It’s been a couple of months but I have an update for you all. I recently was able to get out to the forge and do some planned out purposeful work. I have a good friend who, due to his position in the Air Force, is moving away so I decided to make him a going away gift. Back in the early stages of the Fox River Forge, I think even before it had a name, I was telling Rob and some friends in Zombie Squad that I was building a forge and might eventually try my hand at knife making. Rob spoke up and said he would buy the first knife I made. Well, we all know the first knife I tried to make ended up pretty unimpressive so I decided to make him a proper Railroad Spike Knife.

I got out to the forge and got the fire going and after warming my anvil a bit, I started making his knife. I shot some video of the process so I could put together a little history of the first deliberate project created at the forge.





I wanted to use as little “stock removal” as possible so I kept the grinding to the minimum. But I was pleased with how it came out. Here is a picture of the knife once I got the basic shape formed.



My next problem was how to present it to him. I knew he was going to be at my gig with Francesca and the 440 Hum the next day and wanted to give it to him then. I went to a local craft store and purchased a wood display box and went back to the forge. I have always had a fascination with handprints so I put my left hand print on the cover of the box. In some cultures the left is the side of the male, solar energy and also stands for nobility and wisdom. In addition to that, it was my hands that made the knife so I thought the connection there was pretty cool.

Once the print had dried, I got a couple scraps of leather and made some rudimentary padding inside the box to help hold the knife and for display purposes. All in all it came out respectable. Rob was all smiles when he opened the box and saw the knife. His Northern Family wishes him well in his travels and we look forward to him visiting.